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I think at the very core of our missions funding success is, most of the time, our attitude towards funding in itself. From our attitude towards our fundraising comes our success or failure. If we are ever going to be a tree that bears fruit, in regards to our funding, then I would say that a positive attitude is what itneeds to be rooted in.
I would have to say that viewing fundraising as a spiritual ministry was probably my weakest attitude. Reading about it has been very helpful. I think we have got to view fundraising as a spiritual ministry, just as much as we view the ministry with the children we’re involved with. It’s something to be excited about, we get the privilege of telling others about our ministry and seek to gain partners in ministering to the children and families in our community. After that I’d say either “poor talk” or “get by mentality” would be a. Lose second. That being said, I do tend to focus on the giver’s needs before my own and I do try to focus on the big picture and vision of Project Samuel over only presenting my needs.
I think the big area where I have expected God to do my job is by not taking full advantage of inviting others to partner with me. An invitation is far more than just a news letter or a Facebook request with a photo attached. Reaching out to more than just “those who have shown interest”, but rather asking others to meet with me about funding, and giving them the opportunity to partner with me is my job, not God’s. I could be a lot more open and enthusiastic about it instead of putting the perfect one-on-one meetings under the category of “God’s Job”. The areas where I’ve been trying to do God’s job, I’d say, would be with me having this mindset of getting others on board to fund me, or rather “to go for the bait”. I don’t think that’s my job at all. I believe God’s job is to put a desire on their hearts to help. Mine is simply to inform them and ask to partner and simply trust the Lord with the outcome. My giving that job to God takes a pressure off of my shoulders, which in my opinion, will allow me to enjoy funding meetings much more.
My first fundraising conversations actually took place after I had already sent out letters through mail and social media. I didn’t feel too uncomforitable, more excited than anything. I had let people know what I was doing and I recieved responses from people who wanted to help. The more uncomfortable conversations came when I needed to start being more aggressive with fund raising.
I would say that the #1 issue that gets in the way of my fundraising is honestly Fear. I don’t want to put people in awkward situations where I’m asking for something that they may not be able to give. It would also kill me inside to know that someone is giving and suffering for it back home. This has caused me to have a mentality of not wanting to ask others who I may feel are financially burdened. This mindset is actually changing however Since I’ve been fighting against this way of thinking. If I give in to this mentality then I am denying others the ability to minister to the children here in our community that may very well want to help. One of my regular supporters is actually someone who’s business is failing and is causing her to be pretty much homeless, believe it or not. She gets angry with me if I tell her to only give if she can afford it. Perhaps suffering a bit financially for the sake of ministering to others is a bit healthy for us as Americans. My view of suffering has changed a bit overtime since I’ve been living in Nicaragua, as I see a different level of financial suffering here.
I would say the list goes on though. It’s not only fear, but because of fear I can develope a lack of diligence and not make time for fundraising. I would much rather spend my time visiting with the children and families in our community or getting my hands dirty with construction and use that as an excuse to not spend a lot of time reaching out to people and develope my personal funding. This can also give me this “get-by” mentality which kills financial progress. Tackling fear is the first step, I think, in developing my personal fundraising.
1625 was the year that the Nestorian Stone was discovered in China, which reveals the story of bishop Alopen and also opened a “long-lost chapter in the history of Christian missions”. Alopen visited China in 635 at a time when China was a religiously tolerant area. When the emperor heard about this new religion of Christianity the emperor then translated the Bible and studied it for himself.
Some strategies were a little more effective than others. One effective strategy, I would say, comes from the teachings of Hudson Taylor, who urged his missionaries to learn the Native language, eat local food, wear customary clothes, and observe the cultural etiquette. Using the work that he did in China as an example, many missionaries have adopted his way of evangelizing unreached people today.
Also with the birth of Protestantism, bible reading became a large part of the Protestant Christian faith. The importance of bible reading led to many missionaries going out with a great desire to translate the Christian bible into the languages of the natives. Because of the work of missionaries Henry Martin, Ann Judson, Robert Morrison, William Milne, and more, people from different languages and nations have been able to fall in love with and study the word of God themselves. The success of this practice leads many missionaries working to do the same ministry today.
It seems to me that it was the love that Christian’s had for others that really made it become appealing and expand the early church. We can see this described by the words of second-century church father Tertullia.
“It is our care for the helpless, our practice of lovingkindness, that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents”When we stray from this “care for the helpless” and “practice of lovingkindness” then we no longer see a growth in disciples. We may however see a growth in a corrupted religion.
An example of this is stated in pg 110 with the abusses of the Spanish towards the Native Americans. Chief Hatuey from Cuba, fled the Spanish with his people when he saw that the christians “God” was really gold and jewels. He was eventually captured and burned alive. Before he was burned, a friar told him that if he’d become a Christian then he’d go to heaven. The chief then stated that he’d rather go to hell, so that he wouldn’t see such cruel people as the Spaniards.
On the flip-side of this we see Christian’s showing this “lovingkindness” during this same time. Christians such as the Dominican Bartolome de Las Casas “who worked tirelessly to alleviate the sufferings of the indigenous populations” and played a big role in influencing the Spanish court to bring about laws that curbed the abuses of the Native Americans.
One made the Christian church appealing while the other obviously did not.
According to studies by Eckhard Schnabel, there were seven different characteristics of Paul’s missionary methods.
1. People needed to hear the news of Jesus Christ. All people, and by whatever means necessary.
2. In order for people to hear about Jesus, Paul realized that HE NEEDED TO TRAVEL TO THEM in their cities, towns, and communities.
3. In order to reach Mediterranean cities and towns, Paul realized that him and other apostles would have to travel in Roman provinces.
