Recently, one of our supporting churches in the United States sent me a list of questions aimed at understanding our ministry in Wales more fully. After reflecting on my answers, I thought that others might be interested to read some of them and so I plan to post those here (slightly edited for a more general audience) over the next couple of weeks. This is the second installment of the series: click here to read Part 1.

Can you describe your primary strategies in fulfilling your role?

I will summarize my responsibilities at “church development worker” for Temple Baptist Church in the following way: (1) advising and working alongside the elders and wider leadership team in the local church, (2) intentional discipleship through teaching, preaching, & training believers, both formally and informally, (3) developing, implementing & overseeing a ministry internship program (two interns at the moment), (4) building a missional strategy that will enable and empower local believers to reach their town, their region, and their nation with Gospel intentionality, and (5) nurturing the multiplication and development of small groups.

The evangelical community within Wales is quite small: everyone knows everyone else, if not personally, then at least by name. I have traveled extensively throughout this small nation, preaching and participating in a variety of evangelical conferences, workshops, and even conducting chapel services at the Wales Evangelical School of Theology in Bridgend. As a result, I am asked by churches and church planters to offer my own experience to their particular situation. For example, two large churches in Cardiff requested that I meet with their pastoral staff to talk about developing a greater vision for planting new churches; and one of them wanted me to provide a mentoring relationship with a young man who was preparing to plant a church for the first time.

I have also been involved with a national church planting initiative known as Waleswide, serving on their steering group for several years. Recently, I felt that my role would be better suited to assist churches, church planters, and potential core groups anywhere throughout the nation. We work across all evangelical streams within Wales, including Reformed evangelicals, Assemblies of God, independent evangelical churches, Welsh Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, and Charismatics. Our aim is to give practical assistance and training while allowing each group to maintain their own unique identity and heritage, especially when it comes to secondary issues.

Sometimes our roles seem to merge or blend together within the Pontypridd community where we live. God has sent a number of homeless, drug addicts, alcoholics, and mentally ill people to our doorstep. Some we have taken into our home until they can be placed in more appropriate accommodations (like Christian residential drug rehab facilities) and others we have simply befriended or helped in other practical ways.

For example, an alcoholic man appeared in the Christian bookshop one day with a handful of pills, intending to end his life if my wife would simply give him a glass of water. She phoned me at home and I contacted the local police who arrived in minutes and took him to a local mental hospital for evaluation. Several weeks later, he appeared on the front steps of our local church (right after our morning service) asking for food. I invited him out to lunch and we began a friendship that day; and he began attending our church quite regularly and he expressed an interest in getting help for his lifelong addiction to alcohol.

My primary strategy in reaching people with the Gospel is through low-key, long-term, relational evangelism. We also use short-term mission teams, when available. The first week of July 2008, a large team of 110 people (mostly from the USA) touched the lives of 8,000 people over a seven-day period; and using a variety of evangelistic approaches saw sixty-five people express an interest in Jesus Christ. Three weeks later, I gave direction to a small team (10 people) coming from an Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in South Carolina for ten days, conducting backyard Bible clubs, organized sports in the local park, and a youth hang-out in our church building in the evenings.

One thing I learned about “strategies” when I came to Wales: most American methods of planting and strengthening churches had to be left behind quicker than you can say, “Tim LaHaye.” I found this to be especially true of my “ministry experience” as a life-long Southern Baptist, and particularly my seven years as a church planting strategist with the North American Mission Board in Florida. The cultures are completely different, the British paradigm (understood as “their way of looking at things”) has very little in common with the American mindset, and the established church culture goes back at least a thousand years compared to just over two hundred years in the United States.

Something I forgot to mention in my response to the church that asked these questions is my continued work with Grace Church Planting Ministries (GCPM): our non-profit corporation (aka “registered charity” for our British friends) established “to promote cross-cultural evangelism and the planting of biblical churches throughout the nations.” Just yesterday I invested well over an hour with an aspiring church planter in southern India: first by telephone and then a more extended chat via Yahoo! Messenger. Between e-mails, telephone calls, and instant messenging, this type of long-distance mentoring has been happening quite frequently since GCPM was established in 2003; however, a very perceptible shift has occurred in the geography of that ministry. Most requests now originate in India and Africa, with additional regular contact with Myanmar (Burma) and the Philippines. It’s a joy to have contact with these brothers and sisters in Christ!

