Different Than I Thought

I was one of those kids who always wanted to be a missionary. Always. As long as I can remember. Even my mom says that as soon as I could talk, I started talking about being a missionary. Something about mission work fascinated me, long before I knew Christ personally. Of course, I read all the stories of missionaries like Isobel Kuhn, David Brainard, Amy Carmichael, and my favorite, Bruce Olson. I dreamed (literally!) of foreign lands, jungles, native people groups, and even other languages. I wanted to work with orphans, start an orphanage, and teach the children how to become productive members of their homeland (as opposed to just housing them until they are too old and then their children end up back in the orphanage).

From forever it seems, my call was to the orphans of Mexico; though my yearly mission trips from age 15 on took me to many different places, thanks to my parents' wisdom. I did go to Mexico- twice! There's a little girl there, well, probably older now, whom I will never forget. Yet God closed that door. I was so distraught, not knowing what to do. At 24 years of age, I was supposed to have my life planned out and on track, right? My mom is a very wise woman and told me that God probably had something else in mind, and if I just kept doing what I knew He would be pleased with, He would show me the next step. And so it was. Six months later or so, I met my would-be husband, who was support-raising to go to Georgia, Europe.

Jude, Barbara, Zachary, & Michael

What??? I'd never even heard of that place! The amount of information on the internet is minimal too. I know; I looked it up and researched as much as possible when I first met Michael. It's not a 3rd world country. Not anymore. In fact, living in the capital city of Tbilisi is much like living in a modern city in America. There are few sacrifices that I had to make. The culture is only a little strange. The language; beautiful and challenging. The people, friendly; though very staunchly religious.

The mission field sure looked different than I thought.

Lately, God has been reminding me of this truth again and again as I struggle with first-term issues:THIS IS MY CALLING.

Instead of natives, I am reaching civilized Westernized people. Instead of orphans, it is neighborhood kids with absolutely no manners or training. Instead of jungles, it's a never ending sea of people and buildings. Instead of quickly absorbing the language, I'm stuck diving deep into textbooks: still feeling quite drowned into our second year.

 I sometimes have to remind myself that I had always wanted to be a missionary, and that this is where God has sent me; my God and His plan has not changed. I can't speak the language (sufficiently). I'm not teaching Sunday school. I'm not playing music in church. We don't even have a "regular" church!!! We learn from several different local churches, led by national pastors, because we want to see how to "make church work" i.e. get it set up and running, in this culture. I'm not out of the house much, so I get little contact with the locals. I'm sending my oldest son to pre-school this fall, so I'm not even homeschooling. I'm not doing anything, really, that I would consider missionary/ministry work.

So, maybe I romanticized the foreign field a little? Or, maybe the mission field just looks different than we tend to see on church power point presentations? One thing I know: this is where God has called both me and my husband, and He has been preparing me since childhood. My children are my mission field. My language textbook is my ministry. My God is still the same God. My calling- yes, still the same. It just looks different than I thought.

So what is my ministry? My ministry is staying refreshed in God's Word, supporting my husband, loving my children, keeping house, and spending HOURS in language. I get bored learning language, I do it so much! Thankfully, God gave me a young lady to disciple whose first language is English, like me, which gives me some sense of "doing something." In the next article I write, I want to share what else God has allowed me to do so I don't go crazy not doing the ministry things that I've done my whole life. Regardless though, fellow missionary; whether your ministry looks conventional or not, whether you feel like a "real" missionary or not, please remember:

Remember God. Remember His calling. Know that you are right where He wants you. Don't give up, for "in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." -Galatians 6:9 

The Racist Missionary

Jonah is an anomaly.

His book is unique among the prophets because it is entirely autobiographical. He did not desire the incredible ministry successes he experienced. God took the initiative to show His grace to the Assyrians by sending them a missionary. Jonah was not merely apathetic about this, he was antipathetic--he did not want that ethnic group to be converted. They were a different skin color, language group, and geography from him; and their culture was vastly different. He wasn't interested in their conversion.

And after ten years on the mission field, I can see that Jonah was not the only missionary to struggle with racist feelings.

What, a racist missionary? Isn't that an oxymoron? How could a racist be a missionary? Well, emotions of bitterness and cynicism towards the people on your field don't come all at once. Missionaries don't ever go to the field thinking that they could even become close to being racist! After all, they've given up everything because of their love for another people group, right? Nevertheless, negative emotions towards the very people you want to love can creep in over time after many adverse culture-shocking experiences. (Look at the results of "culture stress.")

Jonah is a good bad example of NOT loving the people to whom you are sent. Thus Jonah's story is a great starting-place in a biblical discussion of racism. Jonah was "very angry" when God showed mercy to the Ninevites. So God used an object lesson of a quick-growing, then quick-dying gourd, with some gentle questions, followed up with a gentle, insightful rebuke to show Jonah that his hatred towards the Ninevites was wrong.

And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?

And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:  And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

~Jonah 4:9-11

Who are these persons that God is talking about? Who cannot tell the difference between their right and left hands? Isn't it the children? In other words, some litmus tests of whether you are racist or not are the following:

• if you are unable to show love towards people from another ethnicity
• if you wish for genocide including the children
• if you believe that a person from that race cannot be converted, or
• if you believe that all the people in that culture are only bad, thus even the children have no good potential.

I still remember a defining moment for Seth and me as new missionaries. We had just moved to a rural village in South Africa and were visiting neighbors in an attempt to meet them and learn their culture. We came across an old man who had been almost raised by Swiss Presbyterian missionaries who pioneered missions to the Tsonga people. They had sent him to school abroad, and his English was excellent.

Trying to answer his wife's questions as to why we were there, we began evangelizing, assuming that they knew basic ideas of salvation and the Gospel because of their background as staunch Presbyterians. Imagine our surprise when his wife inquired what we meant by "salvation." She queried, "You mean, baptism?" Startled, Seth began expounding the Gospel. Her husband cut us off with an eye-opening statement: "Oh, you'll never get them to understand details like that. These people will never get the details."

The Gospel? Details? Sadly this man was a living example of his own stereotype.

I remember another shocking scene in my first year here. Our landlord came over drunk one night to visit with us. I will never forget him pouring beer on the hood of our pick-up truck for his pet monkey to lap up, while saying, "This chimp is smarter than any of those * blacks."

