Cadillacs and Church Planting Movements

The first mission trip I remember going on was with my parents when they went to Mexico when I was three.  The only things I remembered from that trip is that I let one of my new Mexican friends play with my six-shooter cap gun and that I really liked sitting on the backseat armrest to see of out my dad’s ’61 Sedan DeVille.

Some things have changed since then.  The ’61 Cadillac has been replaced by an Airbus A330 22, worn out buses, and bora boras.  Handwritten letters and land line phone calls have given way to email, texting, and surfing the Interwebs via BGAN.  Some things haven’t changed since I was taken on my first mission trip…like being involved in a church planting movement, medical clinic, construction, orphan care, pastor training and cultural tourism.  This trip, thirty people from six different churches in the United States and Germany spent six days on the ground getting an incredible amount of things accomplished.

Our church partners with Helping Hands in Uganda primarily to be involved with a church planting movement but also because they are doing some great work with orphans.  Grace Calvary Christian Ministries is an indigenous church planting movement that is aggressive and is looking to plant churches where there isn’t an evangelical presence. Plans are to plant at least six churches on the banks of Lake Victoria where there’s no churches. Our team helped support that this time with survey work in some of the newer churches and I met with 21 pastors to get information for some marriage enrichment material they’ve requested. I thought their request for marriage material in a culture that still embraces polygamy was interesting.

We attended a baptismal service for 61 people.  You may say, “baptism, schmab-tism” but it was really incredible.  The people getting baptized were from multiple churches, mostly adult and they had all started their relationship with Christ within the last 30 days.  There was even one guy that told us that God had spoke to him while the baptismal procession was going by and told him that he “needed what they have.”  Oh yeah, and there hadn’t been a big evangelistic push or crusade.  This was the Church doing what the Church was designed to do.  You don’t see that happening in the average American or European church.

Just had a thought.  Maybe Satan deceptively nurtures the inherent materialism in humans in order to get us to buy into the false belief that if we have stuff that faith is unnecessary.  Most Ugandans don’t have that problem. They’re poor as dirt.  They live without air conditioning, raise their own food, drink their beer from a common pot through reed straws and still have unsanitary water and sewage conditions.  When you don’t have much you tend to be more open to spiritual things.

The “mother” church of the church planting movement, Busia Calvary Church, is responsible for starting an influential orphan ministry in Busia.  Their philosophy is that they can help more kids by providing a free school for the orphans to attend.  They provide over 600 kids uniforms and shoes, a meal (usually porridge and the side of the day like beans, rice, or greens) and a government recognized education. When a team comes in, a medical clinic for the kids is led by Dr. Brenda Kowalske.  The cool part of partnering with a smaller organization is that you have access to the child you sponsor.  The picture on the right is of me and our family’s sponsored child Irene.  One of the most eye opening things was when Dr. Richard Kowalske was going to get construction supplies and brought 11 drug addicted street kids back with him.  His offer: If they get off drugs they’ll get two meals for 30 days, new clothes, and a place to sleep on the condition that they attend class every day.  I did the intake on all of the kids since the headmaster was in training with his teachers and I was the only one free to do it.  Four of the kids (average age of nine) were straight up stoned on inhalants when they got there.  Five of the other kids weren’t high but they used.  One 16 year old boy was just orphaned and homeless.  I cried the next morning when 9 of the 11 boys were back.  I don’t have a rep for crying about stuff like that.  Just sayin…

The construction part of the team got a lot done by prepping and pouring a floor for the wash room in the kitchen at the school. They also poured concrete pillars for the Busia Calvary Church building that had been destroyed by an unusually strong thunderstorm. I have to give credit where credit’s due…a group of 7th grade Ugandan boys made sure that we always had concrete ready. They mixed it by hand on the ground for two days straight.  They are strong and hard working young men.  It proved to me that a lot of American 7th grade boys (and men) are soft.

The lessons I learned on this trip:

• You should be able to get along with anyone at some level. Thirty people worked like a well oiled machine on this trip. “Accept each other just like you have been accepted in Christ Jesus” (Romans 15:7).
• Each church should do foreign missions in a way that matches the culture of their church. Not every church is wired to do 10/40 missions.  Not every church is designed to do construction. Every church should equip its members in how to share their faith story.
• Find a missions organization that’s smaller and more personal. It doesn’t sound as cool when someone asks “So who do you partner with in missions?” but the personal connection factor is huge.

Tell me some of your stories. How your church does mission work?

A Missional Icon…that few know about

Think missional is something new? Think again. It may be the fashionable new word of Christians striving for biblical authenticity but I was fortunate to have a Mom and Dad that were missional. They kept missional company like my Uncle Ed (image left) who, to me, is a missional icon.

Uncle Ed just turned 90 years old last month. I was able to go back to Oklahoma and spend some time with him. While his vision has faded with age, he still has an amazing missional mindset. While he’s been a missionary to Mexico for sixty years Uncle Ed began living a missional lifestyle before he ever decided to be a missionary. There’s too many stories to tell so my conversation below will reflect the results of Edgar Stone’s missional lifestyle.

Me: So Uncle Ed, exactly how long have you been doing mission work?

Uncle Ed: Fifty-nine years. It’ll be sixty next year.

Me: How many churches have you planted?

Uncle Ed: I’ve planted eight-eight churches, but we have two missions we’ve started in the last couple of months. A couple of the buildings have been blown away by hurricanes over the years but the work is still going on there.

Me: That’s amazing.

Uncle Ed: The hurricanes?

Me: No, that you’re still planting churches at your age?

Uncle Ed: What am I supposed to do? I don’t think you can retire from doing the Lord’s work.

(I cracked a huge smile and got emotional. Bring it in, Ken…)

Me: I guess the Bible School that you built is going strong?

Uncle Ed: Yep. We’ve graduated 575 pastors.

Me: Do you know how many churches they’ve planted?

Uncle Ed: No, but plenty I guess. I don’t keep track of that. I’ve got enough to say grace over.

Me: And the sewing school…how many ladies have gone through that?

Uncle Ed: Over 800 now. They get a certificate of completion that means something to the Mexicans. It gets them jobs that pay $7 or $9 dollars a day instead of $2 dollars a day. A lot of the pastor’s wives have gone through so they can earn money so their husbands can do ministry and plant churches. Some of them go through just to start their own business or get a better paying job.

So here’s a guy that’s ninety years old that’s lived a Great Commission life – a missional life. Of course, there were revival meetings and crusades and the typical evangelism events that were the norm for his generation. But I know from personal experience that his opportunities to persoanlly share the Gospel didn’t center around holding meetings. It centered around relationships that he built with people every day. It happened because he practiced social justice and was a pioneer in “business as mission.” Then there’s the mentoring of 575 pastors and their personal impact and who knows how many churches have been planted as a result.

That’s a missional lifestyle.