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READ THE NEXT ARTICLE HERE –>: “Our Ministry in Wales, Part 3“

What do you see as your primary role (in Wales)?

My wife and I view our role as missionaries to Wales, no different than any couple sent by a denominational mission board, except that we are self-funded—partly through our employment in local ministries and partly through the support of churches via Grace Church Planting Ministries (GCPM). When a church becomes one of our partners through GCPM, they are supporting a missionary family and not just one person. My wife is the full-time manager of a local Christian bookshop, Harvest Books & Crafts, and this has opened tremendous doors of ministry for me, both within local churches and among marginalized people who come into the bookshop seeking advice, counseling, benevolence, spiritual guidance, and friendship.

My primary role is two-fold at the present time: (1) serving as a church development worker for Temple Baptist Church in Pontypridd and (2) ministering more widely in South Wales and beyond. Even our fellow missionaries with the Southern Baptist Convention in South Wales work primarily through local churches, helping them build a more effective ministry of outreach to their town, region, and nation. The only difference is that Temple Baptist Church pays me a part-time salary for three days per week. Without this income support and my wife’s income from the bookshop, we would be unable to remain in Wales.

Sometimes it’s difficult to make a clear distinction between the work I do with Temple Baptist and the ministries outside of that role, since there is a lot of overlap. For example, I might act as the regional coordinator of a large mission team from the states, working with a wide variety of local churches to insure proper placement of the teams; and yet I also have responsibility to effectively deploy that same team’s resources assigned to Temple Baptist Church.

One Sunday morning I had been asked to preach at our church and I gave a practical illustration of how Christians can make a difference in the lives of others. We had taken a young heroin addict into our home, against the advice of the local police (they knew him), and we were able to get this formerly homeless man placed in a Christian drug rehab center in Birmingham, England. Today he is a vibrant Christian who is serving on staff with that ministry, and they recently sent him to Sydney, Australia, where he is establishing a new drug rehab ministry there.

Several days later, I received a phone call from a woman whose friend heard me tell that story and she was desperate for someone to help her 22-year-old daughter, a heroin addict and a prostitute. The young woman has suffered several serious setbacks, but we are still engaged with her family and ministering to them as God opens the doors for us.

So to answer your question, we are simply sharing the Good News with those who don’t know Christ; and we really don’t mind what path the Lord takes us down to share His grace. It can be a lead through the bookshop, a contact through the local church, a support role to encourage church planters throughout Wales, or helping American mission teams learn a new culture and share their faith with those in South Wales.

Some days seem so ordinary—no different than if we were back in the states and living a normal Christian life—and other days highlight the massive cultural transition we are experiencing for the cause of Christ and the extension of His kingdom. Our Christian friends in Wales often express their gratitude for those who come here to labor alongside them and encourage them in the faith and our non-Christian friends candidly share their disbelief and bewilderment that we would move from the white sands of northwest Florida to the valleys of South Wales. “Are you mad?” they sometimes say; and occasionally I tend to agree with them.

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READ THE NEXT ARTICLE HERE –>: “Our Ministry in Wales, Part 2“

One of the highlights of this past week’s mission team was getting to meet John Waller and his band. We tossed some burgers and hot dogs on the Weber, hoping to provide a little American hospitality to these new friends who gave up their fourth of July to put on a free concert for the young people of our Welsh community.

We were really thankful to God that a contemporary Christian band would interrupt their concert tour to go on a mission trip to Wales. These guys and their tech crew traveled all over the valleys putting on mini-concerts in Welsh schools during the day and full-blown gigs every night, all for the glory of God and the extension of the Gospel message here.

Obviously I’m taking this photo, but not until I polished off a piece of strawberry gateau and half a cup of coffee! From left to right are: Jen (my youngest daughter), Sheri (my wife), Chris, John Waller, David, Jordan, and Dan (Jen’s fiancé). On a side note, Jen, and Dan are getting married this Saturday in Cardiff!

Here’s one of my favorite John Waller songs, entitled “Still Calls Me Son.”

