Questions from the Mission Field…

For two weeks I was not able to correspond with anyone here, at home. When we landed in Santiago, Chile I thought we had arrived. Very modern and advanced place. Then we got on the bus and travelled 10 hours south toward Antarctica. Next, we got into the mountains on the dirt roads, serpentine climb up. Then – the boat ride for 2 hours to the village. Two weeks rest from cell-phone, internet, e-mails, and other gadgets that supposed to assist us in our relationships. The phone service was too expensive and we had to rely on family calling in. During the two weeks the real relationships, face-to-face interactions with the team members grew stronger (felt like) than formal interactions in the home church.

I got to experience how the church must have been in the days of Apostles, when meals were shared and community of faith lived together. Biggest surprise was discovering that not all Maranatha Volunteers are Seventh-day Adventists. There were Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, and simply secular. Of course, the majority were Adventists, but our evangelism became real “for the people by the people.” Two of volunteer-translators were not Adventists, and, as they had to work their ways through sermons, they were learning themselves. During the final baptism a Catholic from Boston, Massachusetts was in the water by the pastor, helping candidates in and out. As I talked with him the day after, (he had a lot of questions about the book of Revelation), he was serious about studying to know more about biblical faith. What was impressive is that these people responded to the Three Angels Call message to go to all the nations, tongues, tribes and peoples. They have not responded to the “altar call” into a local church yet, but they are responding to go and care for people’s needs. In my opinion they are closer to fulfilling the Commission of Christ than Adventists who sit and talk about mission once every Sabbath in their class, and, maybe, get a $100 per month to send to the “missions.”

Throughout this trip I was thinking about our church family. I know we don’t like being compared, yet I could not help but learn that among 4 teams that were simultaneously in Chile, there were 3 churches whose members were on each team – majority on every location. Two from Washington State – Chehalis, and Centralia SDA, and West Niles from Michigan. What would it take for our churches to awaken and join the Great Advent missionary movement?

One of many things I articulated on this trip, was the fact that one cannot dictate people. I knew that all along, but never stated it this way. The only thing one can do is disturb people from their comfort zone and cause people to seek a new meaning. Still the choice belong to the people, to react, or not. That’s how Jesus worked – starting from the 12-years old experience with rabbis in the Temple – asking questions, suggesting a new meaning to old things.

My dear church family, what is the mission about? What is meaningful to you – a story in the book, or a live contact with people oversees? How meaningful is your church experience? Let’s talk about what’s meaningful…