Bill Walsh is the Director of International Outreach at Desiring God.

Lon Allison's article "A GPS for Global Mission" from Lausanne World Pulse sums up well the current questions and issues relevant to the global changes underway in the church. At this stage, I think questions are more helpful than anything. Here are four that Dr. Allison raises,

1. Since the demographic shift to the Global South is at hand, how do Western mission agencies and churches respond?
2. Resources, both financial and human, have, in general, not shifted. When should they? More importantly, how should they?
3. How does the Church in the West welcome missionaries from the Global South and East to re-evangelize our continents?
4. What role is there for ongoing mission to the Global South and East from the West?

These ought to keep us thinking for quite some time. They will be key in the discussion that takes place at the 2010 Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa.

Please pray for John Piper who will be speaking at the event and for the Desiring God team who will be traveling there next year.

Twenty years ago, Bethlehem Baptist Church sent out a missionary family with Arab World Ministries. The relationship with AWM continued when in 2003 John Piper spoke at the AWM conference and highlighted the joy of serving God in missions.

For the past few years, Desiring God has been collaborating on a project to translate Piper sermons into Arabic for free online access. Now the sermon series Desiring God, preached back in the early 80’s is available both here at DG and through AWM’s Arabic-language outreach websites.

AWM began 128 years ago in Algeria and today has ministry teams throughout the Arab world. They employ two strategies: church planting through evangelism and discipleship, and mass media outreach through literature, radio, TV, and the Internet.

The interactive, relational media of their web ministry engages, evangelizes, and disciples young adults. These online ministries include mentoring, blogs, chat rooms, podcasts, television series, and an online magazine.

Desiring God and Arab World Ministries are dreaming about additional translation projects. This region of the world remains one of the least reached. Please pray for more ministry outreach among the Arab peoples.

While Ryan and his family prepared for long-term missions, he graciously gave his time as a volunteer for DG International Outreach. He brought tremendous skill and integrity to his work which bore wonderful fruit including this helpful post.

*               *               *

As our family prepares to move overseas, we sometimes encounter this question in one form or another: 

Is the Western missionary model still legitimate?” 

The question stems from a variety of concerns and perspectives, but our basic answer must be “yes.”  Even with the high cost of sending and recent shifts in the global Church, it is still strategic and fitting for Western missionaries to cross geographical and linguistic boundaries in the pursuit of new worshipers of Jesus. 

Here is why I think so:

1. God wants his name to be great in every place as well as among every people. 

Though missiologists in the past couple of decades have rightly emphasized the importance of unreached people groups ("nations") as the focus of the Great Commission, there are a number of texts which seem to require a geographic and not exclusively an ethnic focus (e.g. Malachi 1:11). 

The Great Commission cannot be fulfilled by only reaching the unreached who migrate to America, or Christ doesn’t receive the glory he deserves.

2.  There are still hundreds of remote peoples who haven’t heard the gospel.

Many Unreached peoples are unrepresented in reached cities. In these cases, someone is going to have to cross cultural and geographic boundaries to deliver the message in the flesh.

3. Too little money is given to missions, not too much. 

God has blessed this nation with an abundance of resources, yet a staggeringly low percentage of Christian spending is channeled toward missions, especially missions to the unreached. 

When God’s people here in America are biblically calibrated, there are plenty of resources both to continue sending workers from the West, and to support indigenous pastors and church planters.

4. In many cases, the Church in the West has something to offer. 

With a long history of Christian thought, abundant resources, and relative lack of persecution, the Western Church can often make a contribution in places where the Church is younger and less grounded. 

Just as it would be arrogant to think that we know it all and have no need of the global Church, it would be arrogant to sit on our wealth of resources, history, and doctrinal development rather than make it accessible to the world.

5. Crossing cultures is a fitting means for the message. 

When Christians from more privileged and dominant-language cultures (such as America), set aside their comforts, rights, and security in order to identify with and minister to people of lesser-privileged cultures and more obscure languages, something powerful and gospel-adorning is communicated. 

