With eighty-two million inhabitants, Germany continues to be a desperate mission field in need of thousands of new churches. The good news is that over 1,500 new churches have been planted in Germany in the past ten years, with a total membership of well over 100,0001 (“In Deutschland wurden…” 2004, 16).
In one week I heard three references to the importance of nationalization in mission. During a meeting, one of our missionary staff said, “If our sole purpose for being on the mission field is nationalization, then…” Later, another missionary asked, “Isn’t nationalization our primary reason for being a missionary?”
This is what an African national staff member told his Western missionary leader after ten years of working with a parachurch organization: “You have really ruined me. I don’t know how to survive now without my laptop and the standard of living I am accustomed to. I don’t think I can ever go back to how I lived before.”
Short-term medical teams take many forms and serve in many ministry settings. This article is limited to general medical teams.
Twice a week for two years I commuted across Nairobi, Kenya, to teach at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology. During these commutes, I regularly passed a business with the unique and descriptive name “The Really Useful Landscaping Company.”
Consider the following idea from a young person interested in overseas missions: “Maybe there would be merit in removing the categorical labels of ‘short-term’ and ‘long-term’ and instead embracing those who are interested and committed, and giving them tools to help them on whatever journey they are going.”
Although Christian mission may seem easily definable, there is a growing divide among evangelicals today regarding the fundamental meaning, role and purpose of this mission.
“Online outreach is an innovative response to today’s high-tech world. It is possible to evangelize one billion people through this medium.”
—Tetsunao Yamamori, International Director, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization
Over the last twenty years one of the great privileges of my life has been the many opportunities I have had to meet Arab Christians in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Palestine.
“You keep talking about community, but all we can think of is the neighborhood where we live,” is the response I got.
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