Missions at Home

This morning, the following passage impacted me:

“As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.” – Ecclesiastes 11:5,6

These verses tell us of the divine/human cooperative. It tells us that both God and man have a responsibility. This truth is both humbling and encouraging.

First, the humbling reminder, “You do not know the works of God who makes everything.” This morning this becomes a humbling reminder. In January small team and I begin the process of reaching souls and planting a Spanish church here in Lorain, OH. We do the demographics, we gather the team, we plan out our strategy. The fist week of January we plan to follow up on 30 contacts we have. We plan on beginning an ESL class. We also will begin to meet community leaders and to scope out sights for a meeting place when public meetings begin. Our vision goes far beyond this one church plant as we plan to train men to plant other churches as a movement of church planting begins in this greater Cleveland area. Indeed, we dream, plan, and toil only to be reminded that we have no idea what God, the creator, is doing. This truth drives us to our knees and renews our passion to pray with the attitude that cries, “God we cannot do anything. Please be at work and accomplish your will in any way that you desire.”

The second verse provides an encouragement, “In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper.” This is encouraging because it tells us to work because, after all, you never know what will prosper. What a neat projection to ponder that some or all of the work that we put into our church plant could prosper! Furthermore, Galatians promises that we will indeed reap what we so. What an encouragement to know that God will prosper our work when we toil for Him in this church plant.

I’ve often heard the divine / human cooperative applied in the following way: “Work as though it is all up to you; pray as though it is all up to God.” I understand the intent of the statement but to me it falls a little short in-light of God’s unsearchable sovereignty as expressed here in Ecclesiastes 11:5,6. A better statement might be this: “It is ALL up to God therefore I recommend that you pray and ask Him to work; and I pray that you work in the way that He has asked.”

Once the immediate shock had passed, the tears began to flow. The phone call on Sunday morning with the news of Roger Ridley’s sudden death came as a complete surprise and it induced several thoughts.

“Roger can now hear perfectly,” was the first thing that came to my mind. Pastor Ridley had just been cleared by his medical insurance to have a hearing implant as he was completely deaf in one ear and had very little hearing left in the other.

Another thought that came to mind was a praise that we had just been able to hear Roger give a workshop at the BCP Family Camp in July on missional church planting. Our missionaries were greatly impacted by Roger’s heart-felt reminder that strong churches are established by discipling people – one life at a time rather than by building buildings and doing things to attract a crowd. It is amazing that the concept of every church planting another church is so basic yet so ignored.

May God give us grace to fill Roger’s shoes! May God give great fruit to the many church plants that have resulted from his ministry. May God call other men to join the cause of beginning solid, fundamental, missional churches all throughout the United States. “Lord, may you use Roger just as much in his death as you did during his life. Thank you that he finished well, may we follow in his footsteps as he followed Christ.”

This Latino influx is met with mixed reactions in the church. Many believers are overwhelmed with the cultural differences and the language barrier. Others struggle with the social difficulties of immigration and hesitate to do anything to help an emigrant. Some congregations embrace the Hispanic community while others remain indifferent. If not indifferent, any motivation to action is quenched because of huge mental road-blocks hindering outreach – not excluding fear. Fear is always present when we face interacting with a culture that is foreign to us. Despite the fears and cultural differences however, we should not view the need as a burden or inconvenience, instead it is a sovereignly-appointed OPPORTUNITY for the church. Like never before, God is giving this country an opportunity to do foreign missions at home. In what way is it an opportunity?

First, the Latino influx provides the American church with an opportunity for us to specifically obey Christ’s Great Commission. The commission given by Christ to His disciples just before His ascension is dubbed, “Great” because it is understood to be the all-encompassing summary of what God desires believers in this church age to be doing. The clutch of the Great Commission is summarized by Christ’s command in Matthew 28:19 where he tells us to “make disciples of all nations.” That word, “nations” literally means ”ethnic groups.” God’s command to the church is not limited to going to a foreign country to make disciples, but instead directs us to all ethnic groups wherever they may be found. In God’s divine sovereignty, He is bringing a huge nation of Spanish speakers to our own nation so that we might evangelize them to be part of God’s nation; that is, Christ’s Kingdom. God wants us to reach Hispanics who are found here in the United States because God wants us to reach the nations. We can and must reach Hispanics because they are here. When the church embraces Hispanics while carrying the message of the gospel, it is embracing Christ’s commission and utmost command. Thus, Hispanics provide a great opportunity for the American church to fulfill the great commission right here at home.

