I have never been a fan of mission work, specifically evangelism (don’t worry, I know how that sounds). It was mostly because of how I viewed it. I saw christian missions as a Jehovah’s Witnesses mentality. You just knock on someone’s door and tell them all the ways they’re wrong and you’re right and here’s the address to the closest church. Then you walk away and you never talk to them again.
I’m not actually sure this is how Jehovah’s Witnesses operate, but its how I thought/think they do.
I was against this. After a 15 minute conversation you expect to changes someone’s religion? Or give them one? That’s so pompous.
So the mission trips I went on involved helping out at an already established church in Bolivia and building a trade school in Brazil. Things that are very necessary but not actually evangelism.
Looking back on Brazil I realized how task oriented I can be. That my goal was the building, not the people. I now know that it is more than just getting something built, I could have impacted lives in other ways. I could have invested in the other workers, gotten to know them. I could have shown Jesus’ love through, not only my work tiling a bathroom, but also through investing in someone’s life directly. Showing them just a piece of God’s love while I was there.
Relationships are what I’ve learned on the race and how important they are to people and to God. I’ve learned that its more important to pour into people than a task. I’ve learned that my relationship with God comes first, my team second, my mission contact third, and the task assigned is last. That is NOT to say that building a school is not important. But more importantly is making the lives of your host easier for a month.
I’ve learned it takes on average, hearing about God 7 times before someone accepts him as their Lord and savior. And its a blessing to be the 1st, 3rd, or 7th person. Its more important to befriend people, from all walks of life, to build a personal relationship with them, and then share your heart. Don’t be scared that if you don’t mention Jesus in the first 10 minutes then you’ve failed. Allow the Holy Spirit in you to guide the conversation. If you talk about God on the first day, Wonderful! If its the third day, fabulous! God knows what he’s doing, and its different for every person. Don’t be afraid to let the Holy Spirit guide you.
Throughout my race (specifically Asia) I’ve learned that people are much more willing to listen once you have a relationship with them. We all trust our friends more than strangers. So we shouldn’t be afraid to make friends! If we are, we can’t touch peoples hearts or grow the body of Christ.
