Perhaps when one thinks of shepherding God’s flock, bringing his congregation to the mission field isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. However, there is much to be said for bringing a shepherd’s role to bear in a cross-cultural context, and the possibilities there for faithfulness, soul care, the spirit of truth, expository preaching, discipleship, and evangelism. Read on as we reflect on some of the things pastors and elders have had to say about their experience at MEDA International Missions, and the implications those have for the shepherd in short-term missions.
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stimulating FAITHFULNESS
Leading mission trips as a pastor can be a pivotal test and example of faithfulness.
Since 2018, Stephen Samec has led 3 teams to Honduras from Grace Bible Church of Tampa, FL, which has been an eager supporter of the ministry here, almost since the church was planted more than 15 years ago.
As a pastor and elder in the church, Stephen recognizes that the Lord’s work requires commitment. Last year, GBCT put on a Vacation Bible School, taught men’s and women’s conferences, and helped remodel the nursery in Emmanuel Baptist Church. These efforts brought the nature of Christian perseverance to the forefront of his mind.
“One thing I did think about, this week in particular, was that this is a life's work, and it’s something that the church will really never stop until Christ comes back,” he says.
“Having that perspective is helpful so that, one, we don't just come once and say, ‘Look at what we did. Look how great we are.’ But then secondly, so that you don't get discouraged, because it’s long-term work. So you say, ‘Okay, this is going to be a life's work until the Lord comes back, or until I go home, and that's okay.’”
The Christian life is grueling – and inglorious in the world’s eyes – especially for faithful pastors and teachers, which is why it’s so important to have our eyes fixed on Jesus when the narrow road gets long. And it’s no different on the mission field.
“Having the same needs recurring – that's just how it is,” Stephen says. “That's what Christ told us it would be like…and we're just one of many teams, and we do one or two or three activities among many activities that will need to happen for many years to come.”
Another leadership team from Bible Church of Little Rock illustrate the snowball effect of this perspective.
“Because of the ability to go out into the community, go to the schools, visit people – the students got to see stuff that that we do more regularly as elders [and] pastors of the church,” Douglas says.
Doing what they do at home in another context could thus have an influence beyond the mission field, providing an opportunity for those in their group to reflect the examples of faithfulness set by their church leaders.
“We've seen many young people come on these short-term mission trips and end up on the field long-term,” Mark says. “Or they come back with a deeper love for and a perception that's more biblical with regard to people around the world. It gets them out of their own self-culture and so forth, and so they go back home impacted in a way that I don't see happening back home.”
This can be seen as the fruit of seeing ministry in action, and the light that so shines when the accountability of the church and Gospel-focused missions overlap.
far-reaching SOUL CARE
Short-term missions also present a chance for a church’s spiritual leadership to minister to the hearts of those they’ve come to serve, while encouraging others to do the same.
Andrés Jiménez, the pastor of Spanish ministry at Faith Community Church in Woodstock, GA, is a testament to this. He was in an airport terminal one day, en route to Cancún with his family, when he noticed the church group coming home from Honduras. Seeing how they struggled to communicate in Spanish, he was confronted with a desire to help them.
Since that time, he has utilized his native language and theological training to serve his local church, ministering alongside his brothers and sisters in Honduras 3 times since 2019.
“Coming here to Honduras and getting out from the United States – we're like in a bubble there, right,” he says. “And we get out and we see so much need, physical needs, over here – things that we don't see in the States. But there's [a] more important need…which is spiritual.”
It is this understanding of humanity’s greatest need that propels spiritual leaders to care for the souls of every tribe, tongue, and nation, which at the same time fosters biblical counseling opportunities amongst the boots on the ground.
“You do all you can to prepare for the things that you know that you might be doing,” Mark says, “but [the goal is] to come away with the mindset that is found in James, where we say, ‘Tomorrow we're going to do this and that if the Lord wills.’ And if the Lord changes our plans, we need to be willing to accept that.”
The flexibility required of each short-term mission is the perfect primer for pastors and elders to look after the serving souls of their congregation.
“Our objective, I know, as leaders,” Mark says, “is to bring a group of students, or even adults as we've done in the past, to come away with that mindset and develop that flexibility that we can go home with too, because we easily get caught in a rut of the things that we want to do with our lives and don't think about, Well, maybe God has a different plan for me than what I think.”
What a precious means, indeed, is missions, for testing one’s faith and faithfulness, and ministering to those in the wake of salvation and the fire of sanctification.