One of the most difficult challenges for the missions’ strategist is to hear heart-rending yet simple requests for ministry help. On the one hand, we would like to fulfill these cries for help but felt constrained by lack of experience, funding and resources.
Constraints are an often-used excuse. Most pioneering leaders started with faith. Pioneering leaders bashed through the jungles and sailed the seven seas to prepare toe-holds and beach-heads for the ministry to prosper.
Here are some constraint-busters:
- Think out of the ordinary. We need to imagine beyond the debilitating control of our limiting mindset acquired from seasons of lack and bad experiences in our work. These experiences can curtail the ministry.
One of the ways to get out is to have an unlimited and possibility disposition. What if we have all the resources in the world? Instead of saying no immediately, ask ourselves, “Why not?” - Have lots of love and kindness towards the locals. It is not an emotional thing. It is a conscious effort to surmount the glass-ceilings. We have to pay the price in more ways than one.
Otherwise, the ministry may just be task- and goal-oriented. Take time to let the locals articulate their needs, even if they are going to intrude into our comfort zone, carefully laid-out plans and budget.
Listening is an art, as well as a discipline.
Let us be honest. In our best intentions, we are still the benefactors. We have more of ‘everything’ and are supposed to know better. The locals are supposed to listen when we speak and not the other way around. Are we going to say, “Let us bake the cake and let them eat.” But then have we considered this question? How about asking the locals what they want to eat in the first place?
Without listening, how can we evaluate with our hearts and our minds? Is there a case for their ministry plans (mind)? Are they carrying a genuine burden and vision (heart evaluation)?
It is the locals that can best speak about their lives and context. They have the same God and they will know their locale better than anyone, especially those that come by a few times a year. Let us listen carefully to understand what are the local needs. Let us acquire local knowledge and wisdom.
By listening and observing, we can spot genuine local leaders and their ministries.
Here are some pointers:
- They are offering their best people in that ministry category for us to train.
- When there is a sharing of their dreams and visions, the need for finance recedes to the background.
- The Great Commission mandate is always in the fore-front.
- An openness for a partnership budget where they are willing to supply a portion of it.
- Their families are part of this ministry and partnership equation. We sometimes see three generations where their lives and concerns are an open book.
- Failures in their families were never hidden but always bathed with many prayers and requests for the same.
- Their young people are vibrant and energetic and have the vision to reach their kind and people.
- They expressed their love for the people and society through a good grasp of their locality and the nation’s socio-economic, legal, political, cultural and societal challenges like drugs, corruption, gambling and alcoholism
These signs are a harbinger of a long and fruitful future relationship. In the future, in our check out the locals and confidence-building trips, try listening and observing. We may end up with a great relationship and partnership.
