Foreword

The purpose of this writing is to challenge the on going efforts of volunteer missions as being practiced throughout the world today by American evangelical churches. Modern day churches have made a very genuine effort to accomplish missions in foreign settings using common tools over the last 30 years. While the efforts were noble and worthy of embracing at that time, it was lacking in some of the long-term benefits needed on the field. So, we call the first efforts “Volunteer Missions 101” and will make an effort to explore the difficulties and benefits of this effort. Then, some suggestions will be made to improving the approach presently acting as our normal volunteer mission efforts in the local church.

Recognizing the Problem

In 1996, a meeting took place between this author and a field missionary leader in Kiev Ukraine. The meeting was relaxed and informal. The two individuals knew each other and had worked together for several years in the northern Ukrainian oblast of Chernigov. The direction that conversation would take would begin a change of focus of what would become BreakThrough To People Network (BTPN), which is a field-driven, volunteer mobilization partner with missionaries in the field to produce sustainable church ministries.

We had been assisting indigenous Pastors with financial support for several years by the time of this conversation. Churches were receiving support as well as other Christian ministries that we believed would not go forward if they had no financial support from American sources. We soon discovered that we were involved in a “black hole” where money each month would go and never be seen again. The intense difficulty in maintaining this flow of funds and the frustration in this had been a reason for the meeting.

Volunteer groups from American churches have a big heart. They, with an unselfish and caring way, would often give money to churches, ministries, and individuals. While their efforts were caring and appreciated when given, they were short lived. We started to see a major problem developing.

The problem was more than just the problem of raising funds in an increasingly difficult American environment. It was the level of Ukrainian dependence we were witnessing. A welfare mentality was developing where the American was viewed as a Santa Claus figure. The Americans were to be “milked” when they came to the foreign site. The black hole created by our giving of “support” had produced something different than we had desired. The real threat was that what had been desired as a blessing might actually damage or destroy those very churches.

As the missionary listened and we sipped coffee, he began to make a few statements that took this author back. It was hard to believe what was being said. He said, “You want to know the truth? I don’t say this lightly. I’d say 70% of all volunteer missions have no long-term benefit on the field.” When questioned about the statement, he simply gave the name of a village and said, “Go ask some questions about what happened there.” The story this investigation would uncover changed volunteer missions for us forever.

The story uncovered went like this: It seems that a Ukrainian pastor decided to check out stories he was hearing that American churches were sending teams to investigate three year mission opportunities. He decided to camp out in the Baptist building in Kiev and see if he could get some of these to come help his small, struggling church. After just a few days, this pastor was able to get an American pastor and deacon to visit his village. A promise to bring a team to help them was made. The next June, 15 volunteers from that church made their way to the village and did a children’s camp, evangelism with scripture distribution, left a love offering for the church and a salary for the Ukrainian pastor. They promised to return the next summer.

The Ukrainian church met and discussed the experience. They commissioned their pastor to go back to the Baptist building in Kiev to get another church to come. By the end of the first year three different American churches were coming to the village. All three did children’s work, evangelism, and left money for the church and pastor. None of the Americans knew another church from America was involved there.

The church went from very little money to twice their needs – never learning stewardship. The pastor went from very little support for his family to $300 a month … this in a village where the average monthly income for a family of four is $54. Unfortunately he gave in to the temptation money often brings and purchased a BMW which he parked when the Americans came. Worst of all, the pastor and church lost their credibility in the community they were trying to reach.

As for the American churches, they were enjoying great benefit from the experiences in Ukraine. Their members who attended the trips came back excited and when mission offerings were taken, they gave with special delight. Unfortunately, when they came they did the children’s work rather than show the Ukrainians how to do the work. When evangelism was done, it was the Americans who exercised their gifts rather than showing the Ukrainians ways to accomplish this task. In short, the work in the foreign setting was all about the Americans.

The results of three years of this were tragic. At the end of the time, the American churches basically said, “We are thankful for the experiences with you. We are going down the road now to do another work. God bless you.” Suddenly the village went from three children’s camps a year to none. The evangelism no longer was done because the witnesses did not know how and had lost their testimony. The pastor went from much support to nothing and the church now had no support. In short the Ukrainian church was worse off after three years of volunteer missions than they were prior to the American groups coming. What had been meant to be a blessing actually was counterproductive on the field.

When we once again met with our missionary friend, the results were shared with him. His next statement hit us so hard that many years later we are still shaken to our roots by its implications. He said simply, “Now, multiply that times thousands all over the world and you can see the effects many volunteers are having.” He added later, “10-15% of volunteer missions are nothing more than glorified fund raising for some evangelism organization or church where they charge $3000 for a $1500 trip and pocket the rest to pay their bills the rest of the year. Many trips are Holy Holidays where the Americans stay in hotels or get on cruise ships and do religious stops or meetings. I still say only about 30% of volunteer missions have a lasting benefit to the field.”

Beginning to Think in a New Way

The challenge was obvious. How may someone as a volunteer leave a long-term benefit to the cause of Christ in the field? The odyssey for a solution had begun.

