20 LESSON S I LEARN ED AS A STUDENT MI SSION ARY

Lessons I Learned as a Student Miss ion ary

by Amanda Pérez

1

There really is a peace that passes all understanding.

There were a few major things going on in my life the year I was applying to go to Palau. My mind and heart were so unsteady about leaving all of that behind I almost didn’t go. I asked God to give me peace about each of those situations if he really wanted me to go to Palau. Immediately I was welcomed with this overwhelming peace that everything was going to be okay. Ask God for His peace. He is a gracious Father, eager for us to go to Him with our worries.

2

Look at and treat people as if they were Jesus.

This idea comes from Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love. One day I decided to put this mentality to the test in English class with one of my most distracted students. Each time I went over to his desk to help him, instead of getting mad or frustrated that he was not doing his work, before I approached him, I said to myself, “Alright Jesus, let’s do English.” In order for this student to finish his assignment I probably had to say this to myself five or six times, but with each time I did, I became more patient with him. Imagine how much better you would treat people if you intentionally treated them as if they were Jesus.

3

The immensity of God's love for us.

One day while my kids were at P.E. class, I was sitting at my desk overlooking the 13 empty desks. I started reflecting about how much I love each and every one of those kids even when they are disrespectful, make a mistake, or don’t reciprocate my love. A flood of realization came over me that God loves me significantly more than I love those kids, even when I don’t prioritize time with Him, walk away from Him, and make mistakes. The love of God is something our human minds can never fully grasp, but in that moment I felt the depth and reality of God’s love and grace for each of us.

4Daily Dependence on God If you think you are going to get through one year of teaching just on your own strength, think again. If you are not plugged into a life-giving Source, what will you have to take from to give to your kids?

5Be excited to go to church... and don't be afraid to invite people! One day after school I invited one of my girls to Sabbath School. I’m not sure why it took me until the third quarter to invite my students, but better late than never. Immediately after I invited her, she went to two other girls and invited them. Her face was radiating with excitement so contagious that by the end of the conversation all three girls were ecstatic to come to church. That excitement did not diminish once they came to church. Always be excited to learn new things about God.

6God cares about our regrets and desires. After my first year, two of my biggest regrets were not getting to know the high school students and not being very involved with the dorm. When I came back to Palau, God placed me at the high school and during my last year placed me in the dorm.

7If a human's capacity to love is so great, just imagine God's. One of my fears about working at the academy was that I wouldn’t be able to love those students as deeply as my 3rd graders. There was more than enough room in my heart

for all of them. One of my dorm girls asked me this year how can God love all of the people in the world? When I thought of that answer, I couldn’t help but think about how my imperfect human heart could love so many so deeply.

8Life is not a series of random events. Each responsibility you hold in a season of your life prepares you for the future. Each season is a puzzle piece. In the moment you might not know how that piece fits into the puzzle that is your life, but it does, and the picture it creates is a significantly better one than you could ever imagine.

9Never stop reading, especially your Bible. My Palauan sponsor my first year, Ms. Vicky, would often be caught reading throughout the entire sermon instead of paying attention to the preacher. She grew up Catholic and told me what convicted her to become Adventist was the simple act of reading the entire Bible. Each Sabbath she would share with me what she learned through her reading from the week.

10 Don't compare your journey (or your impact) to anyone else's. Too often I wondered if I was making an impact at the academy or just even on one person. I measured my “missionariness” by comparing my efforts and talents to those around me. God needs different types of people in the mission field to witness to the different types of people

He created. You are there because someone there needs you. Only if it is just one person, that’s one more person that will know Christ.

11 God has a purpose for your pain. One of the best things about being at the academy was being able to be there for students that were struggling with various issues. My past pain was able to help students in their current struggles. Be vulnerable with people and open to share what God has brought you through.

12 Turn the doorknob. When I was debating whether or not to come back for a third time, my principal told me that sometimes the door God places in our lives is clearly opened or clearly shut. But sometimes, the door He places in our lives requires us to take a leap of faith and turn the doorknob. If it opens, it’s ours to walk through. If not, then we keep praying for His guidance.

13 Spending quality time with people is invaluable. The best way to connect with your students is to hang out with them outside of the classroom. Some of my best memories of my time at the academy were the times spent with students and alumni after school. Whether we went out to eat, swim at the bridge, play basketball, or got lost while off-roading, those are some of my most treasured moments.