4. Paul realized that in order for people to hear the gospel of Christ, he needed to find people who were willing to listen and even engage in conversation. That means speaking in place where people were accustomed to hearing and listening to speeches and/or news.
5. Everyone was relevant to Paul and the apostles. Despite of ethnic identity, class, gender, culture, you needed to hear the news of Jesus. Wether you we’re Jew or even pagan didn’t matter. They realized that Jesus had come for the world.
6. Paul considered the rhetorical principles of each culture wen teaching about Jesus.
7. After groups of people accepted the news of Christ, the question of what made missionary work successful was then looked at.
This is a summary of the characteristics of Paul’s Methods from chp. 4 pg 61.
Paul is arguably the most effective missionary to ever live. I think the key characteristic that we all can learn from was his faithfulness to spreading this new and wonderful news of the Christ. Despite of his various trials,( time in prison, death threats, disagreements with brothers) he continued to fight with all that he was, for the work of carrying the Kingdom of God to others. If I learn anything from Paul then it is to focus on being faithful, despite of what trials we experience. When we faithfully look to Jesus, we find ourselves carrying the strength to move forward and to
reach the world around us.I believe we can make a case for missions in the Old Testament. In fact, God’s plan from the beginning was to bring salvation and redemption from the Jews to the world, which in my opinion is the “ultimate mission”.
From Abraham being called out from God and told that “all people’s on earth will be blessed through him”, to Isaiah receiving word from God about a King who’s come to redeem the Jews and gentiles. We can see that a world mission was the plan to begin with. Even the Jews felt this way about the rest of the world. Pg 34 gives us an example of psalm 67 where the Jews were longing for all people and all nations to know and see the goodness of God.
With Christianity becoming less popular in the U.S. You can only make the assumption that foreign missions is taking a hit as well.
But according to pg 14-15 of our material, with the decline in the average americans belief in absolute truth (only 33% in 2001) there seems to be an incline in the flourishing of other religions here in America, which actually brings the mission field to us here in the states. I think this actually might set a fire in the American Christian and might give them a passion for foreign ministry, as they are becoming more exposed to foreign religions and foreign cultures in their hometowns. Sometimes christians need to be shaken up a bit in order for them to wake up. Perhaps the introduction of mosques and temples in their communities will do that.
@Timothy Vowell, I don’t think that most missionaries do consider it. We as Americans don’t really have to pay much of a cost for professing to be a Christian in our communities or homes, even if the family is against it. I’ve meet some missionaries who do focus only on alter calls and baptisms, even though those things are great, I don’t think that’s all we should focus on.
Hey guys! Even though my profile says I’m John, I actually go by my middle name Marshall. I’ve been staying at the Project in Nicaragua since August and help manage our ministry there. It’s been a blessing to work with the children and families in our community and I look forward to watching Project Samuel Nicaragua develop. I’m looking forward to learning more about missions with you all.
Scott Carson, I agree with you! After reading your post I feel that it would be easy to overstep boundaries by going against the authority of the parents. Once Lily reaches the age where she is no longer under her parents authority or leaves home, then I think it would the proper time for her to choose to get baptized.
Week 1
Lily Liu’s BaptismThis is a difficult situation for Lily, for Pastor Smith, and also Lily’s family. If we can try to understand where the family is coming from in regards to their daughter’s conversion then I think we can approach this the correct way. If this were a real life scenario, which I’m most certain happens very often, then I believe that this missionary “Smith” would have a great love for these people and a great desire to not only bring the good news of Christ to Lily, but also her family, community, and even the nation of Taiwan, and a great desire to see them walking in the kingdom of God. At times though, I know that some of us can be so desperate for people to fall in love with Christ, that we’re willing to perhaps bend or distort what it means to be a follower of Christ, so that “Christianity” can seem more appealing.
Chapter 3, pg. 45 speaks about baptism as “The basic thrust to initiate people into the Christian faith.” And it states that Matthew’s intentions, when documenting Jesus’ Great Commission, were to “ground the need for baptism as the appropriate Christian ritual that embodies repentance from sin and entrance into allegiance to Christ.”
The Great Commission given by Jesus was to, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
I don’t think that baptism is one of those things that some might say are “cultural”, or not really all that important or necessary for christians in Taiwan. I think that it pertains to every culture and every nation, especially since Matthew states that Jesus specifically commands to make disciples of “all nations” and baptize “them”.
But, just as Pastor Smith is in Taiwan for Lily, he is also there for Lily’s family. There seems to be a legitimate fear that Lily’s family is experiencing in regards to offending their ancestors, and it looks to me that their entire life is almost based around this notion that their ancestors are easily offended. And it also seems that damage and harm can be done to the family with the offense of their ancestors! I would do all that I could to get the message across to the family and communities that you no longer need to be afraid or to walk in fear. That when you give your life over to the teaching of Christ and the acceptance that he has died for your sins, then you no longer have to fear offending your ancestors or any harm that they may attempt to bring you. When you are apart of the Kingdom of God, you serve Yahweh who is much stronger than the spiritual attacks of Buddhism.
There is also a difference between “not understanding” the power and truth of Christ and “refusing and rejecting” it. Being a Christian, especially in non-Christian countries, can often split apart families. This is unwanted but very common. After I’ve done all that I could to bring the families on board, and Lily’s family still refusing it, I believe that I would support Lily through all of it regardless. As her pastor I would aid her and help her in anyway I could, I would hold her hand through all of it. I would also continue to fight for good relationships with her family and do what I could to serve them and love them. They are loved by the Lord, just as Lily is, and they were died for as well. The story isn’t over with Lily’s family and she very well may play a role in bringing salvation to her household.