Prayer was to first step in the process. As we shared with the Lord our frustration with the situation we had in the field and the things we had discovered, we made one request. It was a simple request that would lead to several years of discussions, trips and development. We simply asked for direction. God would begin to put key people in our path to direct the thinking process.

The beginning of this process was a morning devotional from Isaiah 55. In verses 6-9, God is sharing that He thinks differently than we do. Our thinking may be good in our mind by our values, but God says basically, “What you think is good may not be what I would call good! (Our paraphrase)” Our ways are not His ways. This led to asking God to reveal his thinking and way. He did show us much in the next few years.

We often form our values and sense of right and wrong through the influences we have in our lives. What should make a Christian different in this process is where those influences come from. What we began to realize is that much of our values had been formed through the traditions and cultural ideas of the American church, rather than through Scripture and prayer. We became careful to weed out all influences that society, heritage, education and experience had formed in us. To think God’s thoughts and know His ways, we must set ours totally aside.

God then surprised us. He set an American Christian businessman in front of us for lunch. This man had supported financially much of our efforts previously. He was frustrated with the “black hole” created by our efforts and was seeking an alternative. As he spoke, it was like God was giving us the beginning of the new process. He said, “Do the people want to work? Would they support their own work if they could? Think about this: If we found a way to get them jobs, wouldn’t that help?” We knew immediately that God was opening the new direction to us. While we needed more ideas to form the skeleton of what would become BTPN, we were started.

The next step in God’s process was two Mississippi agricultural men. Two men, one a retired agricultural missionary and one a seed expert from MSU, went with us to Ukraine to explore possible agricultural needs and opportunities. They were a great encouragement to the Ukrainian Christians since they could speak to issues that were everyday issues.

During the trip, a conversation started between us about the issue we were praying about. By the end of the trip, God had shown us a process by which the Ukrainians could be self-sustaining in their own ministry. The ideas in God’s thoughts were coming together.

Now it was time to experiment with the concepts to see if we had it right. We made mistakes along the way, but we learned from these mistakes. We would start economic projects through purchasing equipment with the cooperation of the Ukrainian Christian leadership (Baptist Union) in Chernigov. We began putting together a Ukrainian committee for economic projects. We trained this group and then took the time to develop an application process for their use. This application had to reflect their values and needs as well as ours. It took the better part of a year to form this seven-page document.

One unique aspect of this document was two tithes of the profits would be required of the new business created. The first tithe of the business profits would go to the local church, thus beginning the support of local ministry without American assistance. The second tithe of the profits would go into a fund for future projects, so that the day would come where the committee could start a new business from money generated in their own area. We called it a hand water pump that just needed us to prime it.

So what were the results?

By the end of six years, the committee had generated through their profits sufficient funds to start their own first project. This will happen more rapidly as more projects exist.
In an area with only a little over 1000 Christians, over 200 were affected by jobs in the support their families. This was a large enough impact to get the attention of governmental and religious leaders.
Most importantly, jobs were attracting lost people. As they spent time around the Christians, many of them were saved. Baptisms rose in many of the village churches.
We learned that if we placed a project in an area that had no church, the process of attracting lost people would lead to the development of new churches.
We had tried for five years to start a Bible College for training church leaders. 40% of their churches had no pastors, deacons or teachers. With the economic projects in place, leaders were willing to stay in place because, “we can support our families now and this is where God has called us to minister.” A school has started.

What have we Learned?

The first obvious lesson is that we needed to change our way of thinking. We needed a new paradigm where we would make every effort to leave behind a sustainable ministry. A cycle of dependence on Americans needed to become a changed way of thinking for the indigenous population.

We discovered we had the ability to empower the Christians in a deeply economically depressed area to support and develop meaningful ministry. In America, we would not like someone from another country giving us a handout, and, in reality, neither do the people in countries where we are doing ministry.

Stewardship insures effectiveness in ministry. Teaching stewardship and then enabling financial resources to be available can support the local church in foreign settings through the tithes and offerings of the local Christian population.

American Christians caring in a sustainable manner will result in the multiplication of Christians and churches. Our job as short-term volunteers is to fulfill the Great Commandment. We are to help them stand up for Christ in their community. It is the indigenous population’s job to fulfill the Great Commission. After all, they have the language skills and cultural understanding that we as short-term volunteers will never have.

And we learned a real church planting movement cannot exist without indigenous involvement using their methods along with ours.

Where to Start

The important thing is to start. Recognize that their dependence gives you control. God wants them depending and trusting Him, not you. After all, the ministry in that area will only be as big as you can maintain if you are in control. God’s ministry will always be bigger than ours can be. Thinking in a new way is the first step.

Then, seek God for the direction He has for your efforts in the place He has for you to minister. He will show you the way if you will ask and wait. That way will be unique and very usable by the Holy Spirit for seeing changed lives.

Lastly, if BreakThrough To People Network can assist you in making this paradigm shift in your thinking about volunteer missions, please make a contact with us. We will work with you as a consultant or as a partner to see your efforts be sustainable. We are a 501(c)(3) organization and a member of the Fellowship of Baptist World Ministries. We really want to give this concept of volunteer missions away. Let us help you by contacting:

Rev. Bob Crowe

President – BreakThrough To People Network

BCrowe@btpn.org