Missions: the ugly

The last two post have looked at the good and the bad of missions. Now the ugly!

• We have friends in India whose best church planters (and their churches) have been “stolen” by Western missionary organizations offering to pay them more money. The lure of money in a very poor culture is often difficult to resist.
• Some of the most effective communicators of the Gospel we have seen are those who would be misfits within their home culture. Their eccentricities  are accepted when they are in a different culture and they have a boldness and faith that produces spiritual results. However, they are the rarity.  Others who are misfits within their home culture end up on the mission field and produce problems for the rest of the team and/or are ineffective. They should never have gone into cross-cultural missions in the first place.
• Some of the most committed and willing believers go to the mission field with inadequate training and little/no support from their sending organization. They return home after a few months feeling like failures.

Most missionaries we know are an example to us all. They have literally given up homes and families for the sake of the gospel. They lay down their lives for the sake of those they feel called to reach.