It's a Relay Race

What do tuna and missions have in common? The answer is, not all tuna is the same and not all that we call missions is of equal value either. A Tokyo-based sushi restaurant once paid $1.76 million, for a 488-pound bluefin tuna. That is about $3,600 per usable pound. (Internet, check it out.) When I think "tuna", I'm thinking about a can of precooked fish at less than $3.60 a pound. Bluefin or Albacore, big deal? Yes big deal! Everything that we call missions is not the same either. So, how do we determine the value of our missionary efforts? Let's look at "The Book." Jesus told His disciples to make disciples (Mt. 28:18-20). He also said that we prove to be disciples by bearing much fruit - fruit that lasts (Jn. 15:8-16). Paul told the Corinthian church to build their ministry on the foundation of Jesus Christ with "gold, silver, and precious stones," rather than with "wood, hay, and stubble" because the latter group won't last the test of fire (1 Co. 3:11-15). In mission work, much of what we missionaries have done doesn't last. In our series on missions called The Missions Dilemma, a number of the Christ followers I interviewed from other countries said almost the same thing. They said "when missionaries leave, everything [they have done] leaves with them." There isn't much, "that lasts." Why is that? After observing missions, being involved in missions, and studying missions for more than 50 years, I have come to this conclusion. The only activity that we call "missions" that has intrinsic value and that lasts, is what can be reproduced by our Disciples. Jesus told His disciples to make disciples that were trained to obey all of His commands, which includes making disciples (Mt 28:18-20). Missions is a relay race. Missionaries who run their lap should then handoff to indigenous Christ-followers, who handoff to others of their own people and, hopefully, to other people groups, as well (2 Tim. 2:2). Unfortunately, what often happens is that we missionaries, regardless of where we come from, run our lap with such dedication that we forget to teach our disciples that they are also in the race. When it comes time to make our handoff to them, we are not ready and neither are they. So, we run another lap hoping that they will finally figure out what is going on. By the time we run a third or fourth lap, what they have figured out is that the race is ours to run, and they are spectators. Finally, we get tired or "retired" and leave, and very often everything that we have worked so hard to build leaves with us. What we at ITEC are doing, with your help, is making tools and training systems to make the "handoff" easy and natural to do so others can continue running the race. This article was originally published in the June 2014 ITEC Newsletter.