Sunday, October 26, 2014

Learning About Ministry From Ebola

Remember the old illustration that many pastors have used when talking about evangelism?  They asked people to imagine that there is a disease and that you know about the cure for it, emphasizing the importance of getting out there & sharing the cure to the sick & dying in the world.  I have been thinking about that a lot as the world reacts to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.  There are many things that fall apart in that illustration, and many ways that the physical disease doesn’t relate to the spiritual war & pandemic that we are dealing with spiritually. 

But as I reflected more on it, I have realized that there are many things that we in ministry, in missions, in the church, can learn from how the world is responding to & reacting to this health crisis.  I am just reflecting & not assuming to know anything medically about the disease.  But after serving in ministry and missions for the last 15 years, I have seen that there are a lot of ways that I can grow in serving God’s people from reflecting on this and so that’s why I am sharing these 10 things here:

1.  Admit there is a disease, a problem, and a solution.
    There are many critics of the Ebola outbreak who are asking why the global community didn’t do anything to help with the disease until it was too late.  Even though it started in 2013, it didn’t make global news until more than half way through 2014.  Many people are questioning how we could have avoided it spreading so far, and the clear answer is that it should have been dealt with early on in it’s progression.
    In the Christian church today, we are slow to define the disease affecting humanity, the problem and the solution.  In attempting to be tolerant, Christians don’t want to call sin sin, we don’t want to point to Jesus as the only way for salvation, and in seeking to not offend anyone, we have lost our mission.  We are avoiding naming the disease and moving towards making sure everyone has a chance to about the solution - salvation through the grace of Jesus.  If someone in any country had a cure for Ebola and was withholding it, everyone in the world would say that they are doing an injustice to the world and causing many people to suffer because of their inaction.  Yet, look at how sedentary Christians have become - we know that Jesus is the only way to eternal life (only cure for the disease of sin & its eternal consequences), yet we still choose comfort & popularity over radically living so that we are constantly pointing people to Christ.  We know the cure for the disease yet we are too scared/comfortable/unsure to go out and share it with a dying world!   (See also Romans 3:23, Acts 4:12)

2.  Know the basics of what you are dealing with.
    There is a lot of talk about how exactly Ebola is spread, but no one is questioning the symptoms or the consequences.  If it’s not treated, it’s fatal; and if people aren’t quarantined, they are contagious & spreading it to those around them.
    It’s amazing to me how many people are in ministry & serving in missions without knowing the basics of the gospel.  One pastor says that every Christian should be able to explain the Gospel in one minute or less (but also be ready to expand on it).  It would be interesting to go around to different ministries around the world to ask them to explain the Gospel in one minute.  Obviously, many throughout history & still today are faithfully proclaiming the Gospel.  Yet if we aren’t willing to talk clearly about sin, hell, grace, God, forgiveness & redemption, we can’t take ministry seriously. 
    Nik Ripken says, “If you do not believe that Jesus is who He claims to be, if you do not believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, if you do not believe that Jesus is the very Son of God and the only way to heaven, then please do not go out among the unreached.  Do not get someone killed for something that you are not eternally sure about” (The Insanity of Obedience, p. 58).  (See also Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, John 3:16-17, Romans 10:9, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

3.  Train people before they go to the worst of the crisis.    
   It would be insane to send someone to West Africa, saying that we can train them to be a doctor or a nurse once they are there.  Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that every person serving there is learning a ton.  But it’s wrong to assume that we can train people effectively in the midst of a crisis.  We need to have a base of skills that people are familiar enough with that they can do it in a foreign setting, on very little sleep, in an isolated setting, with opposition around them, under pressure for time.  Once a person has those skills, they will be able to build on them in a context where they are using them. 
    Yet how many times do we put people in a ministry setting who have no experience doing what they need to do.   Yes, I can think of Biblical examples where God’s people were put out of their normal ministry & the Holy Spirit spoke through them, but there are many cases where people are already serving in their role before God calls them to do that same role in a different place.  If people aren’t already serving, teaching, praying, sacrificing, crossing cultural boundaries in the US, what makes us think that they will do that successfully once they are in a foreign culture? (See also 1 Timothy 4:2, 6-8, 1 Thessalonians 2:8, Titus 3:1-2) 

4.  Send qualified people.
    This sounds obvious, but it’s worth mentioning.  It would be prideful & dangerous to send someone who isn’t medically qualified to go and practice medicine in the worst of the Ebola outbreak.  Just because they are foreign, white, wealthy, or anything else doesn’t mean they are trained to practice medicine.  And by having them there, it could put a lot of people in various places in danger. 
    Unfortunately, many people in ministry & missions think that because someone has a servant’s heart, or has traveled across an ocean, it somehow qualifies them to do something they wouldn’t qualify to do back home.  Why not send our best & most qualified people to do God's work (at home & abroad) instead of settling for a warm body & a willing heart.  Just because someone is a Christian doesn’t mean they are prepared to handle & preach God’s word in a church service.  (See also James 3:1, 1 Peter 4:10-11)

