Expectations
Posted June 17th, 2009 by ErnestMost negative missions experiences are due to unrealistic expectations. (This, of course, is a wildly unsubstantiated claim based on my limited experience and no formal research whatsoever.) It usually goes something like this:
“Yay, we’re going to be missionaries! We love the nations! God’s glory! Passion! Finish the task”
Then, “It’s okay to be uncomfortable. Different isn’t necessarily bad. We can do this.”
Finally, “I’m just not cut out for missions. The missionaries here aren’t cut out for missions. I’m never leaving home again.”
Expectations are a funny thing. We use them to motivate people to do missions in the first place- “It’ll change your life,” we tell them. “God has something special for you,” we say. Short-termers, career missionaries, volunteers- we set them up for disappointment by telling them missions will be a great experience. Or hard. Or spiritually significant. Or life-altering. But then, for whatever reason, it’s none of those things.
Environmental expectations are a big one. We had volunteers come through Western Europe and complain that it was too, “developed.” Trippers on “extreme teams” in the remote jungles of countries you’ve never heard of come back feeling like failures for not having used their emergency survival kits. “We were hoping to get to go into holy city…” “We weren’t able to make contact with the imam…” “We thought there was going to be greater opposition…”
Nearly every “missionary” has a change in job/role/purpose over the course of service. “Originally, we were going to work in a medical clinic.” “We went over there to do sports camps, but…” “I was supposed to be the strategy coordinator…” This can have a profound effect on a person’s sense of and the value of his/her contribution.
And then there’s the expectation of numbers. Talk to anyone who’s been on a mission trip, and you’re likely to hear, “We didn’t get to see any churches planted” or “We only saw thirteen people come to faith.”
On the one hand, you don’t want people to go on a trip with low expectations (it is God we’re talking about, after all). But even lowering expectations can hurt the experience. We used to tell volunteers that they were unlikely to see professions of faith. Then, when the volunteers did actually see people get saved, they immediately assumed that we, the missionaries, didn’t know what we were doing. “It was easy,” I remember one young lady saying. “I don’t know why your team has to make it so complicated.” She didn’t come back because she wanted to go somewhere where “the soil might be harder.”
On the other hand, expectations tend to be what get people to spend their vacation time prayerwalking in Bangladesh rather than sitting on the beaches of Hawaii. People expect to help. They expect to see that all of this “missions” stuff isn’t just a waste of time. In order to mobilize people, we tell them that they can make a difference. We promise (directly or indirectly) that they can be part of “God’s global mission.” Then, if they don’t “see it,” they’re disillusioned disappointed, and inoculated against missions in the future. These are the people who say, “But there are lost and needy people in my own neighborhood.” They’re the ones who stop sending money to missions agencies and organizations. The ones who don’t believe in “missions.”
For those who might overspiritualize (William Carey, I’m looking at you), saying “expect great things from God,” I’d remind you even “great things” can be an unrealistic expectation. Though our church culture might discourage it, many people return from the mission field lamenting the fact that they didn’t see God do anything “great.” Sure that’s a matter of perspective, but how can we be sure people aren’t discouraged to the point of (however disobediently) abandoning missions altogether for something they see as “making a difference”?
If you’ve been on a mission trip (or if you’ve been a missionary) and had a bad experience, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you felt like your participation wasn’t valued. I’m sorry that you felt like time and money were misspent. I apologize for missionaries who didn’t have their acts together, treated you like children, or were just generally clueless. I regret that you didn’t get to see whatever it was you were hoping to see. I feel your pain when you had to report back to your church that your time on the field was unproductive. I can relate to those of you who felt called to mission with a vison for churches being planted and lives being changed, but saw little (if any) of that come to pass.
Don’t be discouraged. Don’t let the pragmatists, the acheivers, or the falsely humble tell you that your contribution didn’t matter. Don’t allow those who think they can quantify and engineer “success” label you a failure. If you had a bad experience, go again. Next time might be different. Or, maybe not. Either way, you’re going because we serve a God who goes and commands us to go as well. We go because it’s what we do, who we are.
Unless writing a lot makes one a "writer," Ernest is a former missionary. After more than six years in Western Europe, he moved to Portland, where he drinks too much coffee and over-analyzes human behavior. For more about Ernest, visit the About page where you can read a long-time reader's interview with him. Or, if you don't mind waiting a very, very long time, send him an email.
8 Responses to “Expectations”
June 17th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Thanks for putting into words what I would have liked to say so many times to those coming down on missions trips. Your next to last ‘apology paragraph’ expresses well the true nature of all that is involved in what may, or may not be experienced on a missions trip.
I confess one of the main reasons we are hesitant about utilizing greater numbers of volunteer mission teams than we do, is precisely the pressure we feel to make sure everyone coming down has the great missions experience they are expecting to have when they give up their summer vacation in the Rockies, spend that $1500-$1800 to fly down for a week, and work their tails off in the Equatorial sun. Once they get here, we indeed feel obligated to make sure no one goes back home disappointed. We want everyone to get back on the plane chattering about their exciting stories and a love for the people and country like we have. As you point out, sometimes this happens, and other times it doesn’t. I always feel terrible when anyone leaves disappointed, and the trip didn’t measure up to expectations.
