Whether your agency is focused on Muslims, Hindus or Buddhists, or Missing Peoples/Unreached Peoples/Least reached peoples/Unevangelized peoples, it seems to me the biggest issues are
- where are people working (and not working)
- how do you decide–between unengaged places and lightly-reached places and heavily-reached places where fruit just starting to show–where to put the limited number of workers you have
- what are the best ways in which to work, to have the most fruit
- how do we get more workers to put out there?
I am very happy that, at MUP, these four questions form the core basis of what I do. After we are done at Lausanne we will be spending a few days in quiet meetings addressing question #4. MUP has a two fold mission: 1A, raise up 400+ strategy teams of our own; and 1B, contribute to other agencies raising up the remaining 43,000 teams necessary to really grapple with world evangelization. Both really stir my heart. I am looking forward to working with MUP and with other agencies to meet the challenge of raising up more workers, especially in this complex environment.
One of the questions asked to day was, what are the obstacles to mission mobilization? I can think of a few obstacles. I’m listing some below. Help me in the comments by listing your ideas.
List updated 10/23/2010 based on comments:
- Some churches/individuals are selfish and do not want to send people to the field because it will drain people from the church, which isn’t growing right now anyway. And especially not their brightest.
- Some churches/individuals are fearful, because the hardest-to-reach places are not just geographically remote but dangerous.
- Some are apathetic, being little more than clubs, and aren’t interested in going anywhere or doing anything.
- Some don’t know anything about the fields white unto harvest. (As steeped as I am in information, it’s hard to imagine that.)
- Some think the task was completed long ago, and now we’re just bunkered down, waiting for Christ’s return.
- Some see themselves as poor both in numbers of people to send and in money, and don’t think they can send anyone or make a difference.
- Some think they are primarily sending short-term, and no one would ever be interested in long-term.
- Lack of exposure. Young people need to get their “toe in the water” before committing long term.
- Lack of prayer.
- The “way things should be done” (e.g. strong cultural drives to, for example, go to college–resulting in debt–or get married etc.)
- Most mobilization done by agencies; more effective if it is done by churches?
- The challenge of support raising.
What do you think? What are some other obstacles? And/Or, how do we address these obstacles?
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I think one of the main obstacles is that we do not understand this new global youth culture (under 30′s) and their view of the Christian faith and overseas mission. We are still working on assumptions and values from previous generations and so we aren’t able to engage this emerging generation to seriously engage with overseas mission. I am talking here beyond the short-term mission context. We are trying to target a whole new generation for mission and yet we have not taken the time to understand their view of the Christian faith, what is the priorities, what commitment looks like, what it means to be ‘saved’ etc. If mission agencies were commercial organizations then we would all have gone out of business many years back because we are mostly still functioning in the same ways we have for decades while our target audience has moved on way beyond how we function
that’s a good one, Sean. It seems to me – but I’ve only looked at them superficially – that a lot of the youth mobilization agencies are very good at knowing where young people are and what they are like, but the larger agencies mobilizing for long-term do less well at this. But why do you think it is that those who seem to know youth the most are primarily mobilizing for the short-term? Do you think it’s likely that younger people are mobilize-able for longer-term missions at this point, or do we have to use shorter terms as “exposure” stepping stones? Has anyone done good studies of this, or are studies of this something that should be done individually by each org? I’ve read a lot of generational studies but perhaps I should be reading more Gen Y specific studies! (I’m a Gen Xer myself.)
In a Western context these days it’s hard to imagine GenYers going long-term without going short-term first. Wonder how it is with non-Westerners? I hope your interactions there at Cape Town and/or discussions after shed some light on what the obstacles to raising up workers from the countries that haven’t traditionally been sending countries. And for them, your #6 obstacle might be a very significant one.
in my impression, the job of mobilization has been done mostly by the parachurch in America at least (think: perspectives, encountering the world of islam, most mission conferences’ booths, etc.)… this is less effective than if the local church was the primary mobilizer… therefore, more attention needs to be paid to helping the church on the “how tos” of mobilization in as much as we focus on the ‘want to’ of mission in the local church. my 2 cents.
Thanks, Joey, it’s nice to know someone else thinks the same way I do. Hoping to do something about this in the next year.
This is a huge issue that we have to tackle. Thanks for starting the conversation. A couple of reasons come to mind right off. Marriage (life plan) and support raising. I have talk to so many college women that have a heart for the nations but are dragging their feet because they want to get married first. I am not sure they are ready to give up their idea of the order things should go in. From an early age kids are conditioned to think and plan out their future. College, Marriage, Career. When do we have to get the mission bug in for it to be effective? The other big one is support raising. This is probably the number one I hear from college students. Isnt there a mission agency that does the support raising for you? Can I get a paid internship? They see it as a huge disadvantage to long term service. Not that there arent tent building oppurtunities but their fear of support raising seems unhealthy.