14 Gaining a life with Christ is truly the greatest thing. I never had to give up anything when I got baptized. I was raised Seventh-day Adventist so I never had to go against my family’s wishes or not have both my parents’ support. For some of the students who got baptized, that was not the case. For them, the benefits outweighed the cost and that was truly inspiring.

15 Find the good in each day. Do not let your day or week be turned sour by one bad moment. Make the most of the time you are with the people you are serving, because you don’t know when you will have to say goodbye. Never take a day for granted.

16 Ask for help when you need it. You were not meant to do everything by yourself. Galatians 6:2 calls us to bear each other’s burdens and your fellow missionaries are there to help you when you need it. Just don’t forget to return the favor when you can!

17 The importance of boundaries. Selflessness vs. self-care was something I struggled to find the balance of. It is okay to say no to some things. If you are drained, be it mentally or physically, you will have nothing left to give to those that you are serving. It is not selfish to take care of yourself.

18 It’s ok if you're not remembered. We all want to be remembered, especially by people who you have invested so much time in. But at the end of the day, what matters most is that they remember who God is, and then you because that is why you are serving. It’s not about you.

19 You can learn something from everyone who crosses your path. When I think back to my time spent in Palau, I learned something from my 3rd graders, other elementary students, the high schoolers, three different groups of missionaries, and the locals. There’s lessons to be learned in how different people live, their perspectives, their past, and the skills and talents God has gifted them. Be open to learn from those around you, no matter how young!

20 Be consistent in praying for those you are serving. This takes a lot of time and effort to actually commit to and I failed with that so many times. However, try and make it a daily habit and pray for a few students each day. It’s amazing the change God can bring. Try praying Colossians 1:9-14 over those you are serving and don’t stop once you leave!

The Field

Negle

By Jose

Javier Pére z

cted

I’ll admit it. Sometimes in the past, when I thought about missionary work, I had a tendency to picture third world countries. Places with significant limitations in infrastructure and the basic comforts we have grown accustomed to in most places in the United States. Places without running water, well-paved roads, electricity, or insulated, temperature controlled buildings.

Can you relate? When thinking of mission work, have you ever conjured up an image of a world very different from your own? Are distant places really the only places where missionary work can happen?

It can be comfortable to think so, especially if the thought of sharing your faith with others makes you nervous. After a seminar on identifying one’s spiritual gifts, I was once told by a sister in the church that she just did not have the “gift” of sharing her faith. “I can’t do that. I can support missionary work through my financial contributions. That’s my gift.”

Now, I’m going to risk stating what you may consider to be the obvious. While missionaries overseas truly do need our support in the form of prayers as well as financial contributions, the work of personal ministry, or witnessing for Christ, is not limited to working in distant lands. In fact, it is a fruit of one’s genuine relationship with Christ rather than a spiritual gift. Spiritual gifts are diverse and distributed variably; not every person has every gift (see 1 Corinthians 12). On the contrary, sharing Christ is not a special gift, but rather a natural outgrowth of conversion (1 Corinthians 9:16). In the book Ministry of Healing, Ellen White declares that “every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary” (MH 47.5).

Let’s examine our initial premise more closely. Even when missionaries go to foreign fields to evangelize, don’t they first need to do some groundwork to establish relationships with the people there? How could they win souls for Jesus without first winning their trust? Further, if trust is a prerequisite to effective soul-winning, does that not necessitate proximity to the people they’re trying to reach? The work of expanding God’s kingdom is personal at it’s core. Sister White said that “Christ’s method alone” would be successful in reaching people. His method involved first mingling with people, showing them He cared for them, working to meet their temporal needs, winning them over, and then bidding them, “Follow me” (MH 143). None of these things can be done from a distance; they all must be done up close.

And if that’s true, then the mission field is not “over there” - it can only ever be right where the missionary is. Moreover, if you’re a true disciple, and you’ve been born into the kingdom of God, then by God’s grace, you are already a missionary, right where you are. I’ll say to you a variation of what God said to Abraham. Look around you, as far as you can see in every direction. That is your mission field.

Consider the Shema. In Deuteronomy chapter six, Moses utters those famous words: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, emphasis supplied).

Notice that the religion of Christ is to take root first in the heart, and then to permeate every corner of the life. He is first to be the centerpiece of our internal lives; then, we are to make Him the centerpiece

of our home and family; then, we share Him through the course of daily life. We are to speak of Jesus in the town where we live, and be so transformed into His likeness that the indescribable beauty of His character can be seen in our actions. The Shema was no mere commission to the priests of ancient Israel; it was a commission to the entirety of the people of God.

