Today, there is an enormous amount of Twitter traffic representing the enormous amount happening on behalf of Haiti. This small, poor island country suffered a devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake with thousands – perhaps tens of thousands – killed.
Haiti 2010
I am all for work on behalf of Haiti. Yes, we should bless this little nation. Jesus loves Haiti just as much as He loves Aceh. In fact I could make an argument that my first short-term trip, with my family to Haiti when I was I think about 12, was probably very formative in my missionary thinking.
For all that, however, I just want to make one point. Haiti has gotten a lot of attention and a rapid response because (a) it is open, (b) there were already numerous Christians (and in fact numerous missionaries) on the ground there, and (c) it happens to be located near a Western country. This means that Haiti is not hidden. It is very visible.
Aceh 2004
When Aceh suffered from the terrible December 2004 tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands, on the other hand, it was days and in some cases weeks before anyone knew the extent of the damage there—or even that Aceh had been struck. It was a long time before sufficient action was mobilized.
The same could be said about many other places in the world that have been struck by 7.0-and greater magnitude earthquakes. Or fires. Or famines. Or plagues. Or floods. So many places around the world are hidden from the view of most in the world.
One of the great things that pioneer missionaries do for these places is that they can shine a light on the hidden places and tell us what is going on there. Through the wonders of modern globalization, missionaries can go to distant places, talk about what’s going on there—and immediately the whole world knows. But unless someone goes to these places they will remain hidden.
Mobilizing tens of thousands of new pioneer workers is a critical task, because there are tens of thousands of places that remain dark and unreached by either the Good News or the blessings of charity, peacemaking, etc. that go along with it. In Genesis 10 we read that God was once more annoyed with mankind because they refused to “go into all the world.” I wonder if today God doesn’t occasionally come down and introduce a little “confusion” in our great Christian efforts—just to muddle us, and get us to disperse a bit more into the world, so that the Good News and the Blessing goes out everywhere, and isn’t hoarded by a few.
