Hey. Remember that one time when Simon
Peter was hanging out with Jesus and some other guys, and then Judas
(the douche) showed up with a group of Jewish officials and some
Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus? So, in his great zeal to serve his
Lord and Master, Simon Peter drew his sword and lopped off somebody's
ear. Remember that? Then, the Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus
fixed it. He picked it up, probably blew off the dust, and 'ZOT!' - reattached that little sucker.
Good as new. Presumably.
…. ….. ….
Ok. Now, remember way back when, when I
wrote a silly post about how short-term teams could be perceived by
the people receiving them, and then we had a great discussion
about the potential problems associated with the way the Church, as a
whole, engages the poor? So we made a list of the 4 most common and
compelling reasons people gave for why short-term teams are awesome
and good and should never, ever be questioned. And then
I ranted and raved and complained about each of those reasons in
subsequent posts – here, here, and here. Well, today I wanna hit
the last reason on the list; Reason # 4 why some say short-term
teams are super-dee-duper amazing:
“#4.
Grace. Duh!
God is big and awesome and we suck. He can redeem our valiant but
misguided efforts.”
Many
people have told me, in regard to short-term missions, if we're
well-intentioned
then no matter what the actual results say, it's ok – because God
will back us up. And some have said that what matters most is our
motives;
If our motives are pure, then we're cool – God will have our backs.
And others have gone on to say “Hey, we're human, of course we're
gonna screw up. But we've got God on our side, so it's all good.”
As
someone who lives everyday in the radical abundance of God's Grace, I
can hardly argue that God is incapable or unwilling to take our garbage and turn it around.
BUT. (big but)
We
should not be using “God's Grace” as an insurance policy while we
run around the planet potentially doing harm to those we seek to
serve. “Grace” does not relieve us of liability for the people we
run down in our efforts to evangelize. And “Grace” cannot be
used to exonerate the Church of its responsibility to engage the
world intelligently.
Without
fail, when I write about harmful short-term missions, someone
takes the time to write me a lengthy email, touting the awesomeness
of their own habitual short-term experiences and how much the people
love them for showing up - but that even if they did step on some
toes, or mishandle funds, or steal paid work from skilled locals, it
would be okay, because Jesus is on their side. And then, to drive
their point home, they include the story of Simon Peter cutting off a
guy's ear and Jesus fixing it.
Sweet,
zealous, passionate Simon Peter, who did something really
stupid while he was whole-heartedly trying to serve his King. And
yes, Jesus did, indeed, redeem his valiant but misguided effort...
But
do you know what Jesus said before
he put that ear back on?
He
said, “No
more of this!”
And
do you know who He was talking to?
Yup. His
faithful, well-intentioned servant, Simon Peter.
No.
More. Of. This.
You
screwed up. You blew it. You mishandled this situation. You
hurt someone.
No
more of this!
And
then?
Then
He redeemed it.
Here's
the thing. Nobody is declaring “Short term teams are EVIL!” and
no one is saying if you're gonna do short-term missions, you better
do them perfectly. But if we are gonna do this thing, we better be
willing to evaluate the process, to look at our mistakes with open eyes, and
listen,
really listen when
God is saying “No
more of this!”
Let
God redeem what He sees fit to Redeem. Let Him grace what He sees fit
to Grace.
And
let us stop pretending that what we intend
to do is as important to the people around us as what we
do
do.
…. ….. ….
Have
you ever done something stupid, in the name of Jesus, culminating in
a “No more of this!” moment?
(This
blog is packed with confessions of such moments in my life!...What?! I'm a slow learner.)
PS.
Heheheh...I said “do do”.