In truth, the whole world is a mission field. Even in parts of the world where it seems everyone has already been exposed to some knowledge of Christianity, there are still people waiting to be invited into the family of God. In fact, a large study conducted in 2018 and 2019 showed that the number of people who identify as Christian in the United States has been rapidly declining over the last several decades, with a 12% decline over the ten year period preceding the study. The percentage of respondents who identified as non-religious increased from 17% to 26% over the same time period. What’s more, even among those who identify as Christian, some subset of them may be Christian in name only, painfully unaware that they have yet to experience conversion; “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:5). Even in places where there isn’t rampant poverty, where everyone seems to have everything they need, there are still deeper, unseen needs that only God can satisfy. There is still much to do all around each one of us. In the words of Jesus, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” (John 4:35).

If we only consider far-away places as fields for God’s work, even on a subconscious level, we may be more likely to neglect the most critically important mission field of all. Before the wave of gospel transformation can reach those far flung fields that we see with our mind’s eye, the ripples of God’s redeeming love must first disrupt the waters of our own hearts. The waves of His grace will then expand in concentric circles, first to our homes, then in our day to day lives, then to our churches, and then to our communities. Even as you pray for and financially support those who can go serve in distant places, remember your responsibility to those you are nearest to.

As in the days of ancient Israel, the imperative of the Shema binds upon every member of the family of God today. We need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that mission work is only done in foreign fields. The Lord didn’t say that pastors or global mission pioneers are the light of the world; He said you are. He didn’t say the elders or conference administrators are the salt of the earth; He said you are. He gave us all a positive command: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). He commanded through the prophet Isaiah, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:1-3).

We need to start seeing ourselves as the light. It’s our job to illuminate the darkness that surrounds us with the flame of Christ. We need to start seeing our lives, our towns, our streets, our jobs, our recreational activities, everywhere we go and everything we do, as the field in which God has called us to labor for His kingdom. Most importantly, we must not neglect the home as the first and most important mission field in our lives. Consider the following passages from Ellen White’s tome titled “The Adventist Home” (AH):

“Home religion is fearfully neglected. Men and women show much interest in foreign missions. They give liberally to them and thus seek to satisfy their conscience, thinking that giving to the cause of God will atone for their neglect to set a right example in the home. But the home is their special field, and no excuse is accepted by God for neglecting this field… If religion is to influence society, it must first influence the home circle” (AH 318).

Sister White also says the following when expanding upon the apostle Paul’s admonition in 2 Timothy 4:2 to be ready “in season and out of season”:

“… to be instant ‘out of season’ is to be ready, when at the fireside, in the field, by the wayside, in the market, to turn the minds of men, in a suitable manner, to the great themes of the Bible, with tender, fervent spirit urging upon them the claims of God. Many, many such opportunities are allowed to slip by unimproved, because men are persuaded that it is out of season. But who knows what might be the effect of a wise appeal to the conscience?—Gospel Workers, 186- 187(1915)” (Evangelism, 430.6).

Our lives are to be an enacted sermon. Jesus, living in us, incarnated in the moment by moment of daily life. Our light is to “shine before others, so that they may see [our] good works and give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

So let your light shine in your home, in the grocery store, on the sidewalks of your streets, in the cafe, and everywhere in between. Then the “nations will come to your light” (Isaiah 60:3), and no more precious opportunities will go unmet.

If the question is stirring in your heart as to how to begin, consider these verses as a starting point:

“’With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’ He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:6-8 ESV).

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 ESV).

Feed the hungry. Give drink to the thirsty. Be hospitable to strangers. Visit the sick and imprisoned (Matthew 25:35-40; James 2:14- 15). Study how Jesus loved and seek ways to bless others in the same way. Most importantly, ask Him to let the Holy Spirit fill you with His love and guide you in your quest to be a blessing to the people in your circle of influence.

Starting now, let’s resolve to stop waiting for someone else to shine the light of Jesus in our corners of the world. The time has come for us to light them up with God’s glory!

And never forget: the mission field is always wherever you are.

Miss ions & Poverty What’s Your Role ?

by Mel iss a Moore uQuest Short-Term Missions Director Southern Adventist University

If you have been considering a commitment to short-term or long-term mission service, Amen! Before you go, here are some hard-learned lessons from volunteering on dozens of mission trips, serving as a student missionary, and now organizing mission trips at Southern Adventist University.

