Archive for November, 2007
How To Be Effective In Missions – Without Becoming A Victim
The following article is one that I received from Frontline Fellowship. It was written by Peter Hammond and is a look at what some of the hazards of missionary work can be. Not all hazards are from “evil pagans” who may wish to end one’s life and service, all too often one’s very “team mates” or folks on a “missions trip” can also distract one from the work to which one has been called. I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s litany of things which he had endured for the sake of Christ and the Gospel – not much has changed in 2000 years when it comes to danger for a missionary.
Five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the depths of the sea. On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers; labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing. Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my care for all the churches. II Corinthians 11:24-28
Anyway, without further ado – here’s the article – re-”printed” here with permission from www.frontline.org.za
From the very first day that I heard the Gospel of Christ, 4 April 1977, I have been called to missions. For over thirty years The Great Commission has been my supreme ambition. Starting with distributing Gospels of John door-to-door in Pinelands, being a Group Leader in Scripture Union Holiday Missions, teaching Sunday School, running Youth Groups and coffee-bar outreaches, ministering in old-age homes, mass literature distribution at railway stations and bus stops, then working in Hospital Christian Fellowship, starting a Bible Study and Prayer Fellowship in the army which met every night and led many soldiers to Christ, through to the launch of Frontline Fellowship, over 25 years ago, the last command of Christ has been my first concern.
I’ve had the privilege of ministering in 27 countries, on four continents. This has involved well over 11 000 meetings, including many missions camps and conferences, and conducting Great Commission Courses.
There is no doubt that the harvest is very large and the workers are far too few. However, I’ve become increasingly concerned about how ill-prepared most mission volunteers are on entering the field. Also disturbing is how little discernment is evidenced in all too many cases.
Over the years, I have tried to give an honest and balanced report on the problems, frustrations and difficulties of the field, without unduly glamourising missions. Of course one wants to encourage and inspire fellow Believers to wholehearted commitment to world missions, but, even from the earliest years of Frontline Fellowship, I have felt the need to also issue words of warning and caution as to the real dangers and difficulties involved. The Lord warned us to count the cost and much of what I have heard in different missions conferences seem to be setting up well-meaning people for inevitable disappointment, and even disaster.
The recent tragic story of seven international missionaries being robbed and abused in Zimbabwe prompted me to begin thinking about writing this article. Then the report back of one of our co-workers on his three and a half month mission to Congo impressed on me even further the importance of this article. We need mental toughness, emotional strength, spiritual discernment and a resilience to persevere in spite of the many discouragements, dangers and deceptions looming in most fields.
Certainly, in my 25 years experience in foreign missions, I have experienced thefts and threats, not only from the pagans, but from false brethren and false shepherds within the church. Right from my very first mission trip to Mozambique, in 1982, there were the greedy and malicious back stabbers and traitors quick to steal and to report one to the local communist commissar.
The trouble is, the vast majority of missionary volunteers give up before completing their first term in the field. Many short-term missionary volunteers only go once, and, whether because of negative experiences in cross cultural confusion, misunderstandings, sickness or thefts, for one reason or another, fail to return to the field ever again.
Enormous resources are being spent on training, preparing and transporting to the field missionary volunteers who don’t persevere, and return home within weeks or months – never to venture into any mission field again.
In 1989 I led a team of 6 American medical missionary volunteers to Mozambique. Within days we were captured, arrested and imprisoned, mistreated by the SNASP Secret Police and incarcerated in solitary confinement at Machava Security Prison in Maputo. Not surprisingly, none of those volunteers have returned to the field since.
However, one of the members of an Evangelism Explosion team that I took to Sudan in 2000 has continued to return multiple times since, despite us being bombed by the Sudan Air Force on Sunday morning.
Of course, one expects persecution from anti-Christian, Marxist and Muslim, regimes when working in restricted access areas. However, most missionaries are not prepared for the blatant theft from those they have felt called to serve. Yet even missions dedicated to establishing hospitals and schools amongst desperately needy people have been cheated and attacked by the very communities they are seeking to serve, stolen from by staff, and looted by the local community.
We should not be too surprised. Even Jesus had His Judas amongst His twelve hand picked Disciples. Although Judas was entrusted with the finances of the Apostles, he was a thief, not only stealing from the Lord Himself, but even betraying Him for mere money.
I know of all too many cases of missionaries who have faced muggings and manipulation in the field, threats and theft, being used and abused, not only from the local people to whom they were sent, but even by fellow Christians. Not only stolen from by local believers, but by fellow “missionaries” and “co-workers.”
This may be a shock to many people wanting to get involved in missions. When I first became a Christian it never crossed my mind that someone could claim to be a Christian and yet be malicious or devious. Not that we would not only be cheated and abused by local Believers and fellow missionaries, but also by overseas ministries and churches.