5.  Make sure people know their role.    
   It’s not to say that only trained professionals should be in ministry & missions - no, not at all!  God has made it clear that everyone is gifted & needed to serve His church & build up the Body of Christ...but we must know our roles.  Just as an international engineer wouldn’t be called upon to care for people in a hospital, we must also recognize that people shouldn’t be relied on to serve in a role that isn’t there.  It’s not only dangerous & deceptive, but it’s also poor stewardship!  As short term teams come and go in ministry settings around the world, let’s make clear what their role is and isn’t.  And as pastors and missionaries serve long term, let’s make sure they know their roles & are serving where they are best gifted to make the most of their efforts for building the Kingdom. (See also 1 Corinthians 12:4-31)
 
6.  Send them to where there is need.
    Again, overstating the obvious, but it would be ridiculous to send a huge team of greatly qualified doctors and nurses to South America to fight Ebola.  If we want to help people get well, we must go to the sick. 
    Yet, statistics show that a majority of missionaries & Christian ministries are serving in largely Christian populations.  Don’t get me wrong, we need ministries in all parts of the world, just as we need medical professionals in all parts of the world.  But what if there was a higher concentration of missionaries & ministries in the darkest places instead of them being so close together in places that have more churches & ministries than they can handle or need? (See also Ephesians 4: 11-14, Mark 2:17)



7.  Make sure that people are protected, accountable, and cared for while serving.
    If the medical community isn’t taking care of their own professionals and is allowing them to serve while they are sick, it’s going to do more damage than good.  In the same way, the church must take care of it’s missionaries, pastors, and each other to make sure that people are spiritually healthy as they serve.  God can use anyone, but often times a pastor who is burned out or greatly struggling is going to do more long term damage than building up the church.  It’s important for us to remember that we are all vulnerable, and we are all still in process of putting off the old and putting on the new, but if someone is obviously struggling & spiritually sick, it’s often best for them to take a break and get healthy before coming back to serve. 
    It’s also important to make sure people have what they need to fight the battle they are entering.  Whether it’s protective suits or masks, or a prayer covering, accountability partner, or vacation time, it’s important that this is made known before the person is actually involved in serving.  (See also Ephesians 6:10-20)
 
8.  Make sure that people know the vision and are working alongside others with the same vision.
    If a lone person were to show up in West Africa to try to help with the Ebola crisis, they would be most effective by joining alongside people who are already working there & know the situation.  It’s the same in missions & ministry.  Many times, you aren’t the first person to be in an area, so it’s important to find churches & organizations that have a similar vision & see if you can work together to multiply resources and effectiveness instead of re-inventing the wheel.  No organization is going to be perfect, but it’s important to think through what specific qualities are essential and then join in. 
    “[T]he absence of a clear focus will lead to worker burnout, unrealistic administrative parameters, and, most alarmingly, unresponsiveness to a lost world” (Ripken, p.60).  (See also 1 Corinthians 12:12, 14-20)

9.  Recognize the risks & the seriousness of the situation before entering it.
    It’s obvious to everyone who reads about the Ebola virus the severity of it as we read about the death rate and the symptoms.  So it’s important for people to weigh the risks and consequences before going to serve in a situation where they must be exposed.
    Yet many people enter into ministry & the mission field without realizing the intensity of the spiritual battle they are walking into.  Many approach it with the mindset of a vacation with Christians or a job with a prayer, only to find once they are in the midst of it that it’s a full out spiritual battle.  If we don’t take seriously the seriousness of a situation, we may quickly become another victim of burnout or leave the ministry & mission field all together.  The consequences of not taking a physical disease seriously are physical death for people.  How much more seriously should we take the privilege & responsibility of spiritual care for people when it has eternal consequences?  People’s lives & eternal futures are at stake.   (See also Matthew 16:24-25)
 
10.  Take care of people when they return from serving.    
    A lot has been talked about lately as health workers are returning to the US after working with Ebola and what the proper way to care for them is.  Whether it’s monitoring or quarantining, the same truth in every situation is that these people have been exposed to intense & dangerous circumstances physically, emotionally, mentally.
    Some people leaving the mission field or ministry are expected to adjust to “normal” life so quickly that they don’t have time to care for their bodies, souls, families and process and recover from all that they have been dealing with for their past service.  Just as  physical diseases may have lingering affects, serving in ministry or missions often takes time to transition back to “normal” life in a healthy way.  And sooner or later we are going to have to address those issues, so it’s better to allow people the time to recover & process through those things sooner.  (Proverbs 4:23, 1 Timothy 3:4-5, Matthew 6:33, 2 Corinthians 5:18, Mark 12:30-31)

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