REACHGLOBAL LINK EVALUATION

In February 2010 we revised ReachGlobal Link, changing the name, adding a blog site, and attempting to make it more interactive and more of a connecting piece. So how are we doing? We would like to have your evaluations. We have listed three questions to which you may respond.
Thank you for taking time to send us your observations. Have a great New Year!

1. How often are you reading ReachGlobal Link: every issue/month, on occasion, not at all?
2. What kind of information are you finding helpful?
3. Tell us what improvements you would like to see in ReachGlobal Link:
4. Other comments:
Send your response to: connect@efca.org

Missional Partnerships: New Approach

by Raymond Chang

One of the exciting opportunities in global evangelism is how much smaller the world has become. With access to internet and satellite TV, we can be living in one country and enjoying the television shows or newspapers of our home town. To emphasize the classic Disney song, “It’s a small world after all.” With the world becoming smaller and smaller, missions doesn’t seem like some distant remote location, rather it is something that can be very close to home. As a pastor of a local church who is beginning the journey of connecting the global to the local or “glocal” as Bob Roberts calls it, I’m excited about the opportunity to make the connection between the overseas culture to our local culture.

Sadly, there has been a disconnect between our approach to short-term missions and the local church. I was at a missions forum where a professor at Trinity International University mentioned that short-term trips may have no correlation to the people group of the local community. A group to which he referred traveled to Mexico, but there was very little missions done with the local, Spanish-speaking people in their own community.

As part of our training and global effectiveness, our church has decided to make it an intentional process to tie our mission trips to the people group we are reaching. We will take two trips to Vietnam, in January and June. We have recruited local Vietnamese-Americans to help us, but we will also partner with local Vietnamese churches. Our goal is to be involved in both places.

As part of your role in the field, one question to ask is, “How can we help churches develop better partnerships within their own context, and then make the tie with the work abroad?”

Some quick ideas to consider:
1) Vision Trip Abroad Begins at Home
2) Local – Global Connection
3) Church Planting for People Groups in the U.S. (Reverse Planting)

As I think through partnerships, I’m so thankful for my partnerships overseas. Now if we can start at home.

Question: How is your church connecting the local to the global? Post a comment or question.

ORALITY – speaking truth to the masses

By Steve & Carol, Bruce Renich, and Michael Sheldon

For millions of people – including many in North America – spoken language (orality) still trumps the written word in everyday life. Missionaries around the world are finding new opportunities to use orality as their primary means to share the gospel, as the following anecdotes attest:

From Africa - Steve & Carol
Books are not the primary source of new input for the Congolese and Tanzanians with whom I’ve lived most of my life. That’s not a big surprise, because tribal people maintain and communicate their history and lore through orality-- that is, through stories, songs and poetry.

So almost 20 years ago, we left the comfort of our linear, propositional gospel presentations and turned to narrating the story of God and man (starting with creation and progressing chronologically to Jesus’ ascension). The results? A biblical worldview, faith in Jesus and clarity of doctrine.

During our stateside home assignment another fact became evident: Books are no longer the primary source of news for Americans. As the flood of TV, movies and Internet moves people from literacy to orality, we’ve discovered that pastors, youth groups and home groups are turning to the Bible story as a means of presenting God’s truth.

Books are still with us. Our challenge is learning to speak “the language of story” to an oral world.

From Illinois - Bruce Renich
Last September, in a wild and remote part of Papua New Guinea, I had my first encounter with the orality method of teaching Scripture. John and Cheryl Fornelli (from the Evangelical Free Church in Naperville, IL) had trained a large group of pastors and teachers for seven weeks.

The word of God went like a bush fire around that district. Impressed by the results, I asked them to train a group of our church volunteers going to Kenya in July 2010.

This was taught with very positive results. One teacher was so excited with the method that he went home on the weekend and taught another Sunday school teacher all he had learned. This teacher joined us on Monday and had perfectly learned all the stories! The teachers there continue to work with this method with the word of God spreading rapidly everywhere.

From Oregon - Michael Sheldon
Staring at the confused teenaged faces caught us off guard.

“Who’s Jesus?” “God has a son?” “What is sin?” All legitimate questions, but when asked in rapid-fire succession, we were forced to rethink ministry.

This is the context in which the youth staff at Fellowship Bible Church had found itself— teens having no Biblical reference. Rather than bog them down with topical proof-texts, we agreed that we needed to start at the beginning and let God speak for himself.

God has been faithful. As we wrap up the first round, teens are curious about missions and leading narrations on their campuses.


Is your church or ministry using orality? If so, how and with whom? Post your comments or questions.