I think you’re right about all this, Melissa, and yet more single women than single men are going to the nations… Could it be that young men, even more than women, are conditioned to follow a plan for their lives rather than life abandoned?
Re: support raising, yes, many seem strongly biased against it, may not see the advantages of the system (even if it’s not the only way to fund a ministry). As I prepare to go back to school, myself, I am taking note of how many I see finishing up their Bachelor’s or Master’s with a debt-load inconsistent with raising support, too…that continues to be an obstacle.
These obstacles might be more intense or have additional wrinkles for those who come from the more community-oriented cultures where people are less likely to see their lives as their own. And figuring out how to fund ministry when resources are tighter, in some cases, and they may not see workable models.
Number One obstacle to mobilization is the lack of prayer…Mt. 9:38 and Luke 10:2. Regardless of how effective we are at providing information, how skilled we might be at motivating, how efficient we are at smoothing out the rough places, mobilization is still an issue of God speaking and people obeying. Once a person arrives at that point, the above mentioned issues are not obstacles, rather they are steps on the path to obedience.
Some have called this answer simplistic…all evidence to the contrary. As the saying goes, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Its tough work. Tough to do, tough to measure, (God doesn’t use Reply To All in his communications to people), tough to trust (Activity usually feels better and certainly gets better press).
Whether we get the “why” of it, or not, asking God to send additional workers is his idea. It also seems to help greatly with the “where to deploy” question. We have become quite skilled at analyzing “needs” data but a quick overview of deployment results would suggest we haven’t matched the two with the greatest success. The Lord of the harvest probably knows which workers need to go where. Asking him, in fervent, effective prayer, could improve our effectiveness.
I guess part of getting mobilizers in the church is enabling them with prayer tools etc. to organize prayer on behalf of the unreached & missions!
I think Don’s right: the power of what anybody else says to a person pales in comparison with what God says to that person.
I recently talked to a recruiter with Frontiers who said they are experimenting with setting up prayer retreats that pull people away for intense times of intercession and personal prayer regarding their response to the nations. I didn’t hear much about the model but it piqued my interest.
That’s a very interesting and unique idea, Marti. Glad you added that one into the mix.
he’s absolutely right! i just taught lesson 8 in perspectives and tookl note of how these major moves of God were soaked in prayer. I fear we depend far too often on our strategies and not the Spirit.
One thing I was thinking about this morning is the need for mobilizers to treat certain things (e.g. finances, etc.) as “challenges to be dealt with later” – perhaps we ought to be examining first whether the person is open to the idea of missions and discerns a call on their life to be a missionary? I recall when studying the Jesuits how long of an initial candidacy period they had while a spiritual director helped the candidate discern whether the Jesuit life was really for them. Once a person is convinced of their calling/commission then the challenges can be surmounted with counsel, mentoring, etc.
Several things come to mind:
1. As mentioned–prayer. Mt 9:38–ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers. We pray, God moves in people’s hearts to send them where HE needs them. Granted, our strategies are usually bathed in prayer; and as mobilizers we have heard God’s call to His plan for us; but….we aren’t the Lord of the Harvest, and we aren’t doing the sending. We are charged with building and equipping the whole body (Eph 4), and we are charged with the honor of prayer.
2. As the parent of four missional young adults, I can confidently say that young people face huge false barriers to hearing and obeying the call to missions. Other parents are quite irrational in their demands–yes demands–on their adult children. I spend a lot of time with the friends of my adult children–praying for their parents to support (at least minimally) God’s call on their life, rather than spewing a continual barrage of societal expectations. Showing these young adults how to honor God’s call AND their parents can be critical to sending more harvesters. This must be done at many levels–both with believing and unbelieving parents–both from the church officially and from friends.
3. As mobilizers, we must take prospective harvesters with us along the whole road. Show them the many, many options needed for those front-line workers to do their job. Open new doors, encourage them to open the doors, and spend lots of time with them in prayer!!!
Prayer is certainly critical. But we should remember that in Matthew 9 and Luke 10 the prayers they are directed to pray are that the Lord of the Harvest will raise up harvesters from the harvest. There is no church from which to mobilize harvesters. Everyone who is mobilized needs to be equipped and trained to pass on the harvester DNA from day one. We train all our people to include four questions in every Bible study: What do you learn about God in this story/passage? What do we learn about mankind? What will obedience to this story/passage look like in my life? Who do I know who needs to hear the message of this passage? The last question consistently calls them to think of who they can/should pass on what they are learning.
While there are those who are called to mobilizing in a concerted way, all of us can play a part in this. We need to prime the pump from the beginning. As there involvement with hearing from God starts producing transformation, they will be more likely to start spreading the news, if we have called them to do this by giving them permission and planting the seed of this expectation.