May 21 - Lessons Learned

I returned safely to Orange City on Wednesday night, around 6:30 p.m., just in time to catch "Ride Night" at Tulip Festival! And life hasn't slowed down a bit until this morning. Parades and Puffertjes preoccupied my time.

This morning I've had a chance to reflect more on my Bahrain experience. It's hard to absorb a lot in such a short visit, but it was a tremendous time. Here are some things I sensed:

1. The right people in the right place at the right time with the right gifts and the right vision. Our mission partners in Bahrain all seem to be a great fit for what God is having them do and seeing the fruit of ministry is a tremendous blessing. A lesson for us all is to celebrate what can happen in any ministry when God's people are unleashed in their gifts for his glory.

2. What is our mission partnership future in this place, and what does it look like? The hospital, the church, and the school, are largely self-supported entities with the exception of support for key personnel. This is largely due to the vision of the key leaders and the growth of the ministries. But our partnership is still critical: it keeps the salt and light of the gospel present in a place where it is difficult to legitimately do mission and ministry. Because our mission partners are providing quality service to the Bahrain community, it has a place to be a beacon for the gospel. This should not be underestimated, as the opportunities for other kinds of mission work are very limited.

3. How can we maximize connectedness? There are many practical things we can do and that are desperately needed and that they cannot provide from Bahrain: a) We can buy books & DVDs for their church library, b) we can send children's books from scholastic and other sources for the school - quality books in English, c) we can send short-term (2-year) teachers to the school. These are our best source of being salt in light in a somewhat closed country, d) we can learn from this mission partnership about doing ministry here in our own, suddenly multicultural community.

4. We need mission partnership as much as, and sometimes more than, they need us. This is a critical thing I am learning from my first two trips to Africa and Bahrain - we need them to remind us of the urgency of the gospel, the need to share our resources with others, and the vibrancy of faith lived to the full. In some ways, the mission field "over there" speaks prophetically to our busy-ness around things unessential to the gospel, our greediness for the things of this world, and our compartmentalization of life. Christians in other parts of the world do not know the same compartmentalization that we do - there is no separation from ones walk with God and ones life outside the church. In a country where it is illegal for someone to convert to Christianity, you better be sure where you stand. In our freedom, are we equally committed, leveraging that freedom for gospel fruit?

5. The need for the next generation: This came home in a big way, as all three mission partners in Bahrain are 59, 60, and 62. There number one concern for the future is who will replace them? Much has been done in the last 10 years to build a solid foundation for a new century of mission, but who will God raise up? This is not a small thing, for outside of pastoral leadership, the needs are very specialized: a K-12 school Principal who knows Arabic, a hospital administrator who can take a high quality facility and continue its growth. Those are not easy to come by. The need for Christian professionals is acute. Would you pray with me to this end?