Thanks for your patience for updates. We had a day exploring the local and regional spiritual situation yesterday, praying for this land which has so much need of local and regional witness to Christ. I have just returned from our men's early morning prayer meeting.
Here are our observations and prayers...
1) Many have come and gone trying to serve the establishment of the church here. Yet although God has orchestrated this so marvellously with people coming from many nations, the situation re: the building of the national church is that it is still very much at foundation level.
Why have so many come and gone?
a) The work is hard, hot, and slow. Because the work has been slow, those who have invested 20-30 years are much older now than when they came with energy. Age takes its toll and illness, strokes, medication, healthcare all become factors for those who have laid faithful foundations in prayerful obedience, and now they returned to places where it is easier to find medical help appropriate for them.
b) There are many social and community nuances here. Both indigenous people and the many nations that gather here makes for a complex dynamic. Mission workers have not maybe always understood the great collaboration. The have understood the commission to make disciples, the command to love, but not made the most of resources they have brought, because they have unintentionally been isolated in mission as they try to apply themselves to one task without those around them shaping their ministry into the whole. It comes from a well meaning intention to stick faithfully to what they think God has called them to, but maybe teamwork amongst a limited number of believers is the only way a country like this can be reached. It is sacred ground, and I am no-one to say how the resources should be spent, but I hazard a suggestion that the stewarding of national gifts and resources is the key to this. One gifted person can work in many locations if they are balanced and utilised appropriately by others in team. One person will burnout without team, and accomplish little in such complexity and magnitude of need.
Like South Asia or any other part of an unreached world, the sensitivity to people groups and culture is complex. Understanding what is already in place, or the cultural norm is crucial for culturally appropriate engagement with church to be a success. The development of a church from zero which will be culturally impacting for the long term, relies on the sensitivity of workers to culturally appropriate communication and operations, as well as their sensitivity to what God is doing in the larger jigsaw of his people. Each can come from their own mission organisation with a culture and expectation on which their funding and strategy is based. BUT...One size never fits all. We need to submit to His plan, leadership and purposes and with humility be ready for His pace, and direction, making the most of the sum of the parts as we all together fit in to serve our commanding officer.
c) This can be a lonely ministry. So many people need Jesus. The need is vast and the workers are few. It can be so overwhelming. For one figure to persevere in such a context, requires a balancing of others around us who can lift our eyes to ... the one who sees with greater perspective. We have to start somewhere, but we need to see that we are part of a bigger plan. This is our role, and why we sense God's timing in being here today - to encourage perspective as we train and encourage. This remaining need for personal encouragement, strategic plan, unreserved comittment will we believe not disappear, this side of glory.
e) Discouragement has come upon some. Some attempts at church planting fail. This can make us ask if our church will be next. 8 churches currently operate/ exist and now have some witness. This number is greater than 3 years ago, but for every local church that remains at least one has disappeared. The number of churches needed, remains many multiples of this due to the nature of geography, indigenous culture and missional opportunity. We are not a reverse engineering church planting movement, with numerical targets. We long to see indigenous movements of GOD's grace turn into healthy churches. It is He who brings the growth. We serve His numbers and purposes.
What are we praying for.
Yesterday we went to an exhibition of olive trees. It was fascinating. A particular olive grown here is of great quality. For many years the locals didn't appreciate it, and olive trees were neglected. It takes years (between 2-12) for an olive tree to show fruit. This is a wide window of unpredictability. You see the analogy hopefully.
LORD help those who work here see the importance of their work in your hands and purposes and not give up on such significant, and strategic work before it becomes established, but keep going to a fruitful season.
LORD may many more trees (churches) be planted.
LORD spread your people to cover the land.
LORD bless this great city through your people (Jer 29, Jonah 4:11)
LORD help us as we nurture the growth, in pruning, sowing, and the resources for growth give us wisdom and the long game clarity we need.
Praise GOD for his faithful hand on this place. We sense the tide is turning with individuals coming to faith who are indigenous to the culture, trophies of grace who will be mobilised to be perfect ambassadors to this nuanced culture and missional challenge.
