Leadership with Vision

Actual complaints from a disgruntled Peruvian. The following statements are not necessarily true. The pastor who wrote this just wanted to cause trouble and was not good Christian however I believe that we can see a few things here that we might be careful about in our own ministries. Never saw the missionaries passing out tracts, visiting mission works etc. Heard the missionaries preaching warmed over messages. Saw a lack of evangelism and discipleship performed by the missionary. Missionaries gossip about their workers. There were racist tendencies. This was due to the fact that the missionary does not believe in interracial marriage. Did not explain tithing to the people. In other words the missionaries want the people to tithe but they don’t practice it themselves. The reason is many times that they send it to their home church but the people don’t understand. We need to let them know how we are participating in the work of God financially in our area. They won’t do what you teach but what you do. Another problem is that missionaries are famous for paying all the bills and never teaching the people to tithe and carry their own responsibility. In Peru many pastors will say that they do not want to pastor a church where the missionary has been because he will not have taught the people to tithe, care for their pastor, give to missions, etc. If God is really with the missionary why is there no success in his work. Advice from a Latin American Below you will find the counsel given by Emilio A. Núñez C. and a group of his former students at the Central American Theological Seminary in Guatemala. I do not necessarily agree with everyone but since they were each stated by nationals I believe that they deserve your careful consideration. SUGGESTIONS FOR NEW MISSIONARIES AND THEIR ADAPTATION TO LATIN AMERICA 1. Remove from your head your great American ideas of how things should be done here. 2. Do not think you have come to work with uncivilized people. 3. Do not teach so much theory, but practice your teaching in your life. Show us how it works in real life as you model the truth. 4. Read about Latin America and my country. Find out who our best authors are. 5. Have more contact with the people, not only in the churches but in your social life. 6. Live at an adequate level, neither too high above us nor too low below us. Adapt your life-style to the people with whom you work. 7. Do not talk in English when there are people present who do not understand it. This is rude on your part, and we tend to suspect that you are talking about us. 8. Do not impose your American customs on us or belittle ours. Do not try to make us into little North Americans. 9. Do something to meet the social needs of our people, whether it be literacy, relief, or development projects. 10. Do not feel that you are superior to me. We can sense pride even in small amounts. You came to serve in humility, and it is best that you not compare cultures, trying to prove yours is better. 11. Show love to people as you do in your country, and then learn how we do it here. 12. Learn our language well: our sayings and proverbs, our youth slang (if appropriate), our subjunctive, our regional and national accents. 13. Try to learn our language so well that you speak without a foreign accent. 14. Read about our continental and national heroes: Bolivar, Miranda, Juárez, San Martín, and others. 15. Be willing to accept our suggestions. That may hurt, but we want to help. You have to accept them with humility. Learn the meaning of Proverbs 27:6 and 17. Proverbs 27:6 Faithful [are] the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy [are] deceitful. Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. 16. Watch the way you speak to us. We are very sensitive to the tone of voice and the choice of words.

Subscribe to the missionary lady's blog at Women Behind the Scenes This is an interview with the two ladies that started the blog. You will enjoy hearing from them!

This is an interview with Jim Roberts, missionary to India. His web site is Come and See India! If you would like more information go there. You can also email Jim at jimroberts423@gmail.com

