How did you get involved in missions?
Fresh out of university in the late 1980s, I had a vague sense of wanting to be involved in God’s mission.
The bible was clear enough in Matthew 28:18–20: “Make disciples of all nations.” How would I, as a fresh graduate with my whole life ahead of me, respond?
It was during the era when the Church heard the clarion call: There are unreached people groups with little or no access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many such people groups were found on the so-called 10/40 Window—a term coined by the Christian missionary Luis Bush in 1990 to refer to places located between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator, where people had the least access to the Christian message.
The Methodist Church in Singapore also seemed to be gearing up to a new era of missions endeavour when the Methodist Missions Society was inaugurated on 30 Sep 1991 as an agency under the then Council of Missions.
There was a buzz around the Christian churches about missions as well, leading to the first GoForth Missions conference in 2002.
My circle of friends involved in missions tried to model our lives under the watchword “preparing to go”. For me, it meant getting a few years of work experience before getting theologically equipped in Trinity Theological College (TTC).
While studying at TTC, my then pastor, the late Rev Dr Clarence Lim, made a case that I should also get some experience working in a local church, particularly in the area of missions. I felt that made sense. I thought I would work in the local church for a few years at most before heading overseas for cross-cultural missions.
However, much as I prayed about going overseas, it was the conviction to stay and serve the local church in missions that grew stronger. I became convinced that for a church to be effective in sending cross-cultural missionaries, there had to be a strong sending base of partners who would provide the prayer, logistical, communications, financial and moral support.
To develop such a base of supporters, we need to educate and expose church members to missions. To challenge people to become cross cultural missionaries, we need to mobilise the Church. There is also the need to develop the administrative structures to support the missions endeavour.
In short, I became persuaded that for a local church to have a sustained involvement in God’s world missions, a lot of missions work had to be done in the local church.
Do you feel any regret at not becoming an overseas cross-cultural missionary?
Initially, some friends who had become cross-cultural missionaries abroad would ask why I was still hanging around in Singapore when there was so much to be done in the overseas fields.
They are certainly right that the fields are indeed ripe for the harvest and the best way to bring the gospel to people is to live among them.
However, the question may also betray a misconception that the cutting edge of missions is undertaken by those who go while those who serve as senders are somehow playing a lesser role. Further down at the bottom of the scale would be the disobedient uninvolved Christians who neither go nor send.
However, Romans 10:14–15 tells us that those who send are as important as those who go.
But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
It can be crippling and even guilt-inducing for some Christians when their involvement in missions is reduced to whether they are a “goer” or a “sender”.
More important than what we do is our identity. As children of God, we are citizens and agents of God’s kingdom. That means every single one of God’s sons and daughters is sent to live our lives in such a way that people can clearly see what it means when Jesus is indeed king. This is our missions identity and it is not limited to those who cross cultural and linguistic barriers to proclaim the gospel. All of us are sent on God’s mission, undertaking the Great Commission. As long as we live out that identity, we should not feel that we are not playing our part.
We should not downplay the many challenges that those who are called to go face. The best way to bring the gospel of Jesus to those who have not heard is to live among them, but more importantly, I believe that all of us should be prepared to go wherever God calls us. For me, that call has been to work in missions in the home base.
What is some of the work in missions that needs to be done in the local churches?
Perhaps now more than ever, there is work to be done in mobilising the home base for missions and raising new missionaries.
The global pandemic and hostility to Christianity in some parts of the world have perhaps made churches more risk-averse in the sending of missionaries. When is “safety first” a prudent and wise course of action and when does it cross over to become an idol and obstacle to missions? Does “safety first” betray a lack of confidence in God? That there is no easy answer shows that apart from just being a “goer”, there is work to be done in missions.
What are some of the joys you experience in working in missions in the local church?
One of the joys of working in the home base is to see Christians embrace their identity as God’s children sent into the world. When this happens, it is like mobilising 100 firefighters to put out the fire rather than me going as a lone firefighter.
Another joy is to see how my church has developed mission trip programmes that see children, youth and adults make annual mission trips. These mission trips have supported our Lahu missions and helped to build bridges of friendship between my church members and the Lahu people we work with. Starting work from a single village in 1998, we have helped to establish three Lahu Methodist churches that are on the way to becoming disciple-making churches themselves.
Over the years we have also supported our church members and sent them as missionaries all over the world.
As some of our missionaries return, retire or move on to new stages in life, it is also a joy to see them re-enter well.
Lyndon Gan is a Lay Ministry staff at Kampong Kapor Methodist Church serving in the area of missions since 1994. / Photos courtesy of Lyndon Gan