After years of ministering to a pagan culture, missionaries can get very discouraged from witnessing repeated sinful behaviors. They can get bitter from attacks or disappointments by untrustworthy people. They can become cynical, wondering if fruit is real or how long it'll last this time. Harmful generalizations are made: "These people are all like that. They will never get better."

Missionaries to less civilized people groups eventually have to deal with the question, "Why are these people like that?" When a missionary hits that disillusioned stage of being so frustrated, it seems that two paths lie before him. He can explain the deficiencies he sees in another culture in one of two ways:

He could say that those people are like that because they are inherently inferior. They are simply unable to become an enlightened, Christian culture. He could become like our landlord, bitterly saying that the people have no more hope than animals. In other words, he could become a racist.

We have decided to take the second path, however, which explains stereotypical problems of another race with this answer: The Devil has blinded their culture for so many thousands of centuries and they have had so little common grace given to them, that they need a lot more time and work of the Holy Spirit to reflect Christianity in their culture. (2 Cor. 4:4) In other words, it is Satan we are fighting, not people.

Missionaries need to guard their hearts and thinking about pagan cultures. If you don't believe that cultural sins and deficiencies are strongholds of Satan, and that these are spiritual issues deserving of your empathy, you will become a racist missionary, constantly embittered and frustrated instead of responding with compassion. Because if the answer is not that the Devil has a stronghold in that culture, then the answer is that those people are just inferior, inherently, for centuries. And that is racist.

The Most Undesired Ministry Success Ever

Soon after thinking about a summary of Noah's ministry, I recalled a sermon my husband preached at a supporting church on the book of Jonah. We had fun contrasting the two "ministries."

---

Noah

Mission field: the very wicked people of the world
Message: total destruction
Converts: only his family (eight people)
Reaction: a sacrifice of thanks

Jonah

Mission field: the very wicked people of the capital city of Israel's enemies
Message: total destruction
Converts: everyone, from the greatest to the least
Reaction: anger, wishes to die

---

What fantastic irony! Can you think of two more polar opposites in Scripture? Noah preaches and prepares an ark for salvation but sees no fruit from his efforts outside of his family. But he praises the Lord for their salvation, this little fruit that came from his long ministry.

Jonah, on the other hand, doesn't want to see the salvation of the Ninevites, even though he himself has been so miraculously saved from a watery death. His sermon is as short and perfunctory as can be (eight words in English), and yet he has incredible success in a mass revival that involves even the beasts fasting and wearing sackcloth!

Jonah by George Frederick Watts

His angry reaction is even more incredible. I mean--what missionary doesn't long to see a revival like that? We can't even tell if he made it the three days the Bible says it took to cross the city before repentance falls on the people. But he is angry at God's great mercy, at His goodness. His emotions are extreme: "It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry."

He spits out his prayer, which with your permission, could be summarized in modern speech, "I knew you'd be like that! You know... GOOD. I'd rather die than see this!"

We can learn so much from the book of Jonah. But for now, what can we learn from a comparison of Noah's and Jonah's ministries? I think we can be encouraged by the answer to a natural question that might come up when comparing the two ministries.

Why was Jonah's ministry so successful, though so vehemently undesired, when Noah's ministry was dry as a desert? (That is, ahem, until the waters covered the earth.)

There is only one answer. I'll use Jonah's words:

SALVATION is OF THE LORD.

That is the only explanation for such vast differences between the two ministry results, especially when we consider that Jonah actually worked and prayed against the salvation of the Ninevites!

Look at all the actions the Lord does in the book of Jonah:

• He calls Jonah. "The word of the Lord came unto Jonah..., saying, 'Arise, go.'"
• ...the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea...
• ...the Lord...which hath made the sea and the dry land...
• ...the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.
• [according to Jonah] "He heard me...thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep....Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.
• And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
• And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go...and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee."
• And God saw their works...
• And God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not.
• He gently questions Jonah, "Doest thou well to be angry?"
• ...the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief.
• But God prepared a worm...
• ...God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun...

After being attacked by criminals, a few pastors asked if I was struggling to believe in God's goodness. Honestly, at the beginning, I wasn't struggling very much on that point. I knew God was good, if for no other reason than that He saved our lives!

Actually I admitted that where I struggled to believe in God's goodness and love towards us was in the extreme difficulty and scant results of our evangelism efforts. I am sure many missionaries can relate to struggling with a feeling of bitterness towards our Lord. "I gave up all ___ for You, and where are You? Why aren't You blessing our ministry? Where's the fruit?"

This is actually nothing but a feeling of entitlement that God owes us certain glories for what we've sacrificed for Him, an expectation of a certain minimum of results. But hasn't it been said so many times in the Bible, that God is the One responsible for our ministry successes?

• "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
• "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase."
• Even the pagan sailors whom Jonah sailed with admitted, "...thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee."

It is initially discouragingly humbling for us to realize that it is not our charisma or plans or goodwill or activities that effect revival. It is the wind of God blowing where it will.

But there is one thing that we can do, that we must do, in order to see God's hand at work. We must go. And we must preach.

Why God, with all of His amazing power and mercy, has chosen to use such a weak tool as the foolishness of preaching, is a mystery to me. But He told us to go, and He said that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and He said that they cannot believe unless they hear, and they cannot hear without a preacher. So...

...don't be discouraged by the truth that God is ultimately responsible for the salvation of souls on your field. Let that truth encourage you. He said He would do it. It may not be as immediate as it was with Jonah; in fact, it could take a long time, but He will go with you, and He will build His church.

And what should be our only response?

Definitely not anger:
"Why are You doing it this way?"

But gratitude and humility. Embrace humility:
"Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?"

And gratitude:
"You saved me and included me in Your plan of salvation for the Tsonga people? Thank You, Lord. You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You."

Salvation is of the LORD.

The Most Successful Ministry Failure Ever

When Seth and I were seeking counsel on whether or not to return to our suddenly-shockingly dangerous mission field, one counselor made some pithy statements that stuck with me; and I've ruminated on them since.

That meeting was quite humbling, because the take-away main point had to do with how unnecessary we are. We really needed convincing on that point! :) When we contemplated leaving Africa, we couldn't get around the "need" for laborers in our field.

