There are so many reasons why you cannot do short-term mission – it costs a lot of money and time,  it will interfere with your career path, relationships and family – these are true.  But there are also reasons why we can get involved.  Which reasons do you listen to?  Here is Jayme’s story:

We were asked to stand in a line, still, eyes shut. He told us there might be people putting things on us—dressing us—but we weren’t allowed to move, weren’t allowed to say anything.

Little did I know how hard this request to stand still, stand still and just receive, would be.

He told us that no matter what we must accept what they were going to give to us. We must accept it so that they can receive their blessing.

An amazing 3 days lead up to this point. A group of Canadians, mostly newly graduated doctors—some of the most highly educated people in the world—together with a group of volunteers from a slum in Zambia—some too poor to pay the $6 a year to send their child to primary school. Two groups thrown together by God, serving each other, learning from each other, freely giving and freely receiving.

It was the last night of this 3 day event together when James made this request of us, this small request: to stand still and receive.

Eyes closed, we heard singing, yelping, shuffling of feet, and when we opened our eyes they were standing in a line in front of us. Smiling widely, James started speaking again. He told us that they had talked about what they wanted to give us to show us their gratitude. This expression of gratefulness was a surprise in itself, they were the ones walking the hard miles every day in their communities, visiting the desperate, trying to encourage the broken, building a school and road to the school and gardens for the kids, and… They were the selfless ones that had taught us so much about loving our neighbor. And now they had decided to give again, from what they had.

They came forward and started dressing us.

Gertrude came towards me, took off her own Zambian cloth wrap and wrapped it around me. Then she took off her head scarf, and dressed me in it. Loveness followed her and gave me her shirt…it just kept coming. It was overwhelming I thought, too overwhelming… and then came the dress. Lovenesswho had just taken the shirt off her back, Loveness, a mother of 5, with no income, spending all her time and energy cooking for orphans in her community.

Loveness, who had the sincerest smile. She came to know love through this community program. She had turned her life around. Kicked out of her rented one room because she could no longer afford the rent after falling ill, almost to the point of death. Loveness made her living as a prostitute. She was found by James and Sukai through her starving and desperate children. Now she is not only healthy, she is beaming because of the love inside of her. Now she spends her days cooking for other vulnerable children. It is hard work with no credit. She said to me once that if she was doing this for man, she would have given up a long time ago, but she does this for God. I could tell by the smile on her face and the light in her eyes that she wasn’t just saying it—Loveness.

This was the Loveness standing in front of me now pulling purple silk out of the package tied around her waist. And with the most genuine smile and a special light in her eyes—like it was Christmas or something and she got the best gift of all—she pulled this beautiful silk dress over my head. Could this be the most precious thing that she owned?

I felt like some one had just spilled the most expensive perfume on me. I will spend my life trying to give as much as she gave me that night.

Follow Jayme and Lynn Chotowetz (as I do) at unhushed.com

Mark Crocker

Short-Term Missions teams often get the benefit of preparation, Long-Term people have to go through a process, but our Mid-Term Missionaries (individuals who participate in international work for 2 months to 2 years) often fall through the gaps in the process.

I recently developed a new process to bring them to the field in the best possible way, as well as developed the new teaching material for the process.

The PAOC (Canada’s largest evangelical denomination) has recently picked it up as the way that they are sending all of their future mid-termers. My colleague Matt Janes and I are presently working with a number of people who have begun the process (close to 30 people at one stage or another – from initial interest to complete training).

If you are interested in Mid-Term Missions (Individuals, not teams, that plan to engage in international work for 2-24 months) … Check out the MTM link at the top of the page!

Mark Crocker

Yes, it is possible, if they meet some policy requirements … (IE.  no bling) and if you check out this link you can see the document for yourself.

Mark Crocker

Spending time in another culture forces us out of our comfortable shorthand, bias and uninformed opinion. As we travel we often find ourselves both learning from the most resourceful people on the planet, as well as finding levels of frustration we had no idea could exist.  Our too simple solutions are proved false.

Cross-cultural partnership often means that failure suddenly exists not simply as a concept but as an actual reality.  Frequently, the beautiful idealization of partnership has been intractably dismantled.  Both parties are angry at the other for diminished expectations and it is normal for people in this circumstance to grieve a little.  Now comes the tough part … are both willing to continue the difficult path of reconciliation?

What began in the initial excitement phase of cross-cultural engagement, has now been stomped by the cruel forces of the rejection phase. It is important to realize that this is the right moment when an true and honest engagement might actually become possible.

If participants are willing to push through into growth, to commit to the hard work reality of cross-cultural relationship and effective partnership – in more than word alone – a truly engaging partnership may emerge.