Together For Justice

By Jeanette Thomas

I’m a beginner on the road toward justice - working hard (and often succeeding little) in fleshing out the ways of Jesus in unique and varied contexts. But I’ve learned a few lessons I’d like to share.

Pressing toward Jesus and the Justice He so deeply loves:
1. God wants his people to be champions for justice—not just cheerleaders or donors. We shouldn’t be satisfied with merely giving to reputable organizations or applauding from the sidelines. We ought to be in and among the contexts where God has called us to minister. As God’s people, we’ve been invited “on stage” in some way. How might we be better informed? How might we ourselves be active in advocating for justice or this (just) cause?

2. Becoming a champion is a process; we should expect it to take some time and start with “the next step” we know. Do we need to become less insulated from injustice in our world? How might we do that? Who are the most vulnerable people in our city or in our daily lives? How will we remember them? Do we see and feel their pain?

3. Becoming a champion for justice is about following Jesus. What do the Scriptures have to say about justice—or specific (just) causes? Have we noticed the Biblical language and themes that should inform us?

4. As champions, we should notice how God’s “stream of justice” is already flowing in and through our friends and family, our congregation, and those we’re connected to in some way. How might we join in what God is already doing? Are we praying regularly that God will help us to “connect the dots”?

5. Growing as a follower of Jesus (and justice-champion) often involves a disorienting dilemma. Are we willing to place ourselves in uncomfortable situations? How are we stretching ourselves and reshaping our lives to pursue justice?

6. Action and Reflection work together to effectively create “justice champs.” What tangible experiences have we participated in, individually or corporately? Did we spend time reflecting on what God was doing in and through us? How could our Scripture reading this week lead us to pursue justice in a practical way? What’s one step we might take?

7. Authentic friendships make champions of justice. Have we gone beyond “working for justice” to actually befriending those suffering from injustice? Are we willing to lament with friends who suffer from injustice even if there’s nothing we can do to fix it? What would it look like to wait on a Messiah together?

What are your thoughts and questions?

Check out justice advocate Scott Lundeen’s phenomenal DVD series, entitled Urban Entry at http://www.urbanentry.org/Urban_Entry/Home.html—a great resource for suburban congregations.

Proclaiming Christ to the Unreached

by Steve Freeburne

At the World Balkan Mission Conference held recently in Macedonia Dr. Chris Gnanakan challenged 200 Balkan church leaders to consider the glory of declaring God's fame to nations still unreached. He noted that God is pouring out His grace all across the globe and He is raising up people to move when He moves and to act when He acts… For these indigenous workers it is a call to missions but for us in the West it is a call to change the way we have done missionary work. It is a reasonable call we have been given. It is a call to equipping and facilitating the sending of indigenous workers as missionaries to the unreached.

What does this mean for the missionary endeavors of our churches in the future?

1. Our churches could be more strategically focused on reaching specific areas of the world that are unreached. We need to move away from sending a little money to large numbers of missionaries and place more financial resources strategically where Christ is not known, proclaimed and honored.

2. Many churches among the unreached are struggling financially and spiritually. They need mature leaders to be mentors and materials in their own language that could help them grow spiritually. We need a fresh vision for coming along side these brothers and sisters in Christ for the purpose of building them up to live within their own culture in a Christ-like manner. The danger we must avoid is doing this in a way that makes the indigenous churches dependent upon outside funding. Therefore our strategic plan needs to have a way to overcome this issue.

3. Indigenous churches among unreached people groups also need a vision for equipping and sending their own. Our role should be one of facilitating the connection between the indigenous workers in the local churches and the indigenous movement agencies. Churches in the US should begin to strategically implement plans using our financial and human resources in this way among unreached groups where the gospel has just begun to penetrate the culture.

In light of these three things I would challenge us all to examine the priorities of our church’s missionary endeavors.

Fish Stories or Missions Partnerships?

By Roger Charles

Missions partnerships are a lot like fishing trips. Most of us are better at casting our own lines than pulling together on one net. Americans are notorious for our individualism and lack of cooperation inside and outside our normal ministry teams. Look at most of our short term trips and evangelistic outreaches. We gather a few friends, buy bait, and then spread out and do our own thing. No wonder we catch one or two fish, fry them up, then go home and tell lies.
Ok, maybe not lies. But some fishy stories.

I am just not seeing a whole lot of fish on the table. When Jesus called to his disciples to “cast the net on the other side,” the nets were breaking and extra boats were needed to pull in all the fish. We are busier “working with nationals,” more often overseas and more “connected” than any previous generation, but something is going wrong.

