Would Jesus take in Syrian refugees?

"Would Jesus take in Syrian refugees" was the provocative title of a recent Washington Post article and a question definitely worth wrestling with. There is a lot of buzz among politicians calling for the U.S. to stop receiving all Syrian refugees, all Muslim refugees, or all refugees period depending on the state you live in and many Christians tend to agree. ISIS with its evil ideology had a minor "win" in Paris, but they going to have a much greater "win" if this situation starts causing Christians to hate all Muslims, to be fearful of Syrians, to mistrust all immigrants' motives, to back away from compassion/mercy, and ultimately to focus on self rather than Christ.

I have seen people many people on social media quoting "be wise as serpents and innocent as doves"; "anyone who does not take care of their household is worse off than the pagans"; "but if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason"; and plenty of Old Testament references along the lines of "Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?" Many of these passages are being used to help people justify their position of not wanting any more foreigners coming into the country and some even advocate going back to Old Testament times or the Crusades to take out the enemy in this "holy war".

(actual picture making the rounds on social media by some Christians)

On the other side of the debate are the many verses along the lines of: "The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself" "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" "I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." "Mourn with those who mourn." The people sharing this perspective want to let compassion and love for the vulnerable trump their nationalism and to follow in the footsteps of Christ to love the "least of these".

So, what is a Christian to do? What do we do with this biblical tension of "Hate what is evil....cling to what is good"? What do I do as an American citizen whose first allegiance is to Christ and the kingdom of God before it is to my own country or political party? How do I hate the sin and love the sinner? How do I hold justice in one hand and mercy in the other? How can I tell if the motivation for the positions I am taking and my actions is "fear" or "wisdom/discernment"? Am I living for my safety and security or for God's name and His glory? Can I embrace foreigners and still be concerned for the well-being of my children and their children? Is it possible to hate ISIS ideology but love the people that have been deceived by it? What would Jesus do?

Mother Teresa's quote rings true biblically and seems true from experience as I have served the "least of these" in many countries. But then I turn on the news or see my social media feed saying not to be naive and comparing ISIS tactics to the trojan horse which will ultimately turn to the deconstruction of this country. Is that refugee "Jesus in disguise" or "ISIS in disguise"? I'm confused! I do know that I've been working with refugees for about six years now and know that the screening process is very thorough (see video below) and that not a single refugee in the entire 35 year history of the U.S. resettlement program has ever even been arrested for planning a domestic act of terrorism, much less indicted as such. I'm not advocating for naivety and agree that no one who poses a danger to the safety of a community should be given refugee status. But what if the best way for us to potentially help prevent another atrocity on American or European soil...whether it is a Columbine shooter or a suicide bomber.... is for the church in season and out of season to "love our neighbor" and "share Good News" with them.

Some argue we need to keep all the refugees out because we don't know which are the good ones and which are the bad ones. "If you had ten grapes and two of them were poisoned, would you eat any of them?" Makes sense, but I'm guessing the majority of the people using that logic probably love their right to bear arms and would push back on the people that say "we don't know which people are crazy and which ones aren't so no one should have guns". Let's continue to push for reform and debate on gun control and immigration but let's drop the blanket statements, generalizations, and everything that provokes fear and hate as there is no place for that in Jesus' kingdom. I'm going to take all of my mixed feelings and emotions on the topic and check them against Scripture to ask the Lord for his heart and guidance. It seems like a better use of time than the hours I have spent on social media and other news sources researching the topic. His Word is doing a better job of bringing comfort, peace, reality, and hope. It really is GOOD NEWS! Let's share it with others.

What is a Shema statement?

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [Deu 6:4 ESV]

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. [Deu 6:5 ESV]

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. [Deu 6:6 ESV]

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. [Deu 6:7 ESV]

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. [Deu 6:8 ESV]

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. [Deu 6:9 ESV]

This is the famous “shema statement” which is was one of the main recitation and meditations for Jews in the Old Testament.  Many Jews would pray this several times a day similar to how Muslims constantly pray and repeat “shahada”.  I was out sharing at Perspectives classes in Nebraska and started hanging out in this passage in Deuteronomy.  It gets back to basics, “love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul mind, and strength”.  Jesus said that this sums up the Old Testament (law).  What impresses me is how YHWH wanted his people to diligently teach this to their children, talk about it at home, when traveling, when waking up and when going to bed.  He wanted them to write it on their hand, between their eyes, and on their homes and gates.  What I took away from this is that we need to constantly be reminded of our mission “love God, love others” because it is so easy to get distracted and wrapped up in other missions and distracted by the things of this world.

