A church that is mobilised for mission is one which has a consistent commitment
to pray for the world, both in terms of the need for integral mission and
evangelism globally, as well as an engagement with world news and events. It is
a church with a global perspective – regardless of whether it has any
mission candidates within its congregation or whether it supports any specific
missionaries.
Mobilisation is related to recruitment and
sending structures, but it´s not the same thing.
When a church is mobilised for mission, then
those within the congregation who feel they might have a call to missions, are
encouraged in that call and trained up. Their church leadership is able to
signpost them to appropriate training institutes, or Bible colleges. They may also give them space to test out
their calling, by serving within the church, either locally or by sending them on
a short term mission within their own country. A church that is mobilised for
mission will help and walk alongside the person in evaluating the pros and cons
of different mission agencies or denominational sending structures, as well as
different regions of the world to which they may feel called. A church that is
mobilised for mission will then support that candidate through application,
selection processes and further training. A church that is mobilised for
mission, will give spiritual covering to appropriate candidates, and support
them in their fundraising efforts. They will then send them out with the
churches blessing and prayers, and with a long term financial commitment
(regardless of its size) to them. A church that is mobilised for mission will
keep in regular contact with their missionaries and continue to pray for them
corporately and encourage individual church members to do the same. A church
that is mobilised for mission, will cooperate with the sending agency /
denominational sending structure in the pastoral care of the missionary, both
whilst they are in their country of service, as well as when they return, for ‘home leave’ and when they complete their
time of service. A church that is mobilised for mission (but that doesn´t have
any candidates from within its own congregation) will also seek to make contact
with and support missionaries from neighbouring churches or their denomination
or elsewhere.
In short, mobilisation is the groundwork needed
for successful recruitment, and for sustainable and prayerful support for any
missionaries a church sends or supports.
In Guatemala, very few churches have any interest in cross -cultural missions or much awareness of what´s going on internationally. Those that do have an interest in missions, struggle to sustain that interest, and even less an ongoing commitment to support missions. With a total of 25,000 churches in Guatemala, only 80 Guatemalan missionaries have been sent to servir cross-culturally elsewhere. Those mission candidates who make it through all the challenges often find it difficult to raise the financial support they need, and to sustain it whilst they are overseas. But there is huge potential; many Guatemalan Christians are passionate about sharing their faith, and often live sacrificially and generously - if it could only be directed towards missions, then the Guatemalan church could be a strong force for good.
So what does that mean for me? One of the keys is prayer, so my first task has been to start a prayer network for missions. At the moment, it´s simply a weekly email to inform and inspire prayer for the world, but I´m hoping that it will grow and develop. Another key is unity. Unfortunately the panarama of churches in Guatemala is one of division and competition, but I´m planning to talk with other mission agencies and denominations, to see if there are ways in which we can work together to train and encourage the church. It´s early days, but who knows what could happen!
