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dougand

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758 N. RESH

ANAHEIM, CA 92805

714-490-1151

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Nicole, Robyn, Doug, andAndrea

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP Pr^n Newsletter

March 1994

J^nd this is the confidence which we have bejhre Him, that ifwe ask anythingaccording to His will. He hears us. And ifwe know thatHe hears us in whatp^p^,ask, we know that we have the requests which we have askedfi-om Him, "

This past year has been filled with great joys and deepsorrows, strong advances of theKingdom intonewterritory, and, generally, a lotofchange. Through all ofthese runs the thread ofcontinual and persistent prayerthat the purposes ofGod would be accomplishedthrough thecircumstances of ourlives.

You have been faithfiil to God and to us primarilythrough the work you have accomplished in yourprayers for us. They have achieved more than any ofusrealize, butsome glimpses shine through inways wecan recognize and pass on to you.

Firstof all, we want to thankyou for the tremendoussupport you gave during the illness and death ofRobyn's mother. It was a difficult time, but in it herfemily was able to know and minister the peace andcomfort ofGod in caring for her mother and fatherand each other. Thememorial service was a testimonytohermother, and toourhope inJesus. Your prayersencouraged and enabled us throughout.

On February 5, Randyand Edie Nelson-- veteranCMF missionaries —and their two sons left Californiafor Bangkok, Thailand. Wehave reported over the lastfew years the various efforts Doug has made to get achurch-planting ministry begun in that challengingcity.

They will spend their first year in language study andwill be joined in afew months by their Singaporeanteammates, Norman and Swee Keng Chan. Doug met Doug and Robyn Priest

1 John 5:14-15

the Chans while teaching missions inSingapore andlearned that theyhad worked in Thailand before.

We had been praying for the opportunity to recruitmissionaries from the maturing churches in Singapore.Both Nelsons and Chans are cSled of God to thisministry through your prayers for Bangkok, and willwalk through doors opened by continued asking.

The new urban ministry recently begun inSemarang,Indonesia, isanother result ofyour prayers. Phil andMaggie Edwards ~ CMF missionaries to Indonesiasince 1980 ~ have been at it for seven months now,working with Ibu Winarti, laying thegroundwork, andpursuing the contacts that will eliminate in churchesbeing started in growing Indonesian cities.

It is new work for the Edwards, and they are exploringways to best reach urban people and grow the church.Your prayers will unleash God's resources for theaccomplishing of His purpose in Indonesia. Moreworkers areneeded to join in this work.

Ourown family has experienced changes in location,schools, roles, and relationships. By God's grace andyour prayers, we continue to be confident diat He willmeet our needs so that we, as His ambassadors, canmeet the need the world has for Him.

ODATS world situation is

not the same as it was a

scant twenty years ago. In1966 my parents went as

missionaries to Ethiopia. Dad had aBible college degree, and his visa forEthiopia stated that he was able towork in the country as a missionaiy.

When I entered Kenya as a missionary in 19781 too entered with amissionary visa, although the actualterm used to secure my visa was"Consultant." But in country aftercountry of the world today, there isno longer a category for the usualmissionary visa.

Countries today still want foreigners to enter their country. They aredesirous of foreigners coming whocan fill jobs that they do not haveenough quaUfied citizens of their owncountry to fill. A bachelor's degree isusually the minimal requirement forentry. For foreigners with the propercredentials, the welcome mat is out.

But the flip side of the coin is thatcountry after country is becomingclosed to the traditional missionary.The traditional missionary is onewho has received a degree from aBible college and perhaps a seminary. With these degrees, the missionary is well trained for thetraditional missionary role of churchplanter, evangelist, or leadershiptrainer.

Nowadays missionaries who havesuch training and degrees are findingthat they are no longer allowed toenter many countries. They are told,'We do not need any more missionaries in our country; we have plenty ofpeople who are capable of doing thejob that you want to do."

It would be terribly discouragingfor a student to go to Bible college forfour years, then go to seminary fortwo years, only to be told in anothercountry's Immigration DepartmentOffice, "Your degrees and skills arenot needed in our country." To expectsuch people to go back to school to geta degree in a "useful" field meansthat most with this Bible college andseminaiy background simply will notbecome missionaries.

