It is hard to imagine what it must have been like for the disciples of Jesus to hear the words commissioning them to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth[i]. These local boys were considered ignorant and unschooled by the leaders in Jerusalem[ii]; how in the world could they face the collective government/educational/philosophical/ economic/military complex and power that would confront them in the “uttermost ends of the earth”?
From the beginning, however, Jesus commands his disciples to think globally when it comes to ‘going.’ He issues the commission to act locally and globally – and all points in-between. He simply does not give us the option of one or the other. Whatever the pressing needs were locally, they were removed from the “either/or” list and placed squarely on the “both/and” side of the column.
And “Go,” they did. They took the gospel with them. They also brought medical care and orphanages. They packed along literacy skills and leadership principles. Such was the defense of Christians by Tertullian:
“. . . On the monthly day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his pleasure, and only if he be able: for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary. These gifts are, as it were, piety’s deposit fund. For they are not taken thence and spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut up in the prisons, for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God’s Church, they become the nurslings of their confession.”[iii]
“That’s us out there,” Tertullian is saying, “feeding your poor, your abused, your forgotten.” Though the church could point to its own desperate need among itself,[iv] the church reached out past its local walls and administered grace among all peoples, everywhere.
Engagement and encounter changes lives and commitments. It is one thing to know about a need – another altogether to experience the need.
When I am trying to recruit a person to a particular ministry need, my task is to involve them in the actual need through their presence. “Come and see,” is an amazing recruitment tool! When Nathanael thought Jesus could be of no value, his brother, Philip, challenged him: “Come and see.”[v] When the disciples were caught off by the impossibility of resurrection, the angel offered the evidence of “come and see.”[vi]
The church in Africa has asked us to do just that; to “come and see.” I reference an article in Christianity Today[vii] where the question is asked regarding the need to actually go to Africa when money is already given: “But many American churches are already deeply involved in missions overseas.”
The response:
“Of course. Yet it’s so difficult to get American Christians, even those who profess to love missions and their brothers and sisters on the periphery, to actually come and see what is happening where we are. This is especially true of those in the positions of greatest power in the church. I have asked a friend, a pastor of a large church that gives half of its money to missions, to come and spend time on the fringes. But he won’t. He wants to spend his study leave in Oxford, in Australia. How can American pastors be leaders if they haven’t seen what God is doing elsewhere? Every search process for a senior pastor should ask, “Do you have experience in marginal places, economically deprived places, places with HIV/AIDS? Have you gone to be among them?”
Our African brothers and sisters know something we may have forgotten in America: money is not the only and best solution to human need. We have been invited to “come and see” – to walk among the poor and vulnerable. It is by being present in the midst of need transformation happens. Compassion, not just information, happens. By being present, mercy, not just awareness, takes place. And for every person that travels to Africa and is transformed by its amazing capacity – come and see ignites a flame that burns both locally and globally as commitment is altered.
We go to Africa because we have been commissioned to do so. We go to Africa because we have been invited to do so. And, yes, we go next door and across the street and across the highway and across the county line to the national borders because our Lord has given the mandate.
World Vision has a major itch to scratch: how do we help the poor and needy of the world? They sum it up in their motto: Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness; our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so.
You might think that World Vision would prefer that monies be sent in order to meet the need. Well, they absolutely do want money. They know, however, that monies sent in response to an appeal will last as long as the emotional impact of the appeal works: usually a given church service. But what if a team comes and walks among the poor, the vulnerable? What then? By practicing a “come and see” approach, the commitment moves from an isolated response to a long-term commitment. It is, in real world terms, a smart ROI.[viii] A world-wide ministry knows offerings aren’t enough: win the heart and passion of a person and the money and the relationship will continue for decades.
A few years back, the Salvation Army understood that Christmas was the cash cow that funded huge projects. The needs of the hungry, the homeless and the abused, however, were not seasonal. The advertising response: “Need Knows No Season.”
I would offer that need knows no boundaries, too. The desperately hungry child in the mountains of California is not superseded by the child in Zambia. To be sure, one church or person cannot alter every need at every point: but what of the ones brought before us?
Money will be sent. If we are to believe our African brothers and sisters,
[i] Acts 1:8
[ii] Acts 4:13
[iii] See Tertullian, Apology, chapter 39
[iv] Romans 15:25-27
[v] John 1:45-46
[vi] Matthew 28:6
[vii] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/july/31.32.html or search, Experiencing Life at the Margins
[viii] ROI: Return on Investment
