Revolution in World Missions

Chapter 21, Facing Tests He smiled warmly at me from across his big polished desk. I was very impressed. This man led one of the greatest ministries in America, one I had admired for years. A great preacher, author, and leader, he had a huge following both among clergy and lay people. He had sent me a plane ticket and had invited me to fly across the country to advise him on expanding his work in India. I was flattered. His interest in GFA and the native missionary movement pleased me much more than I was willing to let him believe. From the minute he had first called me, I sensed that this man could be a valuable friend to us in many ways. Perhaps he would open the doors and help us provide sponsorships for some of the hundreds of native missionaries waiting for our support. But I was not ready for the generous offer he made, one that would turn out to be the first of many tests for me and our mission. Brother K.P., he said slowly, would you consider giving up what you're doing here in the United States and going back to India as our special representative? We believe that God is calling you to work with us, to take the message of our church back to the people of India. We'll back you up 100% to do it. You'll have whatever you need, he went on without pausing for a breath. We'll give you a printing press and vans and literature. We're prepared to provide you with all the funding, many times which you can raise yourself. It was an exciting offer. Then he made it sound even sweeter. You can give up all this traveling and raising money. You won't need an office and staff in the States. We'll do all that for you. You want to be in Asia, don't you? That's where the work is. So we'll free you to go back and run the work there. Weakened by the thought of having so many of my prayers answered in one stroke, I let my mind play with all the possibilities. This could be the biggest answer to prayer we have ever had, I thought. As we talked, my eyes unconsciously wandered across the desk to an album of his best-selling teaching tapes. They were well done, a series on some controversial issues that were sweeping across the United States at that time. They were, however, irrelevant to our needs and problems in Asia. Seeing what appeared to be my interest in the cassettes, he spoke with a sudden burst of self-assurance. We'll start with these tapes, he said, handing them to me. I'll give you the support you need to produce them in India. We can even have them translated in all the major languages. We'll produce millions of copies and get this message into the hands of every Indian believer. I had heard other men with the same wild idea. The tapes would be useless in India. Millions were going to hell there. They did not need this man's message at all. Although I thought his idea was insane, I tried to be polite. Well, I offered lamely, there might be some material here that could be adapted for India and printed as a booklet. Suddenly his face froze. I sensed that I had said something wrong. Oh no, he said with an air of stubborn finality. I can't change a word. That's the message God gave me. It's part of what we're all about. If it's not a problem in India now, it soon will be. We need you to help us get the word out all over Asia. In an instant, this basically good man of God had shown his real colors. His heart was not burning with a passion for the lost at all or for the churches of Asia. He had an axe to grind and he thought he had the money to hire me to grind it for him overseas. It was the same old story, a case of religious neocolonialism. Here I was, face to face again with pride and flesh and all of its ugliness. I admired and liked this man and his ministry, but he had only one problem. He believed, as many before him have, that if God was doing anything in the world, he would do it through him. As soon as I could, I excused myself politely and never called him back. He was living in a world of the past, in the day of colonial missions when Western denominations could export and peddle their doctrines and programs to the emerging churches of Asia. The body of Christ in Asia owes a great debt to the wonderful missionaries who came in the 19th and 20th centuries. They brought the gospel to us and planted the church. But the church now needs to be released from Western domination. My message to the West is simple. God is calling Christians everywhere to recognize that He is building His church in Asia. Your support is needed for the native missionaries whom God is raising up to extend His church, but not to impose your man-made controls and teachings on the Eastern churches. Gospel for Asia has faced other tests. Perhaps the biggest came from another group that also shall remain unidentified. This time it involved the biggest single gift ever offered us. Our friendship and love for members of this group had developed over the previous few years. We have seen God birth into their hearts a burden to see the gospel of the Lord Jesus preached in the demonstration of the power of God throughout the world. God had given them a desire to be involved in the equipping of native pastors and evangelists, and they had helped GFA financially with projects over the past several years. Once, by apparent chance, I ran into a delegation of four of their American brothers in India. They had met some of our native missionaries, and I could see they were significantly challenged and deeply touched by the lives of the Indian evangelists. When I returned home, letters of thanks were awaiting for me, and a couple of the men offered to sponsor a native missionary. This gesture amazed me because these same men also were voting to give us financial grants for other projects. It convinced me that they really believed in the work of the native brethren, enough to get personally involved beyond their official duties as trustees. Imagine the way I shouted and danced around the office when I got another call from the chairman of the board two weeks later. They had decided, he said, to give us a huge amount from their missionary budget. I could barely imagine a gift of that size. When I hung up the phone, the staff in our office thought I had gone crazy. How desperately we needed that money! In fact, in my mind, I already had it spent. The first part would go, I thought, to start an intensive missionary training institute for new missionaries. Perhaps that is why the next development was such a blow. As members of their board discussed the project among themselves, questions arose about accountability and control. They phoned me, expressing that the only way the board would agree to support the project would be for a representative from their organization to be on the board of the institute in India. After all, they said, that large amount of money just could not be released with no strings attached. The request went through my heart like a knife. This was a real surprise. Through all the years, I always personally had refused to sit on any of the native mission boards we support in Asia. We always have given our aid without demanding control of an indigenous ministry. To suggest that an outsider sit on the board of this new indigenous work would betray my brethren and take them back into the bondage of men. Taking a deep breath and asking the Lord for help, I tried to explain our GFA policy. Our leaders overseas fast and pray about every decision, I said. We don't have to sit on their boards to protect our monies. It's not our money anyway. It belongs to God. He is greater than GFA or your organization. Let God protect His own interests. The native brethren don't need you or me to be their leader. Jesus is their Lord and He will lead them in the right way to use the grant. The