Look at things like they do. They aren’t strange or new--you are. Do work on the language. It is an insult to the people if you do not think that they are important enough for you to be constantly working on the language. Allow them to correct you. Invite them to do so and then thank them profusely when they do! Do not over compensate with your family due to the fears that you have living in a new country. In other words you should spend time with your family and you should love them but they should not be an excuse not to spend time with the people, the church, the language, etc. Do not hire a national to do your work and then take the credit for what he does. He soon figures it out and it will really hurt your relationship with the people. National pastors have complained many times about the rich missionaries that can hire workers and then get all the credit through their slide shows. Make friends of the people. Your best friends will now be those that you live and work with. Do not live in the USA and just work four year terms on the field. You should determine to live in your country and visit the US. Home is your new country. If you moved to another area to pastor you wouldn’t still live in Atlanta even in your heart. Your new town becomes your home. Be ready to preach no matter what it cost you. Do not make excuses, just preach. Practice will make you much better. Even if you are helps missionary the folks will not understand why you do not want to preach, witness etc. You may be afraid that it won’t be good enough but I promise you that they will want you to try. Do not hide out in your home and build your own little world or island in your new country. Get out with the folks. Have them in. Allow your children to play with the national kids. Do not be paranoid about your new country. Your children will not be happy if they can not have good friends. Let them have them over for the night and vice a versa. Do not take pictures of the other guy’s work as though it were yours. Even in language school you need to mix with nationals and develop friendships with them. Do not wait until you are perfect in the language to preach or teach. Just be willing to allow them to correct you. Be sure to ask them to correct you and thank them every time telling them how much you need their help. Teach them to do all that any good Christian should do in the States. Do not think of them as children who can’t. Do not think of them as less than you are. Teach them to tithe, give to missions, be separated, win souls, walk with God and all that any good Christian would do. Reproduce yourself. Do not be guilty of doing it all yourself. Many times the missionary doesn’t trust the people and for that reason he does not prepare leadership in the local church. When he leaves the mission church will not be able to stand. Adapt yourself to their culture. Learn to think like them. Get up like they do. Greet folks like they do. You need to feel comfortable with the people. There will be things that you need to change in their culture due to the fact that it is wrong but other than that be one of them. How do you feel about all the foreigners in the US that want to keep their own language etc.? Learn to love the country and the people so much that you can say what my daughter, Stephanie, said in some of her homework that she turned in for the “Institute of Foreign Mission Studies” “.Reverse culture shock is the trying to become accustomed to the home country after living in a foreign country for several years. I would say that the hardest part for me is being away from my true friends and not being involved in the ministry; I feel pretty useless. I want to go home.” Please excuse another quote from Stephanie, but from an MK’s point of view here is how you learn the language: “Learning a foreign language isn't just grammar and study,

Attitudes Our attitudes are revealed by the little things we do for people: the little gestures that cost us almost nothing. They are revealed in our interest in the people, our entering into their joys and sorrows. They are revealed above all in our love for them. It is not our skill in the language or our competence in our work that is going to win their heart: it is our attitude, especially our attitude of love, that is going to influence them. On the other hand, it is our bad attitudes that are going to repel them: our inconsiderateness, our condescension, our criticalness, our indifference. Such attitudes will neutralize months of ministry. “The single most important area of your life and ministry will be in the realm of attitudes.” 1. We are guests Have the attitude that we are a guest in their country. Guests are reserved, grateful, and discreet. Guests are dependent on their host for many things. Guests honor, not denigrate, their host. Too often missionaries have acted as if they were school masters and the nationals were children. 2. Respect Love is not enough, we must learn to respect them. It is not difficult to respect them if we look for their many good points. They usually have high standards of morality and social standards. They are courteous, they respect their elders, value family, are loyal to their community. Their endurance, hospitality, and friendliness put Americans to shame They have high aspirations for their future just as we do. Another way to develop respect for them is putting ourselves in their place. Why do they do the things that they do? Could we do things better? Often not. Why do the nationals react the way they do? Can you imagine what the loss of a buffalo or goat could mean to a very poor farmer? 3. Build trust. Is what I am doing, thinking, or saying building trust or is it undermining trust? Learn to accept others. It is not long before the nationals begin to realize that they are not welcome in the missionary’s home. Just remember they are not inferior or less valid-- just different. “It is not difficult for others to discern whether or not the missionaries accept them as persons. Their attitudes and actions soon give them away.” 4. Empathy is a crucial attitude that will allow the missionary to truly enter into the lives and feelings of the people as an equal and as a friend. 5. The only way to achieve this love and respect is to pray for it. It is not something that I can do but what He does in me. I need the Holy Spirit to love through me. 6. Be careful not to have the attitude of paternalism and superiority. First, it is a manifestation of pride. Second, it lowers the person towards whom it is directed. Third, it prevents that person from developing. We must remember that we are but unworthy servants and that all we have is of God. That we are merely beggars showing other beggars where to find bread then the paternalism issue will largely disappear. The thing that the missionary must remember is that he is a representative of Christ, not an advocate of his home culture. “It is very easy for Western missionaries to adopt an attitude that communicates the feeling that the way we do things here at home is the right and proper way to do so, whatever it maybe.” The other error is to refuse to see anything wrong with the host culture and we treat them like spoiled children. We must speak the truth in love. We need to show them a natural respect based on mutual understanding. No pampering, no patronizing, the nationals are our equal just treat them naturally. E. Some do’s and don’ts 1. Do not treat their church any differently than you would a church in the United States. Their church is just as good, and many times much more spiritual than a church in the US... 2. Don’t treat national pastors any differently than you would a pastor in the United States 3.