New people are invited to trust the story of the kingdom.  Others, who have already walked this way, hold their hands out to new-comers as they choose to take their first faltering steps.  The practice of the kingdom becomes natural when the hand-holding and support goes both ways, developing mature partners.  Cultures around the world share the beautiful stories of how the Kingdom of God is relevant anew, as it wrestles in the Kingdom of Caesar, or in the Kingdom of Sudan, or in the Kingdom of Capitalism, or even in the Kingdom of Canada.

Settling in. The church was born. In time the movement developed systems to transfer their vision, songs and creeds gave language to basic theology, buildings and teachers reinforced the message, slowly the movement became a community and then an institution. The first believers faced anger and mistrust, many were killed, others recanted, some ran. Everyplace they ended up, the followers of Christ would dream dangerous dreams. They dared to ask what the world could look like if everyone made everyday decisions between the kingdom of God or the kingdom of Caesar.

The historical story of this body reveals moments of wild success as well as dramatic failure in their mission, often it happened at the same time. Great social oppression as well as great political acceptance each carried painful compromises. Sometimes the problem was from within, their mission was at times ignored and forgotten, its leaders grasped for power in the name of the kingdom, the church made horrific mistakes, and blamed it on others.

Still it stumbled along, voices from the centre called out to the margins. Power was laid down. Everyday people made the little choices that would reject Caesar and attempt to live the new kind of kingdom. The mission carried on: people believed in the dream of the kingdom enough to act as though it exists, and continue to find others peculiar enough to join the movement. The cycle of passion, settling in, discontent and then renewal continued and still carries the Mission forward.

Discontent. Every generation is newly made aware of how simply the Mission of the Kingdom (and the Church) can be forgotten, or consumed by caring for the needs of the institution. At times the mission gets sidelined and rather than existing as the purpose of the church, it becomes a program of the church. It sits alongside the youth or kids club as a line item on the budget.

When Personal Spiritual Development became the Mission of the church, missions became activity. Noble and Excit!ng opportunities for Western Christians to practice and perfect their personal spiritual growth. In subtle as well as significant ways, Mission can be reduced from inviting others into the kingdom way of Christ, into a tool for pastors to use in promoting lordship development in parish members – the problem may be, that as a tool, it works too well!

It is natural, reasonable and even commendable thing to value and promote the spiritual development and care of people. Yet, while this goal is understandable, Mission as Program does pose a problem.

This “missions for the benefit of me”, has lead to the critique by some that perhaps the majority of recent missions dollars we spend is actually money spent on ourselves. There are legitimate concerns regarding the effectiveness or ethical responsibility of naming this ‘tourism with a purpose’ as the mission of the church.

Is mission really intended to be more for the one going than the one receiving? Some suggest that a trip is 80% for the participant and 20% for the host culture, others suggest an obverse in that relationship with the 80/20 reversed. Some suggest a 50/50 split is more equitable. 60/40?

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I will get the third and final section up soon.  Any thoughts so far? I love a comment or two …

Mark Crocker

In any case, I thought I would post my thoughts on the changing purposes of mission, both the historical as well as present realities. This is the first of 3 parts:

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At its core, the mission of Christ was intended to invade the natural order of the universe, a peaceful yet powerful revolution. The dream of Christ was to substitute grace for karma, to stop the cycle of ‘an eye for an eye’, to put an end to giving everyone exactly what he or she deserved.

The essence of the message Jesus that revealed, “the kingdom of God”, surrounded all of life. Jesus taught that every second of the day, humanity is faced with a choice: live according to Caesar, the established order of power, wealth and system; or live the kingdom of God, a seemingly idealistic and naïve version of the world. The choices could not be unified, they oppose one another, and every second of the day, both options stand available to be chosen by anyone.

A new story was being told, at once counter-intuitive, and yet so much more interesting. It confused those who first heard the message, it did not call for the old expected religious piety. Instead Jesus asked his followers to relearn what faith might mean, he called others to join with the poor and oppressed the foreigner and slave. He did not permit people to simply write off others as victims of social stratum, chance, destiny or the gods. Instead Christ asked everyone to take responsibility for that which they were not responsible – one another. Suddenly everyone is my neighbor, not just the person who lives in my home-town, everyone included even the ones with the cult-like beliefs from the next province over.

The message was meant to upset the very structure of society as at the same time it challenged the individual as well as the community. Unscrupulous business practices are tougher with my friend than my enemy. Relationships takes on significance when our partners are to be treated like family rather than mere objects to meet our sexual needs. Power that was usually used to gain friends and influence people was now to be wasted on the hopeless causes of poverty and inequality. It sounded like the loopiest idealism ever considered.