To wrap up our posts from China, we’ve asked our friend and guide during this trip to describe the activities of our day and point you to a valuable online source of information on China.

*               *               *

As a friend of DG, and someone who has lived and worked in this great land for 20+ years, I have had the privilege of playing host to the team this week. I absolutely love showing people around and helping them to get a glimpse of what God is doing here.

We spent a good part of the day in tourist mode—shopping, eating great food, and visiting the Temple of Heaven. This is where the emperors of old, who were regarded as Heaven’s representative on earth, came once a year to make sacrifices and offer prayers on behalf of the people. 

We also visited with a friend of mine who runs a tea house and heard amazing stories of how God is using her and her tea house as a launching pad for spreading the Good News.

As the DG team's time in Beijing is winding down, our thoughts are now turning toward ways in which they can stay informed about the Chinese Church and dig deeper into the challenges and opportunities she faces. 

My main recommendation is a quarterly called the ChinaSource Journal. ChinaSource is a California-based think-tank dedicated to providing balanced perspectives and analysis on the Chinese Church. 

It's a subscription publication, but they have graciously made a special offer for DG readers. For the next two weeks, you may download the current issue for free. The theme of this issue is leadership development, and it looks at new patterns and trends in the development of Chinese church leaders. 

To quote the editor of the journal:  “Chinese church leaders are changing their strategies. Is the global church ready?” 

Yesterday we visited a Christian bookstore here in China and came across a title you might recognize. So for an update on the DG team in Beijing, here’s an image from the second day.

You may be surprised to find out that Christian books can be legally published and distributed inside mainland China.

We spent most our day discussing Christian publishing in China and getting an update on current projects involving translation of DG resources into Simplified Chinese for publication and for the web.

Pray with us that God will assist us in these projects and that they will bear fruit for the church in China.

A few months ago, Seth wrote about amazing developments in China. I recommend that you visit that post if you didn’t see it, and spend time reading the articles he links to. The Global China Center also regularly posts excellent content describing the church in China.

This past year, we’ve begun several significant publishing projects within mainland China as well as translation of sermon manuscripts for the web. God has been blessing these efforts and we are making good progress.

This week, a group from Desiring God will be visiting China to continue expanding our vision for partnering with the church to spread solid theological resources. We’ll visit leaders in Beijing, get an up-date on our projects, and learn more about Chinese culture.

Please pray that God will direct our steps and show us how we can serve our brothers and sisters in China.

Many of you are probably familiar with the devastating cyclone that hit Myanmar roughly a year ago. Tens of thousands were killed or displaced by this disaster. Many governments and Christian NGO’s responded with aid.

A lesser-known crisis is currently bringing hardship to the Burmese in a remote region of this country. Beginning in July 2008, a famine was caused by a phenomenon known as “mautam.”

Every 50 years flowering bamboo trees produce a fruit that nourishes the rat population, causing it to explode in numbers. These rats have been decimating farmlands, destroying crops such as rice and maize, the staple foods of the region. Now potentially 200,000 people face starvation. PBS has done an excellent documentary describing the situation while the Burmese government is doing little to help its own people.

Our friends at Food for the Hungry are currently working to provide relief assistance for the families in this region. God has given them great connections with local churches, but they are still working to raise more than $300,000 for this project.

The director of the program writes from the field,

[The victims] are struggling with God's good and sufficient help to do what they can to contribute to their own survival…These funds will go to the remote areas that are stranded in isolation. The volunteers look forward to the joy of delivering assistance where no others go. They will also take with them nutritional quick start gardening manuals with methods to rescue families under stress, and blessings from those who faithfully pray for them.

Desiring God is contributing to this relief effort and would like to encourage you to consider joining us. Food for the Hungry has a site you can visit in order to participate. Please pray for the Burmese, the country of Myanmar, and the workers in the field.