All too often there are those who don’t pay their bills, fail to fulfill their promises, never keep up their end of the work load, and happily run up huge expenses which they leave for the local missionary that they are meant to be “supporting”. While they return to engage in brilliant fund raising campaigns entirely built upon deception.
In dealing with guests from other ministries, we have sometimes been horrified by dishonest and unethical practices and claims. Some, who merely participated on one field trip with our mission, have gone on to make incredibly extravagant claims in their fundraising letters and videos. One launched an entire ministry with an impressive marketing campaign based entirely based on false claims and plagiarism. Pretending responsibility for Frontline Fellowship shipments and ministry activities in Sudan, one individual, who was merely a junior guest of a large team with no significant ministry role, later claimed to have been the leader of the entire operation, quoting all of our statistics of Bibles delivered, ministry conducted, flights chartered are his accomplishment.
Another individual, who came in on one Frontline Fellowship mission trip to Sudan and participated in the first few days of our Teacher Training Courses, leaving early, later claimed to have set up a couple of dozen schools in the area, and requested funds for his “staff” there. Needless to say, none of the teachers or pastors in the area were aware of any such activity. On numerous occasions we have been asked to arrange flights for overseas “missionaries” who later have left us to pay all their bills without so much as a contribution.
One needs to be aware of those who will happily send you on a fools errand. The book of Proverbs warns us about fools busy with some fantasy and unworkable project. There are people who want to live on your faith and want you to do their work for them. A mission in the hand is worth dozens of visions and concepts “in the planning stage”. They live by presumption – not by faith.
There is a desperate need for absolute honesty and integrity. We need to be people of our word, say what we mean, and mean what we say. And we need discernment, precautions and a basic understanding of security principles. Otherwise we could be guilty of sending out dedicated missionary volunteers who will fall victim to muggings, theft, rape and murder. All of this has happened to mission volunteers in the field.
Then there are the financial scams from false brethren who pretend to have all kinds of ministries and exploit well-meaning Westerners with their slick fundraising letters and e-mails. As we actually travel to the field, we have been able to expose numerous of these “pastors” as the real pastors in the area have taken us to meet the well supported frauds in the local bar!
Then there are the cross cultural opportunists and exploiters who seek sponsorships to travel the world and attend various missions conferences, only to gather as many names and addresses and e-mails as possible in order to soak well-meaning, but naïve, Westerners with emotive fund raising scams. “Can you just help with some money?”. Others try the politics of pity and guilt manipulation to get an American or European wife (and therefore a passport to the West): “God told me to marry you…!”
You would find it hard to believe how many times we have come across cross cultural opportunists attempting to guilt manipulate some Western girl into marriage. Even “pastors” who are already married. If you ever doubted the Biblical Doctrine of the depravity of man, you will find more than enough examples to verify it in the mission field, and even at missions conferences.
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. We need to seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness. The Great Commission must be our supreme ambition. Nothing must be allowed to distract or deviate us from that. We are called to build God’s Kingdom, not to enrich false brethren, false shepherds and false prophets. We are to have faith in God, not in human nature. We are to trust the Lord, not be gullible victims of con artists.
If we want to be effective in the Lord’s service, we need to protect our time and our limited resources from the unscrupulous and manipulative. Because of the abundance of free-loaders, who inevitably are attracted to the rich pickings and targets of opportunity at missions conferences, we now insist on early morning PT and prayer meetings to weed out those who have another agenda. Of course, false brethren are able to put on a good act, but we find that as our Great Commission Courses progress with daily PT and prayer meetings, outreaches and late-night hikes, we begin to see the real person under the veneer.
There is no substitute for track record. We need to test all things. It is remarkable how many “pastors” and “bishops” turn out to be Bible illiterates when you compel them to complete our multiple choice Bible Exam!
There are so many frauds, fools, con artists and opportunists seeking to take advantage of missions. A large percentage of funds earmarked for missions don’t really reach the Lord’s work because of the abundance of dishonest scams and unworkable schemes which manage to intercept and hijack what is meant for God’s service.
This may not be a pleasant message to hear or acknowledge, but it is the truth. The world should have already been evangelised and discipled several times over if everything that is being said to be done, was actually being done. It is time for us to shine the light of God’s Word on some of the shady dealings of professional fund-raisers and con-men who have found an abundance of gullible and naïve Christians to exploit under the guise of “missions”.
We owe it to our Lord Jesus Christ to be watchful and alert, wise and discerning, taking proper precautions to avoid becoming a victim, so that we can be effective in real missions.
God’s work, done God’s way, will never lack God’s supply.
Only one life it will soon be passed, only what’s done for Christ will last.