The Mission of the Kingdom was at various times dangerous to politicians, ridiculous to the powerful, unworkable to philosophers and yet still, so very, very compelling. Everyone was invited in; a person only had to be bold enough to believe that acting on the compelling vision of Jesus could actually mean a change in the way of the world. The bar was not set very high for entry, believers were simply asked to attempt to live it out loud. Yet Jesus also knew the stakes, if you followed the rules of the kingdom of Caesar, then all would be well, if instead you began living as though the ‘kingdom of God’ was actual reality you were bound to get into trouble. It would mean crosses in Palestine, torture in Turkey and rubber bullets in Alabama.

After Christ finally co-opted power through the most unlikely of methods – his execution and surprising resurrection, the church accepted that mission. They chose to relearn what faith might mean. To act as though the kingdom was present, they needed to forgive enemies, turn the other cheek, share what was rightfully their own, and trust that God was for everyone, all the world – not just their little ‘blessed’ corner.

Many did empty themselves of years of religious dogma. They relearned what it would mean to believe, they attempted to live it out loud, and somewhere in the very human mess of it all, they found themselves partnered with God to change the natural order of the universe.

part 1/3

I will try to get the second and third sections up this week …

Mark Crocker

Then why is it considered optional to train for international short-term missions work?

There are some who say that this is an obvious overreaction, after all we do not need to train for a party, or for a walk, we do not train for a vacation – there are many things in life we do not have to prepare for. Additionally, many people go every month on a short–term trip, they meet at the airport, and they seem all right.

These, of course, are often the same people who return angry at the world, there two weeks has convinced them that they have seen the light and now know how international ministry is supposed to work. I have met countless short-term missions participants who return, depressed and upset.

Too many others return with the impression that they have ‘done their duty’, they have accomplished the missions thing. I would beg to differ, a focus or mission should not be activity, it should not simply be a once-in-a-lifetime goal – like sky-diving, or a return to my college weight.

I once trained a team that was working in Southern Africa, they got together 12 times before they departed, one of the team members lived in another province – a one-way six hour drive – guess who was on time every week? As far as I remember, she only missed one training event – due to a blizzard

Compare her to the more awkward occasions when people, who promise the world in order to get on the team and then do not bother to show up for 1/2 or more of the training (always for very, very good reasons). If I remove them from the team at this point, I am accused of being a controller. But in EVERY occasion when they have come on the team, they have been a problem, never fully part of the group, the loudest complainers, and involved in the most destructive forms of participation.

In my view, team preparation is non-optional. To expect a very high degree of participation in the process is neither unreasonable nor unwarranted. We are, after all, not tour guides, nor activity directors. We are calling teams to real commitment, and significant participation. STM is no longer simply jr. high teams arriving with their skits and puppet shows .

Once a team leader explains the requirements, some potential team members will immediately counter with the reasons why it is impossible to meet those requirements: work, busy-ness, family obligation, conflicting schedule with another ministry, they are all great reasons but the list is endless. It is important that a team leader does not reduce their expectation. Team leaders need to commit to the tough work of team preparation, even to be ready to disappoint others as they say ‘no’ to people for a team, who cannot commit to prepare with the team. The kind of participants who find the time to prepare, are the people who work in effective short-term mission. Experience is a tough teacher, no one is doing a team leader a favour by coming along.

For those who feel my high expectations too unrealistic, all I can say is that the teams that engage in a full training process, prior to going, do better. They complain less, work harder, accomplish more, harm the situation less, and missionary hosts want them back.

Missionaries know the difference, they might not say it to you because they might not want to offend a possible support stream, but they want you to do a better job. You can, if you are willing to work at it.

Mark Crocker

Hands at Work in Africa.
One day George Snyman decided to see for himself, and so this African IT worker left his computer and went for a walk – across the bottom of a continent. Over the next few weeks and months he visited the mud huts of hundreds of people. George was forced to face the realities of AIDS not as a concept, but as individual men and women with names and stories. Eventually he stopped in Masoyi and decided to take responsibility for what he was not responsible. He created Hands at Work in Africa

Hands at Work has developed an inspiring model of community development. Caring for 14,000 orphans: No orphanages. Children are directly cared for in their homes by mobilizing local volunteers and simple community resources where the pandemic has hit the hardest.

The incredible advantage to Home-Based Care is that it does not further split orphans from extended family members thereby increasing their orphan dislocation. Instead the children are supported in their childhood homes and remain close to their aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends. At present, Hands At Work is caring for over 14 000 children at a resource level that might not care for a tenth of that number in an orphanage.

Come with us
Who owns the orphans of Swaziland? Whose kids are they? Not mine of course!? I did nothing to create the problem, I do not live there!