The world situation requires us toreconsider our missionary training

6 (246)

TGetting in and Staying in:

Education forMissionaryCandidatesprocedures. This needs to be done atthe Bible college and seminary; in theplace where the actual degree comesfrom; and in the skills that are required to enter countries today. Nolonger can one go to Bible college andexpect that the accompanying degreewill prepare him or her for entry toother countries.

Most of oiu* Bible colleges offer abachelor's degree in theology. Theclasses that one takes are those that

would prepare him or her for a careerin the ministry. If a student is desirous ofbecoming a missionary, thenmissions classes are taken in addi

tion to the usual Bible requirements.At the end of the college career, theappropriate degree is awarded.

Problems

There are several problems withthis educational track in today'sworld. First of all, many coxmtriesfeel that there is nothing uniqueabout a bachelor's degree in Bible.Many of their own citizens have sucha degree. They do not need others tohelp build their nation who have onlythis degree. In fact, they say, "To£iUow a foreigner in our country withthis degree means that one of ourown people will be denied a job."

Second, right on the degree itstates that the student earned the

By DOUG PRIEST, JR.

degree from a Bible college or aChristian college. For more and morecountries today, the words '3ible" or"Christian" raise a red flag in the Immigration Department. Missionariesare denied access, particularly if thecountry is one that does not have along Christian tradition.

Two of my friends are preparing toenter a country with a strong Mushmtradition. My friend received hisbachelor's degree from one of ourBible colleges, and in addition, he received his master's degree from oneof our seminaries. But he realizes

that if he uses these degrees to try toenter the country, he will be denied.So he has taken a certificate from a

state university in Teaching Englishas a Second Language. With this certificate, he hopes that his work permit will be granted. He does not evenplan to state that he has the more advanced bachelor's and master's de

grees.

Another friend is working inChina, also as an English teacher.His bachelor's degree too comes fromone of our Bible colleges. Recently hetalked with the dean of the school

asking if there was not some waythat the name of the institution could

be changed on his degree. Unfortunately, the mechanisms were not inplace to affect such a change.

CHRISTIAN STANDARD

Zaire missionaries, Ron and CarolynButler. I mention only these twoincidents which have touched me

deeply; the list could go on.Consider the deadly roads, where

fatal and near-fatal accidents are of

epidemic proportion. In 1990missionary child, Carrie Caldwell,was struck by a motorcyclist inPuerto Rico. The accident cost Carrie

her leg. Last August Matt Littell waskilled in a motor accident in the

Philippines. These two cases arerepresentative of the situation.

Add the diseases (from gastroenteritis to AIDS) thriving under thecombined circumstances of a hot

house climate, inadequate sanitarymeasures, no good and safe watersupply, health-threatening airpollution, a lack of health-care

for March 20,1994

facilities, non-existent |preventivemedicine, and a pagar^ life-style. Youcan see that it is only by the grace ofGod that a person survives andthrives from day to day!

Scarcely a mission compound inthe Third World that has been there

for more than thirty years lacks thegrave of a missionaiy oi' a missionarychild. Our compound at Sango Ottahas two, those of Don Baughman andhis firstborn child, Ruthie, who diedof an imidentified diseiase in 1969 at

the age of fifteen years.Those of us who went out in the

days before medical insxirance wascommon and were then unable to

qualify for it because we lived in suchdangerous places have come backuninsured to America with diseases

that run the gamut from rare and

exotic to such common ones as myown cancer. Some have then been

blamed for having gone outuninsiired in the first place.

The enemies I have alreadymentioned are formidable, to be sure,but we have another, far more subtle,enemy to reckon with every day. Hisname is Discouragement. He is leasteffective when others are pra3dng forus. I cannot tell you how many timeswe have been in the throes of greatdifficulty and discouragement and ata particular moment have felt ahfting of the burden and a newencouragement. Then, perhaps amonth later, we received word thatsomeone somewhere had been

praying for us at that very moment.

It's Not Too Late

When Walter went next door to

minister to Dorcas, I did not reallyknow how to pray for him. I asked forwisdom and grace for him and forGod's will to be done. 1 admitted mylack of understanding, but I knewthat God knew what was needed and

what He wants to do with all of us.

So I placed the matter in His handsand trusted His love and wisdom.

You may not know how you oughtto pray for your missionary partners;that's all right. That is not a ^odreason not to pray, because God doesknow and He can make up for anylack in your understanding.