I had never picked up on the verses that immediately follow the “shema”:

"And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you--with great and good cities that you did not build, [Deu 6:10 ESV]

and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant--and when you eat and are full, [Deu 6:11 ESV]

then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. [Deu 6:12 ESV]

It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. [Deu 6:13 ESV] 

Sounds a little bit like America....at least my upbringing in an upper-middle class Suburban family where I lived in "good cities", "good houses", had "good things", and could "eat and be full".  The politics, entertainment, money, technology, food, information, and busyness of this "promised land" are brutal to staying "on mission" and keeping God's glory at the forefront.  God told Israel that they needed to be reminded over and over to "put first things first" because they were about to go into the Promised Land where life would be easy...."lest you forget!"  I find it much easier to get distracted in the US than when I was serving in mountain villages in Mexico with slow internet, no cell phone, no TV, no kids soccer practice, no fill in the blank...  What will it look like in the 21st century for me to have the "shema" as a part of my morning, my evening, my family, my coming, my going, and my household?  What have you found to be helpful in living a "shema" lifestyle in a context of so many distractions?

Am I an unsung hero?

So, I was nominated for something called an Epoch award and as a part of the process, we are supposed to write a blog response.  Their website says "Epoch 2013 honors the unsung heroes; the people who cross the boulevard or the world to serve where poverty, drought, HIV/AIDS, sex trafficking, homelessness, and fear reign. For these heroes, this is more than planting churches and discipling– this is life."  They have chosen a few people from non-profits in Atlanta and others around the country and world to receive grants totaling $50k at a ceremony in October and it is an honor to be mentioned.

I kinda wish we at Global Frontier Missions would have been nominated as an organization rather than me as an individual.  Honestly, the "unsung heroes" that make our work awesome is every one on our full-time staff that raises their own support to do this type of work; our church planters who develop relationships for years sometimes before seeing spiritual fruit; our short-term teams that give up their spring break or holidays to come love on the strangers living among us; the summer interns that actually pay to come alongside of us to share the good news of the kingdom; the missionary training school students who sit in class all day, read books all week and still have the energy to take a refugee to the doctors office; the bivocational indigenous laborers that put in 12 hour days at the chicken factory and still have time to make disciples; the supporters that give faithfully every month so we can do what we do; the prayer warriors that do the true work of this ministry on their knees and in their closets with little to no recognition; our homeschooling moms raising up the next generation of disciples; our families that extend grace as we occasionally spend late nights responding to emails, skyping, counseling, leading Bible studies, pouring into short-term groups, and ministering to internationals; the new believers that we interact with that undergo persecution that we can never imagine; our guys that pioneer works in new locations and go through lots of spiritual warfare to to establish outposts of light.  Those are the folks that deserve a black tie event in my book!

So, I raise a glass to all of my GFM family and say congrats to all of us for the labor of love and race we have been running.  Let's persevere until the end where we will lay every award, nomination, compliment, accomplishment, fruit, etc. at the feet of Jesus since it all came from Him anyway as we all join the great worship service in Rev. 7:9,10 where every tribe, tongue, people, and nation will be fulfilling the purpose we were all created or -- experiencing and declaring His worth!  You guys are the best.

Fighting For God or God Fighting For Us: Which Is It?

I just received this from the Abandoned Times newsletter put out by the Student Volunteer Movement. http://svm2.net/abandonedtimes/ I wanted to share the whole article as it is something that I wrestle with constantly and strive to find balance between and want to challenge you with it as well.

Fighting For God or God Fighting For Us: Which Is It?

It is crucial for believers to learn the fine line required in partnering and co-laboring with God. Living the life of spiritual victory and kingdom advancement is a combination of us fighting (spiritually) and God fighting for us. We rely on Him and He requires action on our part as well.

