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We thank those who prayed for us during our latest missionary survey trip. It was successful in every way, all of this due to God’s grace and the prayers of his saints. Here are six brief lessons I learned.
God’s People Are Everywhere
They may be few but in some of the smallest, most remote places we met believers and church leaders who bowed the knee only to King Jesus.
We are tempted to think like Elijah: “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord” (1 Kings 18:22).
But God has his remnant. We sat down in covert rooms and spoke in hushed voices with believers who were thirsty for God’s Word. Floating in a sea of pagan darkness, they continued to read their Bibles and preach, despite the danger, despite the discouragement.
Missions is Not Enough
Missions must be done right. There were parts of the country where churches were like ants on a stick of butter. But many of these churches were false. They followed another Jesus, of which 2 Corinthians 11:4 warns us. Catholics worship another Jesus and their churches were everywhere. The Prosperity worships another Jesus, and their teaching was in every denomination. JWs worship another Jesus and their headquarters were enormous. Muslims embrace another Jesus, and their population dominates several districts in the country.
I implore the churches of Jesus Christ to think more deliberately about missions. First, stop sending missionaries across the world that they’d be embarrassed to have as your own elders. Second, stop emphasizing social ministries. Wells and food aid can benefit in small ways but only as handmaidens to the most important work of gospel preaching.
Third, keep your missionaries accountable. Do you really know what they’re doing? Do you know how they are spending their day? Do you know their goals and plans? If cannot possibly know the answers to these questions, you are partnering with too many missionaries.
Muslims Seek to Dominate
We were told that in certain districts we’d see a mosque every kilometre. That was an understatement. In one 10 km stretch, we counted over a dozen mosques and no churches, and that was just along the roadside. There were dozens more inland.
They hold tightly to their religion. If a church building goes up, soon a mosque is built directly beside it, funded often through wealthy, Muslim donors in the cities.
Also ubiquitous were madrassas, which are Islamic educational facilities. Children are often sent here at a very early age to learn the Qur’an. This is one more reason why we must teach the next generation in their youth.
However, Islam has several weaknesses that Christianity must continue to exploit. Because Christianity is a religion of a book, it has translated the Bible into far more languages than Islam. We met a few Muslims who read the Qur’an in the local language and only a few who could read Arabic. But Bibles in the local languages were plentiful, some with multiple translations.
Bible Translation is Difficult
We take for granted words like “justification” and “mercy seat” and “worship” and “propitiation”. But how would you translate these words into a language that could not easily explain such doctrines? What exactly is worship? How do you choose a word for an idea as easy as “repent”?
We met men who have been translating the Bible into the local language for decades. In their translation committees, sometimes they spend the entire day on just one verse or even a single word.
Let us rejoice for the work Tyndale did with the English Bible and the missionaries over the centuries who have put God’s word into a language that people can understand.
God’s Creation is Beautiful
We saw the sun glisten off the waves of Lake Malawi, one of the top ten largest lakes in the world. We watched hewn-out canoes dance across the water and muscular packs of boys pull in their fishing nets from a mile out to sea.
We observed the clouds and fog crowning the majestic stone faces of the Malawian mountain range. This moved us to awe. “The heavens declare the glory of God…” (Ps. 19:1). “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him” (Ps. 8:3-4).
Yet, this creation did not move them to wonder at their Creator. Most have no eyes to see. We ponder Mt. 13:16, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” And then we pray that God would give them eyes to embrace Jesus, the Creator of all things (Jn. 1:3), including new hearts (Jn. 3:5).
The Need for Missionaries is Great
We need youth and adults and retired folks to give their lives away in missionary work for Christ. We travelled for hours with only mosques for the eye to see and little gospel light.
Even after Hudson Taylor gave his life to China, it was not enough. He had to leave the seaside cities where many missionaries dwelled. He rejected the temptation to stay indefinitely among delightful missionaries and friendly Chinese. He was going inland.
He wrote: “My present condition calls me to a more arduous post, to pioneer work.” Not all are called to this, but some are. Whoever they are, for the sake of their own souls and their eternal happiness, they must go and see Jesus’ name become famous.
