More often than not, “partnering in missions,” means small churches give what little money they think they can afford to a larger church or a missions sending agency that will handle mobilization, screening, indoctrination, training, sending, and maintenance of missionaries on the field. This is not “partnering,” it’s outsourcing.

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The Devil Is In The Details

Posted May 12th, 2008 by Ernest

In the comments section of my last post Now Tell Us How You Really Feel, a reader asked about some of the details of my transition from the field back to the United States. In the past, I haven’t written as much about these sorts of details; partly to protect my anonymity, and partly out of my belief that we tend to focus too much on these details and not enough on the theory behind them.

“now that you are leaving the organization, and leaving the country where you serve, what will happen to the people whom you have worked with (the nationals) and what are you leaving them to go on with (the big ‘reproducibility question)?“

Back in January, I wrote Nothing To See Here, Folks, a post about the intangibility of our relational ministry here. The fact that we only have relationships (not programs), means that my leaving only affects those people with whom I have spent time over the last couple of years. I really don’t see my move as “leaving” anyone, though. I plan to stay engaged in redemptive and discipling relationships with my friends from a distance. I have already planned my first return trip back here in the Fall.

I do wish that we were further down the road in terms of seeing a church established. It would be a thousand times better if I could leave friends with the support of a strong network of national believers. Unfortunately, that is not the case. As I leave, I am struggling with the discrepancy between what I hoped to accomplish (God through me) and what I actually accomplished (not much, apparently). This weighed heavily on the timing of my decision to leave. To be honest (and really, why not?) , I suspect that this sense of guilt has kept me here on the field well past the time I knew I should leave.

“who is going to continue your work once you leave? is your team strong enough to keep the momentum going? have you all picked a new team-leader?”

As I mentioned above, I plan to continue (in one form or another), the work I started here. Our team is a different story. I’ve spent the last year or so working with some of my teammates to develop their strategies and thus help them reach a certain level of independence (strategically speaking). Due to circumstances beyond our control, the entire IMB team here will be leaving this summer. Work here is set to resume after the first of next year, and I doubt that my strategy (arts, social action, culture exchange) will be implemented by those who come behind me.

“do you feel that God has led you from point A to point B to point C, but may eventually lead you back to point B (at some point)? that asks a lot of you with regards to the will of God, but i’m just curious.”

My answer to this question sort of depends on what you mean by “back to point B.” If point B is where I live now (well, for the next two weeks), then my answer is yes, absolutely. But if by “point B” you were referring to the organization from which I am resigning, then I’m my answer would be no, not likely.

I’ve always seen this whole thing as a big adventure. I am pursuing what I believe to be God’s direction for my life, and while I often second guess His leadership (behind his back, of course), I’ve learned not to doubt His provision and sovereignty through it all. When I left the States for Western Europe, so much was unknown. I was in the (desirable) position of having to totally and completely depend on God. He was my only stability. Now that I’m moving back to the U.S., I happily find myself in that same situation.

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Filed under:Ministry, Reflections, Relationships, Team

4 Responses to “The Devil Is In The Details”

  • ewin werrie Says:
    May 12th, 2008 at 11:47 am

    you have more than answered my comments – you really have thought this through well, and I wish you well on this move to point c (and these are really ‘points’, not organizations – i find that anytime i try to tie myself to an organization, it blows up in my face – i’m sticking with what He wants me to do, from here on out).

    i do think it is a gross shame that the ‘strategy’ of arts, social action, and culture exchange will pass away and not pass on. why is it that the organizational body does not see the value in arts and culture as much as they seem to see it in baptisms and cpm growth?

    i’ve really started to call to question my own involvement in the machine and wondering how *i* can be a catalyst for change in that area (arts and culture). the celts got it right when they integrated themselves into an area, built community, introduced christianity (when among the pagans) and eased people into relationship with God – the ‘big church’ model of go and make disciples by transplanting your culture, language, and trappings on the local populations has never really worked out well. one the popular movies of my time (The Mission) really pointed out that dropping a model-of-living on an indigenous culture and expecting them to conform does not work. where you are, there has been such a backlash to that model (the catholic with a big c church) that many people have no use or care for spiritual thoughts. i can only hope and pray that those who come to your city to continue work and build relationships do not end up reinventing the wheel for four years, then leaving for someone *else* to come and repeat the same process again, and again, and again.

    i am especially glad that you are keeping in touch with those you are leaving behind (nationals). that will be what we take away, when it is our time, as well …

    peace, brother
    ewine

  • Camel Rider Says:
    May 12th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    Maybe you can respond in an email….what do you think the future strategy will be? Who do you think will step in? Do you think they don’t value the current strategy or is it that the next guy doesn’t have the same heart that you do and his strategy will be more reflective of who he is?

  • stepchild Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 8:14 am

    ewinwe,
    Thank you for being an encouragement to me. I agree that we need to be sure that those who come behind us at least have the opportunity to learn from our experience (successes and failures). It would be a shame for new people to have to start from scratch, without the benefit of what we’ve come to understand about the people and culture.

    One thing that I’m really excited about is the ongoing commitment of an American church to this city. This church is actively involved in strategy coordination for the city, and will continue its active involvement in the work here. They will ensure further continuity of our presence, and plan to take all that my team has learned and make it available to whomever might find it useful.

    I’m so thankful that God orchestrates the work!

    Camel Rider,
    I’ll get back to you today via email with specifics, but in general, I think that with the current team leaving, there really isn’t anyone left who has a desire to maintain our strategy, and few who see its value. Ultimately, it’s a question of practicality. For all of our innovation and creativity, at the end of the day, we still have what everyone else has.

    Nothing.

  • Camel Rider Says:
    May 13th, 2008 at 8:56 pm

    The interesting thing is that every good idea takes a while to work. Ideas take time to take root and bring fruit. My concern is that we often revert to what we know, even if its only nominally effective…over the big risk which in the long term may bring greater, deeper results.

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