It is common to find believers relying on themselves and their efforts in the Kingdom of God instead of allowing God to take His rightful place as leader and Lord of every spiritual work He has initiated.

Conversely, many find themselves waiting on God to do all the work and don’t step out in faith themselves. Neither stance is the correct, Biblical one.

Those who want God to do everything for them never accomplish anything. Those seeking to do everything themselves, will ultimately fail. It takes spiritual maturity to walk the correct, balanced way between the two.

God has called us to a living, cooperative partnership in the work of His Kingdom. He wants us involved and we cannot attain spiritual success without Him involved.

It is a fallacy to buy into the notion that God doesn’t need us. He has chosen to set up His Kingdom in partnership with true believers. Though we are frail, weak and often untrustworthy, He chooses to mature and develop us, all the while advancing His Kingdom purposes through us, out of incredible love.

It is also untrue that in our ingenuity and human wisdom we can be fruitful for His Kingdom. This is pride and humanism. God requires we give up on the self-life (self-will, ambition, reliance, sufficiency). To be useful we embrace a lifestyle seeking His Kingdom purposes above all else. We deliberately choose His will and receive the inheritance of spiritual wisdom and revelation He has waiting.

To walk this fine line appropriately we need experiential knowledge of God’s ways, wisdom and spiritual understanding. It is not natural to learn the secrets of being yoked with God in His Kingdom work. To do so, we need more of Him available through increased Bible study, prayer and intercession and abiding in His presence.

Though He will do very little to advance His Kingdom outside of partnership with the body of Christ, it is still His power that is the source. He is the one doing the bulk of the work. We are like a baby ox yoked together with a massive, all powerful ox. That big ox is the one doing all the pulling, but we get to be involved in the process too.

And God looks at our part as important. If we fail to do our Spirit-led, God-ordained and initiated part, we are not being faithful to God and His advancing Kingdom.

We need to get rid of the incorrect sentiment that if something is of God it will go smoothly and be free from problems. God’s leadership is perfect but our capacities to follow Him rightly are anything but.

The partnership between the living God and sinful (yet redeemed) humanity is far from smooth. It is always exciting and exhilarating, but fraught with periodic frustration and misunderstanding. The more closely we follow Jesus, the better it will go because we give up on our own understanding and embrace His Kingdom ways.

In the Scripture when God’s people drifted from the correct balance, they were defeated. We join the fight recognizing full well our inability to win the fight if left to our own devices.

Question: Which of the two are you prone to most? What may God be asking of you to become more balanced in spiritually progressing rightly?

Right or left? How would Jesus vote?

With the election upon us, it seems like everyone has an opinion.  There is a lot of mudslinging between the right and the left political wings with very little hope of them coming together in the middle for the common good.  It seems like all parties and candidates really need to let people know where they are different rather than what they have in common.  I know that we need to know the different stances so that we can make an educated decision as to who we should vote for, but the country might be paying a great price for this type of polarization.

I see the same thing happening in the church.  It seems like the conservative and liberal ends of the Christian spectrum seems to be running farther and farther away from the middle and taking very strong, dogmatic stances on most issues and pointing fingers at "the other side" and labeling them as "heretic" or "Pharisee" depending on which side you are on.  Are we shooting ourselves in the foot and hindering the move of Christ around the world by using the same style of politics and arguments that play themselves out in the media and bringing those inside the church and putting Christian labels on them?  Why do the walls of my Christian friends look like a religious version of Fox News vs CNN?

The same thing plays out on the mission field as well.  Some are obsessed with making sure that we don't water down the gospel while others are trying to be as sensitive and relevant to the cultures we are reaching out to as possible.  There are whole books and conferences out there to bash the other side and their stance on everything from Bible translations to contextualization to mercy ministry vs evangelism/discipleship.  It seems like a lot of these debates are hundreds if not thousands of years old.  So, are we just destined to throw down between the right and left year after year, topic after topic, or are there ways to bring things together?