silence on the other end of the line was long. I'm sorry, Brother KP, said the director finally. I don't think I can sell this idea to our board of directors. They want accountability for the money. How can they have that without putting a man on the board? Be reasonable. You're making it very hard on us to help. This is standard policy for a gift of this size. My mind raced. A little voice said, go ahead. All they want is a worthless piece of paper. Don't make an issue of this. After all, this is the biggest grant you've ever received. Nobody gives big money away like this without some control. Stop being a fool. But I knew I could not consent to that proposal. I could not face the Asian brethren and say that in order to get this money, they have to have an American fly halfway around the world to approve how they spend it. No, I said, we cannot accept your money if it means compromising the purity of our ministry. We have plenty of accountability through the trusted godly men who have been appointed to the native board. Later, you can see the building yourself when you go to Asia. I can't compromise the autonomy of the work by putting an American on the native board. What you are suggesting is that you want to steady the ark as Uzzah did in the Old Testament. God slew him because he presumed to control the working of God. When the Holy Spirit moves and does his work, we become restless because we want to control it. It's an inherent weakness of the flesh. The bottom line of your offer is to control the work of Asia with hidden strings attached to your gift. You have to learn to let your money go, because it is not your money, but God's. Then, with my heart in my mouth, I gave him one last argument, hoping it could save the gift, but willing to lose all if I was unable to convince them. Brother, I said quietly, I sign checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars and send them to the field every month. Many times as I hold those big checks in my hand, I pray, Lord, this is your money. I'm just a steward sending it where you said it should go. Help the leaders on the field use this money to win the lost millions and glorify the name of Jesus. All we must be concerned about is doing our part. I obey the Holy Spirit in dispensing the Lord's money. Don't ask me to ask the native brethren to do something I won't do. I paused. What more could I say? Well, the voice at the other end of the line repeated, we really want to help. I will make the presentation, but you're making it very hard for me. I said with conviction, I'm sure there are other organizations that will meet your requirement. I just know we can't. Fellowship in the gospel is one thing, but outside control is unbiblical, and in the end harms the work more than helping it. I said it with conviction, but inside I was sure we had lost the grant. There was nothing more to say but goodbye. Two weeks passed without a contact. Every day I prayed God would help the whole board of directors understand. Our inner circle, people who knew about the unexpected gift, kept asking me if I had heard anything. Our whole office was praying. We're walking in the narrow way, I said bravely to the staff, doing what God has told us. Inside I kept wishing God would let me bend the rules a little this time. But our faithfulness paid off. One day the phone rang, and it was the director again. The board had met the night before, and he had presented my position to them. Brother KP, he said with a smile on his voice, We have met and discussed the project quite extensively. I shared the importance of autonomy of the National Brothers. They have voted unanimously to go ahead and support the project without controls. There is no guarantee you will always have that kind of happy ending when you stand up for what is right. But it does not matter. God has called us to be here in the West, challenging the affluent people of this world to share with those in the most desperate need of all. God is calling Christians in the West to recognize that he is building his church as a caring, sharing, and saving outreach to dying souls. He is using many North Americans who care about the lost to share in this new movement by supporting the native missionary leaders he has called to direct it. God is calling the body of Christ in the affluent West to give up its proud, arrogant attitude of, Our way is the only way, and share with those who will die and sin unless help is sent now from the richer nations. The West must share with the East, knowing that Jesus said, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto me. Have native missionaries made mistakes? Yes. And it would be unwise stewardship to give away our money freely without knowledge of the truthfulness and integrity of any ministry. But that does not mean we should not help the native missionary movement. North America is at the crossroads. We can harden our hearts to the needs of the two-thirds world, continuing in arrogance, pride, and selfishness, or we can repent and move with the Spirit of God. Whichever way we turn, the laws of God will continue in effect. If we close our hearts to the lost of the world who are dying and going to hell, we invite the judgment of God and a more certain ruin of our affluence. But if we open our hearts and share, it will be the beginning of new blessing and renewal. This is why I believe that the response of North American believers is crucial. This cry of my heart is more than a mission question that can be shrugged off like another appeal letter or banquet invitation. Response to the needs of the lost world is directly tied to the spiritual beliefs and well-being of every believer. Meanwhile, the unknown brethren of Asia continue to lift hands to God in prayer, asking Him to meet their needs. They are men and women of the highest caliber. They cannot be bought. Many have developed a devotion to God that makes them hate the idea of becoming servants of men and religious establishments for profit. They are the true brethren of Christ about which the Bible speaks, walking from village to village, facing beatings and persecutions to bring Christ to animists, Buddhists, communists, Hindus, Muslims, and many other people who still have not received the good news of His love. Without fear of men, they are willing, like their Lord, to live as He did, sleeping on roadsides, going hungry, and even dying in order to share their faith. They go even though they may be told the mission fund is used up. They are determined to preach even though they know it will mean suffering. Why? Because they love the lost souls who are dying daily without Christ. They are too busy doing the will of God to get involved in church politics and board meetings, fundraising campaigns, and public relations efforts. It is the highest privilege of affluent Christians in the West to share in their ministries by sending financial aid. If we do not care enough to sponsor them, if we do not obey the love of Christ and send them support, we are sharing in the responsibility for those who go to eternal flames without ever hearing about the love of God. If native evangelists cannot go because no one will send them, the shame belongs on the body of Christ here because it has the funds to help them. And if those funds are not given to the Lord, they will soon disappear. If the Western church will not be a light to the world, the Lord will take their candlestick away. Pretending the poor and lost do not exist may be an alternative, but averting our eyes from the truth will not eliminate our guilt. Gospel for Asia exists to remind the affluent Christian that there is a hungry, needy, lost world of people out there whom Jesus loves and for whom he died. Will you join us in ministering to them?