Apart from short-term mission teams (STMT) parachuting into a foreign mission field for seven to ten days, what are the alternatives for Christians who want to explore other cultures and employ their gifts in service to our King? Shouldn’t we demystify “missionary service” and invite people of every age to do their part in fulfilling the Great Commission outside their own Jerusalem? Some churches are still quite strong in educating children and youth about the work of missionaries around the world—Southern Baptists have been particularly strong (at least historically)—but there are many Christians who have never been challenged to “make disciples of all nations” or, if they have, who wouldn’t know where to begin the process of crossing cultural boundaries to make Christ known. Below, I offer a couple of thoughts to consider along these lines.

• Consider breaking your team into smaller units — While it may seem like more “fun” to experience a new culture as a group, your volunteers might have more impact (as well as learn more about their mission destination) in smaller teams of 2–4 people. Speaking for myself and our unique situation in Wales, I would much rather have 2-person teams for 25 consecutive weeks than 50 people for 1 week. It allows for more personal interaction with local missionaries and indigenous church leaders; and it permits continuity in building relationships in a specific mission setting. One door that’s wide open in the United Kingdom is primary and secondary schools: conducting religious education classes (one advantage of having a state church) and school assemblies (remember those days in America?). It would be incredible to have small teams focused on a particular school for a semester or a school year, cycling American Christians through that door on a weekly or monthly basis!
• Think “outside the box” in terms of the calendar — Granted there are certain advantages for summer-only mission trips, like better weather and the fact that most American high schools and universities close from June through August. Okay, schedule the students for the summer, but open up more calendar options for the adults (particularly the seniors).
• Give attention to the basic question, “Why go?” — I’ve heard and read about the “mission team from hell” (or thereabouts): students getting drunk, making culturally-insensitive remarks, running roughshod over unsuspecting victims in the name of evangelism, making fun of local traditions, and generally being self-absorbed, loud-mouthed Americans who have come to “share the gospel” and “get decisions” for Jesus. This isn’t a vacation! It’s serious business. Why go? Here are several great reasons: (1) to encourage local Christians and missionaries in their labors, (2) to help equip the saints, in the spirit of the “one another” passages of Scripture, (3) to learn as much as possible about the people and the places you are visiting, (4) to grow spiritually, with a keen desire to humbly learn and serve whomever God puts in your path on the mission field, (5) to ask God to make himself known to you, (6) to imagine yourself living in a completely new world for the rest of your life (i.e. “Is God calling me to serve in apostolic missions?”).
• Make provision for those who can stay longer — Let’s face it. It’s not easy travelling for the better part of twenty-four hours, arriving on the mission field with little to no sleep and adjusting to things like jet lag, new food, meeting lots of new people who “talk funny,” sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings (like the floor of a chapel, or a sandy beach, or a thin mat on a hard floor, or you name it). All the while, you’re also trying to focus on the “why” and all you want to do is spend the next three or four days in a nice comfy bed. In seven to ten days, when you’re just getting acclimated, then you’re on the way back home (and perhaps another week of jet lag). Have you thought about staying for two weeks, a month, six months, or a year? Why not? Americans can visit the United Kingdom for up to six months without a visa, so why not plan a longer stay? Mature university and high school students could surely find volunteer opportunities for the entire summer; and retired or semi-retired persons could invest several months each year doing mission work.
• Investigate moving to a new culture…permanently! — Recently, I participated in a week of strategy planning meetings at a large multi-campus church in the Atlanta area. Thankfully, they have committed themselves to a long-term partnership with evangelical churches in South Wales. In one of our sessions we were discussing ways to make a greater impact for the gospel and I suggested, “Give your best people away! Send them to live here, in the towns and villages, building long-term relationships in a place where only one out of every two hundred people know the Lord.” Getting a missionary visa is not difficult, nor is it expensive. Surely God is answering the prayers of his people to raise up volunteers…laborers for the fields that are yet ripe for the harvest! Why think about a short-term experience when God may be calling you for the long haul?

Admittedly, these ideas may seem bold (or even crazy) to some readers but, as my tagline says, I’m committed to “pushing the limits of the status quo” and I don’t want anyone to get stuck in a rut, especially when it comes to missions and evangelism.

