Know Your People, Finish Well

If you are preparing for the mission field, two things matter more than almost anything else. First, you need to know the people God has called you to reach. Second, you need to stay faithful to Him all the way to the end. Whether you already know where God wants you or you are still praying, "Lord, where would You have me go?", I want to share a few things the Lord has taught my family and me along the way.

Know the People God Has Called You To

We Americans tend to think we know a lot about the world, until we actually travel in it. On deputation, someone in nearly every church we visited asked whether we spoke Spanish. We serve in Albania, and my wife is from Brazil, where the language is Portuguese.

That kind of blind spot can be dangerous on the field. When we carry assumptions about a whole nation, those assumptions shape how we treat people, how we trust them and how we talk with them. So here is my counsel:

• Don't be ignorant. Learn the place before you arrive, not after.
• Don't generalize. Not everyone in a country is the same. Take each person as an individual.
• Know their history, culture and religion. Every people group has its own story, and that story explains why people do what they do.

In language school I had to read about Skanderbeg, Albania's national hero. As I read, I realized many Albanian men admire him and carry themselves like him. Suddenly a lot made sense. History also explained tensions and alliances between religious communities that I never would have understood otherwise.

Ways to start learning now

• Visit the country and spend real time talking with people, not just sightseeing.
• Read its history in depth, including authors from that country, not just Wikipedia.
• Follow local news, history and language pages to stay current.
• Study the education system, which shows you a great deal about how people are taught to think.
• Watch documentaries and ask good questions of the people you meet.

Staying current pays off. When people around me talk about protests or politics, I already understand what is happening. I can listen well and minister to them with compassion.

Crossing the Barriers

Long before people wrestle with the message of the cross, they may stumble over the messenger. Some are offended by the cultural trappings that come along with the gospel. Others carry painful memories of things done in the name of religion.

In Albania, one barrier I face is confusion with false groups. When communism fell, Christian missionaries arrived alongside Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, and some of that teaching did real harm. So I often introduce myself as a Baptist missionary and add plainly that I am not a Jehovah's Witness. If I don't, many people end the conversation before it begins.

Find out why the gospel has struggled to spread among the people God has called you to. Research the greatest hindrances, prepare for them, and pray for ways to change wrong impressions. If you don't, you will be spinning your wheels with no traction.

Show them you have adapted

People will make generalizations about you, too. Albanians have adapted to life under empires, a monarchy, fascism and communism, and they can spot an American from a mile away. One day I drove an Albanian friend across the city, taking the back roads at local speed. He gripped the handle the whole way. When we pulled up at his door, he looked back in the window and said I drive like an Albanian. Small moments like that tell people you have come to learn their ways, not to stay a stranger.

The World Is Already Next Door

You don't have to wait for a plane ticket to start learning. Much of the world has come to America, and people naturally gather with others from home. Around Atlanta there are Brazilian, Guatemalan, Chinese and Lebanese communities. Albanians gather in places like New York, Philadelphia, Jacksonville and Orlando.

Find your people group's restaurants, churches and community pages. Ask questions and show real interest in their history and culture. People love to share when you ask the right questions. Learn a phrase or two in their language and use it, even if you get it wrong. They will think it's wonderful that you tried.

If you don't yet know where God wants you, get around as many people groups as you can and take mission trips to different places. It is almost impossible to go a day here without meeting someone from another country. In one two-hour outing recently, my family talked with people from three different nationalities. Along the way, you may find the Lord laying a particular people on your heart.

Faithful to the End

We can get so caught up in training and preparation that we lose focus. Above all of it stands faithfulness. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). I find four lessons in the life of Elisha in 2 Kings 2.

1. Follow God's will

Elijah and Elisha zigzag from Gilgal to Bethel to Jericho to the Jordan. At every stop Elijah tells Elisha to stay behind, and every time Elisha answers, "As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee" (2 Kings 2:2). He knew where God wanted him, even when the route made no sense.

About thirty minutes from our home in Albania, a museum displays small clay oil lamps that travelers once tied to their feet. They gave just enough light for the next step. That is a picture of "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). Following God is often like that. You may not see the whole road, but He always gives you the next step. Keep your eyes on Him and take it.

2. Focus on the goal

Twice the sons of the prophets told Elisha that his master would be taken that day. His reply was firm: "Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace" (2 Kings 2:3). Well-meaning people can pull us off course. When I filled in as pastor of a church in Brazil for a season, I learned I was not there to fix everyone's problems. I was there to preach, encourage and challenge the church to follow God. Our goal is to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Keep the main thing the main thing.

3. Fear God

When Elijah asked what he could do for him, Elisha said, "I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me" (2 Kings 2:9). He knew he could not carry on in his own strength. Never be satisfied with where someone else is spiritually; always desire more of God. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7). To fear God is to submit to Him and live a life that pleases Him.

4. Finish well

When Elijah was taken up, Elisha struck the Jordan with his mantle and asked, "Where is the LORD God of Elijah?" (2 Kings 2:14). The waters parted. Elisha went on to a long ministry, not in his own power but in God's. In 2 Kings 13, even on his deathbed, he was still speaking God's word to the king of Israel. Too many lives end with "he was a good man, but..." There is no age at which we can stop guarding our walk. Don't be another casualty. Finish the job God has given you.

None of These Things Move Me

Paul's words to the Ephesian elders have been an anchor for me:

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." (Acts 20:24)

Like Elisha, Paul was warned of what lay ahead. Like Elisha, he would not be moved. The ministry he received is the same one you and I have received.

So let me ask you: are you living faithfully today, or just living? Know the people God has laid on your heart. Take the next step He shows you. Then keep walking until the course is done.