Make Missions Local Again
Some people might think I oppose foreign missions, but that’s not the case. For example, I’ve made a long-term commitment to the Australian Church. What I do struggle with is respecting many of the foreign missionaries I’ve met, primarily because of their troubled marriages and the well-being of their children.
I’ve encountered numerous missionary kids (MKs) with "daddy issues" and others who have drifted away from their faith. Often, their parents travel to foreign countries and send them to boarding schools like Black Forest Academy in Germany, all in the name of focusing on other people's children for Jesus. I know not all missionaries fit this description, but this pattern is alarmingly common.
This trend isn’t limited to missionaries; it appears among pastors as well. Many pastors prioritize other families over their own, justifying it as serving the Lord. This behavior is widespread, even among street preachers. They boldly proclaim the gospel to strangers at football games but fail to share it with their coworkers or neighbors.
Even churches often emphasize foreign missions while neglecting local evangelism. This pattern extends to most people these days. We frequently prioritize distant service, sometimes only offering financial support, over our duty to those closest to us.
Imagine a husband and father who helps widows and orphans but neglects his own starving wife and children. As 1 Timothy 5:8 says, "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
This is who the American church has become. We've failed to support our own, resulting in a nation in disarray. Some acknowledge our dire situation but represent a worse aspect of this trend.
I'm referring to "internet Christians" who discuss national and global issues, theorizing on how they’d rebuild our fallen nation from the ground up. They love to talk about grand concepts and sweeping changes, but they haven't taken any local action. Their service doesn't extend to foreign lands; it’s limited to their thoughts and online discussions. Thus, their faith is internet-based.
I often ask these types of Christians what they’re personally doing about their grand ideas. They usually become defensive because talkers tend to do that. A common response might be, "Why not do both? Why not share the message online and work in your local community?" I’m not against that. However, I’d pose a question in return: Are you doing both? People who lack potency in their everyday lives are tempted to posture online. So, if you can't manage both, prioritize local efforts.
Instead of focusing on grand ideas and lofty goals, concentrate on implementing fundamental concepts in small ways and actually achieving something.
Plug into your local community. Relocating is hard and often not advisable. If you can’t relocate for some reason, find a community that’s both winnable and worthwhile. It should be small enough for you to have an impact but large enough to hold cultural, economic, or political importance. Ask yourself, "Could this town or county potentially become a thriving place?" Put down roots.
Where do you start?
Start in your own home. Establish a practice of family devotions several times a week. Make a budget, get out of debt, and become financially stable. Practice hospitality by inviting your fellow church members over once a week.
Start in your own church. Make weekly public worship a priority. Attend all the auxiliary meetings. Ask your leaders how you can pray for them and help strengthen your local fellowship.
Start in your own community. Get to know your neighbors better. Share meals, build trust, and enjoy their company. Then, work together to improve your community for everyone. Be a leader in this effort.
Whenever possible, buy from local stores. Start your own business in your town. Fix up old buildings on the main street and inspire others to do the same. Strengthen your local economy and make it more appealing to like-minded people.
Consider running for local office, and encourage others in your community who share your views to do the same. It would be great if your close neighbors held important positions like health official, sheriff, or head of polling.
How is this evangelism? Well, it’s not exactly. It's being salt and light. By doing this, you will create opportunities to proclaim the gospel.
This is such an important issue right now, thank you for writing about it. I couldn't agree more.
I did a 2 year mission trip after college - working with missionaries in Albania. Years later, I would reconnect with the woman who I would eventually marry (she is albanian). We spent the first two years of our marriage living over there (this time I was just working a remote job). I learned A LOT about missions from these two stints, with a lot of my perceptions of missions has been corrected by my wife after we got married because I did not speak the language very well and did not see things from the locals perspective
This post is correct to a T and actually does not go far enough in condemning the international missions movement for sucking up desperately needed resources and people for a largely failed movement
I spent years pouring into the local Albanian church with many other people. At the end of it, I realized that the Americans that I trusted to guide me who had been there for years had many, many mistakes that took a huge toll on the people there. This culminated with the suicide of the Albanian pastor who was basically the senior pastor in May of 2023. Him and his wife had sacrificed for decades to keep this church moving along. The Americans who planted the church have all left and the Albanians who are left are only the ones who have not been able to get a visa to leave the country (as the economic situation is so bad that basically anyone who can leave has left)
What makes things even worse is that all of this was done at the cost of how many millions of dollars and years of work by Americans who could have and should have poured into American churches instead. Oh, and the missionaries who led my wife to Christ and then had four children together ended up divorcing about two years ago too - so that's been proven true
Another issue we discovered with Albanian Christians is that many are corrupt and in it for the wrong reasons. We are dealing with that right now with a "ministry" that basically does nothing. It is run by an Albanian who is known as being the "best fundraiser in all the balkans". He is funding a multi-million dollar building project and running an international pastoral training ministry despite have no seminary training and not really needing a building to do the work he needs to do. He has a bad reputation among most Albanians due to mistakes made years ago. We pointed this out to the Americans supporting him and they had no idea. They just trusted him and assumed they were building a fruitful ministry. Twelve years this has been going on and no one thought to actually figure out how impactful this ministry was. Meanwhile other fruitful ministries in albania are laying off people because they can't find funds to keep operating
American Christians are seeing 3000 churches close every single year. I don't know what they think the purpose is of abandoning the good they could be doing in the country they are from and that God has given them in order to "play ministry" in a country they don't speak the language and don't understand the culture and which will fold and collapse the second they leave
Bit a of a rambling comment, but the short of it is yes, foreign missions is largely a waste of time and money and the American Christians who support it at the expense of their local communities will be held to a harsh account by God on judgement day
From someone who has seen some crazy stuff on the mission field