Category: Motivation for Missions

A few months ago, I read a blog in which some missionaries were talking about a difficult event that occurred with their children. In the comments on that post, a woman wrote something to the effect of: “If you have young children, it is clear: God has not called you to missions.” I was not really surprised. People have asked us questions about our children throughout the years that belied the same assumption: missionaries are unable to keep their children safe on the mission field. I have found that the main reason people do not consider missions is because of…

I recently had a chance to address students at a missionary training school. It was exciting to see their expectation and joy at the thought of ministering to unreached people groups around the world. I can remember the buzz of expectation mixed with the anxiety of trying something new. Many of them are not sure what continent they will be living on two years from now, let alone what language they will be speaking, or food they will be eating. Spending time with them was fun and inspiring. Into this context I was asked to talk about our mission agency,…

I have talked to many young women about coming to Cameroon for a year on a short-term trip and, without fail, one of the first questions they have for me is about the state of the local church among the Kwakum. They are curious about what kind of spiritual resources and accountability will be available to them if they were to come. In our circles, there is, rightly, a huge emphasis on the role of the local church in the life of the believer. There are no “lone ranger” Christians – we are part of a body. We are “living…

I have had numerous conversations with single Christians, wondering if their standards for the ideal spouse were too high. Perhaps, they thought, they just need to bite the bullet and settle for that less-than-ideal guy. What’s funny is I have also heard Christians speaking the same way about missions teams and organizations. In some ways, joining with a missionary team is even more sober than deciding who one will marry. The typical married couples in the States will not have to endure the same kinds of stressors that are put upon missionary colleagues. Missionary teams plant churches together, make translation…

Understanding Scripture in a language other than the heart language in which we think and experience emotion is like trying to eat soup with a fork. You can get a little taste, but you cannot get nourished. William Cameron Townsend  William Cameron Townsend, or Cam, was one of the most influential missions leaders in the last two centuries. He founded three organizations: Wycliffe Bible Translators, the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), and the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service (JAARS). These three have the purpose of promoting Bible translation among minority language groups.  His Life Cam Townsand was born in 1896…

My father-in-law recently mailed us a book called From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya: A Biographical History of Christian Missions. As I have been reading this book, I have at times been inspired, encouraged and renewed in my missionary zeal. But, honestly, more often than not, I have been a little scandalized by the failures of those who have gone before me in missions. In a sense, I feel like this book is throwing mud on my heroes. Here are a couple of examples: William CareyWilliam Carey, a famous missionary to India in the 1800s labored for 7 years before seeing…

I recently read a great article put out by our missions agency, World Team, and it inspired me to think through the following scenarios… Imagine two pairs of Christian parents daily loving their children and presenting Christ in word and deed. In God’s mercy, one group of parents receives the joy of seeing their children worship and serve Jesus. The other couple witnesses their children go from hard to harder as the years go by. The couple with the believing children are sought after for parenting advice while the other mother and father are considered a little suspect. Along the…

While it is true that there are various aspects of missionary life that prove to be difficult, there are also so many reasons why I just love my “job.” Let me share a couple of my favorites: 1. Conversations are never boring when you are having them in your 3rd language. If you are trying to have a conversation in your third language, the mental gymnastics that you are doing prevents you from ever getting bored regardless of who you are talking to. Plus, you never know what is going to come out of your own mouth, which keeps things…

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.” – Luke 6:20-26 We have at times been asked (and wondered ourselves) why we would choose to work with a minority people group when we could work with those who would be more likely to have a world-wide impact. The thinking is that if a Bakoum person comes to know Christ, he may be instrumental for the Kingdom among those who are in his village, but he will likely never travel nor write anything that could influence the masses. Conversely, if those who speak languages of wider communication…