Ours is a pioneer mission field. Swiss Presbyterian missionaries laid a wonderful foundation in the last century by translating the entire Bible, translating hymns and inventing a musical notation system for a hymnal, starting schools and hospitals, and building Presbyterian churches. Unfortunately by the '50s,  they were going liberal in their theology and lost the Gospel; and by the '60s, the missionaries were gone.

We, along with our teammates, and a national pastor or possibly two, are the only true churches with a Gospel witness in about 2.2 million Tsonga people in South Africa, and 3.1 million more in Mozambique. Truly the laborers are few! Who else, we wondered, would go through the struggle to learn this African language that had no language school? Learning the language and culture was an investment we weren't going to easily give up.

And we hadn't been "successful" enough yet to leave! Our infant church needed us. It wasn't ready to stand on its own.

But this counselor wanted to make a point even more important than our need for humility (and yes, even he, I think, would concede that our field does "need" laborers), and that is, that our children also needed us--parents, alive and whole, whose eyes could focus on them, and not always be focused on the ministry--in fact, that our children needed us more than the ministry needed us.

I know, this isn't really rocking your world yet, is it? Duh, no brainer. We'd all say our family is more important than ministry. 

But then he mentioned a Scriptural example that gave me a new flash of understanding, that set that truth in a clearer light for me. Are you ready for some easy Bible trivia? See if you can answer this question, the question he posed to us when we were busy arguing for why we were needed in Africa:

Who did Noah take on the ark with him?

Noah's Sacrifice by Jacobo Bassano

The Bible is clear-- "Noah, the eighth person," it says.

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. ~Heb. 11:7

Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. ~1 Pet. 3:20

And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. ~2 Pet. 2:5

And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. ~Gen. 7:1

And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark... ~Gen. 7:7

The new, interesting thought to me was an analysis of Noah's "ministry" successes. Peter called him a "preacher." I've heard some sermons or children's presentations that mention him preaching to the ungodly for over 100 years. Dramatic recordings usually have Noah pausing in the middle of building the ark to preach a sermon to unbelievers in evangelistic 21-century style.

I'm not sure if that preaching was the same as what we think of today when we think of preaching. But at the least, we know that his righteous lifestyle was counter-cultural, and that preached. And his building of the ark, motivated by fear grounded on faith, spoke; that also was counter-cultural, and this "preaching" condemned the world.

And what does he have to show for his evangelistic efforts?

"Nothing," most of us would respond.

And there's the rub, the immediate rebuke: nothing??! Saving his family is nothing?

But I'm pretty sure that if Noah were reporting to supporting churches after twenty years of service, he'd have lost support. If he were trying to raise more support in his 87th year of service on his oh-so-very-needy field, he wouldn't get it! If ministry successes were based on numbers, and let's admit it, we all do assess our ministry successes this way to some extent, we wouldn't support Noah, the eighth person, today. Wow.

Noah's Ark Mural by David Jermann

So was he a failure, then?

Ezekiel implies he was one of the best, listing him in a group of three along with Daniel and Job. And what of Jeremiah, preaching for fifty years, with only three converts mentioned?

No, Noah the eighth person was righteous, and one of the most obvious marks of his righteousness is that his "house" got on the ark with him. In a day when evil abounded, and every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually, Noah saved his family. His family got on the ark with him.

What about you, dear missionaries and preachers of righteousness? Who are you gonna take on the ark with you? It can be so hard to balance the needs of ministry with the needs of family. My husband tried to think through the difficulties of obtaining this balance here.

For those all-out, die-hard missionaries who can sometimes run over people in their zeal, let's get this one point from Noah's example:

In the eyes of many, his "ministry" was a failure; but he saved his family. And God called him righteous. The eighth person was a hero of the faith.

Noah's Daughter-in-Law in the Dovecote by Mary Jane Q. Cross

An Open Letter to the Missionary (Woman) Quitter

When criminals entered our home last December 2nd and attacked our family, our lives changed completely. The obvious, immediate question after the crisis was, "Do we quit being missionaries?"

It was an excruciating question to work through, partially because it was completely unexpected. We had had no thought of leaving the field. My husband's screen saver on his phone when we were dating said, "Go tribal!" Hadn't I known what I was getting into? No, actually! And yes. His heart for the Unreached has defined him, been his core, since I've known him. It seemed there was no avenue forward that didn't involve reconstructing either Seth's or Amy's make-up. We reached out for counsel.

As you may have guessed, especially if you already heard of our situation and were thinking "in our shoes," not many counselors had an easy answer. It would have been wonderful if God had spoken to us in a vision. Most counselors were unwilling and unable to give a certain "yea" or "nay." Understandably so.

What a blessing that most counselors were amazingly supportive. By "supportive," I mean that they understood and articulated that leaving our field was an obvious and valid option, and that we weren't bad Christians to be considering it--that godly Christians have chosen both paths, to leave or to stay.

But a few comments stuck with me memorably--in a negative way--that, in my opinion, made our decision even tougher. They hinted or outright stated that they viewed me as weak or wimpy to even go back to the States for an eight-week visit to think about our future, that I was holding back my husband (because his personality did not struggle with the decision to return to the field even a fraction as much as mine), thus I was unsubmissive and "wearing the pants in the family" (and therefore, my husband had blame for not "leading me" appropriately), that I was not obeying certain Scriptures that encourage risking all for Christ, and that I was not a strong person or missionary or Christian if I couldn't go back.

Well, comments like these (made by people who have not experienced even a quarter of what I have) were not accepted well by a traumatized woman concerned for her traumatized children! And there, in that sentence, may lie part of the answer. Some people cannot empathize fully with a wounded person until they themselves have experienced the humiliation of trials and suffering. I cringe when I remember my naive judgmentalism as a young missionary. Oh, how I've changed now, and eaten my words (rather, thoughts) a hundred times over.

It is true that many leave the field for wrong reasons at the wrong time. And it is true that we do not hear enough encouragement to risk all for Christ. I don't want to take the teeth out of Scriptures like these:

Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

But: Around the time when I was struggling with the fact that I knew that we would be going back to the field, I heard of a missionary woman who was likewise struggling, almost...despairing. And my heart went out to her. She had "put in her time," labored for years on the field, followed her husband to a difficult people, had children in inferior hospitals on the field, and after numerous trials, was beginning to crack under the pressure. I cried for her, someone I'd never met. Why should she, dear timid warrior that she is, be criticized if she needs to come home (America) for the sake of her sanity?

