Revolution in World Missions

Chapter 22, The Vision of Asia's Lost Souls Many Westerners concerned about missions have grown up hearing the classic approach, send Americans. They never have been asked to consider alternatives better suited to change geopolitical conditions. It is hard for some to hear me reinterpret the stories told by Western missionaries of hardship and fruitless ministry as indicators of outdated and inappropriate methods. But the biggest hurdle for most North Americans is the idea that someone from somewhere else can do it better. Questions about our methods and safeguards for financial accountability, although often sincere and well-intentioned, sometimes emanate from a deep well of distrust and prejudice. On one of my trips to the West Coast, I was invited to meet with a missions committee of a church that supported more than 75 American missionaries. After I shared our vision for supporting Native missionaries, the committee chairman said, We've been asked to support national missionaries before, but we haven't found a satisfactory way to hold these nationals accountable for either the money we send or the work they do. I sensed he spoke for the entire committee. I could hardly wait to respond. This issue of accountability is the objection most often raised about supporting Native missionaries to the two-thirds world, and I can understand why. Indeed, I agree it is extremely important that there be adequate accountability in every area of ministry. Good stewardship demands it. So I detailed how we handle the subject. In order to make people accountable, we need some norm by which to measure their performance, I said. But what criteria should we use? Would the yearly independent audit our missionaries submit be adequate to see that they handled money wisely? I raised other questions. What about the churches they build or the projects they have undertaken? Should they be judged according to the patterns and goals some mission headquarters or denominations prescribed? What about the souls they've won and the disciples they've made? Would any denomination have criteria to evaluate those? How about criteria to evaluate their lifestyle on the field or the fruit they produce? Which of these categories should be used to make these Native missionaries accountable? Those who had been leaning back in their chairs now were leaning forward. I had laid a foundation for a thought I was sure they hadn't considered before. I continued. Do you require the American missionaries you send overseas to be accountable to you? What criteria have you used in the past to account for the hundreds of thousands of dollars you have invested through missionaries you support now? I looked to the chairman for an answer. He stumbled through a few phrases before admitting they never had thought of requiring American missionaries to be accountable, nor was this ever a concern to them. The problem, I explained, is not a matter of accountability but one of prejudice, mistrust, and feelings of superiority. These are the issues that hinder love and support for our brothers in the two-thirds world who are working to win their own people to Christ. I followed with this illustration. Three months ago, I traveled to Asia to visit some of the brothers we support. In one country, I met an American missionary who had for 14 years been developing some social programs for his denomination. He had come to this country hoping he could establish his mission center, and he had been successful. As I walked into his mission compound, I passed a man with a gun sitting at the gate. The compound was bordered by a number of buildings with at least half a dozen imported cars. The staff members were wearing Western clothes, and a servant was caring for one of the missionary children. The scene reminded me of a king living in a palace with his court of serfs caring for his every need. I have, in 18 years of travel, seen this scene repeated many times. From conversation with some of the native missionaries, I continued, I learned that this American and his colleagues did live like kings with their servants and cars. They had no contact with the poor in the surrounding villages. God's money is invested in missionaries like this who enjoy a lifestyle they could not afford in the United States. A lifestyle of a rich man, separated by economy and distance from the native missionaries walking barefoot, poorly dressed even by their own standards, and sometimes going for days without eating. These nationals, in my opinion, are the real soldiers of the cross. Each one of the brothers we support in that country has established a church in less than 12 months, and some have started more than 20 churches in three years. I told of another incident from my own country of India. Although India is closed to new missionaries, some Western missionaries still live there from past times, and some denominations get a few new professional people in, such as doctors or teachers. I visited one of the mission hospitals in India where some of the missionary doctors and their colleagues worked. All lived in richly furnished mansions. One had 12 servants to care for him and his family. One to look after the garden, another to care for the car, another to care for the children, two to cook in his kitchen, one to take care of his family clothes, and so on. And in eight years, this missionary had won no one to Jesus, nor established one church. What criteria, I dared to ask, has been used by the two evangelical denominations that sent these men to hold them accountable? In another place, I continued, there is a hospital that costs millions to build and more millions to keep staffed with Europeans and Americans. In 75 years, not one living New