But what needs to be clearly communicated is that these trips are not for people to have a nice ‘missions experience.’ Mission comes first; feelings about the mission come second. If I counted all the times I felt disappointed, let down, manipulated, used by others, abused, and even ignored, I’d have gone AWOL from the mission field a long time ago. These things are just part of the package. But the other side of the coin is also just as real: eye-opening experiences, greater understanding of our world, life-changing experiences, hearts broken over a lost and dying world, a sense of call and renewed commitment to God to serve Him, new awareness of things not understood before, greater appreciation for what one has, etc.
Good post.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:31 am
This is an excellent post. In my ministry, I have to coach churches extensively on redefining success. Some much of what success looks like in the US is driven by Christians moving from one church to another. That mentality is then taken to a mission field, whether its Equador, Western Europe, or the affordable housing communities of Amarillo. Our focus on conversion rather than making disciples deepens the mindset. Grasping the concept that evangelism is a process can help mission workers realize that they are playing a role in that process and that its not always God’s will for them to harvest. They may plant the seed or be God’s instrument to water. Each step is necessary and equally important.
Thank you again for pointing out these difficulties.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
We take teams on outreaches of 2-3 months. The expectations of those on their first outreach from our basic training program are as you described, unrealistic. That’s after 3 months of preparation during the lecture phase. Those on their ’second level’ class outreach are a little more able to cope with changes, disappointments and relationship issues. Daily debriefing times with much prayer included, are essential. Much depends on the leadership honestly describing what the team will be getting into and to be looking out for ’small victories’ that are seen by the eyes of faith, i.e. planting good seed, watering what has been started by others and not using the world’s ways of measuring success (business principles applied to christian work that are currently popular). If its true that “God’s ways are not man’s ways” then it follows that much of the fruit of missions work will not be known until the ‘outreach worker’ goes to be with the Lord…. without faith it is impossible to please Him.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I have learned to simply not to expect anything. In this way I am always surprized and never experience a let down.
June 20th, 2009 at 7:19 am
We live in such a consumerism driven culture that we feel the need to sell missions. I tell teams to expect nothing personally but to expect God to do much among the people…which they will probably never see. I also ask teams to please not reduce this event to the level of youth camp or Promise Keepers…another cheer-leading event….another thing to give them goosebumps. (By the way I always get these disappointing stares after I say this).
You know as well as we do that life overseas is usually…..normal…it’s not exotic, it’s not always fun, it’s not easy…it’s hot, filled with stomach problems, lonely, often disappointing…but it’s what we’re supposed to be doing (it’s also rewarding, challenging, sometimes fun, and definitely worth-while). We should always expect something…we just need to be careful what it is that we expect.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Ow, this is so familiar. My wife & I went to Japan, expecting to start concerts of prayer that would lead to revival. The culture itself would be no problem, as we had both grown up in Japan as missionary kids.
After a year, we concluded that either God didn’t exist, or he hated us. I imagined returning to the States and never volunteering to lead any ministry again, because it might bring up the fact that I had once been a missionary. And I wouldn’t want that to get out, because it would only fill me with shame.
At our lowest point, we met other missionaries who were much more seasoned and long-term than we were, yet were also at a low point. Together we prayed, desperately. And our small group (we called the group “the gropers” because we felt like we were groping in the dark) experienced revival. Miracles. Prophetic guidance. Physical healing happening before our astounded eyes.
And then, just when we thought again that we were going to conquer the world, the leaders of our group lost their son to leukemia. Despite all our prayers, prophecies, and apparent signs to the contrary, he died. We were all rocked, helpless, confused.
Maybe God doesn’t want us to be “strong” and “successful” after all.
July 5th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Thanks for sharing such a powerful and personal story Jon.
A year ago we completed our assignment at a small rural church in Gunma when they were finally able to call a Japanese pastor. We were there as a part of the team that planted the church and I ended up being the pastor. We spent 2 years in planning and then 7 years pastoring the church. When we left last year there were 3-4 core members and another 3-4 regulars. It’s easy to be discouraged, and at times we were. And yet there were times of incredible blessing, joy and pure fun as well. When we finally finished that chapter my feelings were too mixed to be able to sort out. After all, I was elated and devastated at the same time. I didn’t even know that was possible.
I don’t have a “final analysis” but can say that I resonate very, very deeply with your final statement: “Maybe God doesn’t want us to be “strong” and “successful” after all.”
July 20th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Thank you for your honesty in this post. Short-term missions (and the difficulties that come with them) have been a popular search term at my blog. Those expectations that you describe are why I believe the church (in a broad sense) needs a serious re-education about missions in the 21st Century.
@Guy: we, too, are reluctant to host short-term help here in Western Europe for the same reasons. And you’re right, feelings do come second in this.
@Grady: “life overseas is usually…..normal…it’s not exotic, it’s not always fun, it’s not easy…it’s hot, filled with stomach problems, lonely, often disappointing” You’ve summed up our last three years in the field!
@Jon: I’m sorry for your difficulty and misfortune, but “strong” and “successful” in ministry (and life) are all how you define it. From your story it sounds like you were strong enough to stick it out for a time and seek prayer with other Christians, and success might lie in a harvest being reaped later due to your planting (of seeds) work then–God’s timeline might be different from yours. Don’t let difficulty poison future ministry, whether it be in the field or on home turf. I’ve seen it happen too many times here, and I don’t believe leaving ministry altogether is what God ultimately intended for those who go on mission.
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