Honestly, I struggled to even word that last paragraph, because I know alpha male theologians who would respond that she shouldn't need that, that if she were responding biblically she could handle this, etc. But I think long-term missionaries understand what I mean, because They've Been There.

So while I truly don't aim to encourage anyone to leave the field, especially for wrong reasons, please understand my desire in this post. I desire simply to offer compassion to that lonely, spent missionary woman who so badly needs to hear compassion, not guilt trips, if she goes home for good or simply for a rest. At other times, I will take the opposing side and encourage perseverance. But for right now I want to simply offer compassion, only compassion, in an open letter to the few missionary women who may be in this situation.

You dear woman,

You've been told so many hurtful things.

It is okay. It is okay to leave the field because you are cracking under the pressure.

Your hair is prematurely graying. You are beaten down by the degrading depravity of your field. Your health is failing. You have forgotten that you used to have an easy laugh and can't remember what it feels like to converse easily with another Christian without weighing every word and its possible miscommunications. And you struggle to list one positive item per every fifty negative things about your field.

You have fought on the front lines of the war for a long time, and you are coming home a wounded soldier. Yes, soldiers wounded in the war receive an honorable discharge. You deserve a medal. Indeed you are a hero! So few people want your job that you are irreplaceable.

God bless you! You tried. You gave your all. You gave beyond your all. You submitted to your husband and raised your children in challenging circumstances. Now channel what remaining energies you have into enduring yet more change, but hopefully a more restful change because of its familiarity. If your coming home allows you to gain the benefits that Jesus got when He "came apart to rest a while," and to continue being a helpmeet to your husband and to keep going in the ministry, though it be no longer foreign, then come. Come home, and continue to follow Christ as well as you can in the place where you are.

You will hear no word of condemnation from me. Only compassion.
Only compassion, dear missionary friend.

Love in Christ,

Amy

Saved by the Mud

I mentioned that rainy season was about to begin here, and last Sunday that was proven correct in classic style. It was raining hard for the second day in a row with a chilly wind. Rainy days are always low attendance days at church. Who likes to get out of bed to trudge somewhere through the rain and muddy roads? We always hope that our church members have grown enough in grace that mud and chilly wet will mean nothing in comparison to being with believers and submitting themselves once again to hear the Word, but every rainy Sunday is another test.

This Sunday we had especially hoped for good attendance, as we were hoping to try a new tactic in the war for souls. We have several regular visitors who haven't committed to following Christ, so we decided to start a 5-week prospective members class in the Sunday School hour just to target these folks and present salvation, baptism, and our church covenant in a clear manner. We had about ten people lined up for the first class, but our spirits were dampened by their apparent drowned attendance.

Really stuck!

Then the other family (we only have one family besides our own in our church that includes husband, wife, and kids--and a car!) got their truck stuck in the mud on the road to church. It took an hour and a half to extract them. The situation became even stickier, or should I say muddier, when we noticed that they had brought first-time visitors with them on this rare Sunday. They were discouraged to have such a setback on the day their visitors came with them. We were worried to start a new class without all of our beloved prospects attending. And all the men were wet, cold, and muddy when we began the service.

Ita vita African. This truly could be an apt description of normal life in Africa. Some discouraging setbacks just when you were hoping to make a good impression; poor attendance for weeks at a time in the rainy season. But God was working all of those seemingly bad events to ordain a private evangelism meeting between me and one of the children in my Sunday School class.

When Mr. N__ got stuck in the mud and all the men and boys went to help, I (with my kids) was left alone with one sweet neighbor girl who has attended my S.S. class and Seth's neighborhood Bible club all year. As I fiddled around setting up church stuff, she came to me and asked shyly, "How does a person go to Hell or to God?"

Seth's Bible club: they learn verses and the catechism (yellow book). She's the girl in the blue tank top, back row, third from the left.

Because of the rain and the car stuck in the mud, I was given an uninterrupted fifteen minutes to show a tweenage girl The Great Exchange from 2 Corinthians 5:21. I love this verse. In English every word but one has one syllable. Yet it encompasses so much with those little words.

For he hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Praise the Lamb slain for sinners! Praise the Creator of the rain and mud who kept distractions away from a child He was busy pulling from the filth of a life lived for sin, at the same time as Seth was pulling a truck out of the mud. She seemed to respond to the Word in faith.

Obviously the mud didn't save her. But in one sense, it did. God used it as a means to give this shy child one-on-one time with her teacher so that she could ask a very important question! Last Sunday, a child was saved by the blood, by the mud.

Seth and I also were saved by the mud in a sense. We were saved from discouragement and ingratitude over the lack of optimal conditions that day. We were reminded that God doesn't need dry roads to do His work and that His plans are wiser than ours.

Once I heard a sermon by R.C. Sproul on 2 Samuel 6 when God struck Uzzah dead for touching the Ark of the Covenant so that it wouldn't fall from the oxcart. I've never forgotten how Sproul mentioned that Uzzah's error was in thinking that his hands were cleaner than the dirt. He thought it would be better for him to touch the ark--he, a sinful creature--than for the ark to fall in the dirt. But the dirt was doing what God made it to do. I thought of that Sunday--the mud was doing what God made it to do. I couldn't be mad at the mud or at God for letting it rain on Sunday. He had a plan even for the mud; and it did what He made it to do, even being an instrument in God's plan of redemption for a child.

When Mr. N__ finally arrived at church, embarrassed and a bit careworn, I greeted him happily. "You may think this was a bad day," I said, "but I am glad you got stuck in the mud!"

My S.S. class quoting Psalm 1 for the church. She's first on the left, back row, of the girls' side.

Still happy, even after scrubbing our family's muddy clothes!

"And in Nothing Terrified"

A few months ago when we celebrated 10 years in Africa, I mentioned that I would share some verses that have encouraged us to keep going in ministry, even when outward results seem unimpressive. I have since shared one passage that encourages us that God will build His church.  Today I wanted to share a verse that strengthened me during one of our darkest trials.