To finish our series on short-term missions, we go to “Seven Principles for Highly Effective Short-Term Missions” by Mike Stachura of Operation Mobilization. He points us toward the importance of a Christ-like attitude as we move out to serve those in need.

Nothing is more damaging to cross-cultural missions, short-term or long-term, than a patronizing, paternalistic attitude.  Paul came determined not to present himself, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  As for Paul, he wanted to be known as Christ's bondservant. A servant's spirit starts in the home church or group with a willingness to do whatever is asked. It is reflected in the team life where all members are willing to take their share of the workload. It means esteeming others, particularly national Christian workers, as better than ourselves.

As we prepare to go and serve this summer, let’s humble ourselves and ask the Lord to change our hearts as we meditate on his sacrifice for us.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:3-8)

May God grant you fruitful and joyful service in short-term missions!

Day four in our series on short-term missions. David Livermore has written a book on this topic that we highly recommend, Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence.

In "American or American’t: A Critical Analysis of Western Training to the World," he addresses a  particular application of the short-term missions strategy: Teaching.

Some say that globally 85% of pastors have had little to no theological training whatsoever. Here at DG International Outreach, we are partnering with an increasing number of ministries using an informal, short-term approach for training pastors in developing nations.

David has some provocative analysis aimed to make us more aware of our cultural blind sides. This longer article is essential reading if you are focused on theological training of church leaders in developing countries.

Indigenous expressions of Christ’s Church exist in every geopolitical nation of the world. The entrepreneurial drive of American culture infiltrates our missions endeavors and therefore spills over into our cross-cultural leadership development initiatives. When we hear about the relentless growth of the global church, we’re inspired to bring our value-added contributions. But while the North American pastors consistently talked about urgency, the nationals consistently talked about the importance of process and of taking time to grow in relationship before developing a strategy for the kinds of collaborative exchanges that are truly needed for mutual benefit.

On day three of our series on short-term missions, we turn to Andy Crouch, author of Culture Making, for an article with some unique twists, "Unexpected Global Lessons: How Short-term Mission Is Becoming a Two-way Street."

[T]he whole apparatus of preparation for short-term trips assumes that the reason Americans invest their time and treasure is to do something for others—to check off a list of activities that will supposedly help advance the gospel. In fact, it is the rare short-term team (with the notable, partial exception of medical and dental missions) that brings such unique skills and cross-cultural sensitivity that they can make a net contribution in their brief visit. Our counterparts in the developing world are more resourceful than we imagine—and we need them at least as much as they need us.

For day two in our series on short-term missions, we feature two articles by the Chalmers Center for Economic Development. Their vision is to train the church worldwide to minister holistically to the poor without creating dependency.

The article, "Short-Term Missions Can Create a Long-Term Mess," lays out the challenges and implications of how we serve the poor.

The approach of most short-term mission teams seems to be to do things to the people instead of with the people. This approach exacerbates the feelings of inferiority that already paralyze the poor in my country and the feelings of superiority that often characterize those of us from wealthy countries. This dynamic is particularly problematic here. The government and the church have such a long history of paternalism that the people often believe they cannot do anything without the help of money and resources from others.

"Doing Short-Terms Missions Without Doing Long-Term Harm" reinforces this by showing that to authentically serve the poor we need to examine our mindset.

STM trips can play a positive role in the lives of all those involved, but a different paradigm is needed. Rather than going as “doers,” some powerful dynamics can be unleashed if STM teams go as “learners” from the poor or as “co-learners” with the poor.

Deciding what role a short-term team can effectively play is a difficult task. The staff at Chalmers recommends asking questions like these before the team even leaves:

• What is the nature of poverty?
• What does it take to alleviate poverty?
• What is God already doing in this community?
• Who are my brothers and sisters there? What issues are they facing?
• How does this trip fit into the overall picture?

This week we are going to do a 5-part series on missions trips.

The last few decades have witnessed explosive growth in short-term missions as a strategy of the Western church for spreading the Gospel and serving the poor. Your church is probably sending teams out this summer.

