Friends,Pagans and Rioters

Please read Acts 19:23-41

The near riot in Ephesus is a unique and fascinating event in the Acts history.  A thorough study of this passage would fill a book but there is one phrase that ought to grab our attention.  In Acts 19:31 we read, “some of the Asiarchs who were his friends…” Who or what were these Asiarchs?  We have no comparable role in our society.  There were 10 of these leaders from the major cities of Asia Minor, they were selected locally, but had to be sanctioned by Rome.  They were responsible to organize and produce the annual games in May.  In this way, they were similar to a college football, bowl game committee.  They were also responsible for the performances at the theater.  In this way, they were like a board of directors for a Broadway theater.  They also had oversight for the entertainment and distractions of the region.  Here they are not unlike the executives of our multimedia conglomerate. They actively lead or had oversight for the religious rituals associated with the games, the theater, and the worship of the Emperor.  In this way they were the priests of a pagan cult.  They did all of this at their own expense.  Here they are a near equivalent to a modern, wealthy and generous philanthropist.

Some of these men are described as “Friends of Paul”.  We can safely assume these were not casual acquaintance kind of friends, but were rather close friends and they knew Paul fairly well.  There is no evidence that the disciples sent word to the Asiarch who in turn sent word to Paul that he should not go to the theater.  More likely is that when the Asiarchs saw what was happening in “their theater” they knew Paul well enough to know he would want to come and address the crowd.  These men were not casual acquaintances of Paul; rather they knew him so well they could predict his behavior.  And they cared for him so much they wanted to protect him.  These men were pagans, but they knew Paul well and care for him deeply.

One of the greatest failures of the church today is we gather disciples into Christian ghettos, areas of isolation from the world around us.  We have encouraged our people to serve on our committees, our boards and our teams to the exclusion of serving in and with our lost friends and neighbors.  We would imagine that serving on the VBS committee would be superior to service at the YMCA or public library.  We run from contact with the world and therefore we have no impact on the world.  If we or our congregation were in a crisis situation would the sinners and non-Christians we know come to our aid?  If the our church was on the verge of closing would our community say, “”How can we help?” or “Good riddance”?  I think we know the answer.  Here is a better question, a more proactive question: How did Paul become friends with the Asiarchs and how can I reproduce that in my life?”

A new approach to short-term mission trips

I was reflecting this week back to a short-term mission trip by a couple of the folks from a church I once served.  To give you full disclosure when this project was proposed I expressed opposition to the project.  I recommended that the trip not happen.  The church board decided that while the project would not be funded by church funds the church would encourage the four people going and would appeal for members to privately contribute to the trip.

So it was that four people from our congregation went to the other side of the world for a 10-day mission trip.  By the time you count almost 2 days travel each way and a day and a half to recover from jet lag once there the trip was more of a 5-day mission trip.  While there the team painted several classrooms in a school and “helped” with a VBS program.  I suppose that in the entire community, city, or nation there were no Christians who were painters who could have used the work, so it was essential for Americans to come and paint for these “backward natives”.   Now we all know how valuable VBS can be.  But this VBS was not long on the schedule, but was put together at the last minute so the short term “missionaries” could have something to do.  However, the “missionaries” didn’t speak the native language so they were relegated to helping the kids do crafts.  Having not had time to plan extensively the locals were pressed into a “busy work” VBS so there would be lessons.  The American “missionaries” did crafts, namely they colored pictures out of coloring books.  Yes, we sent people half way around the world to color pages in a book and the walls in a building. 

When the missionaries returned and gave a report they talked more about the following:  Great seafood that was really cheap, great massages that were really cheap, the tour of an orchard that grew exotic (to Americans) fruit that was really cheap, and the amazing animals they saw at the zoo (by the way admission was really cheap).  The leader concluded that not everyone thought this trip was a good idea-here he glanced over to me-but, “When I saw the smile on a little girl’s face I knew it was worth it.”  Pardon me while I swallow back my vomit. 

Okay, I know that not every short-term mission trip is such a huge fiasco, but it is time that we stop and look at the foundational premises behind our trips.  If we do, we might find that a radical rethinking of these mission trips is in order.  All I am asking is that we reconsider our perceptions and presumptions.  

·      Short-term mission trips are a great way to recruit career missionaries.  While that was true at one time, as we have dumbed down what happens on these trips we may not be recruiting life-long missionaries as much as creating “Jesus tourism consumers”.  We need to look carefully at the numbers and see if what was once true is still true. 

·      The value of the mission trip cannot be measured in dollars.  That is true.  However, as good stewards of God-given resources we need to have a sort of spiritual “Return On Investment” evaluation.  To say, “If it helps one person the cost doesn’t matter,” is painfully naive.  What if those same resources used in a different way could have helped 1,000 people?  Stewardship is to some degree about the ROI, the unrighteous servant returned the master’s money in full.  It would have been better if he had a better ROI. 

·      By having short-term mission trips we can develop more long-term support for the mission.  This maybe the only reason that missionaries in the field put up with the short-term mission visits.  But if the reason our people support a mission is because they had an experience we have to ask hard questions about motivations.  We need to look at our teaching about the universality of the church and our belonging to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.  To support the missions with which we have an experience is not too unlike the motivation to be part of the Heritage USA scam of PTL fame.

·      Short-term mission trips change people. Ou, oux, oun! Greek for no, NO, NO.   It is the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that changes people.  If the only way people can change is to have them travel half way around the world so they can imagine they are heroes to a group of lesser native people we have a profound misunderstanding of, well, almost everything. 

·      Short-term mission trips encourage believers.  Sometimes this is very true.  But, as we will see in a moment, there are better ways to do this.  But in some cases the short-term mission trips are discouraging to the local believers.  Never forget that Americans are high maintenance, expensive and quite frankly often not worth the trouble.  We need to stop thinking of ourselves as the heroes whose presence is a dream come true for the native Christians.  Those believers have a rescuer already, and they may know Him better than we do.

So, is there a positive solution? Yes, but it is not good for our ego.  What if rather than spend tens of thousands of dollars to send a group of people over there we brought one of their leaders over here?  If you look at the church in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America you will find that in most ways it is doing better than the church in America.  Maybe once you get beyond our wealth we really have very little to offer.  Once you get beyond the poverty of third-world Christians they have much to offer to us.  We might benefit from learning from our brothers more than they benefit by our going and trying to solve their problems. 

It is likely that hosting a pastor for a month and having him teach us about prayer, fasting and faithfulness under persecution would generate less excitement than our plans to travel to an exotic location.  We will likely have fewer car washes and bake sales to bring him over and send him home with plenty of resources for ministry than our “Jesus Tourism” trips would offer.  But the fact that we are so motivated by what we want and what appeals to us is indicative of how dark our hearts really are.

To return to the opening story the almost $20,000 spent for four American Christians to color paper and walls, could have paid the full-time salary for a minister for years.  Instead, one American has the subjective warm feeling of a little girl’s smile.  If we think this is a good plan may God have mercy on us. 

Final disclosure.  I went on a well-planned, short-term mission trip.  I felt that at best it was a dog and pony show.  Even in the midst I saw that we (the Americans) were not really accomplishing much.  And this was a well-planned trip.  However, my wife and I have for many years supported a missionary who is a life-long native leader.  He is reaching his people and doing it the right way (See 2 Tim 2:2).  We have discussed the possibility of going over and seeing this long-time dear friend.  But we have come to the conclusion that the many thousands of dollars to make such a trip would better be used helping widows and orphans. Which by the way is something that his ministry does.  After all we will have all of eternity to enjoy each other’s company as we worship God together.