We often describe what we do overseas as “missions partnerships.” We confuse some shared vision or a joint activity, or some networking with a real partnership. Effective missions partnerships accomplish limited, concrete goals with a high sense of ownership, marked by appreciation of and mutual benefit from the strengths of each partner. Effective partnerships are deep relationships. They are built on carefully laid foundations, and all partners gain and spend the coin of trust month by month as peers become friends, friends become learners, and learners dream dreams together. Eventually they decide to formally partner together to accomplish some greater things that they could not do alone.

ReachGlobal is helping churches develop long term relationships with each other in numerous areas of the world, including specific ministries in Indonesia. These may begin with a vision trip of key leaders to several ministry locations in the field. Three churches might decide to partner with a Bible school in South Sumatra, to provide two teachers once a quarter. They posture themselves as learners, let locals teach them a new topic about the ministry each time they send a team, and then take this lesson back home to other churches. Relationship deepens as meals together, joint prayer, and trust in the Spirit’s clear leading begin to be the norm. Deeper discussions eventually surface some bigger needs, and enough trust is present to tackle something larger, like developing a training center away from the main campus for bi-vocational church planters. But these large goals are built on the trust and mutual sharing of resources and gifted people by very different entities who are secure in being themselves while learning to work with others.

Let’s move beyond busyness and program and return to relationship based ministry, practicing real community across cultural and organizational boundaries. Growing effective missions partnerships takes time, but deep relationships honor God, model love, deepen cultural understanding and bring in whole boatloads of fish.

So how is that partnership thing working for you? Interact with your peers on this crucial issue by posting comments and questions to Roger’s article.

Healthy Missions Partnerships

From Healthy Missions Partnership, an online course created by EFCA CONNECT and EFCA EQUIP. Co-creators: Roger Dorris and Andy Krause.

An important and growing trend in global missions is the formation of cross-cultural partnerships among churches. In a healthy partnership, there is interdependence between partners, each retaining its own identity. Three key points are:

1. Partnership is not a merger or acquisition.
2. Differences in history and culture deserve respect.
3. Each partner has "ownership" through the stages of planning, operation and celebration.

In years past it was tempting for Western churches and organizations to "run the show" with missions initiatives in non-Western nations. Making matters worse, the national bodies often acquiesced to that Western dominance. But now in a different day and age, when capable national leadership is found in many locations, the temptation is sometimes reversed. Western partners may so desire for nationals to take the lead, that their own priorities get lost in the national church/organization's initiatives. Both of these extremes are unhealthy, and care is needed to avoid them.

Put in positive terms, each partner needs to retain its own identity and core values. If an American body connects with, say, a Chinese partner on Chinese soil, the American body is still American and can rightfully rejoice in its culture, heritage and way of doing things just as the Chinese partner can and should do so. True, Paul exhorted us to become all things to all men that we might save some, but that principle applies to situations with non-believers. As we partner with Christian churches and organizations we do not have to give up all of our organizational or cultural identities. God has given us those identities for good reasons and we can celebrate our diversity among partners with differing backgrounds. Mutual submission is one thing, but sacrificing our identity and core values (effectively a merger) is altogether different. Care needs to be exercised so that each partner owns the partnership's vision, goals and objectives throughout the stages of the partnership.

How is your church doing at developing partnerships with national Christians overseas? What advice do you have? What help do you need? Post your comments and questions for Roger, Andy and others.

Register for the next section of Healthy Missions Partnership at www.efca.org/equip/calendar or contact equip@efca.org for more information.

Sending healthy missionaries

by Greg Carter

Isaiah and Michele excitedly greet the pastor as they leave church on Sunday. "We've just been accepted by Totally Awesome Missions Agency to serve in Dogonistan," they say. "Our agency wants to make sure that we have our home church's support. Can we meet with you to learn what we need to do next?"

Hmmm, how much time do you have to figure this out?

The local church, in its calling to disciple Christians for effective living and serving, can have a significant impact on sending its own people to minister cross-culturally. Given enough advance warning of the interests of people like Isaiah nd Michele in the congregation, the local church can determine unique paths for individuals and couples as they sense God's call on their lives to serve Him in other settings.

Long before beginning to fill out the first application for a missions agency, there are issues in th areas of skill, knowledge and character where the local church can assist the potential missionary. The rigors of living in another culture, without the wealth and breadth of networks and systems that we enjoy here in the U.S., are taxing on even the most capable of people.

The astute church intentionally builds into its teens and adults the values and character that will serve them well in the setting where we pray that some will go: across cultures to serve as missionaries.

