In This Issue: Movie Night, Short-term Missions, and Subversion
- Movie Night at the Global Mela
- Upping the Short-term Mission ‘Rate of Return’
- Subversive Mobilization
Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!
Practical Mobilization by Shane Bennett is published once a month.
Dear Readers,
Last month I mentioned some questions I’ve been wondering about lately and called upon the wisdom of the Missions Catalyst cadre for insight. Thanks to those of you who took time to think and respond. This edition includes highlights from those contributions.
If you make it to the end of this column, you’ll discover a new feature called Subversive Mobilization. These items will describe slightly sneaky ways to promote a vision for the world, or at least toss a handful of sand in the engine of our natural ethnocentrism. This month’s idea has to do with potentially desecrating nativity scenes; it’s not for the faint of heart! If your mind is cracked along similar fault-lines, feel free to write in with your own ideas for Subversive Mobilization.
cheers,
Shane Bennett
Movie Night at the Global Mela
Our missions emphasis this fall is called Global Mela. I’m hoping to show a film after our Saturday night service. I’m looking for something high quality, full of interesting cross-cultural issues, and accessible to the average moviegoer. Oh, and no skin, bad words, or dirty jokes. Yikes, a tall order, eh? Several people offered suggestions.
NOTE: Links below go to the films’ official web sites (when they have them), but you can skip the fancy marketing stuff and get less (or differently) biased reviews at Amazon, IMDb, Crosswalk, or elsewhere.
Peace Child: A classic, and if you’ve seen Don Richardson in the last ten years, you might find it fun to see what he looked like 30 or 40 years ago!
Inn of the Sixth Happiness: The Gladys Aylward story; she’s played by Ingrid Bergman. My kids loved it.
Behind the Sun: From Open Doors.
The Second Chance: Starring Michael W. Smith, this movie shows how to relate with people in need and how important it is to understand the context of poverty.
The Cup and Himalaya: Two films about Tibet that get an impressive 88% and 89% “fresh” rating at RottenTomatoes; take a look. Personally, I’m planning to check into these for my Global Mela Movie Night.
I’d also like “airline cuts” [edited versions] of the following films: In America, Bend It Like Beckham, and Goal: The Dream Begins.
Upping the Short-term Mission ‘Rate of Return’
I also asked how we might increase the number of short-termers who return to strategic roles in a long-term capacity. I deeply appreciate the people who took a good deal of time to thoughtfully respond with their concerns and experiences, both positive and negative.
Quality Training and Debriefing
A worker in the UK wondered if the transition rate is affected by the quality of training prior to a trip and the quality of debriefing after, along with the skill and desire of long-termers on site to shepherd short-termers assigned to them. Good points!
Go Longer, Work with Long-termers, Share Your Faith
David Armstrong of ShortTermMissions.com (which already makes me want to listen to him) distinguishes between very short trips (ten days) and two-to-three-month trips. Short trips can help build passion in participants, but longer trips, especially if travelers are paired with experienced and involved career people, can result in positive steps toward long-term work.
One reader from Australia also suggests that an evangelism-based short-term contributes to a higher rate of return than a work project.
The Power of a Personal Invitation
A reader in Lisbon encouraged us to keep opportunities and defined steps in front of active short termers (while avoiding manipulation.) “. . . Skip the step of waiting for people who have already shown interest and willingness to ask all the right questions.”
Mark in Canada challenges us to question our emphasis on personal choice as it relates to moving into career cross-cultural service. Well, he was talking about Canadians, but I think it applies to most of us. “As churches we give general invitations, but rarely identify individuals as capable of international service and challenge them in that direction. Perhaps this lack of input in people’s lives keeps them unaware of their potential to serve God in missions. The general sense in that anyone can go on a short-term trip, but in our context it feels presumptuous to take the initiative in proposing a career in missions for someone else.”
I don’t think Mark is saying it’s open season to declare, “God told me that you should go to Varoffistan!” He’s merely saying there’s room to chat with people and point out some possibilities to them.
Partnering with Other Groups
One of my friends who was instrumental in my being mobilized now works with Teen Mania. (I assume this makes her a Teen Maniac, but I’m not sure about that!) She described how Teen Mania has linked up with Crescent Project in a relationship that results in some of their short-termers going long-term to the Muslim world.
And One More Meaty Response
As I read the response from Sharon, of Peninsula Covenant Church, I could almost see how using some of her intelligent suggestions would fill critical gaps in my church’s approach to turning short-termers into long-termers. You’ll find Subversive Mob just below her comments!
“We come from a medium-sized church of 800 people. In the past seven years, we’ve had about 20 short-termers convert to longer-term (throughout the world). All these consider themselves career missionaries at this point – yet no one went out initially as a career missionary. They all went with initial one-year commitments.”
(This track record totally makes me want to listen to Sharon. This is something I really value about the Missions Catalyst community. Where else am I going to find someone like this? Here’s her further advice.)
1. Don’t make the long-term commitment seem like forever – just a little longer than the short-term. Maybe initially a one-year commitment, then ask for two, etc. Many mission execs today started with two-year commitments because they weren’t sure about this “career” idea.
2. Have a definite position in mind for which you are recruiting when a short-term team goes out. That’s the time of most tenderness towards that idea. Then you can ask those people specifically to consider returning to fill that role. (Brilliant!)
3. Along the same lines, short-terms can be a powerful sending force if they identify people who have exceptional skills in relating to the local people, hearing the language, etc. Many have returned with that kind of support.
4. [Send] a previous short-termer on a second trip with the specific idea of considering going back long-term. They could then pray specifically and be exposed to experiences that would show the value, impact, and reward of longer-term commitment.
5. Recruit for specific tent-making opportunities. This offers another way to help someone go out for a one- to two-year stint that could be renewable. Often these people will return if they have a good sending team behind them at home as well as good support on the field.
6. Encourage open (not necessarily committed yet) short-termers to go through an orientation or training program for in-depth service. This program could include “sending” as well as “going” so people would be considering not if they should continue ministry in the country, but rather how. Some might be the mobilizers on this end, others might be the mobilized. This orientation could also include a class on financial support raising so people wouldn’t be afraid of it – confident that if they learn the rules: (make a list, set appointments, tell your story, follow up, ask, follow up – and the funds will be there, most often in abundance.)
7. Teach that we all have one mission, whether it’s home, in (a nearby) city, or across the sea. This has helped our people be free from seeing overseas mission as an overwhelming big decision. It’s just one little decision after another, which, when multiplied by the power of a sending church, has big results.
Thank you, Sharon. And thanks to all who responded.
Subversive Mobilization
Here’s my challenge to you: What if your church or municipality (Heaven forbid!) puts up a standard Christmas-time nativity scene. And you notice they have the baby Jesus prominently displayed as a white, blue-eyed, blond haired, Hitler-would-be-happy sort of infant. And what if you have a spare forty bucks. And you think you can live with the consequences. Then buy a non-white baby doll and pull a little messianic switch-a-roo! Here is an online store that will set you up: Dolls and Toys for Adopted Children.
Two caveats:
1. This isn’t going to change the world. But it might cause a couple of people to pause and consider that our Savior probably looked a lot like Osama Bin Laden when they both were babies.
2. If it goes really bad and janitors, lawyers, or the little old lady who’s run the church for 60 years with an iron fist choose to get involved: You didn’t get the idea from Missions Catalyst!
Questions? Problems? Submissions? Contact publisher/managing editor Marti Smith.