18 Encouraging Words for Those Who Have Served

18

Encouraging Words for Those Who Have Served

Life After

I’m sitting in a train, heading back to my home in London after a church meeting in Bristol. I have been crying out to the Lord for the right words for this article, as I long to be able to help and encourage those who have been out on the mission field and are now home, or headed home.

Re-entry, as it is sometimes referred to, can be a greater challenge than going to the mission field in the first place! Seven challenging biblical words come to mind. I would like you to think about these words and allow them to remind you of great themes from God’s Word.

Integrity

One of the greatest words in the English language is “integrity.” It requires openness, honesty, purity and reality from us; it means we will not exaggerate what we have done or seen on the mission field; it means we will be extra careful about the sins of the tongue; and it means we must be absolutely honest and open in regard to finances.

Discipline

It has been proven thousands of times over, that grace without discipline can equal disgrace.

After a tough mission experience that demands hard work and discipline, it is easy to drop our guard in this area. Outside a team situation and leadership structure, we will have to shift gears into more of a self-discipline mode. In attempting to do this, it will be easy to miscommunicate and fail to find the balance. We might date a person who professes to be a Christian, yet wants to go to bed on the first date, or at least before marriage. Some people leave certain mission situations with a lot of pent-up sexual drive and when they get home to a loose and promiscuous environment, they easily let down their moral guard, ending up in a real mess.

Some folks quickly reject missionaries and don’t want to keep contact, writing them off as super-spiritual or ascetic. Efforts to prove otherwise don’t always succeed and feelings of rejection would easily come. Satan will do everything he can to discourage us; and when we are discouraged it opens the door to other temptations. We must daily hold high that shield of faith (Ephesians 6), or stop those fiery darts of discouragement.

Reality

I find that some people return from certain training programs and summer-mission events having a rather fantasy view of the Christian life. (This also can come in some churches and from reading certain kinds of books.) We must realize that no matter how filled we are with the Holy Spirit, we are still very much human. If we are realistic, we know that very good people—even committed Christians—can and will say and do very wrong and sinful things.

Terrible things also happen to good people. We love the Psalms and sometimes read Proverbs, but we tend to forget that those two great books are preceded by the Book of Job.

Vision

We must battle hard to keep the vision that God has given us. We should become senders and mission-mobilizers—missionaries for missions—making every attempt to pass on to others in reality and humility, what God has taught us on the field. This will not be easy and there will be many setbacks and discouragements on the way.

Sometimes it will be just one person at a time that we will be able to love, influence and help on the road to become a world Christian. Try to make good use of tools, like books, cassettes and CDs that can help people grasp what it’s all about.

We need to stay in touch with people in missions, especially those we have helped come to Christ. Try not to break promises—If you have told people that you will pray for them, then you must pray for them. Try to fellowship, even by phone if necessary, with like-minded people. Keep that mission fire burning in your heart.

Grace

I would urge you to read Charles Swindoll’s book, The Grace Awakening. This book, together with the book, Re-Entry, by Peter Jordan, could be a major factor in helping you face—in the power of the Holy Spirit—the challenges and difficulties that you are sure to confront at home. These books will help you to be big-hearted when people ask silly questions— or worse, no questions at all.

This revolution of grace helps us to accept and forgive people who seem so selfish or visionless. We must learn to graciously agree to disagree. We need to learn how to be aware of the most subtle forms of pride, even missionary pride. It will also help us keep on forgiving ourselves when we fail or sin. Grace will keep us in the center of God’s highway of holiness. I also urge you to read Philip Yancey’s book, What’s So Amazing about Grace.

Forgiveness

Have you really forgiven those who have hurt you on the mission field? What about yourself? Have you forgiven yourself for blunders, mistakes and sins that you have committed? If so, you are on a good road, because now you can forgive those who hurt you back home. Beware of unrealistic expectations, most of all in connection with your mission agency and home church.

If you were greeted at the airport and given a royal reception, then praise the Lord. If not, still praise the Lord. Let your first source of joy and satisfaction be the Lord himself. Let human love and help be the water that spills over the top of the glass—the icing on the cake.

Please beware of unrealistic—often biblical—expectations. You must learn to love and accept people back in your home culture, just as you accepted those new people in that foreign land in their culture. I believe we need a contextualized approach to going home just as much as we do in going out. We need to be extra grateful to those who have prayed for us and supported us. We must esteem the senders and realize that they have an equal part in this great mission’s task.

Proactive

How easy it is, when under pressure, to become re-active! Reaction is generally negative—the hard blows from life and people seem to hit below the belt. Those hits are not fair! Let’s remember,

1 Corinthians 15:58, Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Let’s keep on keeping on, and try not to be critical or negative about the local church, particularly if they did not help or support you that well. Please try to listen and discern their situation and some of the struggles they experienced while you were away.

Remember Philippians 2:3, . . .but in humility consider others better than yourselves. It is easy to see the problems in your own nation, city or church, though it can be very intimidating. We need that same boldness we had when we stepped off the airplane in Turkey, India or wherever.

We should stay active in prayer and evangelism, seeking out those from the countries we worked in, who are now immigrants or students in our hometown. We need to affirm that the mission field is everywhere and keep up a mission’s vision foundation.

Well, my train is about to arrive in London and I wrote this all by hand on a shaky train table. I hope my secretary can read it. Wow! I hope you have read it as well.

God Bless You!