I appreciated the advice given here to Baptist Missionary Women on how to handle persecution. One of the things I most appreciated in that article was that Lou Ann assumed that we will experience persecution. My life was fairly free from persecution in the States, so I have always felt cautious about claiming to be persecuted in any way. The word "persecution" seems like such a strong word for what most of us have experienced in comparison to what the early church experienced, or what some people in Communistic or Muslim countries experience today.

Nevertheless, when you enter a stronghold of Satan, where he has had free realm for centuries, you must expect that your adversary the Devil will seek to devour you, or at the least, to get you back out of his domain. Missionaries will certainly experience persecution, even if they didn't in the States, because of entering another area that might not be so friendly to Christianity (perhaps even one of those countries mentioned above). I also appreciated the balance of the writer in showing how some persecution can come about because of our own faults or stupidity!

Late in our first term, we experienced what seemed like a Satanic attack from one of our friends and church members. It almost numbed me with fright. I couldn't think clearly and was in panic mode. "Get me out of here!" was the dangerous reaction slamming through my brain.

By God's grace, He kept me here. I was reading through Philippians, and the verses at the end of chapter one, especially verses 28-30 returned some calm to my soul and helped me to persevere.

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.

For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

When you experience unexpected and "unreasonable" persecution that paralyzes you with fear, you are having the same conflict that Paul had, and you are sharing in Christ's sufferings. Paul admits here that you may be terrified. This is the conflict, or the struggle. We will be terrified, but instead should feel encouraged and joyful! We should view persecution as a confirmation that we are saved, that we are His. The apostles and early disciples counted themselves unworthy to suffer for Christ's sake. They felt joy to do so. The contrast between their attitude and mine illuminated my weakness.

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer by Jean-Leon Gerome

As with so many other issues in Christianity, this struggle comes down to right feelings (orthopathy). You can't control this kind of persecution, initiated by Satan and his followers; in fact, that's sometimes why it's so terrifying--it was completely unexpected! But you can in some ways control your feelings about it. It may seem impossible, but you must with the Holy Spirit's guidance, somehow change from the extremes on the feelings spectrum of terror to joy.

No longer terrified by your adversaries, but counting it all joy.

Working to Build the Choir

My first choir

How can you improve a choir? There are two ways:

1. Help one of the singers who is already in the choir.
2. Add new singers.

We just celebrated 10 years of service in Africa, and I mentioned that I'd be sharing verses that have kept us persevering in spite of trials and slow growth. Revelation 5:9-10 tops the inspiration list.

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And has made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

John Sees Heaven

Imagine this picture with me (or with John). John, overwhelmed with a vision of a beautiful, glittering heaven, records details in rapid-fire succession. So much grabs his eye that no one thing occupies too much space in chapters 4-5 (which form a complete unit). But the first thing that catches his eye is a throne and the One who sits on it.

He describes a heavenly scene using at least 12 different colors, sounds, and symbols. Some colors he describes with the word "like," implying that perhaps the actual colors are far more beautiful--like C.S. Lewis describing in The Last Battle how the fruit in Aslan's world were like strawberries, but SO much better.

Then chapter five changes focal points: the Lamb is introduced. There are no "minor" issues here--this is Christ and God. With this as the scenery, another sense takes over--John hears singing.

John Hears Heaven

Examine this song of praise to Jesus with me for a moment.

1. It is emotional. (The Christian life demands passion!)
2. It is artistic. (Cathedral-builders in the medieval ages set figurines in stained glass high up in corners of the ceiling where no one could see. Why? "This art is for God.")
3. It is doctrinal (covering the sovereignty of Christ, the atonement, redemption, the kingdom of God, and focuses on Christ, rather than secondary issues)

Okay, so John sees amazing sights and hears an even more wonderful song; but even more encouraging for us is the identification of who he sees and hears!

The Choir

Who is singing? Who is the "they"?

In verse 8, it's the 24 "elders." These singers are identified by their relationship to Christ. In verse 10, the singers are the "kings and priests of God on earth." In verse 9, it's "those who were redeemed"--all Christians from all time, "out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation."

Ethonologue catalogued 6,495 living languages as of 2005.
The Joshua Project catalogues 15, 967 ethnic groups.
The largest people group is Mandarin Chinese with 793,000,ooo speakers. India has the most amount of people groups with 2, 327. (350 languages) One people group in India (the Nai) has 70 alternate names.

So think about this choir with me for a minute... How many people will be there?

Let's go back to the beginning of the church in Acts. In Acts we read about 3,000 saved on the Day of Pentecost, and at another time, 5,000; then it says "many" people were added the church "daily." Let's put that number at about 50,000 people. An average-ly large stadium today could hold that many people.

So imagine a football stadium full of people looking down on the field. One Man walks to the center, and the entire stadium rises to its feet and begins a glorious song of praise to that Man.

But there's more. From 100-300 A.D. we see clear evidence that Christians were affecting their society. Joshua Project gives a statistic that at least 2% of a people group is needed before it can impact its society. So if a group wants to advocate for the spotted owls of North America, there must be at least 2% of Americans advocating that cause to impact all of America on that issue. If this statistic is correct, then there were at least 200,000 Christians during the early church time period.  (And when you think of Constantine converting his entire army to Christianity at the end of this time period, it seems that there must have been more than just 2%.) = 4 stadiums

57 revivals are recorded by Brian Edwards in Revival. In some of those revivals tens of thousands
were converted. = 2 stadiums

Today 400 million people claim to be Protestant. If we assume that only 20% of them are actually born again, we have 80 million people. = 1,600 stadiums

Then we could talk about Old Testament believers or children who died before the age of accountability.

God will build this choir. It cannot fail. There cannot be a final day that does not have this choir. So, how can this encourage us today?

1. Trust that God is working all things to produce this choir, for the good of this choir--the good and the bad things, the large and small things; that car accident that killed our only male church member, that man who shockingly fell out of the ministry; even Robert Mugabe's crazy leadership in Zimbabwe. He will build this choir, and it will include people from the people group to whom you are ministering!
2. What are you doing to add new singers? When you stand at that final day, the only thing that will matter is Christ and His glory!