By the way, I recognize that I often write far above my own experience and such is the case here, even though we sold everything and moved to the UK nearly four years ago. Until we arrived in Wales, I had been on one mission trip (inner city Baltimore) when I was active in the Baptist Student Union at Mississippi State University in the late seventies. That experience is still vivid in my mind: sleeping on the floor of the church building where Annie Armstrong (a well-known missionary among Southern Baptists) was baptized, working in that congregation’s soup kitchen, doing street evangelism among the marginalized, and helping teaching children in backyard Bible clubs. God lit a fire in my heart that week that burns to this day! So I’m not dismissing what Father can do in the hearts of those who truly love and obey him, but I realize how easy it is to get swept along with how other Christians/churches do missions. So I’m giving you permission to think outside the box of what you’ve always known!

While appearances can be misleading for a variety of reasons, this transplanted Mississippian believes that Christians in America could make an important contribution to the overall spiritual climate in Wales and the other three principalities of the UK—England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland—but in ways that might surprise them. More about that in the next post.

Unfortunately, most local churches have jumped on the short-term mission teams (STMT) bandwagon, adopting a country like Wales, or Romania, or Myanmar and then sending large teams over the summer months to do street evangelism, acts of kindness, entertainment (clowns, puppets, choirs, bands, etc.), sports-related clinics, and conducting holiday Bible clubs or visiting local schools (when permitted) with hopes of inviting the children and their families to some sort of evangelistic event. My well-meaning brothers and sisters in the Southern Baptist Convention—maybe other groupings as well—are often oblivious to the relative non-impact these sorts of “come and see” events have among second- and third-generation post-moderns who live and breathe the purely secular atmosphere of Britain.

Those who serve on the mission field don’t relish the logistical nightmares that come with a large STMT; however, most American pastors and church staff seem oblivious to the burden this places upon us. Several things come to mind: housing, transportation, and meals. It’s one thing to have two people stay in your home, put a few extra beans in the stew, and drive them around in your four-seater or five-seater automobile. But what do you do when fifty or sixty people show up at the same time? Well, the mission team often spends a fortune booking every hotel or B&B in the area, hiring large mini-buses or coaches, and arranging commercial caterers to prepare and serve the meals at specified times.

I’m aware of one large mission team that spent close to $100,000 not that long ago: it worked out to approximately $1,800 per person and that just covered airfare, lodging, food, and ground transportation for ten days. For that amount of money, we could have completely underwritten the salaries of three full-time missionaries for an entire year! As I weigh the pros and cons, it doesn’t take a PhD from Fuller Theological Seminary to figure out which option makes more missiological sense. But then…given the choice of “no STMT” or “STMT warts and all,” most of us would say, “C’mon over and help us!” We would bite the proverbial bullet, but there must be a better way.

Were there no advantages of bringing an STMT to our area? Yes, they covered a lot of ground, distributed thousands of tracts, and spoke to hundreds of people over that ten-day period; the team members themselves were given a very brief but hopefully memorable experience in cross-cultural missions; and local believers were greatly humbled and encouraged that so many people gave up their summer vacation to serve the Lord alongside them in Wales. Depending upon the age and Christian maturity of those American team members—sometimes a huge variable in and of itself—the whole experience could change their life forever or, sadly, they might have forgotten the entire thing within six months.

So what are the alternatives? See “Short-Term Mission Teams :: Think Outside the Box!“

One of my new friends contacted me a couple of days ago via email in response to the news I shared about my recent diagnosis of a heart condition. Next thing you know, my phone’s ringing on Friday night from a brother I’ve never met who lives in another country, just because he wanted to be a tangible expression of the love of Christ in the midst of my weakness and discouragement. Thanks, friend! I know you’ll be reading this and I wanted to say how much I appreciate hearing your voice and getting to know you by phone. Love that accent, too! Several other friends left various comments assuring me of their commitment to pray and directing my attention to Father’s promises.