Testament-type church has been established there. Did anyone ever ask for an account of such fruitless labor? These illustrations are not isolated instances, I assured my audience. During my 18 years of travel throughout Asia, I have seen Western missionaries consistently living at an economic level many times above the people among whom they work, and the nationals working with them are treated like servants and live in poverty while these missionaries enjoy the luxuries of life. I contrasted these examples with what the nationals are doing. Remember the illustration of the multi-million dollar hospital and no church, I ask? Well, four years ago, we began supporting a native missionary and 30 co-workers who have started a mission only a few miles from that hospital. His staff has grown to 349 co-workers and hundreds of churches have been started. Another native missionary, one of his co-workers, has established more than 30 churches in three years. Where do these brothers live? In little huts just like the people with whom they work. I could give you hundreds of stories that illustrate the fruit of such dedicated lives. It is like the book of Acts being written once again. You are seeking accountability from native missionaries. Accountability that is required for you to give them support. Remember that Jesus said, For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But wisdom is proved right by her actions. Fruit, I pointed out, is the real test. By their fruits you will know them, Jesus said. Paul told Timothy to do two things regarding his life, and these two things, I believe, are the biblical criteria for accountability. He told Timothy to watch his own life and to care for the ministry that was committed to him. The life of the missionary is the medium of his message. Three hours had passed, yet the room remained quiet. I sensed I had their permission to continue. You asked me to give you a method to hold our missionaries accountable. Apart from the issues I have raised, Gospel for Asia does have definite procedures to ensure that we are good stewards of the monies and opportunities the Lord commits to us. But our requirements and methods reflect a different perspective and way of doing missions. First, Gospel for Asia assumes that we who are called are called to serve and not to be served. We walk before the millions of poor and destitute in Asia with our lives as an open testimony and example. We breathe, sleep, and eat conscious of the perishing millions the Lord commands us to love and rescue. Then I explained how God is reaching the lost not through programs, but through individuals whose lives are so committed to him that he uses them as vessels to anoint a lost world. So we give top priority to how the missionaries and their leaders live. When we started to support one brother, he lived in two small rooms with concrete floors. He and his wife and four children slept on a mat on the floor. That was four years ago. On a recent visit to India, I saw him living in the same place, sleeping on the same mat, even though his staff had grown from 30 to 349 workers. He handles hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep this enormous ministry going, yet his lifestyle has not changed. The brothers he has drawn into the ministry are willing to die for Christ's sake, because they have seen their leader sell out to Jesus Christ, as the Apostle Paul did. In the West, people look to men with power and riches. In Asia, our people look for men like Gandhi, who, to inspire a following, was willing to give up all to become like the least of the poor. Accountability begins with the life of the missionary. The second criteria we consider, I explained, is the fruitfulness of that life. Our investment of money shows in the results of lives changed and churches established. What greater accountability can we require? When Western missionaries go into two-thirds world countries, they are able to find nationals to follow them. But these nationals too often get caught up in denominational distinctives. Like produces like. Missionary leaders from denominations who fly into these countries and live in five-star hotels will draw to themselves so-called national leaders who are like themselves. Then, unfortunately, it is the so-called national leaders who are accused of wasting or misusing great amounts of money, while they have often merely followed the example provided by their Western counterparts. Again, I address the Chairman. Have you studied the lives and ministries of the American missionaries you support? I believe you will find that very few of them are directly involved in preaching Christ, but are doing some sort of social work. If you apply the biblical principles I have outlined, I doubt you would support more than a handful of them. Then I turned and asked the committee members to assess themselves. If your life is not totally committed to Christ, you are not qualified to be on this committee. That means you cannot use your time, your talents, or your money the way you want. If you do and still think you can help direct God's people to reach a lost world, you mock God Himself. You have to evaluate how you spend every dollar and everything else you do in light of eternity. The way each one of you lives is where we began our crusade to reach the lost of this world. I was gratified to see the Lord spoke to many of them. There were tears and a feeling of Christ's awareness among us. This had been a painful time for me. I was glad when it was over. But I needed to be faithful to God's call on my life, to share the vision of Asia's lost souls with the affluent Western Christian brothers and sisters who have it in their power to help. I was glad to see the Lord spoke to many of them.