Let me start by saying I do not assert myself to be an expert in missions or theology. I have however, learned some painful, eye-opening truths about all the times I have served with the greatest intention of helping people and may have actually hurt them. I hope to save you from this path and encourage you to ask a lot of questions before you serve. Listen more than you speak. Pray like crazy and know that God will radically shape your life when you submit your will to His.

Christ ’s Met hod Alone

If you ever doubt how to reach people for the Kingdom, here is a “formula” for you. “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Savior mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’ . . . Accompanied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, this work will not, cannot, be

without fruit,” (The Ministry of Healing, pp. 143, 144). This passage from Ellen White has completely restructured the way I think about missions and outreach. I don’t think the order was written haphazardly. I also believe that we accomplish this method most fully when we commit to the entire process instead of picking which ones we like best.

How Poor Peo ple Def ine Poverty

If you were asked to define poverty, likely the words, “no food, clean water, education, shelter, etc.” would be shared. While these words are accurate, this is an incomplete picture. “Poor people’s definitions of poverty do not only include economic wellbeing, but also include vulnerability, powerlessness, the shame of dependency, and social isolation,” according to Voices of the Poor published by the World Bank.

When we do not share this more holistic definition of poverty, it is very possible, if not probable that we will inadvertently cause more harm than good in missions. How is this possible? When a poor community already feels powerless and inferior, we exacerbate this ideology by showing them the “right way” to run a VBS program, build a church, provide a medical clinic, or conduct an evangelistic series. We are effectively saying to our brothers and sisters that they do not have the resources or aptitude to do this on their own; we are needed to intervene on their behalf.

Working with and not for the poor is the best way to avoid these common, paternalistic behaviors. Christians in the US do have a variety of resources to contribute to our local and global neighbors. However, we need to empower the local leadership to advocate for their vision, help identify and celebrate their assets, and supplement where needed and requested.

Rel ief , Rehabilitation , and Develo pment

Knowing the difference of these three strategies makes all the difference. Relief is appropriate following a tornado, like the one we experienced in the Chattanooga area recently. We handed out water bottles, hot meals, tarps, etc. without a lengthy application process or expectations these individuals would do anything in return. Volunteer groups were sent out by dozens of organizations to tarp people’s roofs to

avoid any further damage from the rain.

A biblical example of relief is the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10. The wounded man is not asked to give an account for why he was in his present condition. He is not asked to do anything at all. The Good Samaritan sees someone in crisis and responds to his urgent need with urgent action.

Rehabilitation can start after the immediate crisis is under control. The family who had their roof tarped within the first two days in the aftermath of the tornado will now need help repairing the roof. The goal of rehabilitation is a return to the “pre-crisis” life. This means, we would repair the current tornado damage but not start building an addition to the house just yet.

It is ideal for the family to be intimately involved as there is no longer purely a “provider/receiver” model like in the relief phase. Consider the model of gleaning God describes in Leviticus 19. God wanted people who were experiencing material poverty to have the dignity of harvesting their own food.

Rel ief , Rehabilitation , and Develo pment

PRE-CRISIS LIFE

1

RELIEF CRISIS STRIKES NATURAL/MAN MADE

2 3

DEVELOPMENT

REHABILITATION

When Helping Hurts, Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett

The development phase is the most difficult and time-consuming of the three. Individuals are now fully recovered from their crisis. Now they are ready to dream of how they might want to improve their lives in some way. Perhaps someone is ready to get their GED and seek a higher paying job. A family may want to start their own garden to mitigate food insecurity concerns. Whatever these goals are, they must be driven by the individuals themselves. You cannot want change more than they do or it will be unsustainable. The development phase begs us to walk beside someone experiencing poverty over a long period of time, to serve as an advocate, cheerleader, and friend. Sometimes the phases can be muddy without a clear indicator to move to the next one. Don’t stress about being in the “right” phase.

You have probably heard the saying, “Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.” Here is my adaptation, “Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. But sometimes the man knows how to fish and doesn’t have a fishing pole. Help him get a fishing pole, he will feed his village.” Most people who are poor do not want the handout. They may already have ideas and goals to move out of poverty, but they just need the right resources.

Poverty is complex and requires complex alleviation strategies. But we are all called to a specific role. Let’s get past the question, “Am I called to serve?” The answer is “yes.” When I read the Great Commission in Matthew 28, I believe that it is written to all of us who have surrendered our lives to Jesus. Across the street or across the world, let’s intentionally petition where He can use us best.