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HARVESTFORCE 2020 • 3
WHAT IF... (Rethinking missions in W
hen we think of Missions, it is usually one of these scenarios:
A) Persons or teams going to a foreign country and staying there for several years to reach out to the people via education, social enterprises, etc. The country may be “adopted” and resources (prayer, funds, personnel, and equipment) will be sent there to build up the ministry. A church or a school may be established there after a while.
Rev Dr Lorna Khoo Pastor at Holland Village Methodist Church (HVMC). A Methodist pastor for 41 years, she has been and is involved in missions to TimorLeste since the early 2000s: first at Living Hope Methodist Church, then at Aldersgate Methodist Church, now at HVMC. She is also involved in missions in Japan at HVMC.
B) Teams might be sent there for short term exposure experwiences. They may help physically to construct toilets, to do teaching, to do a programme for the children or congregation. The people who usually go on such trips would be teens and youth, and adults of various ages. We ask… 1. WHO ARE THE PEOPLE MOBILISED FOR MISSIONS? Usually they are the older children, the able bodied adults, those who can set aside a block of time for travel, and those who can afford the trip or whose churches can afford to sponsor them for the trip. But what about younger children, busy adults, handicapped, bedridden and mobility challenged adults, and retirees who have limited income? Yes, they can be prayer warriors. But can they not be mobilised for frontline missions? 2. COST OF MISSION TRIPS Mission trips to nearby third world countries are usually fairly economical. These places are ‘easier to reach’ with speedier results. They are favoured by most churches. But recent mission studies have indicated the urgent needs for outreach to ‘hard ground’ – these are places where much will be sown with very slow and little results. These are places where longer trips are required and expenses are higher as some are in ‘the first world’. How can these places be reached? Does it mean that only rich congregations can do the work? Even then, sending children, youth, and retirees to this mission field would be rather challenging. Some people have wondered if the money spent on mission and mission exposure trips – even to nearby third world countries - might be better utilised by the locals in their own ministries. Locals are more experienced in building houses or toilets than our urbanites. Time would be saved for missionaries if they do not need to play travel guides and hosts to teams upon teams of neophytes (or some ‘spiritual tourists’). With COVID-19 changing the landscape of the travel industry and highlighting the health threats in different countries, perhaps it is time for us to re-think how we do mission- mission trips and mission exposure trips? 3. THE NEW NORMAL Some people are waiting for the COVID-19 situation to be contained and to “get back to normal life.” Hello! The world has changed since COVID-19 emerged. We are facing a serious recession. Money will be scarce. There will be travel restrictions. And in case we have forgotten - the largest growing group of people in Singapore are not the youth (as in the 70s to 90s), it is instead the silver generation! Unlike the previous cohort of seniors, these have more education, more resources, and more networking capabilities. They are the untapped potential treasure trove.
