Traveling Again

By my rough figures I have made well over 100 trips to countries overseas to train leaders how to "Heal the broken hearted and set the captives free". During those trips I have met some of the most wonderful people in the world from the most diverse cultures and backgrounds imaginable. Every culture has valuable contributions to make and when we are able to overcome the natural differences between us and develop a community of care and nurture with each other the benefits become more obvious.

In my last post I mentioned the research by a Dutch professor who has studied various cultures and tried to analyze them according to several key characteristics such as Individuality, Masculinity and Submissiveness. Because each of us varies on these characteristics the whole community can come up with greater insights and decisions when we learn to cooperate and listen to each other.

This will be my first ministry trip to the Czech Republic and I am excited about learning how to relate with them so we can share the gospel more effectively. Part of the learning can only come by trial and error but I hope to avoid the major errors by preparing in advance of my trip. That preparation led to the discovery of the Dutch prof's web site.

We know that the former Czechoslovakia is one of the least evangelized nations in Europe so the opportunities are great. I expect to see many conversions in the near future as a result of the movement to plant churches in Prague and reach the general public. I am visiting Craig and Sarah Springer to help them design effective ways to touch the people in Prague.

My strategy is to first build up the church and its leaders. Most of the efforts by Westerners to hold "Evangelistic Meetings" failed in the Eastern Bloc. Few of the people who came to such meeting in the Nineties are uninvolved in the church today. There was too little follow-up. They did a lot of street witnessing, preaching and tracts by Christians from the USA, Scandinavia and Germany, but not much fruit. Those who started with the Lord soon fell away because there was no fellowship, teaching or trained leaders.

I don't do open air evangelism. I am not as skilled and gifted as the local Russians. As a Chinese Christian said, "Please tell the Americans we love them but we do not want or need them to teach us about evangelism. We are experts in evangelism but we do not know much about discipleship. Tell them to send us trainers and teachers."

I can't speak the language or follow up with pastoral care. However, the local pastors, counselors and mature lay people have the needed skills and desire to do all those things. So, we train them how to do pastoral care more effectively.

It is also very costly to send large numbers of Americans to evangelize overseas. Even when we go build a school or church it costs a lot of money. That money can often be better spent by giving it to the local Christians who then hire poor people from the church and community to do the construction. National Christians need to be seriously consulted before we suggest any type of ministry "for them".

No nation wants to be told what to do or how to do it. Especially when they can do it better than we. So, the first lesson is to listen carefully to their needs, their desires and their requests. An acrostic I like is AS I GREW: Always Spiritual, Inviting while Genuine; Respectful; Empathic and Warm

Genuine by knowing yourself and what you are thinking and feeling. When we are unaware of our own inner life we can react with frustration, anger or frenzy rather than peace, love and joy.

Respectful of all persons, giving them and their nation, religion, culture and family honor.

Empathic Listening that works hard to understand the ideas and feelings of others.

Warm Caring that indicates you are interested in the other person.

Cross cultural ministry is hard work and requires self knowledge, understanding others and the understanding of a culture. But the work pays off with friendships, influence and spiritual advances. We always follow the B.S/B.S. Principle that says: Build Solidly/Build Slowly for the work needs to stand for centuries.