When I think about being a member of that choir made up of hundreds of millions of people, and I picture singing a song to Christ with my dearly beloved family members to my left, and my dearly beloved Tsonga church members to my right dressed up in national dress carrying their flag all to the glory of God...it shakes me back to the reality that the only thing that matters for me right now is what I'm doing to build that choir!

At that time, I won't think about the yard sales I couldn't go to in America because I was across the ocean. I won't remember the slights and accusations others slung our way, whether deserved or undeserved. I won't think about which singer brought the most other singers to the choir. I will think about Christ and what He did. And I will probably regret that more beloved Tsonga people did not become a part of this beautiful moment.

Are you leading anyone to "try out" for this choir? What are you doing to add new singers? What are you doing to help anyone to improve their voice for this choir? Let's get involved working for the grandest event in all of history--building the choir that will sing to the praise of His glorious grace. And never give up working for this!

Not Much to Show for All That

Last week was the 10th anniversary of the day Seth began his work in South Africa.

10 years! That seems like a respectable amount of time to dedicate to a people not your own. I think we can officially be counted out of the "newbie" crowd now. :) We have completed a full decade of missionary service. (Well, actually, if you deduct furloughs, all of those 10 years haven't been here. It's actually more like 9 years.)

Now the pressure is on.

"10 years! And that's all you've got to show for it?" If we were better missionaries, wouldn't we have planted two churches by now? Or at least one? I mean--that's our job, right?

10 years...

You know, the first two terms people can excuse you mentally for your failure to produce a self-supporting church. It's your first term! Everyone knows that the first term is kind of a wash in the end. Hopefully in your first term, you accomplished that huge job summarized in an inadequate phrase called "learning the language and culture." Ha. After ten years, you know that although you can get a good start on those things in your first term, you never stop learning in those areas. So if you've got nothing really tangible after your first term to show for the furlough pictures except for a few converts and the pronouncement that you've "learned the language and culture," then that's pretty much all that can be expected from the first term.

And even your second term failure to produce an independent church can be excused because you're still just getting going. Your church is just beginning. Your work is still in the baby stages.

But after 10 years, no more excuses. We should start hearing pretty soon that you've got a church standing on its own two feet, and you're already starting your next one or two church plants. At least that's how I feel. No one from the States really makes me feel that way. I make me feel that way.

Missionary work can be the most humbling job on earth. Every day, you receive new little reminders of how you're not that great; or even if you think you really are, how no one else seems to see it. :) (Why?! haha) Every day you make language or cultural bloopers; people in your host culture don't know about or appreciate the gifts you had that were appreciated in America. They're not only not grateful that you've given your life to them, but also seem everlastingly stymied at your purpose for being there. (And we haven't even begun to explain homeschooling yet.)

And your churches in America have changed so much. People who cheered when their church took you on for support have moved or grown up or fallen away or died, and you've been forgotten by some. People who stroked your ego in the past about how gifted you were and how you would change the world are now quiet, outside of a soft question--"How's it going? How's the church?"

How to answer? It's really the same...or a little better...maybe worse right now. Please don't think we don't like to be asked about our church. We do. We know you care if you ask! But we're thinking, and wondering if our old supporter and friend is thinking, "After 10 years...how's the church? When will it be done? Accomplished?" That's what we'd all like to know, right?

Seth and I joke that we're the Discount Missionaries. We are able to live in this area for 50-60% of the usual costs of missionaries in other areas. But sometimes we wonder if our churches feel the other way--like we're the Discount Missionaries in output. You get what you pay for, you know!

When we first came here, we had a 5-year, 10-year, and 20-year plan. Oh, the wonderful things we were going to do according to that plan. (Did anyone else have a Dr. Suess deja vu moment there? "Oh, the wonderful things Mr. Brown can do!")

Sometimes your disappointments can cause you to be disappointed in God Himself.
"God, I gave up my life for You. Now YOU'RE supposed to make me successful! I don't have the power to save, to convict, to draw men to myself!" What can we do when His hand does not save? And how we long to see true change, revival in people's hearts--the kind we've read about: the drunkard who sobered instantly and became a provider for his household; the seekers walking five miles to hear the Word. So when we aren't seeing those things, whose fault is it? Ours, God's, or the cultures? Or all of the above?

All this can be summarized in the question: Why is it so slow? Why is missionary work so slow?

I've got a few thoughts on why that is so.

First, why would we think that it would be quick? We come from a culture that increased its wealth and power over centuries because of a Biblical worldview. Why would we think that anything of value would come quickly without hard work? Our culture has become hasty with all of its technology and time-saving devices. We expect quick, well-done work.

But even in the States, you don't see too many churches experiencing explosive growth and revival. Most churches struggle to stay at about the same membership rate, fighting against attrition rates and love of this present world, trying to keep the youth, trying to encourage members to have a heart for evangelism--to get beyond needing marriage counseling and be able to have an outward focus.

Most church plants in the States take several years before they are self-supporting, even with all of the helps they receive through other Christian Americans who join their church to help start their membership or who help with advertising or come over to fill the pews or do music for a big-impressive kickoff Sunday service. Why would we expect things to move quicker in a place where there were no Christians whatsoever to hop over from a former church, where there is no Biblical worldview at all, and where literacy and education is lacking or under-valued?

If in the States, we're bemoaning the lack of passion for Christ and godliness in our youth groups, why would we think a church built on youth in Africa, youth who have no Christian parents and none of the advantages of those youth in American churches, would be doing better, just for one example?

Secondly, think of the nature of growth. Trees and men take twenty years to grow strong. The Bible describes our Christian life with pictures of growth: babies desire milk, so you should desire the Word; but when you grow strong, you are able to eat meat. A church will be similar, because a church is made up of all those people busy growing in the way the Bible describes. It takes time to grow.

In the States there are many godly men who serve the church as laymen without feeling called to the ministry. But on the mission field, it seems like you should grab the first male church member you get and throw him into the pastorate. "Lay hands suddenly on no man." On the mission field, in our eagerness to declare a church successfully planted, we put people into the ministry who would probably not have been considered worthy in the States. That doesn't necessarily mean they are unworthy. But even seminary training in the States takes 3-6 years, with the already-laid foundation of church background or at least a more Biblical worldview in the culture.