If you pray, I will go. Maybe wedidn't say it; maybe you didn'tunderstand it, but it's not too late.We have gone (more than a thousandof us) and we need your prayers.

While you stay, we will pray. Werealize it works both ways; we alsohave a responsibility to pray and topray for you who stay and send.

Let's pray for one another.

'Not her real name

^Challenge Compound, where we wereliving at the time

'A group seeking to combine in theirreligion various pagan, Old Testament, andNew Testament beliefs and practices

*0n no fewer than three occasions duringthe course of preparing this column, I havehad my thoughts interrupted by the soundof the gunshots fired by armed robberssomewhere nearby-twice in broad daylight.

Note: I am happy to report that the lasttime we saw "Dorcas," she was well andfunctioning normally.

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for March 20.1994

Solutions

Mission organiza

tions in the last twenty yearshave realized that their very nameprecludes their missionaries from entering many countries to work. It isno accident that the Africa Inland

Mission is now called AIM Interna

tional; that the Sudan Interior Mission is now called SIM International;

that Wycliffe Bible Translators isknown as the Summer Institute of

Linguistics everj^here but America;that the China Inland Mission be

came the Overseas Missionary Fellowship, but is now known as OMFInternational.

In my own mission, Christian Missionary Fellowship, some of our stationery is labeled "CMFInternational," a legally registeredentity. There is nothing threateningabout a few initials with £in Interna

tional tacked on at the end!

Our Bible colleges may be doingtheir missionary students an inadvertent disservice by using the words"Bible" or "Christian" on their degree.Perhaps oiu* schools should set up aparallel corporation so that their mission students can have two degrees:one which says "ABC Christian College", and the other which says "ABCInternational School, Ltd.", (or someother innocuous name). The "Christ

ian College" degree can be used inthe States when applying for a posi

tion at a church, and the other can beused when trying to enter a foreigncountry which is antipathetic to themore overtly Christian terminology.

But the name change addressesonly one problem encountered in theImmigration offices. The other problem is that foreigners these daysneed skills to work in other countries

that the usual Bible college programjust does not offer. Some of the skillsI am talking about are what we usually call "secular professions."

In a nearby Muslim country thatwUl not allow missionaries to hold

work permits, I was told that anybody who has a bachelor's degree inEnglish literature can enter thecountry in a minute, because this is ahighly sought after degree. The samemight be said for teachers of Englishas a second language, computer programmers, science professors, etc. ABible college degree simply will notsuffice in many countries today.

Missionary recruiters now findthemselves needing to visit otherplaces in addition to our Bible colleges to find the type of workers thatare needed on the mission field.

Today's recruiters visit churches tofind those who have "secular" professions who can minister on the field.

They visit campus ministries for thesame reason.

Right now our mission is trying tofind a certified professional counselorto serve in an Asian country. Sincethat country is suspect of peopleholding degrees from overtly Christian institutions, this means we haveto fmd a counselor whose degree isnot from a Bible college. Yet thecounselor needs to have Bible train

ing.At a recent National Missionary

Convention I heard a missionaryfrom India lamenting the fact thatIndia was a "closed country" to missionaries. In fact, what the missionary meant was that the country ofIndia did not allow traditional mis

sionaries to hold work permits in thecountry. But India is open to foreigners who have other professionalskills. Missionaries can enter India;it is just that they need a skill otherthan that which they receive at a

Bible college. Such missionariestoday are known as "tentmakers."

Mission strategists today no longeruse terms like "Closed Countries"

and "Open Countries." Rather countries that are closed to the traditional

missionary role are now known as"Restricted Access Countries" or

"Creative Access Countries."

It is indeed possible to enter thesecountries, but one must be creative indoing so. Christians who practice a"secular" profession are usually welcome in those countries. One only hasto look at the many oil workers in theMiddle East to know that the Middle

East is not made up of "Closed Countries."

It is a good sign that many of ourBible colleges have aligned themselves with nearby universities. It isgood that joint programs are being offered. With a joint program, one canhave a solid biblical background, yetmajor in a profession that will enablehim or her to enter a foreign country.The degree can even come from theuniversity so that there are not questions asked in the Immigration Department about a degree from aChristian school.

