Back to Malawi

In just a few days another team from Crossings Community Church will be winging our way to the southern African nation of Malawi. Our team of seven will be digging fresh water wells (it could be as many as three) and doing some women's ministry in the villages where we are digging. Our team is: Allan, David, Richard, Kim & Kemp, Deanna & Michael. Most of us will only be gone two weeks but Kim and Kemp will remain in Africa for an additional four weeks continuing to work with the Water4 Foundation.

Invariably, in the time before we leave, I am often asked many questions with similar themes: "Why are you going?" "Wouldn't it be better to just send the missionaries the money that we will actually spend to go?" "Is it safe?" "Don't we have enough need right here in Oklahoma City?" These are all valid questions and I want to answer them by drawing on one of Jesus' most familiar parables.

We all know the parable of the Good Samaritan. A traveler was walking alone on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers, beaten and left for dead. A priest came upon the man and passed by on the other side of the road without stopping. A Levite soon came up to the beaten traveler but he also passed on by without stopping. Finally, a Samaritan came by and stopped to help. He treated the man's wounds, took him to an inn and made arrangements for the traveler to be nursed back to health at the inn. Most of us also remember that Jesus told this parable in response to the question: "Who is my neighbor?"

But look at the story through the lens of missions. The traveler might represent an unreached people group in the 10/40 Window that has never heard the gospel. Or the traveler could symbolize the people of any impoverished and developing nation that struggles to overcome abject poverty, preventable diseases, deal with the impact of HIV/AIDS, or natural disaster. Just how do we as followers of Christ, as a body of believers we call the church, respond?

We could be like the priest, who avoided contact with the beaten traveler. In fairness to the priest, he did not know if the traveler was dead or not. If he had been dead and the priest had touched him, then the priest would have become ceremonially unclean. He would have been unable to perform his priestly duties at the temple for seven days. Surely he could not let his devotion to God prevent him from reaching out and helping someone.

To me, when a church says that they cannot do global missions because they are so focused on local missions opportunities, it is basically the same attitude as the priest. To be certain, there are plenty of needs for any local church to meet in their surrounding community and those are needs that a church should work to meet. But my reading, understanding and interpretation of Matthew 28:19 - 20 and Acts 1:8 tells me that local missions is only a part of our mission field, not the totality of it. Any missions philosophy that focuses solely on either global or local missions - to the exclusion of the other - demonstrates an incomplete understanding of the commands of Christ.

A second type of missions philosophy is like the Levite who passed by the robbers' victim. He was no doubt a prudent man who understood the strategies of the robbers on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. It was not uncommon for one of the thieves to play the role of a beaten traveler and when someone stops to offer aid, the rest of the robbers jump out to beat and rob the unsuspecting do-gooder. The Levite was merely being practical and safe. And what church, especially in light of today's economic condition, shouldn't be concerned with the stewardship of God's resources and being prudent?

I am all for fiscal responsibility and accountability, but missions and the life-change that occurs in both the one who serves and the one who receives goes far beyond dollars and cents. In my mind, this is where the eternal significance of what occurs far outweighs the monetary cost. Look at it this way: suppose that your family plans a trip across the country to visit some relatives. But once you start weighing the cost of the trip you decide to take the money you would have spent on the trip and you just mail it to the relatives...as a substitute for your family actually being there with them. Your family would miss the chance to get to know their relatives better, there would be no shared and lasting memories created, and everyone - both your family and the relatives - would miss out on the overall experience. That was the purpose of the trip to begin with.

But now let's look at risk avoidance. I do not think that the call of Christ is a call to be reckless, but neither do I think it is a call to be safe and comfortable. When I consider all that Jesus was willing to sacrifice for my sake, am I truly willing to let the reporting of civil unrest in some part of the world prevent me from going to that same area if that's where God has called me? Please show me in the Bible where it says we are only supposed to serve in places or at times when it is safe or when there is no risk involved. Do Christians in the U.S. genuinely believe that this thinking honors and glorifies God? Heaven help us if we do.

The Good Samaritan had the ability and opportunity to help the wounded man. Most importantly, he had the compassion to act on the need he saw before him. These same traits exist in most churches. The church in North America has the resources to help people in need. Most of the time we have the knowledge of where the needy (physically, economically or spiritually) are located and how their needs can best be met. But do we have the compassion to allow ourselves to be stretched beyond our comfort zones? Are we willing to look to the people of Malawi, India, Honduras and the 10/40 Window as our neighbors? When we have the means and opportunity will we choose to extend a hand to our neighbors on the other side of the world? Who live in dangerous places? Who will die separated from God (from malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis) unless we act?

Why do we go? Out of our devotion to God and our desire to serve him wherever and whenever he calls us. Out of obedience to the teachings of Jesus so that we might live as imitators of Christ. We go because we are so filled with the love of Jesus that we must share that love with our neighbors who live eight time zones away and who do not have clean water to drink. We go because we have the means to bring them clean water, we have the opportunity to go and because Jesus commands us - as he commanded the expert in the law - to: "Go and do likewise."

Soli Deo gloria,
Michael