By Shelby Peck | Copy Editor
With Missions Week in full swing, Tuesday afternoon provided students the opportunity to attend seven panel sessions, each including a different group of global mission leaders working within a variety of cross-cultural contexts.
One panel, moderated by Dr. Dennis Horton, director of ministry guidance, focused on the local church and its role in culture and missions. The panel featured speakers from Christar, Ethnos 360, Casas por Cristo and Wycliffe Bible Translators. Panelists answered questions about culture’s influence on ministry, the multicultural nature of the Gospel and advice for students interested in short-term or long-term missions.
How do you share the Gospel in both word and deed?
All panelists said sharing the gospel in deed begins with building relationships.
For Casas por Cristo, a nonprofit that organizes trips for church and ministry partners to build homes for families in Central America, sharing the gospel in deed means ensuring adequate housing for those who may not have any. Rebecca Thompson, development coordinator at the organization, said partnerships with local pastors and churches are the “lifeblood” of the ministry’s functioning. The housing applications Casas por Cristo gives pastors to distribute allow them to further interact with their communities.
“These pastors, they’re the ones who find the families we build for. They are the ones who already have the long-term relationships with them,” Thompson said. “We also encourage the teams to form relationships in the weeklong house build.”
Mike Cahill, orthography services coordinator for SIL, said that throughout his family’s experience in Ghana, they noticed the Gospel being expressed in various ways throughout different cultures. Although the Cahill family traveled to Ghana to translate the Bible through Wycliffe Bible Translators, they adopted a variety of roles to best serve the people with whom they wanted to share the good news of Jesus in their own language.
“Music is the first universal language — prayer is the second. Just love people by praying for them in person,” Levi Hwang, mobilizer for Christar, said. “People will always remember that while they were in trouble, while they were in pain, you prayed for them. Prayer opens the door for evangelization.”
How does your ministry connect with local churches?
Hwang said that when recruiting volunteers or staff, Christar doesn’t recruit for a specific position. They recruit people for the “kingdom of God.” Before Hwang’s mission work, he said he was first a member of a church and a member of the body of Christ.
“Christar is classified as a sending organization, and we understand that according to the New Testament, the final sending organization is a church,” Hwang said. “Church is the best training ground for developing [volunteers’] future ministry skills and their spiritual gifts.”
Cahill said Wycliffe partners with local churches to help them accurately translate the Bible into the regional language. Sometimes, Wycliffe sends missionaries to isolated regions in which there is no physical church.
“Try [to] work with the people. Say, ‘Hey, you know, there’s this Jesus guy. You might want to know about Him a little bit,’” Cahill said. “In the last couple of decades, Christianity has exploded in Asia and Africa, more than in North America. So there are more churches available to work in than we would have even conceived.”
How do you learn about the culture where you go on a mission?
Neil Burleson, representative for Ethnos 360, said learning the local language is essential to relational success. Because language and culture are so intricately intertwined, certain phrases or idiomatic expressions can only be understood within a dual context.
“You’re a learner first. Once you’ve learned language and culture and can answer key questions about their worldview … you’re never an expert 100%, but you get to a point where leadership says, ‘You’re clear now. You can start your ministry,’” Burleson said.
Carhill said he learned the vitality of cultural literacy, whether through trying a never-before-imagined food item or studying the culture in a classroom setting. Not only did he stress the importance of learning to “live in this situation,” he said it’s helpful to specifically locate and appreciate elements of cultures different from one’s own.
What is your biggest piece of advice for those interested in mission work?
Hwang said his advice depends on the culture to which one is going. His specific advice to Baylor students is to befriend international students and visit ministries of various cultural backgrounds across Waco.
“Be a learner,” Burleson said. “If you really want to prepare yourself for going long-term, go as a learner and really seek to understand. Involvement in your local church is huge.”
Burleson added the importance for American missionaries having a “well-thought-out theology of suffering,” as suffering is greatly connected to spirituality. Burleson also said discomfort can sometimes be translated into humor because missionaries must be able to laugh at themselves when making inevitable cultural missteps.
“If you get the opportunity to put yourself in a culture that’s not your own, whether it’s a study abroad, … do it,” Thompson said. “[Adopt an] attitude of humility and remember that what you have experienced throughout your life, if you’re in another culture, is not the norm potentially.”
