Missions made easy!!

I remember when I first served as a Missions Director of a Christian organization about 25 years ago, I travelled about 2 or 3 times a year. And I communicated with my missionaries about once every two or three months by snail-mail.

Nowadays, I travel abroad almost weekly and am in communication with my missionaries 24/7.

Air fares were expensive. I remember that it cost me about $3000 (Sing) to get to Kenya. That was the amount a government doctor earned in 3 months!

Budget airlines are such a blessing to missions! One of the few items that has not been affected by inflation is air-travel. In fact, prices keep coming down, even as fuel prices go up. How long this will last I don’t know, but grab the deals while they are still available.

In those days, it took weeks and many dollars to get a visa. Today, most Asean countries allow visa-free travel to citizens of other Asean countries. And Singaporeans can travel to most other countries visa-free.

Telecommunications was a luxury in those days. I remember it cost me over $100 (Sing) to make a short phone call from Kenya to Singapore.

Snail-mail took weeks to arrive. By the time I heard about a problem on the field and by the time the missionary received my advice, the problem had usually sorted itself out or had got out of hand.

Today, I have almost instant contact with my missionaries. There is hardly a town in Asia where I cannot be contacted on my auto-roam cell-phone. I can even have long discussions free of charge on Skype! No missionary needs to feel isolated.

With instant contact no missionary needs to feel inadequately prepared to face difficult situations, because help is just a click away. If a difficult theological question is asked, Google will probably have the answer. If a Bible-study on any topic needs to be taught, the internet will probably have a good ready lesson. When the internet fails, the Missions Director is just a call away.

With a globalized world, almost all of our needs are available in even remote towns. Twenty five years ago in India, I couldn’t find a roll of toilet paper in the whole town that I preached in. I finally did find a pack of tissue paper. Today, the difficulty is that there are just too many brands of toilet rolls to choose from!

Need your coffee? There’s probably a Starbucks or a good imitation nearby. Need your KFC or Mac? They are in the nearby mall.

In these Last Days, God has made it easier and easier to get on the field. God has told us to: Lift up our eyes, and look on the fields…. (John 4:35). So grab the next budget flight and look on the fields.

A picture is worth a thousand words! A visit is worth a thousand pictures and videos!!