Telecommunications can help us to reach millions in Asia (5)

When the foreign missionaries handed over their ministries to local Asian Christian pastors, they taught the locals to be independent. In large part, this was necessary because they would be separated by thousands of miles and would be unable to effectively communicate with each other. Occasionally, the foreign missionaries would return for sentimental reasons, eg. to attend an anniversary celebration, to see how their spiritual “children” had grown up. Other than those occasions, the local churches were left to grow and develop on their own.

This arrangement resulted in a period of slow growth for many Asian churches.
Sometimes the slow growth was the result of lack of faith, poor training or just plain laziness. However, often the slow growth was the result of the nature of the local economy. Many Asian economies are hand-to-mouth economies. The fertility of the land, the size of the plots of land, the weather, the governmental corruption, etc. made it hard for economic growth. Therefore, many of the churches had just enough finances to maintain their churches, with little left over for extension ministries.

In the past, even if foreign Christians knew that a little finance could help a good pastor to extend his ministry to reach out to other villages, there was a reluctance to give because it was difficult to keep track of how the funds were spent. After all, the availability of “easy” money is a great temptation to a poor pastor.

Today, because of the efficiency of telecommunications and affordable transportation it is possible for a foreign donor to “keep watch” how his money is spent. He can get regular reports (with photos) and accounts of the progress of the ministry and projects. He can talk to the pastor on the phone. He can even talk to the recipients of the funds. And he can visit the work if he wants to.

Often a little financial help, ideas and encouragement goes a long way. Businessmen have learned how to harness the efficiency of telecommunications and travel to start multinational projects that produce most of today’s products in Asian factories.

Let us pray that we too will learn how to harness the funds that God has given to some of us, the exposure and ideas that He has given to some of us, and the hard-work, local knowledge and faith that local pastors have.

I dream of the day, when we will stop looking at Christian work as theirs and ours, but we will use our talents together for the glory of God!

In these Last Days, borders are a thing of the past, connectivity has brought us together.

“How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight….” Deut 32:30