As we approach this season, we want to direct your attention to articles that will challenge your assumptions about what it means to do short-term missions well. Many of us have made significant mistakes in the past, and some damage has likely been done. Thank God for his patience with us.

Please don’t receive these challenging articles as admonitions to drop short-term missions as a strategy. Rather, use them to think carefully and prayerfully about how your team should approach this task in a way that will honor the Lord and serve the cause of expanding the Kingdom.

Over the next four days, we will feature articles from some leaders who regularly address this topic.

We’ll start with a few key questions answered by John Piper.

• Are short-term mission trips worth doing? 
• Who should consider going on short-term missions trips?
• What is the vision for short-term missions at your church?
  

Praise God for the times of effective ministry that he allows us to experience. If you're like me you get excited when you see the fruitfulness of any ministry that God calls you to do. It is a thrill to see him at work, putting to use the gifts and callings that he has granted to us for the cause of the Kingdom.

But in Luke 10 Christ challenges us to test our own hearts, by examining what we rejoice in most.

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven…. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10: 17-20)

We easily slip into over-emphasizing results rather than rejoicing most in our redemption. According to the Lord, the deepest rejoicing that we should seek is the joy of the impact that the Gospel has made on our own hearts and lives.

Some questions to regularly ask ourselves:

• Do I rejoice that God, by some mystery to me, chose me before the foundation of the world, due to nothing in me, and wrote my name in his Book of Life?
• Do I rejoice that God, from the beginning, had me in mind when he was carrying out his plan to redeem a people for the glory of his name?
• Do I rejoice that God sent his Son on a mission from heaven to become the Word made flesh on my behalf, in order to save me from my sins?
• Do I rejoice that Christ lived perfectly without sin, fulfilling the law in my place, in order that its righteous requirements might be fulfilled in me by grace through faith?
• Do I rejoice that the Lord Jesus bore my sins in his body on the tree, so that I could receive forgiveness for every sin that I have or will commit?
• Do I rejoice that day by day, these truths are sinking down into my soul and, as C.S. Lewis says, re-working my house; re-building, re-furnishing, preparing me for greater works ahead and ultimately for a greater Kingdom ahead.
• Do I rejoice in counting everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord who is bringing me to God?
  

Why does Christ tell us to rejoice first that our names are written in heaven? Might it be because he knows that the mustard seed of faith that he plants in us is what opens our eyes and lives to the Gospel in the first place? It is only because he chose us for salvation that we even have the possibility of reaching out and being a part of his work in bringing others to salvation and spiritual growth.

True ministry effectiveness and impact springs from a heart radically changed by the Gospel. No God-granted mysterious seed of the Gospel in us—no tree of lifelong fruitfulness.

Lord, make us aware and vigilant for where our deepest rejoicing lies. Keep us focused on allowing the amazing truth of your redemption to shape our hearts while we labor in your field.

Our friend and International Outreach partner Mike Parker tells of his recent trip to Liberia with DG resources in tow.

As an example of how God is stirring up former "receiving" nations into missionary-sending nations, Joy to the World Ministries (JTW) of Malawi is hosting its second annual Chosen Generation Missions Conference, July 2-5.

This conference will be held on the beautiful campus of the African Bible College in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. Its purpose is to equip and mobilize the young people of Malawi and neighboring nations to play a role in seeing God's name hallowed in southern Africa and across the planet.

The founder of JTW, Fletcher Matandika, issues this invitation:

If you would like to hear from others who have also been impacted and gripped by the glory of the Lord, please join us for the second Chosen Generation Missions Conference.  My prayer for us all is that we would see the glory of God afresh each day and worship Him with all of our hearts, soul, mind and strength. Once we experience the glory of the Lord ourselves, we will be better able to commit ourselves to taking it to the ends of the earth.

In an interview with one of our favorite leaders in the cause of missions, George Verwer, he says:

Right now with the present global financial crisis we need to pray even more for the release of funds. We don’t want to have to pull back at this time.… [W]e need to be pro-active in getting new people involved in this vision. I’m sure some of the finance will then come and help us do what God has put on our hearts.