Bonding or Belonging. These two words talk about a further step in our becoming a part of their society. I want to bond with them like I did with my own family. I want to belong. I do not want to be a stranger, a pilgrim. It is difficult to be like them. I speak a different language. I am a different color, a different size, I have a different past, a different level of living. I must work at being one of them. Definitions: Bonding is the development of a close relationship between family members or friends Belonging is having a close relationship; familiarity; camaraderie [a feeling of belonging] Plunge right in! Your first few days among the target people can determine the course of your ministry for years to come. The way you spend your first couple of weeks in your new country is of critical importance (if you are to establish a sense of belonging with the local people). Better to plunge right in and experience life from the insider’s perspective. Live with the people, worship with them, go shopping with them, and use their public transportation. From the very first day it is important to develop many meaningful relationships with local people . The new-comer should communicate early his needs and desire to be a learner. People help people who are in need. Then when potentially stressful situations come up he can, as a learner, secure help, answers or insight from these insiders. Getting outsiders to answer insider questions will only alienate you from the people. The individual who hopes to enter another culture in a gradual way will probably fail to do so, and he may never enjoy the experience of belonging to the people or having them care for him. Immerse yourself! It is very important that from your first day you immerse yourself in the life of your new community. You should worship with the people. You should develop local friendships, which is essential for feeling at home. This is the secret to the rapid growth of the Mormons around the world. The rapid international expansion of Mormonism is virtually all being carried out by short termers; most of whom immediately move in with a local family and become belongers in the community. You will read that in many places the missionaries who learn the language best are Mormons and they are only in the country for two years.5 Become bicultural! You will be neither totally American nor totally of your new country. The moment we got saved we received a new citizenship in heaven. Now we are called upon to enter into a new culture. We must become “one of them”. Bonding and going native are not the same thing. Going native generally implies the rejection of one’s first culture. A reaction which is seldom seen and may not be possible for emotionally stable individuals. Nor is being bicultural the same as schizophrenic. The schizophrenic is a broken fragmented self. The bicultural person is developing a new self, a new personality.6 I suggest that you take on an insider’s name. Take a name that fits in the country where you are. It will be the new you. The you that is neither American nor fully “national”. This will say, I live here, I want to be recognized as one of you. For most North American missionaries North America is home but you must develop a different attitude. Live in your new country; make it your home. Visit America every fifth year. It will change all of your attitudes. The problem is that when normal bonding is not established, rejection of the people or even abuse can occur. It is often reflected in the attitude behind statements like, “Oh these people!” “Why do they always do things this way?” “Somebody ought to teach them how to live.” “Won’t these people ever learn?” There is nothing sadder to see than a missionary who is not comfortable with the people. Let me be quick to add that many missionaries are not happy. They hide out in their houses,

You will find the audio to this podcast below. I hope that it will be a blessing to you. I do hope that you will comment. Let me know what you think. Let's talk! Relations with nationals Maybe the most important aspect of our work as missionaries, outside of the strictly spiritual realm, is that of our relationship with nationals. So many good men and women go to the field and do not accomplish what they could, even though they are very well trained and prepared for the work. It is not enough to have a good education or to be a spiritual man of God. You must also know how to relate to people. You are the visitor to their country. You must learn to think in terms of how they view things and not what you like or want. We must learn to identify ourselves with them. A. Identification: In order to have an effective cross cultural ministry, missionaries must first of all be students of culture--in other words, the way a particular people organize their world. Culture is an integrated system of beliefs (about God or reality or ultimate meaning) of values (about what is true, good, beautiful, normative), of customs (how to behave, relate to others, talk, pray, dress, work, play, trade, farm, eat, etc.), and of institutions which express these beliefs, values, and customs (government, law courts, temples, or churches, family, schools, hospitals, factories, shops, unions, clubs, etc.), which binds a society together and gives it a sense of identity, dignity, security, and continuity. Effective missionaries identify with the culture. Through intimate knowledge of the people, missionaries see the world as the people see it, and experience life as they do. We have no better example of this identification than Jesus Christ himself. He left his home in glory to become a vulnerable, dependent, human infant. He knew hunger and thirst, poverty and oppression. He experienced rejection, anger, and loss. He wept. His experience of human nature gave him a tremendous insight that he manifested in his earthly sojourn and provided a relational platform for a powerful ministry. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. Hebrew 2:17 1. The example of Jesus2! And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14 Notice how Jesus in His incarnation identified with the people He wanted to reach. He became like those He had come to reach but without sin. A. Jesus came as a helpless infant. He did not come as a leader, teacher, expert or even as a visitor from a superior or dominant culture. If we desire to reach them we must not come in as the big shot. B. Jesus was a learner. He learned the language from his parents. He learned how to play with his peers. He, the very Son of God, was sitting in the temple “asking questions.” What a profound lesson for us. Will you be willing to approach your new people as a learner? Will you humble yourself enough to allow them to correct you? And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. Luke 2:46 God himself studied the language, the culture, and the lifestyles of his people for thirty years before he began his ministry. He knew about their family life and problems. He stood at their side as a learner and as a coworker. He earned their respect. He identified himself totally with those to whom he was sent, calling himself the Son of man. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. Luke 2:52 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation,