One side is yelling "sound doctrine and right theology" and the other side is yelling "love, tolerance, and grace".  Both would adamantly say their view is "more Biblical" or "more Christian".  Jesus said that "a kingdom divided against itself will never stand."  Is there any chance of the church coming to the middle and focusing on what we agree on...things like the Great Commandment and the Great Commission or a simple slogan like "Jesus is Lord"?  Or have we made some of the minor issues out to be major and any coming together or move towards the middle would be considered "compromise"?

It seems like God was able to take things like wrath and mercy which seem to be polar opposites and bring them together at the cross.  So, maybe there are other things that seem to be at odds with one another that can be overcome in Christ?

Just thinking out loud and trying to figure out if there is any way out of this mess.  What do you think?

Does networking count as missions?

I spend a lot of my time in meetings and in the office doing email and phone calls.  Some days I wonder if all of this admin work and networking is making any global impact and if I should just drop all of the minutia of running an organization and just make disciples of nations.  This week I got to see a glimpse of some fruit from all of this administrative labor and it involved several people working together which wouldn't have happened without a lot of networking and building relationships with different ministries.

On Thursday, I was at a meeting where a lot of the ministries in our local context were sharing updates about what was going on in the community.  One of the leaders expressed concern about an Iraqi family who they have been pouring into for quite awhile who has decided to leave Atlanta and move to Jacksonville.  They were burdened about who was going to follow up on this family.  I told them that we just had two short term mission groups that came from JAX and fell in love with refugees and the idea of reaching out to the nations that have come here.  There is also another ministry that we have built a relationship with there that does a great job of teaching English and sharing the gospel.  So, I shot a few emails out and within 24 hours those ministries had touched base with an Iraqi church planter in the area that was going to follow up on the family.  It turns out that this Iraqi family from Atlanta moved ONE BLOCK AWAY from the Iraqi church planter in Jacksonville and a visit had already been scheduled! 

Now, that's the body of Christ working together for kingdom purposes.  I guess I will continue attending meetings, building relationships, networking with like-minded ministries, sending emails to people looking for direction, answering phone calls and coaching people into next steps for missions.  It seems that part of Paul's apostolic call was to make sure that there was good collaboration between the Colossians, Corinthians, Macedonians, etc. and to ensure that there were always people in place to continue discipleship in all the places where he planted the gospel.  He spent a bit of time writing as well, although most of his was from a jail cell, so I'll find comfort that all of this may be be making an eternal difference and that God is getting lots of glory as we are obedient to Him and people are coming into the kingdom.

What is the greatest mission field?

Some of Jesus' last words were to wait for the Holy Spirit to come and then to be his witnesses in Jerusalem AND Judea AND Samaria AND the ends of the earth.  It isn't an either/or commandment but a both/and proposition.  Jesus wanted his disciples to live out and preach the kingdom in all of those places.  I hear a lot of people say "why go to the ends of the earth when there is so much spiritual need right here in America" and I know us missionary types have been guilty of telling everyone that we all need to focus on the ends of the earth because America at least has a chance to receive Good News.  The truth is that the Great Commission should be translated "as you are going, make disciples...", so all mission fields are valid and important.

It think it really all boils down to intentionality and going where the Father says and doing as the Spirit leads.  I feel like if we were really in tune and listening to the Lord that there would be a lot more than 2% of the mission force working among unreached people groups in the 10/40 window and many more people at home living a missional lifestyle reaching out to neighbors, co-workers, and the foreigners that God has sent to live among us.  What would happen in the US and the ends of the earth if we did what Jesus said and waited for the Holy Spirit to come and then went out witnessing to the world everything we know about Christ and His kingdom in Jerusalem AND Judea AND Samaria AND the ends of the earth?  Let's be missional; the time is short and we only get one life to steward well.

What kind of war are we waging?

I've been reflecting a bit lately on our attitudes towards soldiers in the American church vs. our attitudes towards missionaries in the American church.  This is a bit of a generalization, but I would imagine that our troops get celebrated and prayed for more than our missionaries who are also serving on the front lines.  I am guessing that there are more prayers for bin laden to get taken out than to get saved.  My theory is that the nations that get mentioned the most in our worship times might be the places where we are waging war on terror rather than the places that have the greatest spiritual need. 

