Not what I expected.
I have been in Ecuador for a mere 11 days, and yet ministry looks vastly different from what I expected. Of course I understood that it means things like reading the Word, spending time with the Lord, and stepping out in faith. But those seemed like abstract things while I had in my mind very concrete things. Things like VBS, preaching, leading services, doing construction for 8 hours a day, etc. Oh how God likes to break down my expectations.
Before we left for our ministry sites (and while I was still on Team Lamp Lighter), every team was asked to make a short video based on the prompt “Changing the World looks like…” What you see below is what we came up with. Keep in mind we have a director and someone who like editing way too much on our team.
(So artistic right. I feel like we should all be wearing skinny jeans and deep v-necks)
Since coming to our ministry site, however, things have not been so concrete for us. Yes, we’re talking to people and going to meetings, but it’s not happening the way I was expecting.
We’re going to different neighborhoods and inviting people to the life meetings we have; and be we, I mean Elmer, our ministry contact, is doing nearly all the talking while we just hand people the invitations and maybe pray for them if they want it.
We’re going to these group meetings, but only sharing one 5-minute testimony and letting them run the rest of the service.
We’re heading out to a school this afternoon to merely help with VBS, not run the entire thing.
Boom. Expectations shattered.
But that’s what this is all about. It’s not about us coming in and showing them the American way; it’s about empowering people here to grow in their relationship with God and with others. And that’s not going to happen if we’re doing all the work. *
Of course, that’s not easy for me as a super-efficient, middle-class American male. Maybe my ideas aren’t always the best solution, and maybe efficiency isn’t what is needed. I had to ask for a lot of money to get down here, and so I want to feel like I’m doing something. And I am, just not in the way I was expecting.
At first, it was a major struggle for me. Siestas every afternoon, several meetings cancelled, lots of relaxing around our home. I felt like I was on vacation and not a mission trip. I wanted to be working 9-5, playing with kids, building churches, anything.
But God is good and has bigger plans for us. He is integrating us into this culture, allowing us to become part of these people’s lives and helping them grow, the Ecuadorian way.
Maybe that means doing a lot of construction or leading VBS, but maybe that means merely helping Elmer where he needs it, and loving people like crazy in the process.
I’ve been on a lot of mission trips in my life, but I have this strange feeling that I am going to return to America with a very different perspective on missions, but at home and abroad.
*I am currently reading When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett, and I’ll will be writing a lot about it soon. So if you want a head start and some context on my thought process, you should start reading it asap. I highly recommend it.
