Missions in a global village

I have just returned from Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church where I was invited to be the guest speaker at their annual Missions Conference. At what proved to be a fascinating and informal event, all the missionaries were invited to speak to various questions put to them by the senior minister, Joe Novenson. All the missionaries were Americans (PCA/MTW).

Here are some of the observations they made to the question: "What do you wish that the American church understood?":

time is short and we should live with a view to eternity rather than for the accumulation of things here on earth

the church is not about being American

we are far too isolationistic and individualist

we need the community of the world-wide church as much as they need us; we have a great deal to learn from the church in the rest of the world

in a generation from now, the church in Asia and Africa will be far bigger and more influential than the church in the United States

stop putting missionaries on pedestals and start seeing them as ordinary Christians with temptations and struggles like the rest of the church

we need to be held accountable and it be wonderful if you would call us on the telephone once in a while and hold our feet to the fire

we want to know what's going in back home as much you want to know what's going on in the field of mission