My friend, Michael Spencer, has written a poignant article about the under-the-radar missional ministries of those who have moved into the post-Katrina Gulf Coast area: cleaning up the mess (you thought it was over, but it’s not) and helping people rebuild their homes. He predicts they will never make the evangelical “big time” with their names up in lights. Why? Because they “are a different kind of church. A footwashing, gospel-living, Kingdom-embodying, incarnational movement of Jesus followers.” He goes on to say,

It’s that way with ministries all around you. The ones that shelter homeless people. The “rescue missions.” The battered women’s shelter. The facilities providing care for Alzheimer’s families. The outreaches to build houses for the poor and to try to repair substandard houses in Appalachia. The volunteer crisis pregnancy centers. The literacy programs. The “Help” programs that provide assistance with utilities.

Sometimes I feel so insignificant in terms of ministry success and, at times, I play the “what if” game in my mind. What if I had just played the denominational game with a little more finesse and savvy? I could still be drawing a near-six-figure salary and benefit package in the Sunshine State, rather than working with homeless people, heroin addicts, those with serious mental illnesses, agnostics and prostitutes in the damp and grey Welsh weather. Spencer’s words below [emphasis mine] ring in my heart and I just want to say “Thanks!”

To be honest, many don’t know if they will be open six months from now. Their staffs aren’t making six figures or driving a Lexus. Those who loyally serve at those ministries long ago got used to getting by on whatever second hand donations of money and goods show up. They depend on God to see what happens. They can’t make it happen otherwise.

They are no big thing. In fact, for many of these small, unglamorous ministries, there is a kind of invisibility, even locally. They aren’t competing for young families with the church across town by adding another kickin’ band. They aren’t working on how to appear hip, cool and relevant. They are trying to hammer a nail, keep a drunk off the street, save some children, hand out some blankets and food. They are trying to do justice and show mercy.

Wayne Jacobsen, shares some advice given by a good friend of his—a hospice chaplain—to a young couple facing a diagnosis of colon cancer. It’s great counsel for anyone, facing cancer or any other illness:

Just accept the illness and offer yourself to God, for He alone is the One who does all things well. Go through all the chemo/radiation, etc. but relax with it. Get to know people, share with them. I had some great times in the chemo room, and met some fantastic folks along the way.

An illness such as this is a tremendous opportunity to grow in the Lord. Sometimes though, we panic, and believe the statistics, etc. which has a way causing a certain amount of futility. “What’s the use?” we think. In my ten years as a Hospice Chaplain, the one thing I noticed about all of the patients was that they had given up. The attitude of a cancer patient and family must simply be, “Let’s see what God has for us in all of this.” I am not talking about whistling in the dark. I am talking about spiritual reality. As Jesus said, “God knows all these things that you have need for.” He knows what is going on and He loves us so deeply. He wants us to know that and that is the key. He is not out to, get us.

He’s right. Christians do fall prey to panic and feelings of futility. I’ve been up and down all week, since hearing my cardiologist’s diagnosis; although underneath the fluctuating concerns and emotions and questions is the solid foundation of faith in God’s unfailing love and grace in my life.

And it was encouraging to read Andrew Jones’ description of the churches he’s involved in planting here in the UK, although the article was originally written about Rob Bell, an American pastor whom I met briefly last April at the Christian Bookseller’s Convention in Telford, England. The Tall Skinny Kiwi describes these new UK churches [emphasis mine]:

They start small and grow [emerge] in an organic fashion without transfer growth and certainly not with a chunk of people handed over from another church to kick-start them. These churches don’t have pastors or paid leaders and they generally don’t own buildings but sometimes they do rent space for communal gatherings, or residential communities, or art-space, or business enterprise, but not necessarily a ‘worship service’. These groups are usually local, small, integrated in the community [missional], and not always visible to the public as an official group or organization. Their goal is not to attract people to an event but rather to penetrate the community with the love of God and embody the gospel as well as communicate it.

Finally, I love the way Alan Knox thinks about the church and what it means to be a community of believers, sharing more than just a pew on Sunday mornings. In an article this past week, he wrote of the importance of making time for one another: actually rearranging our normal pattern of life to make room for members of the family of God. Great advice! We get in a rut, don’t we? It takes a conscious effort to break out of our own routines and then reach out to new friends and family within the body of Christ.

Thanks, everyone!