While missionary preparation may appear to be a formidable challenge, the local church can assemble the resources (personnel, experiences, reading and education) to give very credible training to its members who desire to go cross-culturally as healthy workers for the Kingdom. They will be both confident and capable as they serve with national believers in ways that develop and indigenous church.

Utilizing a mentoring approach, the local church invests in missions-inclined individuals and couples to develop competencies in building relationships while identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Within a context of trust, the discovery of areas of emotional baggage and dysfunctional practices can be addressed.

The church leaders and mentors will create opportunities to learn cultural sensitivity for service both inside and outside the church in leading ministry ventures. The development of habits that are part of spiritual formation to solidify the future missionary's understanding of her or his identity in Christ will also be included.

Imagine the joy of missions agencies that receive these kind of missionary candidates!

How does your church develop, empower and release healthy missionary candidates? What kind of assistance does your church need in doing this? Post your best practices, comments or questions for Greg and others here.

What is the value of a vision trip?

by Dan Wentworth

I was recently preparing for a vision trip to Brussels, Belgium, and then to Rome, Italy. A friend of mine who is a pastor at a different church asked me with obvious sarcasm, "How are you going to spin this one as ministry?"

It is my conviction that a vision trip needs no spin. I believe vision trips are not just legitimate mission trips but also that they play a vital role in your church’s overall mission strategy.

After completing a five-year partnership commitment in Brazil, our Global Outreach Team was uncertain as to whether or not we should continue sending teams to that South American country or put our resources elsewhere. After prayer and discussion, it was clear that the best way for us to investigate our next steps was a vision trip. So I headed to Brazil with another pastor from our church. We spent five days prayer walking, talking and meeting with the local missionaries. The result was that we would commit to partner with them for another five years, but this time our focus would be in major cities.

The results thus far have been very encouraging. Three teams have made the journey to Rio de Janeiro in the past two years with a fourth team organizing for this spring. We have done leadership training, Crown Financial Ministries training, as well as youth and children’s evangelism. The local churches we are working with have experienced significant new believer growth and have been greatly encouraged by our partnership in the gospel. Of course, as it always seems to be the case, we are blessed even more.

I consider the only spin needed for a vision trip is to explain why you are not taking one. It takes some effort and financial investment, but it is so worth it.

Proverbs 4:7 says: “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

So what would you like to know or share about vision trips? Post your comments or questions for Dan and others here.

Why are you here?

by Keith Carlson

Twenty-eight of us were sitting in an open-air lobby tired from a long day but full from a great meal, listening to the night sounds drifting up from the valley below, smelling the fresh air and flowers, and pondering the weighty question just asked. Matt Capehart, our missionary host in Chichicastenango, Guatemala (http://missionsfrontier.org/) had just asked, "Why are you here? For the amount of money you raised to come -- $52,000 between all of you -- I could have hired 50 Guatemalans who need the work to build a whole village, instead of the three homes you will build. So, why are you here?"

The pat answers to that question tend to be along the lines of transformation of the people who go and support for the missionaries visited. But does the data back that up? Are people's lives actually transformed long-term after going on a short-term trip? And are trips a value-add to the missionary, or a dreaded but necessary interruption? For the amount of money we spend on trips, we better figure out those answers.

We don't have all the answers yet, but for the 20+ trips we send from our church every year, we're trying to maximize their effectiveness:

• 95% of our trips are led by lay people, so assessing and training them is crucial, along with giving them great tools and resources to lead well. We will follow their passion.
• We develop long-term partnerships with ministries, so continuity, momentum and accountability is built in. Reciprocal relationships are a value for us.
• Adequate time to train the team before the trip is necessary. We mandate as many as six team meetings prior to the trip for bonding, conflict resolution, cultural awareness, spiritual preparation, details and commissioning.
• We are not doing as well at post-trip debriefing and follow-up. Ideally teams would meet several times after the trip to begin working out the long-term implications of the trip on their lives, and to hold each other accountable until the life-change sticks.
• We need to be ruthlessly honest about the American footprint we leave behind, and be open to feedback and critique until we leave no trace except the aroma of Christ.

One month after we arrived back from Guatemala, we were sitting in a spacious suburban living room. One 14 year-old boy reflected that he had never felt so useful as when he was working on the trip. A 60 year-old woman reflected that she was ready to learn Spanish and join her husband who was feeling called to retire and start serving the Latino population full-time. A young couple said they were ready to follow God even if it was uncomfortable and didn't make sense. And I was gaining more faith in the effectiveness of short-term trips.
What questions or comments about short-term missions trips (and short-term missions) come to mind as you reflect on Keith's article? Post your thoughts below.