4 Ways We Misunderstand Short-Term Missions
What works for two weeks isn’t realistic long-term.
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What works for two weeks isn’t realistic long-term.
Living and serving in the Middle East has its unique challenges, none of which compare to the events of recent weeks. There was no pre-field training to prepare for being jolted awake in the dead of night by the adrenaline that comes from booming sounds of missile attacks that shake the windows, followed by piercing cell phone alerts that ensure your entire household is awake to experience it all. The Great Commission is not bound by wars or rumours of wars. God’s Word must be preached in season and out of season. Gospel work continues in the midst of missile...
Discouragement is inevitable when we serve in the mission of the church. We see worldly systems that, with sophistication and accuracy, promote sin and hinder the gospel. We see people show interest in the good news, but they remain unpersuaded. We see the darkness of satanic addiction and brokenness strangling families and communities, and it is called “progress”. We, the local church, may be just a small candle in hundreds (or thousands) of square kilometres of thick darkness. There are declining numbers of people going into pastoral ministry and cross-cultural gospel work. And if all that wasn’t enough, we have...
Be ready in season and out of season. (2 Tim. 4:2) People don’t aspire to predictability. We value spontaneity and freshness above being conventional or routine. Yet a minister of the gospel should be this for his people: the predictable pastor. That is not the same as saying the pastor is boring or uninteresting or that he never does things on the spur of the moment. But it is saying that he is consistent. His ministry will be marked by a reliability that speaks of his deep devotion to Christ and to Christ’s flock. When Paul exhorted Timothy to preach...
If you move about between evangelical churches of a “baptistic” and “congregational” strain, you are likely to encounter a variety of practices and norms with respect to the use and definition of the terms “pastor” and “elder”. In some churches, the terms are synonymous: pastors are elders and elders are pastors. In other churches, the elders are volunteer leaders, while the pastors are leaders who are paid. In some churches, there are several elders and one Lead Pastor. In other churches, there are several pastors, only one of whom is considered an elder. Further examples of unique usage could no...