Think about how many youth recently left your church to go study at seminary in order to enter the ministry? If the percentage of people desiring the office of a pastor is small in the strongest Christian nation in the world, shouldn't we expect it to be MUCH harder to find a man fitting the qualifications of a pastor in a heathen culture? And that it would take MUCH more time to train him to be fit to lead a church in a very dark culture?

When I read of Paul's missionary journeys, I admit that I am baffled. He planted a church in three weeks (Thessalonica, Acts 17:1-2)?! How? But when I think about what the typical missionary in a pagan culture is up against, really, we should be amazed and encouraged at the evidence of the Holy Spirit's work. There have been true conversions, and it is those conversions that give us special strength and encouragement.

Brethren, pray for us. Satan's forces are strong, and the warriors for our side are few. In the next few weeks, I will share with you some of the verses that have been the most encouraging to us to persevere in the ministry--for 10 years! Praise Him.

Sustained Through Fear and Doubt by God's Grace

This week’s Missionary Monday is a guest post, an excerpt of some correspondence that my friend Jennifer McPhail, ministering in Cambodia, has had recently with her mother and sisters.  They enjoyed reading together One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp. Each person read the assigned chapter and then sent an email to the others with their thoughts so that they could discuss its contents with one another as they have time.  Jennifer was supposed to send her contribution but instead chose to express her heart to them about what God had been speaking to her about going to Ta Lo.   

“I have read the chapter, but now I have the beginnings of one of my "Ta Lo headaches" (We often return from Ta Lo with a terrible headache), so I do not promise to do well on book discussion.  Let me add that I am very thankful to have been to Ta Lo today.  In fact, I wanted to share about my day as it relates to Allison's talk about dwelling on worst-case scenarios.

I too have the curse of an over-active imagination.  Yesterday evening when Forrest called Poh about going out there for services today, Forrest was planning to go alone.  We've just recently had all this flooding, and along with the water comes increased snake activity on the remaining dry land.  Peht just recently killed a cobra that was after one of his small children.  So I was glad I wasn't going.  But then Poh's wife asked if I was coming this time, and Forrest asked me if I would.  Both of us have been sick, and with his trip to Phnom Penh (this past week) and the Carlyles coming in tomorrow (returning from furlough), I asked if we could take the truck in, if he thought it would make it.  He did, and so I made plans to take the whole family to Ta Lo.  I know now I must have had some trepidation last night, because I woke up with fear this morning.

My fears were of a number of dangers, but mainly snakes.  And I had unreasonable fear about Sierra and the water or the snakes.  I tried to think how I could stay home or leave them here, but I knew they needed to be with mom and dad on this day and not home alone.  I wrestled and prayed desperately, "Lord, I know this fear is not from you.  I can't control it, and I am going to read my Bible now, but I don't know how it is going to help, since I am reading in Job, Ezekiel, and Revelation!"  I am in the middle of all of these books, so I kind of know the themes, and I couldn't think how God could speak to my need through this.  I started with Revelation 13, since I usually start in the NT.  Verse 10 says,

If anyone is to be taken captive, into captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain.

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

I was bowled over!  This passage is in reference to the saints that will be conquered and martyred by the Beast and the False Prophet, but it sounds like it is an encouragement of a sort that if God plans for one of them to be imprisoned or die a certain way, they shouldn't try to escape it.  Instead, endure and have faith! 

It is so obscure and bizarre, but God used this to help me today, and I wanted to share!  The day was not easy, but there were many answers to prayer.  I had to go to the market at 6:45, which is way earlier than a lot of things are usually available, but they had just the things I needed for a noodle stir-fry to take to Ta Lo.  The road was bad, but it was passable, and our 4-wheel drive worked great.  We had lots of family time in the car, and the kids were really into pointing out things to one another and being pleasant (for the most part). 

When we got to the part I was dreading, where we leave the car and walk in through the small lake, the water was lower than I was expecting, about three inches above my knee.  Forrest carried Sierra, and I carried our books and the food bag.  The other kids were troopers, and they just love that walk.  Sierra and I are always trailing way behind, but she loves to skip and stop to look at things.  I tried to look hard at the path but not fret about the tall grasses and rice beyond that.  We didn't meet any snakes, and all six of us got in and out without any leeches, either. 

I did, however, have a number of adventures.  First, it was great that I had brought food, since they didn't have any at home, and hadn't seen any of the itinerant sellers that go out to the "main" road where our car was.  They did kill a chicken, but it obviously wasn't truly ready for butchering and made for a scant soup made with green papaya.  So I used the skills I had learned over the weeks watching Teem and Panna cook for our in-between service meal.  I washed my spinach and made sure I poured the water from that washing into the dish pan.  I chopped my veggies and garlic and disposed of the scraps in the right place.  I used the right knife for the vegetable and the machete for the meat.  And then I went and washed the wok in the dishpan with my used veggie-wash water and a piece of mosquito net for a rag.  I set it on the three stones used for a fire pit, and Teem helped arrange the fire under it.  It was already started from the rice and then the soup cooking.  I got some oil from the "counter" made from the wood planks they are stockpiling to build a better house at some point.  And I cooked my part of the meal over the open fire, squatted down on my heels.  I got to talk to __ about her husband and his church discipline that started today.  He has been such a trial for her!  I told her about Granny (Jennifer’s grandmother was a godly woman who had suffered much from marital difficulties), and I also explained how church discipline helps a sinning believer and puts it all in God's hands and not ours, after we have fulfilled our part of trying to dissuade a brother from sinning. 

Then I noticed that three of my children were in the watering hole out behind the house!  They were so muddy, and they were having a blast!  I had to get more water to clean them off enough for the meal, and I felt bad about that.  Panna was feeling sick, and her baby was ill too, so I asked her what to do, and she had me serve the kids first.  One Khmer platform bed is under the lean-to of their one-room house, and the other is under the thatched kitchen roof.  The adults eat "in the kitchen," and the kids eat and have Sunday school on the bed by the house.  There are not enough dishes for everyone, so we eat in shifts, kids and then adults.  There are usually three glasses to drink out of, but today there were just two, so I am afraid one must have broken.  There are piglets and chickens and dogs and a cat all running around too.  It is a beautiful chaos!

