I don’t have
many stories about becoming a missionary in the DR Congo now. Probably because I’m still in Waxahachie and
will be for the next… oh man… only two and a half months. But what I do have are updates about how
preparation for the trip is going, info about the culture of the region I’ll be
staying in, and an ever-thinking mind about missions. So for now until then, I’ll keep this blog
alive with some missionary musings.
First, a
quick report on fundraising for the internship:
As of Nov. 2, I’ve received tremendous gifts from the Gateway Church
Lloyd Craig Ministerial Scholarship, the Gateway Church Missions Committee, the
Give Back Willis Knighton Scholarship, my summer job, and many extremely
generous friends and family members, which have totaled to $13,990. The total I will need for the entire trip is
$20,410. That’s already 68%! Praise God that He is providing through your
generosity and thank you for your support!!
In speech
class, we were recently assigned to give a presentation on a different
culture. Seeing as I had yet to do
detailed research on Congolese culture, I decided to knock out a couple of
birds with one smashing speech about the vibes of the Congolese urban
jungle. Here’s what I learned.
The
Democratic Republic of Congo.
First: the name. Sometimes such titles are shallower than they
appear. Ever since Belgian
colonialization in the 1860’s, oppression, war, corruption, poverty, disease,
and malnourishment have incessantly plagued the country. Even today, DR Congo is ranked 164 out of 182
in Transparency International’s governmental corruption ranking. Proper nourishment, sanitation, and education
are still huge hurdles to overcome.
How do the
people react to this? They’ve lost all
reliance upon the government to take care of the country’s issues. Instead, they use their own creativity and ability
to make it work. The Congolese are a
resourceful people who struggle against struggle.
So no, the
DR Congo is not a peaceful island amidst a desperate sea. This is still Africa.
Missionaries and Congolese pastors have labored hard
for decades through the power of the Holy Spirit to bring people to a knowledge
of Christ. But while many people profess
Christ, syncretism and nominalism are rampant among believers. There is a widespread fear of evil spirits,
and to appease these spirits from bringing sickness or poverty on their
households, people will participate in ancestor worship or witchcraft. Children who wet the bed are sometimes
considered demon possessed. The lucky
ones are sent to pastors or priests who attempt to drive out the demons using
any sort of traditional technique. The
rest are kicked out of the house and onto the street. Much Biblical teaching on spiritual matters
in needed in Congo.
But
regardless of the state of any country, Jesus’ encouragement to all disciple
makers still rings true: “I am with you
always, even to the end of the age.”
Which is a really encouraging thing indeed.
What else
has been stirring in my mind in this wonderful academic institution? I’ve been challenging some of the ways
Americans view cross-cultural missions.
A combination of three things may have created a misconception about
missions: Testimonies from missionaries
about the amazing things God is doing; the lack of such testimonies we hear
regularly in our own communities; and the mysterious awe of cultural diversity
around the world. Then, we see missions
as this this magical endeavor, this fantasy expedition to venture across the
wild parts of the world to tell people about Jesus, a journey reserved only for
the missionary heroes of the Kingdom of God.
So is
thinking that taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, across physical
barriers and cultural divides, and among the quirks of learning to live in
another culture is stinkin awesome a bad thing?
No!
It’s just
this: missions is essentially the same
everywhere. People are in your
neighborhood, high school, college, downtown, work, Walmart, Starbucks, and
work. The same people are in the Mexican
drug cartels, the red light district in Amsterdam, the remote village in
Eastern Asia, the pub in London, the businesses in Dubai, the streets of Paris,
and the slums of Mumbai. Wherever you
find yourself, people will be hungry, poor, addicted, hurting, abused, lost,
and desperately in need of Jesus.
So where is
the best place to be make a disciple of Christ?
The easiest is where you’re at now.
You don’t have to contact missionaries, write support letters, raise
funds, create prayer cards, deal with plane tickets, pack, learn a new
language, get accustomed to a new culture, or go through extensive training to
teach the guy who walks around the neighborhood that how he can be freed from
his sin through by putting his trust in the resurrected Christ and following
Him. The hardest might be halfway around
the world in a completely different social structure and cultural context. But none of those are necessarily the best
places.
The best
place is wherever a lost soul may be.
The best place is wherever the Spirit leads you to go.
Will you go?