Dr Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74, Newlands, 7725, Cape Town, South Africa
Posted in 
End Of The Spear
Many things seem to take forever to reach us down here. Last year I finally got a copy of Sean Hannity’s “Deliver Us From Evil” and also a copy of “Dereliction of Duty”, not to mention more entertaining reading like “Hell, I was there!”. Well, I finally got to see “End Of The Spear” last night. It’s been out a while, but not as long as the books mentioned above. Since we take Fridays as our “Family Day” we decided to grab a burger at Tim’s favorite street corner burger/dog stand and then grab a movie to watch.
For those of you who are not familiar with the title, “End Of The Spear” is the story of the five missionaries who were killed by a tribe of indians in Ecuador back in the 1950′s. At the time they called the tribe the “Auca” but now they are known as the Waodani. This movie tells much of the story that is found in the old book “Through Gates Of Splendor”, but from the perspective of Steve Saint and Mincayani, the man who killed Nate Saint.
The movie makes the case for Christian mission work to far off tribes without being preachy. The superstition, fear and violence too often found in “stone age” tribes gives the lie to the myths of “the noble savage” and “they are happy, just the way they are”. When the Waodani came face to face with the Christian world view as demonstrated by the five missionaries they killed and their families who forgave them rather than exacting revenge like the Waodani expected, they found the path to a new way of thinking, a freer way of living than the old vicious cycle of revenge and fear killings.
I highly recommend this movie – even if you’ve never yet read “Through Gates Of Splendor” nor know the story of Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian – the men who gave their lives willingly so that many who lived in darkness could come to the Light.
The giving of thanks…
“Thank you!” – such simple words, and yet so often omitted from our daily life. Humans seem to be ungrateful by nature. Look at the example of the 10 lepers who were healed by Jesus. Only one returned to say “Thank you!” – even though their lives had been changed incalculably.
Well, today marks the official day of thanks in the United States of America. On this day millions of people will gather with family and friends to eat a hearty meal, watch football and spend time together. And a few of them will even take time to remember WHY this day was set aside. Some will take the time to not only be “thankful” but to remember to Whom they should be thankful and WHY they should be thankful.
Unfortunately, many have sought to undermine our nation’s heritage. Some have built up myths around our heritage – and that’s as bad as the former. And yet, there is much to be grateful and thankful for in our heritage. Our nation was indeed founded by men who believed in our God and Creator. This is particularly shown by the first declaration of a day of thanks as proclaimed by the Continental Congress in 1877.
Thanksgiving Proclamation 1777 by the Continental Congress:
IN CONGRESS
November 1, 1777
FORASMUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:
It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth “in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.”
And it is further recommended, That servile Labor, and such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.
Oh that our leaders and our nation would turn back to He Who gave us our freedom. Oh that on this day – and always – we would remember to give thanks to Him for the great mercies and blessings He has heaped on us.
Raised a rifleman
Growing up we had firearms in the house almost all the time. But most of them were rifles. My first gun was a Daisy BB gun, kind of a “copy” of the Winchester 94 or 92. Then later I picked up a small bore muzzle loading shotgun which was too rusted out to be used much. Around my 14th year my folks gave me a Daisy 880 pellet/BB gun and that is when I started to develop my shooting skills, such as they are. There were occasional pistols around, but at Brazilian prices for ammo they didn’t get shot much. My first cartridge gun was a Rossi double barrel, side by side 22 derringer type pistol. One COULD hit the broad side of a barn with it – provided that one was inside with all the windows and doors shut. It did duty as a ‘dillo gun, administering the coup de grace to the occasional unfortunate armadillo that came into our grasp -but did nothing to teach me to shoot a handgun. A Marksman BB/Pellet pistol did nothing for that skill set either. The muzzle velocity was around fastball baseball speed, you could see the pellet fly through the air – way off target every time. My dad’s brother had a 32 Smith and Wesson long caliber revolver – a Taurus or Rossi I believe, but don’t know for sure. Anyway, most of our shooting was done with long guns.
My first reloading experience was with a Boito shotgun that my dad allowed a visiting fellow from Alaska to put on dad’s quota of firearms. We loaded it with shot but shot it like a rifle. The first time dad let me go hunting was with his old Stevens Favorite – loaded with rat shot. Never got close enough to bag anything with it, didn’t even scare anything real bad. Later dad took it and shot the side of the outhouse – showing a HUGE pattern at a range of about 20 feet. No wonder I couldn’t hit anything with it. Later I learned to shoot with the Daisy 880 and got fairly proficient at harvesting doves and other small game – with a fair percentage of headshots.
When I left home at 17 I had no firearms. After working hard and saving up and turning 18 I went down to a local pawnshop, haggled with the owner for a Winchester ’94 in 30-30. He lowered his price to meet my offer and I filled out the forms. When he saw that I was only 18 he refused to sell me the rifle – claiming I wasn’t old enough even though state law allowed that I was. To this day I’ve never spent a dime in that shop.
