Destructive Dynamic

One of the most dangerous and destructive dynamics is the desire on the part of missionaries (short or long term) to feel like they're making a difference. 

Watch out!

Movement ← Multiplication ← Reproducibility ← Simplicity

No one can make a church multiplication movement happen except God.  We can pray for it and plead with him for it.  But we can't make it happen by the force of our will alone. 

Preventing one is kind of useless, too.  Especially if the movement has already gained a lot of momentum.  Then we would do best to take Gamaliel's advice--"Leave these men alone! Let them go!  For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail.  But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

But if a movement has yet to begin, it is possible to do things in a way that prevents it from starting (apart from a sovereign act of God) and hinders its progress.  So, what we must learn is to do things in a way that leave the possibility of a movement happening and to pray that God grants that it is so. 

I like to think of it in reverse order:  A movement only happens when there is multiplication.  Multiplication only happens where there is reproducibility.  Reproducibility happens only if the processes and activities are simple enough for almost anyone in the population to do it.

So there you have it--do things simply so that it will be reproducible and lead to the possibility of being multiplied into a movement.

Insanity... really?

A while back (okay, October 2009) I wrote the following post named IYKDWYHBDYWKGWYHBG. 

I mentioned that one of the definitions of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results.  I bet you've heard some version of that statement before.

Well, the lessons from that post are still valid.  I'm not here to recant it or anything.  But perhaps bring some more perspective.

Have you also heard the story about the guy who takes a hammer to a rock to break it in half?  He hits it 1,000 times in the same place and in the same way.  On the 1,000th glance, the rock splits in half.  The question is, which blow broke the rock?  If you answer the 1,000th blow, then why didn't he just skip the previous 999 blows and hit it that one last time?

Somehow, all of those blows added up to make an imperceptible difference. 

Insanity? 

Maybe.

BAM allegations

A couple years ago when I started this blog I was excited to share with anyone who would read (all 11 of you) about BAM--Business As Missions.  It was (and is) one of the most cutting-edge approaches to missions being put into use in the world today.  The idea is that Missionaries engage in some sort of business (usually as owners or managing directors) which allows them to gain access to unreached peoples as well as giving them a way to associate with their targeted people.  BAM is one type of "tentmaking" approach. 

And let's face it--the majority of the world's unreached peoples live in what are called "Creative Access Nations" (CANs).  CANs aren't going to have many visas available for people who want to be public missionaries, and the opportunities that are available for living and working there will likely be out of reach for people who have only theological education.  So, BAM is one of the best ways to go.

But I've learned that BAM will also bring a number of allegations against you... Usually from people who are just making assumptions and don't really know what you're doing.  If you are planning to do BAM, be prepared to be accused of...

• Being Greedy--not really in it for ministry, but you're in it for the money.
• Being Distracted--you can't possibly doing as much ministry as you would be doing if you were a "full-time" missionary without any business responsibilities.
• Being only about Presence Evangelism and not Proclomation (or about social justice and not evangelism)--your business helps people physically, but you aren't doing any gospel sharing.

There is a lot that can be said about each one of these points.  And, the truth is--there are probably real examples of each of these out there in the world.  But I am confident that we are not guilty of these three things.  If any of them, we might be guilty of being distracted by business responsibilities at times--but those are really only distractions if the ministry you're doing is completely separate and unrelated to the business.  In our case, much of our ministry happens because of our business, so the time we put into the business contributes to the ministry. 

BAM is not for everyone.  It takes a team to work well.  But if you decide to do BAM--don't be discouraged if you find that you're not the sexiest missionary on the block in the eyes of some. 

Peyton Manning

Okay, so I saw a friend of mine this past week and I said to him...

"Hey did you hear that Peyton Manning was released today?"

"Who is Peyton Manning?" my friend asked?

"You don't know who Peyton Manning is!??!" I was incredulous.

"No, I don't follow the NBA," he said.

"NBA!  Oh my!" I said laughing at him now.  "Peyton Manning is only the best QB in the NFL."

"Oh, really?" My friend started to sound halfway interested.  "What was he in prison for?"

:-)