What do you do on a mission trip when you’re not actually assigned any specific ministry? This is a question I faced last month in Thailand. On mission trips, usually there is someone, some sort of a host, who gives you ministry-related tasks to do. So I show up and do them. And that’s great. It really is.
But sometimes, I think this system has an unintended consequence. We allow others to create our opportunities and don’t learn to create the opportunity to help someone on our own. Making a difference is easier when someone is telling me what should be done. Success is easier to measure too. Speak here. Pass out food there. Build a house. Go door to door. Perform a drama, teach a song, do a dance, etc. I show up, I follow instructions, and that’s a successful day of ministry.
But the truth is, the majority of my life is not structured that way. When I come home, no one is going to give me instructions on how to continue the mission. No one is going to assign me tasks. I’ll have to find my own way to minister to people’s needs. I’ll have to gauge my own success.
That’s exactly what I did in Thailand. I arrived in the city of Chiang Mai, got settled in, and went in search of opportunity.
It was a little intimidating. A whole city around me, filled with unfamiliar places, and people. Most don’t speak my language. Infinite options available.
So what do you do as a Christ-follower with no assigned tasks and countless options? Answer: Pray a lot. I feel like I prayed everywhere about everyone and everything. In fact, that’s how I spent two full days.
After a little while, God got me started supporting my friends in what they were doing. Sometimes this looked like going to the park and talking to whoever could understand English. Sometimes it looked like a long walk, warring in prayer together. Sometimes it looked like doing odd jobs to help the awesome missionaries who ran our hostel.
Probably my favorite story happened on my last full day in Chiang Mai. My friend Taylor had met an older man who taught Tai Chi. On this morning after Tai Chi, the man invited Taylor to a lesson in another martial art called Lai Tai. She invited me to join her, and off we went to learn Lai Tai.
I was awful. I’m definitely no martial artist. There was a certain order to the steps and I didn’t get it at all. It reminded me of dancing, which I’m also terrible at. Thankfully, our instructor was very patient with me, and by the end of the session, I didn’t look like a complete failure.
Afterward, we went to lunch with our new friends. Over lunch, Taylor had a very deep discussion with the Tai Chi instructor about his difficult relationship with his family and lend a Jesus follower’s perspective. Meanwhile, I got to know the Lai Tai instructor, and was able to share a little about why I was in Thailand (AKA Jesus).
That’s it. Nothing too crazy. In fact, I think the reason I like this story is that it’s so ordinary. Not the Lai Tai lessons in Thailand part, but the fact that we were really just going about our own business, and that turned into an opportunity in a snap.
So, life lesson from Thailand: Ministry isn’t a job, task, or event. It’s a lifestyle of acting like Christ. I don’t have to schedule it. I just have to choose it with each person I see. And that’s a skill that I can apply anywhere and anytime.