We are right of course. They are not our responsibility. Still, Jesus invites us to takes responsibility for that which we are not responsible. As followers of the sacrificed king, we are given opportunity to make that most beautiful of choices, to answer as Jesus answered. We may step out and match his stride.

This spring the Short Term Missions Network is taking Canadian leaders to the front lines of the global AIDS pandemic. Stop feeling helpless. Grow your awareness and expertise with us. Join us to see how your short-term teams can participate in long-term results.

Details: As a Canadian leader you are invited to begin your participation at the 2009 Hands at Work International Conference. This conference is a chance for you to be inspired. Find out how you can bring a successful team to participate in solutions, and learn from the lavish mistakes of others. Leaders from around the world will gather with African leaders in order to dream possible dreams.

AIDS may be the defining social, justice and health issue of our generation, walk with those who have lived the solutions. Following the three-day conference, you will be immersed in the local community projects in order to discover what you can – and cannot – do to get involved. The remainder of the trip will find us in the community for:

• Orphan care training events
• Time spent in Child-Headed Households
• Feeding programs
• Walking the dusty roads to assist Community Volunteers
• Connecting with Schools and Churches
• HIV/AIDS relief
• Training from Hosts on Relief & Development best practices
• African Safari

Where: 15 days – 3 countries. South Africa – Zambia – Swaziland.

Dates: March 24 – April 8, 2009 (15 days)

Cost: $3850 per person includes all flights and transfers, ground transportation, accommodation, guides and meals. (prices may change according to Canadian city of departure)

Click here to request more information.

Feel free to forward this invitation to other leaders who could participate with us. If you would like a pdf file to print a poster, just ask.
Mark Crocker

PASSION FOR MISSION
The STMnetwork is committed to working with local churches to help them build confident leaders, stronger teams, and life-changing experiences for their people in short-term mission.

With that in mind, here are my thoughts on five important questions:

1. What needs to be on the application form to give me the most meaningful information?

Much depends on your purpose for the application process. I often think of an initial application as the first step for someone to express interest, there are no guarantees at this point that they will be part of the team. Many people will talk of their interest in ‘Going’, but someone who takes that first step and fills in the form … they might mean it!

Years ago I met a team applicant who looked great on the surface (some details are changed to protect his identity), he worked in a church, had his finances in order, and seemed like a real asset to the team. In the past, he had even volunteered to help out with some of the previous teams preparation.
It was only when we began to look a little deeper that some disturbing details began to arise. This candidate had recently suffered a moderate emotional break-down and was being treated for depression. Co-workers recognized the instability that he would have brought to a team, but because they liked him, at first they did not want to give the actual details of the situation to the team leader.
In the end, the candidate was not allowed to participate, and that was when his true colours came out in an ugly tirade and threats to go to a pastor to force a position on the team.

The questions cannot give you a full sense of a person, but they can give you a theme to follow up on during an interview. The questions should be persistent enough to let potential team members recognize the openness that they may be required to participate in.

The questions should take more time than a quick credit card application in a mall. Someone who is not willing to take 30 minutes to reflect on why they want to go, may not be the best candidate to take on your team!

The questions should reveal a seriousness to your task, enough for a participant to carefully consider whether or not they are able or willing to work within a team.

Ask Questions about:

• Physical and mental health
• A criminal record
• Willingness to submit to a police check
• A faith background
• References

The question about a faith perspective, (IE ‘Are you a Christian’, or ‘Share your testimony’ are by no means a requirement for all mission-sending organizations. Many churches and agencies are willing to accept participants who do not self-identify as a Christian, so long as they are willing to work within the priorities and requirements of the agency. In fact, some churches feel it is important to bring ‘non-believers’ onto the field with the express opinion that if people are brought to where God is at work, then they may meet Him there.

References are limited by the fact that the person supplying them will often only select people that will give a glowing report. It is important that the team leader uses all resources available to get a clear picture of the possible candidate. Phone the pastor to find out how they know the person, or if they know them. Check to see how they work in community (or not). Many a team leader has only found out after the fact, that a possible team member would have received a number of red flags to watch out for it only the leader had contacted the most obvious sources.

In my mind, a primary purpose of an application is to let participants know that this process will involve commitment, and authentic openness. Ask personal questions, and expect direct and complete answers.

Over the next while, I want to answer Five questions about the application process. If you are wondering how to do this better, come back and check out my further thoughts, or subscribe to my RSS feed (on the right) in order to have them automatically sent to your reader when they are posted.

Getting ready to GO!

Mark Crocker

I took a photo of this sign in India.

S.T.D. Icecream sounds like the worst possible flavour …

Yes I recognize that STD means something else …

… But it is amusing!