Also, the increase of Hispanics in our country provides an opportunity for the United States to enrich its culture. Any foreign influence on our culture is often viewed as a negative, but it can actually be very positive when coming from Hispanics who know Christ. Hispanics are already influencing the American way; imagine how much influence they might have on our culture when they are evangelized!

There are many cultural aspects in the Latino community that are positive. If you have visited a Latin-American country then you have experienced the warmth of the people. Even in the most remote parts of Mexico, where there is abject poverty, the people are still very hospitable. Missionaries tell stories of visiting tiny villages in Central America where a mother killed their last chicken just to feed the missionaries who, by the way, came by their house as strangers simply to leave a gospel tract. I have been in a home in Mexico where the mother sent out a child as young as a toddler to walk several minutes to the store and back just to provide a visiting evangelist with an ice cold cola. That soda cost them half a day’s wages!

Hispanics are warm and hospitable and also very family-oriented. In Latin-America, the family is held as the most important social unit. The family-centered emphasis extends beyond the nuclear family as in-laws and grandparents are held in equal esteem as siblings or parents. In the Hispanic culture, teenagers still show absolute respect to their mothers and grandmothers. The Latino’s custom of prioritizing relationships and family above time and schedules is a cultural aspect which is worthy of being emulated.

Another positive cultural trait from the Latino community is a great work ethic. The prejudice catch phrase of “lazy Mexicans” is actually far from the truth. The average Hispanic is much harder working than the average American. This is why labor-intensive jobs are filled with Hispanics. It is not because they are willing to work more for less money; it is because they are willing to work more, period. Most migrant workers, for example, habitually work twelve hours a day 6 days a week. Granted, on their day off you will find many male migrant workers in their yard drinking the day away, but this is why they need Christ. In South America, often the entire family works! At stop lights in large cities you will find children faithfully selling candy or trinkets. Hispanics work really hard with a simple motivation and dream of improving their lives. This Hispanic work ethic can be a positive anecdote to the welfare mindset that is increasingly growing in our nation.

There are many other Latin-American cultural aspects that can only better influence ours. Especially when the main influence is coming from a Holy Spirit controlled believer. One believer put it this way, “I don’t mind if Hispanics take over our country as long as they learn English and then help us to be a better nation.” That’s not a bad attitude.

Another missionary was even more optimistic in his speculation. He said that the Hispanic influence upon our culture could be the reason why the United States is not specifically mentioned in Biblical prophecy. He continued, “Latinos are very open to the gospel. Imagine if all the Hispanics in the United States get saved and then evangelize the rest of the United States causing a true modern-day revival in our country. Then when the rapture happens, the United States will no longer be around – because everyone will have been raptured.”

Perhaps that missionary’s speculation was a little too optimistic, but the point is made that if Hispanics are influencing the American culture then reaching them with the gospel can only be seen as an opportunity. After all, as Christians our utmost concern is to propagate citizenship in Heaven above any earthly and temporary sovereignty.

Finally, the Hispanic phenomenon is an opportunity for us to personally grow as believers. There is something about attempting to reach foreigners that stretches us! It forces us out of our comfort zone and begs us to see people through a different prism. Our attitudes are placed under scrutiny when we decide to give Christ’s love to a people group that might be resented in our sphere of influence. We depend on the Lord more when we find ourselves in a witnessing opportunity with someone with whom we cannot fluently communicate. Furthermore, our faith is also increased as we see God go before us and accomplish things that otherwise would be impossible in and of ourselves. Just as we see the hearts of teenagers stirred as they participate on short-term missions trips, the hearts of everyone in the church can be stirred and their lives changed by reaching out to HIspanics here at home.

The Biblical model is to plant churches with co-workers. Paul never planted a church alone! I love this model used by Baptist Church Planters!