“Sending our own people as missionaries is a waste of money, resources and time,” said the Asian church leader to Steve as the visiting speaker. “Mission is so expensive and demands so much from a church. Our people are well-trained with a high living standard. They expect too much. Our policy is not to send any Singaporean in mission. But we will send money to help pay national pastors working in other countries.” But can we really outsource mission services, just like call centres and IT services? Find cheap workers that can take the Good News (and take the hardships too) while we keep our hands clean, our budget full and our life easy?
Of course there was an element of truth in what the leader said. We need to look critically at how much mission costs – although I suspect it’s far short of what many churches spend on buildings, sound equipment, choir robes and the like. We also need to be committed to working with national churches where they already exists. But “outsourcing” mission goes against the very heart of what mission is all about – God in the shape of Jesus Christ laying aside riches, privilege and power to come into a dark and broken world to seek and to save those who are lost. Mission costs a great deal. It cost Jesus his reputation, his security, his home, his servants, his friends and ultimately his life. It cost God his son. Churches that send people in mission often lose skilled, passionate, committed people. But in God’s economy the churches that send their people gain far more than they lose. As a church sends someone in mission, the very act poses a powerful challenge to those that stay behind. We have seen sending churches become:
• more engaged (it’s not just faceless anonymous people we support but it is our very own Jonny and Jane that have gone!)
• more prayerful (people I already know and love I really want to talk to God about!)
• more mission-minded at home (well if these ordinary people can go to Hanoi to tell people about Jesus, maybe I can tell people at the office)
• more generous (we’ve sent one person, why don’t we send more….)
• more aware of the needs, the riches, the history and the challenges of other cultures and peoples (hey, we’re becoming world Christians!)
Christmas is coming – and it is hugely hyped here in Singapore, despite the fact that the majority of Singaporeans are not Christian. But all join in a festival marked mainly by shopping and eating – two very popular Singaporean pastimes! One of the shopping malls near our house has a monster “Christmas” display – and twice a night blow a mass of “snow” (foam) over the whole thing, including shoppers. Aimee and Josh have been down a few times to join in the fun. ZY and YY our mainland Chinese friends are interested to find out more about what underlies all the hype. They will come round to watch “The Nativity Story” with us next week and talk it over. We long for YY to come to faith in the “God with fingerprints”.
The next ten days look challenging. Software developers will be presenting “mock-ups” of the way they will modify their software for us in response to the detailed outline that we have presented to them for the International Personnel System 9see last blog). A local Financial Director of a giant international software company who is a believer has arranged a massive 93% discount on purchase of software, potentially saving us a great deal of money. We need employment passes for the technical team leader (a former OMF TCK from New Zealand) and Cambodian programmers to be able to work here in Singapore for the first six months of 2008. In all this highly technical work, we long to glorify God and see our labour contribute to the growth of His Kingdom among East Asians.
Finally, we’re looking forward to a week’s holiday in the Malaysian Cameron Highlands straight after Christmas – time to climb mountains, enjoy log fires, sleep, eat and have fun together as a family!
With Christmas greetings and our love,
Steve, Anna, Joshua & Aimée