Desiring God International Outreach is partnering with Operation Mobilization by providing resources for the two OM ships. Piper books are given out during pastors conferences that are held on board when Logos Hope and Doulos pull into strategic ports around the world.

Related Resources by George Verwer

• The Gospel in Contemporary Culture
• Money, Ministry, and the Magnificence of Christ

The New Word Alive conference in Wales just wrapped up its 2009 conference. I have not yet attended this event but hope to in the next few years. I’ve been told that it features great preaching, wonderful fellowship, a well-stocked bookstore, and a beautiful coastal location.

Evangelicals Now has a good overview, including this intriguing quote that describes one way God is moving in the UK:

It’s hard to read ‘history’ when you are in it, but there are some signs that we are witnessing a realignment of movements at the moment. The old markers of ‘conservatives’ and ‘charismatics’ don’t fit so well these days, as we find there are many from the ‘other camp’ with whom we have lots in common: the cross of Jesus, the authority of the Bible, the sovereignty of God and the urgency of evangelism — these things unite us.

Adrian Warnock has a series of posts from the conference that also provides an overview of this year’s events.

*               *               *

Related:

John Piper’s messages at NWA in 2008

• Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer, Part 1
• Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer, Part 2

Former DG staffer, Jonathan Dodson has posted a helpful article that challenges us to re-examine our Western paradigms of gospel conversion. Here’s a key quote:

Gospel change in some cultures is more gradual than instantaneous. The American Evangelical tradition of “deep consciousness of personal sin followed by a sense of joyous liberation” is not common to all cultures. Missionaries labored for years before they saw a single conversion, and even then, the conversions were sometimes very different than what they expected. Cultures that are more communal experience conversion differently that cultures that are highly individualistic. In many African and Asian cultures, conversions come in pairs or families instead of by single individuals. Not all gospel change happens identically, especially across cultures.

In 2009, Desiring God International Outreach will be launching new resource strategies to serve the Church in China. This will include a book project and an online effort, because Chinese-speakers now outnumber English-speakers on the internet.

Please pray for God to open doors and direct our steps as we seek to spread a passion for Christ in China. More information on this project in the coming months…

In recent months, Desiring God’s International Outreach department has partnered with All Nations Ministries. Mike Parker, president and founder of All Nations Ministries, is an international evangelist who has been asked by the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association’s Next Generation Alliance to develop a multi-year, multi-city holistic evangelism strategy for Liberia.

This February, Mike will travel to the town of Kakata to prepare the local churches for evangelism and other efforts that will take place in late 2009.  The trip will include a pastors conference, medical relief and food for orphans, and several evenings with the local church for prayer, exhortation, and worship.

In addition, Mike will meet with representatives from other key organizations to see about their willingness to partner in this effort which they’re calling Rejoice Liberia. Ministries that are currently considering this or are already partners include All Nations Ministries, Desiring God, OrphanAge, Next Generation Alliance, and Samaritan’s Purse.

To help prepare for this effort, we’ve donated 1,000 books by John Piper, which are currently on their way to Africa via container shipment. These resources will be distributed to the pastors that are involved in the Rejoice Liberia project.

We are grateful to God for this opportunity to help serve and strengthen the church in a country with such great physical and spiritual needs.

We will be welcoming Michael Oh as the missions speaker at the Desiring God Conference for Pastors in February.

He will also be the featured speaker of the International Outreach breakout session on Tuesday night, which I hope you can attend if you come to the conference. His title for the breakout message is, “Global Advances and Global Opportunities: A Look at the State of the Gospel Around the World.”

Recently I had the privilege of spending a little time getting to know Michael. It was a great blessing and I am very excited to hear his messages. We will also be connecting in mission as we dream towards reaching Japan with God-centered resources.

Michael recently gave a chapel message at Wheaton this November. I would encourage you to watch or listen to it.

