Message Magazine Online - Vol. 53, No. 01, Spring 2005

In This Issue

• A Church on Every Block
  By Donna Messenger
• Preparing the Bride
  By Michael G. Loftis, President
• Tsunami Relief
• DNA and The Church: Biblical Church Multiplication
  By Norm Nicklas
• The Most Powerful Human Force in the World
  Dr. Michael G. Loftis, President
• Why Is Missions So White?
  By Bill Commons
• Invoking the Hand of God Together
  By Rev. Charles Ware
• The Missions Committee
  By Jim Ruff
• Equipping a Generation of Global Leaders
  By Jim Jeffery
• Global Access Partnerships: One Church’s Story - Part Two
  By Dave Livermore
• Missions Conferences With Impact
  An Interview with E.C. Haskell
• Women’s Missionary Groups: A Thing of the Past?
  By Dotty Ashley
• Into Life Eternal
• Children’s Corner

Global Access Partnerships: One Church’s Story—Part Two

By Dave Livermore

I remember the first time I met a real-life national pastor. His name was Pastor Juan, and we met in the jungle city of Iquitos, Peru. Spending a couple hours with him changed me for life. As Juan talked, his eyes shone as he described his love for his congregation and his desire to minister to the villagers along the Amazon. I was spellbound—by his contagious heart and because I was confused.

I had heard about the “natives” as far back as I could remember. But somehow I perceived “those people” as being less mature than we are, both spiritually and in terms of knowing how to do ministry. But this pastor was converted before I was even born, and his passion for Jesus challenged my apathetic state.

That was the beginning of my desire to learn more about the “other side” of missions: the national believers and leaders. Clearly Pastor Juan would want to point out that his encounter with Christ came through a missionary couple who moved into the Amazon jungle many years ago. But my encounter with Pastor Juan started me on a lifelong journey with non-Western pastors that has forever shaped me.

In his astounding book, The Next Christendom, Philip Jenkins highlights the reality that Christianity’s center has shifted southward. The largest Christian communities today are not in the U.S. Bible Belt but in Africa and Latin America. Jenkins predicts the “majority” in the Christian church over the next decade will be young, non-white, poor, female, and theologically conservative.

These shifts are what led us to change the way we approached missions when I was part of Calvary Church in Fruitport, Michigan. When I came to Calvary as missions pastor, I inherited a strong legacy of partnering with missionaries around the globe. But we knew it was time to not only partner with missionaries but also with national churches and leaders.

We began to dialogue with the founder of ABWE’s GAP (Global Access Partnerships) Ministries. George helped us consider the primary issues involved with partnering directly with nationals. After much prayer, research, and a survey trip throughout Southeast Asia, we discerned God was leading us to adopt the unreached Akha and Lahu tribes in Southeast Asia. We believed there was no better way for us to do so than by partnering with Thai churches that had a similar vision. George connected us with Kiatisak Siripanadorn and Grace Baptist Church in Bangkok, Thailand. In addition to pastoring Grace, Pastor Kiatisak led a ministry to the Akha and Lahu tribes in northern Thailand. So in partnering with him and Grace Baptist Church, we were also connected to Akha and Lahu evangelists and pastors who ministered throughout a variety of villages in northern Thailand.

The Akha and Lahu people of Thailand became familiar faces and their needs were topics of discussion among our church family. Worship services, small groups, Sunday School classes, children’s groups, youth ministry events, and family dinner times all became fertile ground for learning about and praying for these fellow image-bearers on the other side of the world. In addition, GAP helped us develop a multi-tiered partnership, some of which included:

• Helping support Pastor Kiatisak’s ministry of training the Akha and Lahu evangelists
• Helping support the evangelists themselves
• Connecting with Filipino missionaries who were assisting in educational initiatives with the tribal children
• Bringing Pastor Kiatisak to our congregation to share first hand
• Taking annual medical teams from Calvary to minister among the tribal people
• Helping support ABWE missionaries who were specializing in areas of need identified by Pastor Kiatisak and the rest of the team
• Helping to supply buildings, food, medicine, and personnel for a youth hostel
• Supporting translation of the Bible, study materials, and hymnals into tribal languages

This is only the beginning of what God allowed us to be part of for the next several years. It was crucial that we truly viewed our relationship as a PARTNERSHIP with fellow members of the body of Christ—and NOT as if we were the employer and they were working for us. It was also important that we were not simply writing a check to fund their vision. Rather, we had resources we could use, and we joined Thai, Filipino, and American missionaries, as well as tribal evangelists and their unique resources to realize the vision we all shared, to reach the Akha and Lahu people.

Though I’m no longer directly involved in Calvary’s partnership with Thai churches to reach the Akha and Lahu people, this partnership has long outlived my tenure at Calvary. And I’ve moved beyond the spellbound state I experienced nearly twenty years ago when I was with Pastor Juan. Today, some of my dearest friends are pastors and leaders from different parts of the world. 

Read Part One in the Winter 2004 Message.