‘Oh, we don’t send missionaries any longer. We’ve moved on from those colonial ways.’
I increasingly hear this half-embarrassed, half-confident sentiment from all sorts of people. And, to a degree, I understand where they are coming from.
Thankfully, in many ways modern attitudes to cross-cultural ministry are very different to those who went overseas with the gospel before us. But while I want to say, ‘yes, we strive to do things differently’, I also want to say, ‘yes, they counted the cost, a very great cost, and they actually went’.
And, when I am feeling less charitable, I wonder if post-colonial guilt is for some actually an excuse for comfort and inaction.
We understand that foreign missionaries come with cultural baggage as well as their suitcases when they leave for other countries, and we try to manage that appropriately and considerately. And the global church is now well aware of the challenges of receiving missionaries from abroad.
But knowing the complexity foreign missionaries bring, the global church is still asking for partnerships from outside, for the right people engaging in appropriate ministries.
We continue to receive many requests for Bible-handling trainers, for theological educators, for frontline evangelists, for student workers, for church planters and more from around the world. And we continue to support our brothers and sisters by making these needs known and discerning who has the right temperament, character and gifting to fulfill them.
Where the Lord has already established a church, our desire is to enable partnerships that will support it – but we do that by invitation.
Here are some of the invitations we have recently received for gospel partnerships around the world:
- A TEFL teacher evangelist to serve in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
- Spanish-speaking (or willing to learn!) Anglican clergy to serve in Argentina
- Theological trainers for Bible colleges in Sub-Saharan Africa
Could you go at the church’s invitation? Or do you know someone who could? Get in touch: contact@crosslinks.org
