Should I Go Maverick or Go With a Missions Agency?

TEAM - The Evangelical Alliance Mission • Jul 26, 2016

There is nothing more exciting than stepping on a plane and going to a country you’ve never visited to have adventures you’ve never had. If God has put a desire in your heart to pursue cross-cultural missions, to make Him known and worshipped in regions where He is unknown, why not not begin your ministry now?

Many people would rather go alone and be their own leader than serve with a missions agency. But through my own experience, I have discovered that a missions agency is crucial to success as a missionary. Here’s why:

1. Missions agencies have the expertise.

Missions agencies specialize in helping churches send their sent ones. Ideally, the church and the missionary recognize the Holy Spirit’s leading, and then, the agency equips the missionary with their practical expertise like preparation, accountability, dealing with culture shock and more.

I have served short-term in the Middle East , both with a missions agency and with a well-known, secular study abroad program (I consider this going “maverick” as well, as I still wanted to form gospel-centered relationships while there but didn’t have support to do so). My experiences were vastly different, mainly due to the organizations I served with.

With the secular program, I learned Arabic and local culture, took classes and kept busy. But with non-Christian leadership, I couldn’t seek help or express my desire to share Christ in the region. I didn’t have guidance on how to have gospel-focused conversations with my host family or classmates. I didn’t know what was culturally appropriate for a foreigner to do or how to serve the Lord well in that context.

Conversely, when I went to the Middle East with TEAM , a missions agency, I was able to specifically learn about sharing the gospel in my host culture. The missionaries I served with had a combined total of over 50 years of living and working in this country.

They helped answer questions such as:

What is the Christian church like in my host country?
What can I say and do in public in regards to the church and ministry?
How do I best protect myself as a single woman living in a city?
How is ministry contextualized in this Muslim-majority nation?

They were all great lessons for a heart that was burning to share Christ.

2. Missions agencies provide training.

With the secular program, all the training I received was a one-hour seminar about the packing list and required shots. Upon arrival, we had one day of safety training and a lot of tours. Then we were released, with no follow-up. Many days I felt alone and ill-equipped to live in the country.

With TEAM, I had a one-on-one missions coach who made sure I processed my expectations, who challenged me to learn about my host culture and who prayed for me every week leading up to my departure. I even had a one-week training course that covered everything from teamwork to cultural sensitivity, from the history of the country to culturally specific needs for redemption.

I also had on-the-ground leadership who challenged me, spent time building a relationship with me and made sure I was physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy. The foundation that my coach and the training laid, along with the missionaries’ leadership, helped me successfully navigate cultural situations and Christ-centered conversations with locals.

3. Missions agencies provide accountability, at home and on the ground.

Missions agencies have one goal: to help churches further the kingdom of God around the world. And when you serve with an agency, there are supporters, churches, directors, and leaders to make sure you are not distracted from this goal.

This support and accountability can even extend to Christians professionals with a desire to engage in cross-cultural missions while building their traditional career.

Going alone or with a secular organization, however, does not bring unity of purpose or accountability. In my study abroad program, many students went to the Middle East because they had to, while others went with the goal of joining a branch of government. Some went because their families were from that region.

I couldn’t tell people why I went to the Middle East: to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and to encourage the local church. There was no leadership, and no one helped me in ministry. I did have some fellow students who had a similar heart, and I did get involved in a local church. But I never realized how key unity in the desire to share the gospel is until there was a lack of it. Everyone went with their own goal in mind, working individually to accomplish that. A missions agency would have provided teammates to follow the Great Commission with.

4. Missions Agencies follow up when you go home.

With an agency, there is a debrief process and someone to make sure you act on what you learned, rather than going back to the same routine. There’s someone to walk with you through reverse culture shock and help your process your experiences, both positive and negative. This level of care and support is invaluable.

It has been a few years since I returned from my experience traveling with a secular program, and I have not had any contact with my leaders there. No one challenged me to continue language study, to remember the cultural experiences and lessons I learned and to keep seeking ways to share Christ at home.

Furthermore, the staff knew I endured a traumatic experience abroad, and they did not follow up with or care for me. It took a year of healing and processing before I felt comfortable walking around alone or wasn’t dealing with anxiety. Love and care, centered in Christ, lacked when I needed it the most.

Ultimately, my two vastly different experiences of serving overseas with a missions agency and without one taught me about God’s heart for community and mentorship in furthering His kingdom . That’s why God is three in one. That’s why He ordained the church to participate with Him in fulfilling the Great Commission. That is why I believe successful missions and missionaries are rooted in the church and equipped by an agency.

So if you have a burning desire from the Lord to pursue cross-cultural missions , consider the lesson I have learned. Before you decide to go overseas independently, think about the rich preparation, accountability and support a mission agency can offer you. Seek the Lord in your going and coming, because going maverick overseas may not be the most fruitful choice in furthering the gospel.

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Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024

TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024

Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.