Now, lest I come across as sounding like an upset missionary asking for more "air time" at church and for more finances going to the mission field, let me clarify.  My goal in posting this is to ask the question whether America and it's dream may have become our passion rather than Christ.  I wonder if our first allegiance might be to our nation rather than the kingdom of God.  You can often times tell where your heart is by looking at your treasure and also by looking at what you are willing to risk for something or someone.  It seems like Francis Chan, David Platt, and many others are asking the church these same hard questions.

I love America!  I really have never second guessed a soldier leaving his wife and children for up to 18 months at a time to make sure that our nation is safe.  It doesn't seem strange to me for someone to take mediocre pay for a chance to defend our country.  Most parents would be proud to have their children in the military and often times encourage them to do so in place of college.  I applaud someone willing to lay down their life for the cause of freedom.  We know that a lot of these people are going to come back emotionally, physically, and psychologically drained and yet we think that it is worth the risk.  It seems normal because we love, honor, cherish, and respect our country.

Now if someone wanted to make those same sacrifices to take the gospel to the places where it has never been preached, we might consider it negligent, unwise, not prudent, and not worth the risk.  It would be pretty "radical", and definitely not "normal".  That brings me to the questions that haunt me...  What's the difference between the two (war and missions)?  Why is the war on terror more of a cause worth risking everything for than the glory of God among all nations?  Why are our young people that go to Afghanistan celebrated while the ones wanting to go to the mission field discouraged?  Is it possible that we have started loving life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness more than this Christ that we claim to follow?  Why is carrying the American cross more culturally acceptable even in Christian circles than taking up Jesus'  cross? 

Where is home?  I pledge allegiance...

Do we know how to make disciples?

Jesus' last command before leaving this planet was to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey" everything He commanded us.  If I took this command seriously and decided to make one disciple each year and ensured through follow-up and accountability that each of my disciples was discipling one other person, then the whole world of 6.8 billion people would have access to Christ in 34 years.  That's the power of multiplication and exponential growth!

Mt. 13:23 says "But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."  Farming is a process and takes time, so does discipleship.  Instead of holding a big crusade and trying to do "microwave" missions, what would happen if we focused on a just a few (or one) disciples and do "crock pot" life-on-life discipleship.  It isn't quite as glorious to put in the ministry update/newsletter, but in the long haul it has the potential to produce 30, 60 or 100 disciples in a lifetime which should go out and put into practice everything they saw in your life.  Maybe Jesus was on to something...

Has America been passed over in the Great Commission?

There are actually less American missionaries on the field now then there were 30 years ago.  Is it the economy and people giving less which in turn causes fewer people to be deployed?  Is it that Americans are too comfortable and not willing to sacrifice and go overseas because of our gods of comfort and security?  Have we decided that it is cheaper and more efficient to accomplish the task by "outsourcing" the remaining task to the third world and global south?  Has the huge growth in the short-term missions sector encouraged us to go for a week or month at a time rather than committing to certain areas until the work is done?  Maybe technology is allowing us to share good news in previously closed countries while Google translates for us making it not necessary for us to actually have to move to the Muslim world and learn Arabic to make disciples?

There remain over 6600 entire people groups that are still considered unreached with the Gospel.  What do you think the U.S. role is in this whole endeavor?  Has our time as pioneers passed and now we need to focus more on our role as givers and equippers of others to finish the task?  Or is it time for a fresh new missionary movement to rise up and thousands of new laborers deployed to the hardest to reach final frontiers?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Is there anything wrong with the American Dream?

This video is an intro to the book Radical by David Platt. I'm always up for a good kick in the pants, so I thought I would pass this on for others to "enjoy" as well.

How much have we accomplished in a year?

One year ago today, I posted a blog concerning Finishing the Task (FTT) which is an effort by some of the major missions organizations to see church planting work started among the least reached people groups of the world. When they started promoting groups that were unengaged by missionaries or Christian work, there were 639 people groups with more than 100,000 in population numbering over 535 million people total. Here are the statistics one year later:

The FTT website states that now, of the original 639 unreached, unengaged people groups:
* 26 remain unengaged. No one is trying to reach them. (144 on June 1, 2009)
* 167 are adopted but not engaged. (146 on June 1, 2009)
* 403 are engaged with church planting. (308 on June 1, 2009)
* 354 have known believers. (299 on June 1, 2009)
* 168 have at least one known church. (69 on June 1, 2009)

Not bad for a year, but let's do more! There are still 600 evangelical churches for every unreached people group. This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come (Mt. 24:14). Join us in praying for the unreached people group of the day.