Many Christian visitors today areentering foreign countries on touristvisas. These visas allow them to stayfor anywhere from two weeks to sixmonths. The tourist visa is the short-

term missionarys answer to prayer.With a tourist visa one can enter the

country and accomplish some goodfor the kingdom. But a tourist visajust will not do for those who want toreally impact a country with thegospel. Those people need to be ablenot just to visit a country for a fewweeks, but to stay in the country foryears of fruitful ministry.

It is no longer a simple matter toget into another country and staythere as a missionary. But with somemodifications in our tried and true

training procedures, more and morepeople wiU be able to enter othercountries and stay there long enoughto make a difference. Are we ready tomake these changes?

Doug Priest, Jr., serves in Singapore asthe Asia Coordinator for Christian Missionary Fellowship.

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dougand

rohun . ,^ pnest

BLK 533 HOUGANG AVE 6

#12-325

SINGAPORE 1953Nicole, Robyn, Doug, andAndrea

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP Prayer Newsletter

September 1994

"What Do the Priests DoIn Asia Anyway?"

As I satin the Uving room ofSingaporeans Normanand Swee Keng Chan, CMF missionaries in Bangkok,I felt thatGod was blessing ourconversation inaspecial way.

I had come to Bangkok to visit our missionaries inThailand —Randy and Edie Nelson and Norman andSwee Keng Chan. Both families had been engaged inlanguage studyforalmost sk months. It was nowtime to begin thinking how to go about our goals ofchurch planting in Bangkok. We were involved indiscussions of the best strategy for winning Buddhiststo Christ.

All day long, Noiniaii, Swee Keng, and I had talkedabout their desire toplant a church among the lower

Norman, Swee Keng, and Barnabas Chan,

class people -- primarily fectory andclerical workers —in the northern part of thecity. We had talked atlengthabout how this area would meansomehardship for the family in that the school for their sonwas so fer away. It mightmean as much as six hoursin the car a day for the one driving litde Barnabas toschool.

As we satdrinking Chinese tea, we wondered if theremight be a better way to accomplish our goals. Couldwe try a different section of the city?

With less than one percent ofBangkok beingChristian, there was litde danger ofmoving to an"over-churched" part of the city. There are no suchplaces in Bangkok. We envisioned that the Chanscould move to an area, give themselves a full missionterm of four years, and, at theend, perhaps have achurch of 25 people if God blessed their efforts, "isthis the bestway?" we wondered.

After we had reached a tentative agreement, Normanthen shared another vision he had for how we couldaccomplish our goals. It immediately caught myattention.

"Why don't we begin a fellowship for businessmenwho arehere in Bangkok from othercountries buthave notfound achurch in which to worship? Thesemen could bechallenged to recommit their lives tothe Lord, then they could be challenged to contributetoward the work of planting churches throughoutThailand? Wecould find trained preachers from thelocal Bible college who do not have ajob becausethere arc so few churches that can employ them. So,many of these graduates end up doing things like

driving taxis for wantofa church job. And, theywould beaccountable to our fellowship. We couldsupport them for several years, bywhich time theywould have to have a church started thatcould pay forpart or all of their salary."

Could this bea way thatwe might beable to startnotmerely one churchin a typical four-year term but startseveral?

Norman felt that it must be an Asian-run effort, sincethe businessmen would not contribute to it ifAmericans were associated with it. They wouldreason that since Americans are involved, Americansshould pay the bills. But if the effortwere Asian-run,and directed toAsians, then thebusiness peopleshould contribute. ^ ^

And so, ourdiscussio^cpntinued into the evening.By then I was worn out, readyfor someexercise, ashower, and bed.

This is a glimpse ofwhat Doug does as he travels todifferent Asian countries in his jobas CMF's AsiaCoordinator. Since being back in Singapore, Doughas had similar experiences in Indonesia, as well asnorthern Thailand.

9/94

Doug and Robyn PriestChristian Missionary Fellowship

P.O. BOX 501020

INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46250-6020

Address Correction Requested

Mission Se

Editorial

P D Box £4

Knoxvi1le

Our own church in Singapore is also doingwell andprovides many opportunities for promoting missions.In fact, tomorrow night we begin our first studieswith a group of sbc people from our church who areinterested in tentmaldng: using their careersfor theservice oftheLordin other countries.

Please uphold us in yourprayers. There is so muchto do.

Doug and Robyn Priest

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