IN RECENT years there has been
a dramatic increase in the number of mission trips to poorer countries
neighbouring Singapore. This prompts us to ask, "What is
it that helps towards an effective mission practice?"
There are three elements that can be identified as essential in
good mission practice, namely, the head, the life and the heart.
While each is important, it works best only when it works in tandem
with the rest.
The head
Firstly, the head signifies the importance of being knowledgeable
about mission issues.
There are some aspects of knowledge that those involved in mission
should be familiar with: a) Biblical knowledge, (eg, what
is the Bible, how do we interpret the Bible, how do we relate
the Bible to our life situations), b) Cultural understanding
(eg, understanding the complexities of cultures and communication
across cultures, differentiating between cultural values and biblical
values, understanding ourselves and understanding others), c)
Ministry skills (eg, community development skills, teaching
and preaching skills, communication skills, pastoral and evangelistic
skills), d) Contextual information (eg, the history and
current context of the country and the people, their religious
values, cultures and traditions).
Relevant training is often one of the more neglected aspects of
mission involvement. Yet, with the various training options available,
training is also one of the easier aspects to develop in our preparation
for mission activity.
There is an unwise belief among some that training in missions
is optional because we come from a "mature" church context
or an economically richer country.
The life
Secondly, there is the issue of life, or of living with the community.
Much as the knowledge that we gain from our training is important,
it must be complemented with a contextual knowledge that comes
from living with the community. Our decision-making must arise
from first-hand contact with the community, the people, the region
and the country that we seek to be involved in.
One danger in the management of missions is centralised decision-making
many miles from the context. And at times such decisions are taken
by leadership which may not have had the opportunity to have sufficient
engagement with the context other than short forays during mission
trips.
Sometimes we are in grave danger
of being "the one-minute missionary". We enter a place,
ask the people what problems they face or what they need and then
we proceed to give the solutions to the problems. In this way,
we deceive ourselves that it is all in a day's work to resolve
problems that communities live and struggle with for years, or
even a lifetime.
Speaking at a forum on "Transformational Mission", Saul
Crux, the founder of Armonia, a mission that works among one of
the poorest communities in Mexico, said: "To work with the
poor … we need to know and experience transformation ourselves
through personal experience with the poor ... There is danger
today that we have experts on transformational mission who have
not worked in the field before."
Let us work at making room to listen to the community and to those
who work with the communities. This does not imply that the person
who works in the field is necessarily right. However, a person
who lives in a context of conflict, for example, may be able to
give a perspective borne out of personal experience that will
be important to consider as we evaluate the different options
of action in a context of civil unrest.
The heart
While appropriate knowledge and an appreciation of the significance
of a field perspective may pave the way for effective ministry,
there is one other essential factor for good mission practice:
we need a heart that is committed to God and has a genuine love
for people.
In describing what he felt was important in working with the poor,
Saul Cruz said: " … We must be ready to make their lack
our lack, their fears our fears, and their problems our own until
we, by God's grace, can empower them with our lives so that there
is no more isolation, no more exploitation, no more powerlessness
or lack of choices but an abundant life in Christ."
It is an issue of commitment to a relationship and identification
with the people. We need to go beyond our tasks and recognise
that the poor whom we seek to work with are actually people with
names, people with lives that we need to entwine with. Because
of our commitment to God and to the people, we learn to walk with
the community, to accompany them in their life journey. We need
to focus on the people and their dreams, rather than on our agenda
and goals.
Good mission practice calls for
appropriate knowledge and skills, a participatory approach and
a commitment to the community. I want to paraphrase 1 Corinthians
13:13 that says it so well: Now there are these three, the head,
the life and the heart and the greatest of these is the heart
for it is the heart of love for God and the people that lays the
foundation for all else to be built.
The Rev Ajit Hazra is an elder of Emmanuel Tamil Annual Conference
of The Methodist Church in Singapore and works with The Leprosy
Mission International.
QUOTE:
HEART AND LOVE
'While appropriate knowledge and an appreciation of the significance of a field perspective may pave the way for effective ministry, there is one other essential factor for good mission practice: we need a heart that is committed to God and has a genuine love for people.'