BECOME ONE!
GP 208
3/73
1. It is certainly good for you to learn the languages of the fields in which you minister as best as you can as long as you are able to remain & as long as God leads you to continue your witness in these fields. You can't very well tell people that you love them if you don't make the slightest attempt to learn their language, customs, culture, history, religion, characteristics, nationality traits, etc., which are all a part of them. We can hardly hope to understand them fully or reach them effectively without showing a genuine loving interest in who they really are & what they're really like, insofar as we possibly can in the time that we have.
2. This has always been a part of the secret of the success of every truly faithful missionary: A genuine endeavour of identification with the people, a true loving sample of God's Love & a clear presentation of His Message in some way that they can understand, including learning their language, adopting their customs & dress, eating the food they eat, sometimes assuming their citizenship & above all, not only trying to know & understand them well, but to actually BECOME ONE OF THEM AS JESUS DID! HE NOT ONLY MINISTERED TO THEIR SPIRITUAL NEEDS, BUT HE ALSO SPENT A GREAT DEAL OF TIME MINISTERING TO THEIR PHYSICAL & MATERIAL NEEDS, healed them when they were sick, fed them when they were hungry & shared His life & His Love!
3. I thought even as a little boy that all missionaries should adopt the citizenship, customs, language, dress & even wives & children of the people to whom they minister. I have always been leery of missionaries who didn't even like the people to whom they ministered & who refused to become one of them or adapt themselves to their ways, much less marry them or allow their children to marry them or receive the same education, culture & language of the people of their field. If you really love them, you will become one of them, marry them & give your sons & daughters to them! Missionaries who send their children home for their education or refuse to let them fall in love with the natives of the field in which they're ministering & are so glad to be able to take trips home as often as possible are not my idea of a missionary!
4. But to go to the field, to become one of the people, to consider that your home & your people as Ruth did with Naomi, & never again be interested in returning to that foreign country where you were born & once called home, loving both the country & the people where you now live & never wishing to depart from them except by the Will of God--to live with them, love them, be one of them & never leave them--that's my idea of a missionary!--IT'S A MARRIAGE!--Forever!--Why not?--THAT'S WHAT JESUS DID! And last but not least, like Jesus, to die for them!--That's my idea of a missionary & apparently it was God's idea also, for that's what He sent His Son to do & that's what Jesus did for us!--How can we do less for them? God gave His only Son & Jesus gave His only Life, & lived it just for us, with us, as one of us & died for us!
5. But it took even more than this!--He had to even live in us & do it for us by His power! When it comes to the showdown, only the supernatural, miracle-working power of the Holy Spirit of God Himself can really do the job & really win their hearts, bring them to a decision & cause them to be born again as a new creature, a new citizen of the Kingdom of God! ONLY GOD CAN DO THIS--BUT THEY MUST SEE HIM DOING IT IN US FIRST of all! As Moody used to say, "The only Bible the World reads is the one bound in shoe leather: You & me!" They must see this miracle-working power at work in our own lives, as a genuine living sample & proof that it can happen! This is our major witness!
6. I am also convinced that what Jesus said is still true, regardless of nationality, country, colour or creed: "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me!" There is NO difference! The heart of Man is the same the World over & his heartaches & sorrows & sins & pains & fear of death are the same! His longings, loves & hunger for God & His Truth, for joy & happiness & peace of mind, are God-created & the same in men the World over!
7. We've found the same message, the same method, the same love, the same life, the same power, the same Salvation, the same Jesus & the same God work just as well in any language or in any land with any people! His same Word is just as true & just as powerful & just as moving, & His same Spirit is just as great & just as omnipotent & all-loving in one country as in another!
8. However, we must become all things to all men in order that we might win some! Therefore, there are certainly DIFFERENCES IN APPROACHES--to the Roman as a Roman, to the Jew as a Jew, to the Greek as a Greek & TO THE JAPANESE AS A JAPANESE! It's a matter of COMMUNICATION IN ORDER TO MAKE OUR MESSAGE UNDERSTANDABLE & our witness comprehensible & our lives interpretable in the terms, languages & even gestures that they understand, & THIS MAY TRULY BE MORE DIFFICULT IN SOME CULTURES & languages & under certain conditions & in the face of certain taboos, oppositions, religions, governments, customs, backgrounds, ways of thinking etc., than in others.
9. So we need to learn all we can about a people as well as BECOME ONE OF THEM--in fact, in order to become one of them--so we can TRULY COMMUNICATE with them in a language they understand so that they get the message loud & clear.
10. However, as many missionaries have proven, I do not believe that we have to wait to witness until we know everything. The famous missionary who pioneered India began with only two phrases in the native tongue: "I love you" & "God loves you!"--And with these he started a mighty wave of Christian faith in that formerly benighted land!--But, of course, I'm sure that this was not all he learned before he was through!
11. Of course, I would not want to see you spending most of your time in language study instead of out witnessing amongst the people. Sometimes you can learn & accomplish more by putting to use what LITTLE you have where it's needed NOW, rather than waiting until you know as much as you think you need to before witnessing. While two of our relatives were spending most of their time for two years learning the language of Brazil, their children learned more of the language out playing with Brazilian children, so that they had to act as interpreters for their parents!
12. Therefore, I would hope you would spend only an absolutely essential minimum of time in only the most necessary language study, while spending most of the time out witnessing as best you can by the miracle-working Love, Life, Spirit, Music & Power of God! We believe OUR GREATEST EMPHASIS SHOULD NOW BE ON OUR LITERATURE IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE LAND! A soldier may not understand how a bullet is made, but all he needs to learn to do is how to fire it to do the job! Literature in the language of the land can be fired by almost anyone!--But we need someone to make the bullets!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family