Thank God It's One Step At A Time!
by John Jackson
Pictures of my first missions trip are tattooed on my brain. I was 17 and headed to the land of drugs: Colombia, South America. Customs was my first challenge. The missionaries I was going to be with had just been robbed, so I was bringing them some fresh supplies. The customs official was trying to figure out why a 17-year-old guy had four suitcases of women’s clothes! Somewhere between my limited Spanish and his limited English he heard the word missionary and waved me through.
That summer was filled with meeting people, expanding my Spanish, eating new foods and learning what it was like to be a stranger. I left a changed person. My eyes were opened to the realities of mission life.
A Life Commitment?
The years that followed took me on two more short-term trips. One to Scotland and one to China. After the Scotland trip, I headed back to school thankful for another exposure to missions. But it was my trip to China that got me thinking seriously about missions for a longer period of time. For the first time, I could see myself returning and living among these people. God had wired me with the ability to communicate with their culture. Their Chinese teachers could explain grammar and syntax, but I could explain the meaning behind the words.
I was a senior in college, though. Everyone was asking, “So what are you going to do after graduation?” I wasn’t so sure I could make a life commitment to long-term missions. So I did what any reasonable person would do - I went to grad school.
God Steps In
Hock Aun was the first friend I made in my graduate program. He was a student from mainland China, and he taught me a vast amount about his culture. As our friendship grew, he invited me to come to his country to teach. As I prayed and sought counsel about returning to China, God made it clear that I should go. Even a marriage in the midst of preparation didn’t keep me from going. We signed a one-year contract to teach English and American business practice.
The time in China was hard; my wife and I were incredibly stretched—but our hearts longed to stay. How could we leave people like Wai Mun, the soccer player with a huge smile, who had been receptive to the Gospel? But God had other plans for us. We returned to the States and jumped into an international student ministry.
In Retrospect
Today we work in missions stateside, but are open to going back longer term. If we do, there are some things we would do differently from our short-term experience—differences that will influence our future missions involvement.
We would LEARN THE LANGUAGE. During my summer missions trips I got by with limited language ability. But there were many times during our year in China that we longed to communicate with the people whose paths we crossed—like the woman we bought our eggs from or the elderly in the parks.
We would GO WITH AN ORGANIZATION. We valued the support that our friends and family gave us but would want the wider prayer and care support that an organization like a mission agency can give. Other teachers had this vital support and we wished we had that as well.
We would GO FOR A LONGER PERIOD OF TIME. We were over the culture shock, we had made the hard adjustments, and were just getting into it when we had to come home. We missed out on the blessings that come from staying longer.
If you’re thinking about making the step from short term to longer term, here are some things you can do now to prepare:
- Pray like mad. Ask God if He wants you to go for longer than a few weeks; check your motives.
- Get counsel from godly leaders. Maybe one of them can mentor you as you prepare to go.
- Find out about longer-term opportunities. Mission agencies can answer your questions and point you in the right direction.
- Get involved in a ministry. If you aren’t plugged into a good church, get plugged in and start to serve.
- Break out of your comfort zones. Make friends with internationals. You don’t have to go far to experience another culture.
- Deepen a skill. God will use your interest overseas; so go ahead and teach an aerobics class, plant a garden, or take guitar lessons.
And thank God that he leads you down the road of life one step at a time!
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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