After we ate, I skipped out on clean-up to go teach Sunday school.  Forrest had already taught one session mainly to Poh before we ate, and they would start the worship service whenever clean-up was done, regardless of whether our class was done yet.  Poh had the book since before the flooding, but he expects me to teach when I come out.  That is a little difficult, since I can't prepare the lessons.  So he told me what he taught last time, and I was to go on with Cain and Abel.  I was thinking hard and fast, and so it took me a minute to register when the adorable little guy to my left looked at me with big eyes and said, "Teacher, that's a scorpion on your arm!"  I scrambled around so fast I lost track of the little critter for a minute, and then when I tried to swat it with the lesson book, it went in between two of the planks of the bed platform, and I couldn't get it out.  I was VERY AWARE of my surroundings after that.  Thankfully, I did not get bitten, nor did anyone else.  The six little children out there are so precious, and my four mixed very well with them today.  They played the rest of the time after the lesson, while I went and joined the adults.  There were a couple unsaved people there today, and so much opportunity on every side.”  

How The Parable of the Sower Encourages Missionary Wives

Christian Clip Art

Missionary X in the Squeegie Islands announces an evangelistic film. To his happy surprise, so many people show up that they have to show the film outdoors, rigging a makeshift screen and loudspeakers. Missionary X reports that almost everyone in the village attended, and even the little children were mesmerized by the gospel message. Twenty-seven people accepted Christ as Savior when the invitation was given.*

Missionary Y in Pulsovia gives out thousands of gospel tracts. He sometimes sees people reading them, but he never gets a response. In Pulsovia, the people are mostly antireligious. They would not even go to a native religious meeting, let alone to a foreign “sect.” When Missionary Y held special meetings, he couldn’t even get all of his saved church members to come, let alone those friends he personally invited. No one ever came from the neighborhood, even after the missionary gave out thousands of invitations.*

Missionary X and Missionary Y sent out prayer letters. They told what God was doing in their countries. Missionary Y eventually lost a few supporting churches because of his lack of “results.” His wife cried and prayed.

____________________________

And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold (Matthew 13:3-8).

You know this passage. Jesus is talking to His disciples, and He’s teaching them about the kingdom of God. The seed is the Word of God, and the ground is the heart of the hearer.

There are four kinds of ground: 

1. By the way side—The seed is snatched away. The hearer really never gets it. (verse 19)
2. Stony places—Something registers but is quickly “scorched.” I don’t think this person is really saved, since the Bible says the Word doesn’t really take root. Whatever the case, at the beginning, he seems receptive and then gives up. (verses 20-21)
3. Among thorns—This person hears, seems to grow some, but then the new plant gets “choked.” It’s debatable whether he is really saved or not. It seems he has some root, since he grows, but when the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word . . . he becometh unfruitful (verse 22). Colossians 1:6 seems to indicate that all believers bring forth some fruit, so I have my doubts that this person really believed.
4. Good ground—The gospel takes root, grows, flourishes, and the believer brings forth fruit in differing amounts. (verses 22-23) Notice the amounts here: one hundred, sixty, and thirty times.

_______________________________

The sower represents your husband, you, and any of your children old enough to sow along with you. You sow the Word of God, specifically the wonderful gospel. You spread the seed. It lands as it’s thrown. The seed is all good seed. But the kinds of ground are different.

Some husbands are Missionary Xes. They announce a special service, and the church is packed, so packed that some are standing in the back or sitting in the windows. Many people respond to the gospel and are genuinely saved.

Your church’s challenge is to disciple all of these people, to help them grow and bear fruit for the Lord, to train them to be mature Christians and to be in the Word for themselves. (For some of you, training them begins with teaching them to read, then to study.) You are seeing lots of results. Praise the Lord! But, you also have added challenges—many people to train and disciple, most of them with little background in the Bible and with little schooling. And, you, the missionary wife, feel overwhelmed, because the majority of these new believers are women and children.

Some husbands are Missionary Ys. They sow faithfully, preach faithfully, and pastor faithfully. They may lead someone to the Lord every two or three years. From time to time, they have the privilege to baptize a new believer. They teach, mentor, and disciple.

There still aren’t any men in your congregation who could take over a service. There are very few men who could be qualified for the pastoral ministry, due to their backstories. You’re the wife who cries and prays for your beloved Missionary Y, that he won’t get weary in well doing.

You’ve seen thorny Christians who gave up, unbelievers who listen, and some people who don’t. You’ve been there for those that disappoint you. You’ve been bad-mouthed by people you thought were friends. You have watched the Star Missionaries be praised and get all the publicity while the Plodding Missionaries weren’t recognized by anybody (but God). You’ve watched from the sidelines and cried and prayed.

Here’s some encouragement from the Parable of the Sower: 

• Along every path, there’s some good ground. Whether it looks like you’re doing major reaping or not, there is some. And, it will, in God’s time, produce fruit.
• If you’re Missionary X’s wife or Missionary Y’s wife (or someone in between), God is doing a work through your husband. You can get behind him because he’s doing God’s work. He’s sowing and he’s reaping. You are helping, even when you cry for him and pray for him—especially when you pray for him.
• Pioneer works will usually look like Missionary Y’s. More mature works—second generation or third—will look like Missionary X’s.

I remember reading Valente Hernandez’ book about the pioneer missionaries in Mexico in the 1950s.** They had a hard time. They were persecuted, and some were martyred. Today, Mexico is a missionary-sending country. Oh yes, there are some areas that haven’t yet been reached, but overall, the gospel seed has taken root and had time to grow. There are mature churches and several excellent Bible colleges. Mexican missionaries are all over the world.

In other countries, the gospel seed is being sown for the first time. It will take years for saved people to grow and mature. Probably with their children, we’ll see church leadership, and if Jesus tarries, those churches will eventually send out missionaries.

Let’s make an effort to understand the ground where we minister. Trust the Lord for some good ground and some fruit. Let’s get behind our husbands, helping and encouraging them in sowing the Precious Seed.

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?

Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields;

for they are white already to harvest.

And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal:

that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth (John 4:35-37).

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*Completely made-up scenarios. Although representative, they do not depict anyone I know. The “countries” are also fictitious.

** Martyred in Mexico. (Spanish, Mártirizado en México.) The Christian film, No Greater Love, is based on Mr. Hernandez’ book.