Dying To Live

Several years ago I was introduced to a group of believers representing 10 minority churches who supported eight missionary couples in my Asian country. They were themselves minority people who had first been introduced to the gospel some 70 years earlier. As I arrived at the airport and was met by Timothy, a young pastor-leader who shared with me the long history of the gospel having come to his people. A well-known foreigner who lived among these people and translated the scripture into their language.  

After a several-hour ride into the mountains outside of the large capital city, we stopped in a small town for refreshment and Timothy shared more stories of the mission history of his people. His father had been a leader, and now Timothy was also leading churches in 2nd tier cities and training other pastors.

It was the fall and many fields along the way were ripe for harvesting. We arrived at the village where the meeting would be held atop a remote mountain, where lookouts could easily see if security officials were on the way. If they were to come, we could quickly assimilate into the village and give no sign that a meeting was taking place. This kind of preparation was necessary and many of these brothers were used to the extra stress of avoiding being harassed by officials whose job it was to minimize the spread of the gospel. It was also fortunate that it was a fall holiday and most people including officials were busy enjoying the holiday.

I traveled with a ministry partner who would help me relate to the hosts and translate where needed. I was communicating in the majority language. Most people understood, however, their first language was the minority language. Their worship was a wonderful celebration and rewarding to observe. It was a foretaste of heaven when every tongue will be in concert.

One of the songs was particularly moving. It was based on John 12:24

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

The song was entitled called ‘A Grain Of Wheat’.  Translated, the song says

“Let yourself fall into the ground like a seed, If you lose your life, you will get your life.”

And this is exactly what the eight couples from these churches were doing. Giving up their rights so that they could go and carry the good news to other minority groups that still had no witness.

They had received the good news and they understood that passing it on to others was the natural result of receiving it. The choir sang this song with conviction and with spirit.

Just outside the building where we were meeting there were fields of wheat that were ready to harvest. What a visual for the words of the song - a grain falling to the ground and being buried only to reproduce more grain. Experiencing the power of this message was a great affirmation of what I had invested through 27 years of my ministry.

My focus at the conference was to help these churches understand how to support their personnel that they had sent out. I shared several models of how churches and mission agencies partner together and come alongside the missionaries to provide support and resources. Each of their mission teams were working bi-vocationally either as merchants or farmers. It was refreshing to hear them discuss the simple stresses of crossing cultures. One question was how to adjust to eating food that was unfamiliar.

At one point in the conference, all of the participants broke up into working groups to discuss what was happening and how they might work together more effectively. It was encouraging to see the whole group taking responsibility for a strategy to extend the kingdom.

We ate with the participants in a common kitchen sitting on stools and eating plain vegetables and meat. During one break I was shown the completed translation of scripture in their dialect. The written script had been devised by the first missionary among this group and he was sincerely loved and respected.

The evening was spent in the surrounding village in the home of one of the farmers. The whole village were believers so there was no risk of visits from authorities. This village at night had the darkest sky that I have ever seen, there was simply no movement possible without the light of a flashlight.

The day and a half meeting finished quickly but the lyrics of the song continue to permeate my mind,

‘Fulfill Your will in me, such a noble calling. Keep your eyes on the benchmark and run straight, and you will see the glory of God.’

As we journey with God he calls us to continually die to ourselves so that we might find life in Him and reproduce that life in others.

J serves with GlobalGrace