Summer Missions Retreat

The Summer Missions Retreat was this weekend. It is designed to help teams bond and prepare before going on the trip, as well as give some helpful tips about mission work in different cultures. We had Chris Flanders come speak on Friday night and again on Saturday morning. I introduced myself to him this weekend and he didn't recognize me at first, which I didn't expect since it has been several years, so I gave him a reminder. We started talking about David, Kristen, and Ava, and how David will be taking some of his classes in grad school. It was neat to talk to him and catch up. We didn't get to talk long before he started speaking in front of the group. Wow, what a blessing to have him speak to us! Some of the topics he hit on are:

• Mission work is very dangerous... spiritually. It will challenge you in many ways, so be prepared for that.
• Jesus is the message, it's not about materialistic stuff, the church, sin management, and it's not all about me. While some of these things may follow, we must remember that the gospel is about Jesus.
• Jesus is the way that we engage the world, not by promising a better life or simply inviting people to churchy things, but by sharing his story.
• He used Phillipians 2:1-11 to illustrate what our goal is in mission work.
• Jesus becomes downwardly mobile and empties himself completely, he does not grasp onto the idea of being equal with God, but rather lets go of that to become nothing.
• As missionaries, we must give up those things we cling to that keep us from immerseing ourselves in the culture so that we may be effective in the mission field.

Here are some of the topics Chris Flanders, Kelly Davidson, and Tracy Wilson presented to us to better prepare us for our work.

• God is already in the places we are going; we are not bringing God to these places, but rather letting Him use us to spread the good news.
• Have realistic expectations; don't expect people to be baptized after two weeks of you being a missionary in that place. Being overzealous can be very dangerous and can push people away from Christianity. Short term missions only work if they are in support of a bigger picture or a long term ministries.
• Use the gifts God has given you.
• Seek to understand the culture. Americans like to see how fast and efficiently we can get tasks done. Other cultures may do something "the hard way," but it may be very important to their social lives or the traditions of their culture, and not done solely because the task needs to be done.
• Missionaries like to teach, but learning should be their first priority. Learn the culture and the way things are done. Don't make judgements or assume that the "American" way is the right way.
• Enjoy the time that you are there and immerse yourself in the culture. Don't shy away from opportunities to spend time learning the culture.
• Our actions should reflect christianity. Practice what you preach. Be a servant. Don't complain. What we do is what people remember.
• Do now what you will be doing there. Let your faith be continuous, not selective.
• Approach everything with God first, and the rest will fall into place.

I really appreciated the time Chris Flanders, Kelly Davidson, and Traci Wilson took to present this information to us. I feel that everyone who ever considers mission work should take the time to learn these fundamental topics so they can prepare for the cultural differences and realize what it is we are doing. After looking back, I'm afraid I made several mistakes while in Kenya last summer because it was never taught to me. I am very thankful to have had this opportunity to learn these fundamentals.

It seems like ACU keeps coming up in different ways, like God keeps putting that option in front of me. I have decided that if I do get a bachelor's degree, I want to get it from ACU. I feel like the foundation in Bible that I would recieve there is a necessity if I desire to be a servant and share the good news with people. We will see what God's plan has in store for me.