Winter 2014
Preserving and Strengthening versus Restarting: The Ministry of a Furlough-Replacement Missionary by Mr. Steve Anderson
I
t will probably come as a surprise to many churches to learn that the majority of missionaries consider the occasional stateside respite known as furlough to be largely counterproductive. This is particularly true for those missionaries who are past their first term, no matter their venue. While regular, well-written prayer letters and email updates keep the supporting prayer warriors informed, most would agree that there is no substitute for the missionary’s personal visit, including his testimony and colorful visuals. However, furlough frequently means that the church planter must leave his flock with precious little leadership. All too often, upon returning to his field, the missionary finds only a remnant of the group he left months earlier, requiring him to essentially “start over”! Brethren, these things ought not so to be.
An integral part of the church-planting process is the long-term training of national men with the goals of spiritual maturity and the ability to carefully exegete the Word. Over time, these men will become increasingly capable of consistently and biblically preaching the Word, while teaching the younger believers through their speech and exemplary lifestyle. The missionary’s furlough often interrupts this process. Although other missionaries in the area typically offer to “cover” the work of their colaborer, the constraints of their own ministries keep them from performing the task with an appropriate level of success. They simply find themselves “stretched too thin.” A generation ago, a church planter could establish a work in a village that would be essentially the “only game in town,” but those days disappeared through the worldwide proliferation of false teaching in many shades. Additionally, there are cults and fringe groups which seem to actually watch and target congregations where leadership is weak or temporarily absent. During such times, they will pique the interest of someone in the unattended flock by offering to “have a Bible study” with them—with the design to gradually pull these sheep over to their persuasion.
This tragedy is exactly what transpired during our own furloughs while serving as church planters in a West African country in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Our emotions on return to the field were a mix of grief over the fact that the believers had grown precious little during our absence and an indescribable angst over the loss of folks into whose lives we had poured our own hearts and the Word for months, and even years. As I spoke with missionaries from around the world, I learned that this was an all-too-common occurrence. The upside of these disappointing experiences is that God used them to burden our own hearts for a ministry specifically aimed at turning this situation around for God’s glory. We approached Baptist World Mission in 1997 with the plan to start a full-time furlough-replacement ministry. In the 12 years since our first coverage, the Lord has raised up six other families to join in this undertaking. Together these furlough-replacement missionaries have covered more than 40 furloughs. In nearly every case, the missionary has returned to a work that has grown or is essentially the same as he left it. To God be the glory for this high rate of success, which is no doubt partly due to the fact that all the furlough-replacement missionaries have years of pastoral experience, whether in the States or on the foreign field. It is more than appropriate to consider the furloughreplacement missionary as a church planter, since he is functioning in the place of the regular missionary. He has the unique task of maintaining, strengthening and preserving the missionary’s work until he returns. BWM’s furlough-replacement missionaries depend on monthly support from churches, just like other church planters. If your church does not yet support a BWM furloughreplacement missionary, we urge you to consider inviting one of these seasoned missionaries to present his ministry. We believe it is a wise investment of foreign missionary dollars. May God continue to bless this unique ministry throughout the Baptist World Mission family of church planters serving in 48 countries.
In This Issue
2 Meet Our New Missionaries Highlights from the Highways & Hedges
3 Mission Matters
4 Itineraries