I hope this podcast is of some use to my friends, both of you! I just shared some thoughts on how we train leaders. How to Train Leaders The greatest failure in leaving indigenous churches on the field, is not the investing of so many funds, it is not the lack of language ability by the missionary, it is the misunderstanding of the goal of our ministry. Missionaries go as soul winners, and they can win many souls to Christ, but winning people to Christ and getting professions of faith does not necessarily mean that they will congregate in the local church. Others would say, “It is my job to plant a Church,” they will get a piece of land, build a building, get a crowd together, and even train them in how to have a church, but they will get caught up in the mechanics and day to day activities and not be able to find a national pastor to take over the work. Many well meaning Christians go to the mission field on short term trips, they boast on great numbers of professions of faith, they even boast with how many churches they have started, but the great lack are men of God capable of leading the church, so the question must be, “What is the missing ingredient in leaving indigenous churches?” It is often stated that the problem is the amount of money from America that causes such great dependence, but the truth is that there is a vacuum of leadership. Most missionaries start with a pastor mentality instead of a missionary mentality, although all missionaries will have to pastor the church, the real missionary will pastor as a means to an end, he only pastors as he prepares leaders The best example of all is that of Jesus Christ the greatest missionary who ever lived. First he prayed a long time before choosing who he would train. Luke 6:12 Ask God for a band of men I Samuel 10:26 Start praying as of right now for the man to train It took Jesus all night in prayer so you can expect it to take a while He chose these men to be with him Mark 3:14. He spent much more of his time with the leaders than regular people Matthew 13:10-17, 36. 80–20% principle. He had them put the theory into practice while He was still here to correct and guide them. Luke 10:1, 17; 8:22, 25, John 6:6 It was obvious that they had been with him. Acts 4:13 Paul realized that as he trained men there were deficiencies that he had to be correcting Titus 1:5 It is more caught than taught. They learn from watching us. I Corinthians 16:10-11, 4:17 It is essential that a missionary learn that his job is to train to do the work and not to do the work. Ephesians 4:11-16. Gifted people were given to the church to train the people or perfect them to do the work of the ministry that the body might be edified The missionary should teach them everything that he can. Acts 20:27, Matthew 28:19-20 Decide now what your goal is as a missionary. Without the right goal you will never accomplish what your heart desires After prayer the next step is to choose the right person to train. II Timothy 2:2 The one you train to lead must be faithful Every new believer should be placed immediately in a discipleship program so that everyone is either discipling or being discipled. Those who grow and mature are the ones you begin to consider for further leadership training. Watch their attitude during the services See how much they want to be a part Be sure he is capable enough to teach and train others also. Be on the lookout for men Ask God for a band of men whose hearts he has touched. I Samuel 10:26 Be on the lookout for men that you can call to yourself and train. I Samuel 14:52 Change your attitude about nationals. Remember you get what you expect They will never rise higher than what you expect of them. Get rid of all negative attitudes No one else can do it as well as I can! It takes longer to train them than it does to just do it! They will never do it as well as we can!

This will greatly improve when Beau and Trent get through with it. I will repost it then. But this is the first attempt at a podcast. I would like your opinions and comments below. It will become available on itunes when Trent gets through with it. I also plan on getting a web site done with each podcast that will include links that I mention. first podcast Sign up for the Summit here. Vision Baptist Church Vision Baptist Missions. Please tell me what you think. I know that I can improve this but will need your help! ---------------------------------------- Update: The podcast is now available on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-with-vision/id581439631