Thirty Conversations with a Missionary

Missionaries are weird. It’s true and they have a unique and dynamic role in the expansion of God’s kingdom that goes far beyond “Pray, Give and Go.” One such missionary has been a part of a work in Asia where nearly 600 churches have been started in just five year’s time. How is this possible? The answer is found in the clear patterns of Scripture for making disciples and planting new churches where disciples are intentionally equipped and released to make disciples en masse. Such discipleship is “organic” in that disciples are making disciples in their everyday lives and everyday ministries and it is “intentional” in that there is a system by which this is all delivered. The conversations in this book are placed in the order that they are to communicate transferable principles to church leaders that can be used in virtually any ministry context so that everyone will be better equipped to think and act like a “weird” missionary.
Effective missionaries, by definition and proxy, must approach the world from a different angle than everyone else. Some of the reasons for this being so are that they usually face insurmountable odds in their tasks and live their lives the majority of the time as “outsiders”. This “outside” perspective can afford them the opportunity to see where roadblocks to kingdom expansion may lie while “insiders” may be blinded to them. Part of the task of the missionary in making disciples of all nations is to bless the church that sent him as well as bless the church where he is going (assuming there is a church where he/she is going). One such “weirdo” was blessed with the opportunity to partner with some of the most amazing members of God’s people both in Asia and the West. This work is an attempt to compress that missionary’s thousands of conversations.
While it is true that these conversations did not happen with only one person or at one time, it is true that these conversations did happen…and a “weirdo” missionary was part of all of them. These conversations occurred in different settings with different people from different backgrounds in different countries and even on different continents in different languages with people from different socio-economic levels. These conversations have been used by the Holy Spirit to spring ideas to life that have so far resulted in the mobilization of thousands of believers in Asia to share the gospel with over 2 million people (many for the very first time) in just 5 years’ time. These conversations with that missionary has been in toxic mix that has inspired over 2,000 believers to step up into leadership positions in churches and to date he has, by God’s grace through local partners, seen nearly 600 new churches started with many more going beyond fourth generation in the same time frame. These dialogues have been the spark that has taken tens of thousands of people down a path that will change their lives forever. In the past 5 years, over 35,000 people have come to faith in an Asian place that this weirdo missionary calls “Urbanus”. We’re beginning to see a door open for how to take the lessons that have been learned from those conversations, resulting experiences and trainings with Asian national partners, and translate them back to the West. Our goal is to be a blessing to the brothers and sisters that have supported our work in Asia for so long. The desire is that these same conversations will result in God-led dynamic plans and strategies that will uniquely cast vision for, engage and win the hearts and minds of the West with healthy, sustainable, reproducible disciple-making and church planting processes.

I love training and I learned early on that asking good open-ended questions is a superior way to teach a lesson. Jesus is one primary example of just that. As a result, a variation of this question is usually one of the first things I ask when I sit across from a church leader who is a potential partner in the work that God has given us.

“What is your greatest need?” I asked as I hid my nervousness. I looked into the eyes of a local brother who was sitting on our couch. The snow was gently falling outside of our flat and the ambient glow of a cloudy day filled the room. My new friend set his cup of hot tea on the small white end table and then asked me a question instead of answering mine. The conversation (that occurred in one of the most difficult languages in the world) went something like this…
Him: “When you say what ‘my’ need is, do you mean in ministry or personally?”
Me: “It doesn’t matter. What do you think is your greatest need?”
Him: “Okay, nobody has ever asked me that before. Are you sure you want me to share whatever I think my greatest need really is?”
Me: “Yes!” I said as I gained some confidence while at the same time I wondered if whether or not I’d stepped on a cultural land mine.
Him: “Our needs are so great! I will start with ministry needs. The leaders of our churches need a great deal of equipping. We love God’s Word, but we don’t know how to apply or preach it. The churches are spiritually immature and I am afraid that they are losing their zeal to share the gospel. We struggle with church splits and raising up more co-workers. We also struggle with how to make disciples of those who believe. We win many to the Lord, but we also lose many. Our marriages are in bad shape and are not much better than those who are lost. We have no money or resources or training.”
My thinking during his speech: “What did he just say? What does “blroaudzzzgrblldainonwenr” mean? Oh my goodness, I’m missing half of what he’s saying! Don’t panic!!!”