Are we playing it too safe?

Francis Chan recently resigned from his megachurch to possibly do some overseas missions work or some innercity ministry in Los Angeles.  Here is a clip where he talks about playing it safe.  We use some of Chan's videos and his Crazy Love book in our missionary training school curriculum.  I hope you are challenged by this video to take some big risks.

Are you afraid of Muslims?

Check out this video clip to learn about the modern day Samaritans (very similar to us but definitely considered our enemies), and see if you might be able to view them as God does:

Is "the task" almost finished?

I've been posting blogs concerning Finishing the Task (FTT) which is an effort by some of the major missions organizations to see church planting work started among the least reached people groups of the world. When they started promoting groups that were unengaged by missionaries or Christian work, there were 639 people groups with more than 100,000 in population numbering over 535 million people total. I want to show you their most updated statistics as of Dec 1.

The FTT website states that now, of the original 639 unreached, unengaged people groups:
* 30 remain unengaged. No one is trying to reach them. (144 on June 1 and 95 on Sept 1)
* 196 are adopted but not engaged. (146 on June 1 and 169 on Sept 1)
* 371 are engaged with church planting. (308 on June 1 and 334 on Sept 1)
* 346 have known believers. (299 on June 1 and 339 on Sept 1)
* 159 have at least one known church. (69 on June 1 and 155 on Sept 1)

Keep praying and seeing how you or your church can get involved!

What is the meaning of ethnocentric?

Jesus was constantly trying to overcome prejudice. He was trying to help his group of twelve disciples realize that this world was not all about them (as individuals or as a group). The Jews had started thinking of themselves as God's favorites and possibly even his instruments of wrath as they awaited a Messiah to help them overthrow the Roman empire so that they could rule the world. Jesus talked about a different kind of kingdom where people loved their enemies, where there was no Jew or Gentile, where everyone was invited to the banquet, and where the peacemakers were blessed. He was trying to provide a completely different paradigm and worldview by which to live. Have we learned anything from his teachings?

Jesus, the "friend of sinners", enjoyed hanging out with people of many different ethnicities, social status, etc. He was trying to get his followers prepared for when he would tell them to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. We are going to have to get past an us/them mentality if we are going to see this kingdom established that Jesus envisioned because it includes people from every people, tribe, class, education level, socio-economic status, and people group. What do you think needs to happen to see a whole kingdom of people from every nation on earth loving God and loving others?

What does the number 150 have to do with missions?

Seth Godin recently wrote a post about Dunbar's number being the law. The "theory" is that a human can only handle 150 meaningful relationships. Obviously, you can have a lot more acquaintances than that as many of us have several hundred friends on facebook. But the truth is that we can't physically, psychologically, or emotionally handle more than 150 significant friendships. Now, this causes a problem for the missionary because it is such a relational line of work and we need real friends to accomplish our task and not just twitter followers.

Think about how many personal friendships someone on the mission field needs to keep up with:
1) Supporters: The book Friend Raising basically teaches us that raising support is a relational activity. We're not just asking for money, we're looking for partners that can be a significant part of the work and that means intentional relationships with people back home including our family, home church, financial supporters, prayer partners, etc.
2) Co-workers: Most missionaries have a network of people in their organization (both home and field staff) and peers from other agencies that they stay in touch with. In order to have a strong team, it's essential to spend a significant amount of time building trust, praying, talking strategy, etc.
3) The Church: Christians must be plugged into some local body of believers. The church is to be a community of people living life together while focused on Christ rather than a one day per week event which takes time and being intentional. Many church planters also spend significant time discipling and raising up the national leaders. Truly investing in people's lives takes time and a church truly living out community takes effort.
4) The lost: Most Christians end up having only Christian friends because their 150 quota gets filled very quickly with church activities (small groups, awanas, softball team, choir, etc.) leaving little room for significant relationships with non-believers. Missionaries should have a room in their network for several folks that don't know Christ.

