Wrap-up: Revolution in World Missions (Yohannon)

One of the nice things about my reading list is that I assembled it from the 'favorites' lists of several great people (in particular, the T4G guys, thanks to a thread on their blog). As a result, I suppose I'll have only good things to say about most of the books I read. This book, added to the list through a more 'organic' process, was an awesome surprise!

Sometime this past winter, I noticed Revolution in World Missions sitting on our kitchen table. I asked Eva how it came into our possession and discovered that it just appeared in the mail. If I recall correctly, it came as a gift from Samaritan's Purse.

I set the book aside and determined to take a peek at it later. Over the next couple months, I predictably noticed the little paperback gracing the shelves and tables of several other families from VBC.

With my reading program in full swing, I decided it was time to crack the cover on this book. It proved to be a quick, fascinating, and convicting read.

KP Yohannan was born and raised in India. He came to Christ and worked with several native evangelistic teams before coming to the west for schooling. While in the US, KP developed a vision for increasing the mobilization of native missionaries using the vast support 'power' of the west. For an American to go to do missions work in India, $30,000+ of annual support might have to be raised. On the other hand, a native (Indian) evangelist could be equipped and easily supported for less than a third of that amount.

In addition to the increased impact 'per dollar' that native missions offer, it also removes the various cultural barriers that often hinder the spread of the Gospel. The native has no language that must be learned, no cultural norms to assimilate, and benefits from an immediate credibility with the target peoples. In an era where 'white' westerners are increasingly distrusted or barred from entry to many nations, native missionaries seem to be the wave of the future (and a superior tool, at that).

There are a couple things, in particular, that really got into my head through reading this book.

1. A deep sense of our overwhelming affluence. Most people in the United States live a life of complete excess... Think about it: The amount of calories we get from a single, frivilous, after-church meal at Chili's likely represents a weekly amount of food for people in many parts of the world - if not more! This sense of 'being rich' rightly comes anytime you seriously dwell on missions.
2. As an extension of that, I struck again by the futility of the 'American Dream'. We scurry and run, always going but never arriving. Always imagining that the next car, the next house, the next something will define/complete our 'happiness'. I'll come back to this in a second...
3. I find it interesting how foreign missions seem to often be more deeply connected to the working of the Holy Spirit 'with power'. As someone who has stopped to consider charismaticism and cessationism (yes, I'm a nerd), I find the many accounts of miraculous happenings in the mission field interesting. Why do we, in the west, not see similar manifestations (healings, deliverances from demons, etc) in our churches? Is it that there is some special dispensation, a la the Book of Acts, for those ministering in largely pagan contexts? Are these signs actually something nefarious - the presence of unholy influences on Christianity? Or, as I suspect, are we westerners simply less reliant upon the leading and power the Spirit in our lives? I suspect our comfort - in #1 and #2 above - has made us largely apathetic.

I was talking to my mother on the phone last night regarding the sale of our house. My mother was sad that we had to let go of our current home to 'downsize' into something more affordable. In the past two years, I've been moving to the point that I don't feel that bad about it. Moreover, the extent to which I do feel bad is actually, in my opinion, a sign that I have something to work on.

We have friends in the missions field in Kijabe, Kenya. The money I make per year, after taxes, is equal to roughly 100 times the income of a Kenyan family. Our home represents more walled-in space than several families occupy in Haiti, where our church supports several mission efforts. Is losing a yard and some privacy really that big of a deal?

I increasingly recognize how as a young man I never really valued the right things. Around the time our son was born, I started to go through a period of change. What is really important to me? Answer: My God and my family. If that's really true, am I living in a way that would reflect that? If my hope is outside of this world, does my lifestyle reflect that or am I simply moving in the current of a world gone wrong?

I don't want to live a life that is comfortable but eternally insiginificant. I don't want to live so I can get old and become increasingly useless. I don't want to stand before God one day and point to a earthly mansion as the symbol of my life's work.

I want to live a life that sacrifices much to love much. I want to live a life that displays a hope in what's coming, not what's here. I want to live a live that cries out that "to live is Christ, and to die is gain". I want a crown for my King's glory, not a nice lawn for my own.

Well, all this is only loosely tied to KP Yohannon's book. So, I'll try to bring us back up the rabbit hole... Pray for those preaching the gospel, both here and abroad - though especially for those being persecuted. If you feel you have only a little to offer financially, consider giving that to a native mission support agency like Yohannon's Gospel for Asia where your pocket change will go far to change lives.

I'd urge you to read this book... And I'll be glad to loan you my copy if you'll take the $5.95 you save and put it to good use.