Here's an exciting announcement I got from one of our key partners in reaching out globally with God-centered resources:

Sovereign Grace Ministries is partnering with Desiring God, Ligonier Ministries, 9Marks, and others in a groundbreaking project called Gospel Translations. Together we're aiming to provide translations of gospel-centered teaching online, for free.

In the 15 months since Gospel Translations began, volunteers have put more than 750 books and articles in 31 languages online. Most recently, a Spanish website launched with more than 350 resources. This includes books like How Can I Change? and This Great Salvation, as well as articles by John Piper, R.C. Sproul, and many others—all in Spanish.

If you'd like to help this growth continue, please consider telling your friends about Gospel Translations, making a financial gift, translating resources, or volunteering in other ways such as administration or web development. Most of all, please join us in praying that the gospel of Jesus Christ will speedily reach every nation.

In this month’s Lausanne World Pulse there is a fascinating article on how God is sending African Christians to re-establish the Evangelical church in secularized Europe.

Today, some of the largest congregations in Europe—Western and Eastern—are either founded by Africans or are led by people of African descent.

A renewal movement is underway as these immigrant churches challenge the moral relativism of European culture.

I asked Pastor Mike Gunn, Director of Acts 29 International, for his take. He writes,

I think authentic, contextualized African theology, imbued with God’s missional Spirit can help the west regain its biblical moorings, but I fear that the prosperity gospel will taint much of what Africa is bringing to the table....

I hope to give [church-planters] a foundation to unlock biblical truths that relate to what God has already done in the midst of their beautiful culture. Our goal is to see the gospel redeem their culture and their cities.

International Outreach is partnering with Acts 29 to bring solid theological resources to church leaders in Africa and Europe so that they might proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

(This is the final post in the series, “9 Reasons I’m a Photographer.”)

(Urban Expression, Public Park, Beijing, China)

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of fusing heaven and earth, and serves as the ultimate source of inspiration for those engaged in artistic pursuits.

All art is "representational" in that it portrays the god whom the artist serves.

In his article, Ten Commandments for Artists, Makoto Fujimura writes,

Art reaches to both heaven and earth, fusing them together. If we attempt to do this in our wisdom, the result will be a greater schism between heaven and earth. Christ is the ultimate example of this fusing: the incarnation of Christ, the divine becoming a man, therefore, is the greatest example in which all artists can find inspiration. Christ's unique significance for the artist goes even deeper than mere inspiration. I believe that He is the only true source of inspiration available to us to learn from. Christ's incarnation resolves the most difficult dichotomy that exists for an artist; that is the dichotomy of form and content.

(Backyard Glory, Minneapolis, Minnesota)

(This post is reason #8 in the series, “9 Reasons I’m a Photographer.”)

(Urban Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)

Christian cultural expression should not focus solely on the beautiful, but should include the flawed.

In his book Art and the Bible, Francis Schaeffer writes,

The Christian worldview can be divided into what I call a major and a minor theme.

First, the minor theme is the abnormality of the revolting world…

Men who have revolted from God and not come back to Christ are eternally lost; they see their meaninglessness…

There is a defeated and sinful side to the Christian’s life. If we are at all honest, we must admit that in this life there is no such thing as totally victorious living.

The major theme…is the meaningfulness and purposefulness of life…

God is there, God exists. Therefore, all is not absurd.

Man is made in God’s image and so man has significance.

[This] rests on the existence of the infinite-personal God who exists and who has a character and who has created all things, especially man in his own image.

Man is fallen and flawed, but he is redeemable on the basis of Christ’s work. This is beautiful. This is optimism.

If our Christian art only emphasizes the major theme, then it is not fully Christian but simply romantic art.

On the other hand, it is possible for a Christian to so major on the minor theme, emphasizing the lostness of man and the abnormality of the universe, that he is equally unbiblical...

[F]or the Christian, the major theme is to be dominant. (56-58)

(Urban Slums of “Garbage City,” Cairo, Egypt)