These are just some very broad strokes and I'm sure that there are many other categories as well. How can missionaries manage their time and relationships better to see all peoples on earth reached with the Gospel of Christ? Is it even possible for a missionary to juggle the many relationships that are required for successful ministry? Any ideas on simplifying

What does worship have to do with missions?

John Piper writes in Let the Nations be glad that worship is both the fuel and goal of missions. What does that mean? Well, worship fuels missions because missions is essentially bringing God ultimate glory by seeing all tribes, tongues, people, and nations worshiping Him. If you remember the famous passage in Isaiah 6 where he says "Here I am, send me", the context is God in heaven being worshiped by angels. So, as we worship more we have more of a burden for those that don't know God or as Louie Giglio states, "as we get lost in wonder, we can't help but wonder about the lost". So, as we worship (attribute worth to) God, we realize that he really does deserve all praise which in turn makes us desire to proclaim his fame to the 1.7 billion people who have never heard His name.

The fact that worship is also the goal is missions is very intriguing. I love missions! I enjoy talking about strategy, networking, partnerships, contextualization, cross-cultural communication, etc. However, missions is a rather temporal thing in comparison to worship and Jesus Christ who is eternal. Once we go to heaven, evangelism, discipleship, church planting, ministry, missions, etc. will be a thing of the past. So, let's fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Let's run the race in such a way as to get the prize (Christ). Let's do ministry with joy and excellence, but with the understanding that it is really small in comparison to God. Worship is the fuel and the goal of missions!

Sign up for your local Perspectives class

We have found that one of the most powerful missions mobilization tools is the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course. They are offered online and all over the U.S. A number of our missionary training school students have shared during their testimonies that the Perspectives class was instrumental in whetting their appetite for getting involved with long-term missions. I highly encourage everyone to take this course or to host one if it is not offered in your area. The course can also be used for college credit. Let us know if you have any other highly effective tools for getting people involved in praying, giving, going, and mobilizing others to get involved with the unreached people groups of the earth.

Does hell really exist?

The church had a reputation for awhile of running around waving Bibles in the air telling everyone that they're going to hell. Jesus spent a lot of time talking about love, healing the sick, helping the poor, etc. so an overemphasis on hell and basically boiling down the Gospel to "say this simple prayer and you won't have to burn forever" was pretty simplistic. For that reason, I think there was a big pendulum swing in the last decade or so and now hell is rarely mentioned in churches anymore (with a few exceptions that still like the Bible-bashing paradigm). I think there are several reasons that hell isn't being talked about in church anymore:

1) Hell isn't very PC. In a pluralistic world where everyone is allowed to define truth, hell isn't something that people want to have as a part of their reality. So, if we choose to believe that hell doesn't exist, then it must not. Even branches of the emerging church and other groups are saying that hell was just figurative language that Jesus used to show how strongly he wanted us to live good lives here on earth. Mentioning hell is pretty offensive and Christians have been so abusive in the past that we have tried to correct the problem by doing everything that we can not offend. There must be a balance somewhere.

2) There has been a lot of emphasis in the body of Christ on the kingdom of God and everything being about His glory. This has been a very positive shift as historically there has been way to much emphasis on man in the church. Unfortunately, in swinging the pendulum away from a man-centered gospel to a completely God-centered message, there isn't much of a need to talk about hell because God has got it all under control and we don't need to worry about who is and isn't going to end up there. There must be a happy medium in there somewhere between God being completely in control while also not wanting anyone to perish.

3) This is the big one - IF hell exists, the conversations with my friends, family, and co-workers are probably going to change. IF hell exists, my priorities might have to shift a little bit. IF hell exists, I may need to get out of my comfort zone a little more. IF hell exists, I might need to tell some people about. IF hell exists, I'm probably going to be persecuted for mentioning it. IF hell exists, there should probably be more people out on the mission field. IF hell exists, it might be time for me to pull out the water hose. IF hell exists, people might have a lot of questions that I should be prepared to answer.

I think it might just be easier not to believe in hell. What do you think?