The next year I picked up a couple of rifles and a shotgun from a widow lady. A Remington 760 Gamemaster 30-06, a Remington 511 22 LR and a no-name break action 12 gauge singleshot. She tossed in some ammunition and I was happy as could be. Later the same summer I also picked up a German made 22 single action revolver and started messing around with it some. No one told any different so I carried that pistol with the 22 magnum cylinder in it and shot lr shells through it – with no ill effects. At close range it grouped OK but shot a mile high. Even removing the rear site completely didn’t bring the point of aim close enough to the point of impact and eventually the old gun as “sold down the river”.
Although I got to play with handguns some I remained a rifleman. I could shoot a long gun well enough but never could seem to do much with a pistol. Still, the lure of a packable piece of ordnance was there. It made sense to have a short enough gun that it could be packed out of sight, but ready to hand for shots at game – or in case one needed defense against some varmint – no matter how many legs or ambulatory posture such a varmint might exhibit. So a Ruger Mark II with the 6 7/8″ tapered target barrel was purchased as near to my 21st birthday as Missouri law would allow. At that time they required a “Permit to Purchase” which delayed my acquisition by several days but the Remington 760 was sacrificed in order to provide for the perceived need of a handgun.
Later my cousin purchased the exact same model – but in stainless steel. I always kind of wished I’d held of for the same, but the gun trading fever had kicked in and I couldn’t wait long enough. We’d save and scrimp and pick up a brick of ammo apiece then head out for the chat piles to burn it up. Federal Lightnings were the ammo of choice. We could pick up a brick of the stuff for about $10 at that time – dirt cheap compared to the $10 a box we’d been raised with in Brazil. It didn’t take us long to burn up the ammo but we had a blast doing it. I could always out shoot my cousin on paper, but he excelled on game and side bets. We’d wager a couple of shells on various shots “If you can hit ‘X’ on the next shot I’ll give you two rounds” was a common challenge. I believe I still have the half a penny that stayed in the crack of a rock after I took the top part off with a shot.
That Ruger somehow managed to make it down to Brazil with me later on. By that time it had a Clark trigger and a custom front sight. But the high humidity made it next to impossible to keep the rust at bay. I’d not yet learned to make a good preservative (nor did we have access to ATF or lanolin – the ingredients of my current lube/preservative) so inevitably some rust developed in spite of my best efforts. Also the gun wasn’t registered which made transportation of it a bit “iffy”. So it too went “down the river” to be replaced with a Rossi 38 with a six inch ventilated barrel.
The Rossi was a good gun. It gave me good service and built me a reputation as a pistol shot. Considering that your average Brazilian can’t shoot, that reputation was not too hard to come by. During this period of my life I continued to make meat more with long guns than anything else. A CBC 22 rifle replaced a CVA 50 caliber Blazer rifle I’d gotten into the country. It took care of a number of small game animals and was my “go to” gun for putting meat on the table. A bag of rusty parts was taken to a local smith and a H&R 28 gauge single shot was resurrected, to be loaded only with black powder reloads in full brass shells. It was traded for a basket case Winchester ’73 which was resurrected – but was too worn to allow reloading of the fired brass. One out of three or four shells would actually crack on the first firing. So it was traded off for a Taurus 32 SWL for my wife.
When we were in the US for several months I picked up an Eddystone P17 Enfield that someone had customized. Got it at a local gunshow for dirt cheap. The next few months I spent building a load for it in preparation for deer season. A Hornady 165 gr BTSP over a dose of Winchester 760 gave me a tiny cloverleaf group at 100 yards. I picked up another box of those bullets and another can of powder on my way home from the range. That same year I also picked up a Norinco 45 acp caliber “Model of the 1911 A1″ because “everyone needs a 1911″. It got shot a lot too – but it was quite tiring to try and find all the brass each time.
By this time we moved to our current country of service. Gun laws were unknown and my old habits of smuggling had ended as I matured into understanding that not all nations have the Second Amendment – and I’m a guest there. Years passed and friendships developed. Some guys found out where we were ministering and that we had no modern means of self defense. Once I did my homework and learned about local law, a bunch of them kicked in and purchased a Llama Cassidy in 38 spl for our use.
So, although I was raised a rifleman, force of circumstances has brought me around more to the portable side of the shooting sports. Last year I scrimped and saved from some expense money we were given for a missions event. Six weeks of traveling over several thousand miles and I ate dollar menu hamburgers washed down with water. At the end of the time of travel I’d managed to save enough to pick up a Crossman 1377 pellet pistol It now provides me the means of doing some low cost practice. I retain hope that eventually I might learn to actually shoot a shortgun in an efficient way.
The Llama Cassidy and miscellaneous pocket residents
