Living/Serving Overseas: More on the "CAMEL TEAM." A Short History of our Living Saints

If you are on a church "M" Board (Global Outreach) somewhere, or you are someone "back home" who is making decisions about support for those working overseas from your church, I write this post for you. 

When one has not experienced the challenges of trying to make a life in a foreign country, for more than a year, with children, in a new language, with very limited resources; it is next to impossible to understand and yet you are put in the difficult position of making judgements about how to best invest the church's international  budget. Because I have been both a Sender and a Go-er, perhaps I have a unique vantage point. Both sides. (Before marriage, I served on a church m committee, and then my husband was a m pastor for our first 12 years of marriage. Since 1997 we've been in Asia as a 2nd career to be a resource to the church here.)

Though this is about one particular team, I hope it will serve as an encouragement, for those who are "Senders" to realize in a deeper way, the importance of their role in really knowing and praying for the overseas workers who have been raised up and sent from your churches.

Last March, our family traveled [here] to spend time with the group I wrote about in my post below. Their organization paid for mine and Jim’s airfare to go spend this time with them. We paid for the boys to come along and get to know the kids, and help with childcare while the adults spent time conferencing. It was a rich and meaningful week. 

As I look back on this, I believe we should have engaged the Global Outreach Board at our mutual church more about this trip. We wrote before and after about it in our e-newsletter, but it would have been better had we intentionally drawn our mutual church missions leaders in on the plans and what came from the time together.

 

We wanted to just go and hug them and pray for them, and tell them how much we value them and admire their sacrifices these long years. Build them up. Give them some outside perspective. Hopefully speak prophetic words of healing, strength and hope into their lives. We did a retreat with them to help process their next steps for ministry by taking time to look back over their history together as a team. It was remarkable as we used post-it notes to cover the walls with lessons, and miracles, and events, and highlights of their journey as a team. There needs to be a book written. I don't think we're anywhere near the final chapters.

There’s has been traumatic, brave, difficult, physically, spiritually and emotionally costly journey. They have been in places that are extremely difficult physically to live, let alone that these places, people, governments are hostile to the Gospel of Jesus, and anyone who wants to change the status quo. 

Now, in their THIRD country, moving forward (yet again), while learning their THIRD language. The team is geographically separated (they are no longer in the same city though they are finding ways to stay connected and close). Life is still very, very hard. They are in a country that is one of the least evangelized. They are on the frontlines in an Enemy stronghold.

You can bet the Enemy HATES that these Saints have tenaciously kept to their commitment to be a light for the Gospel. He's succeeded in getting them kicked out of 2 other countries hostile to Christianity and the West! Though they may have been uprooted and forced to live like gypsies, they have continued to dig in with their pursuit of God and team unity even during seasons when He has been silent and in places where there are very, very few believers in Jesus. 

As trailblazers in dark territory, they have been completely dependent on the Holy Spirit for wisdom and the light to move forward and share the gospel. 


I believe that it's possible they will not survive, let alone thrive in their ministry, unless we support them in prayer. They will not survive physically unless individuals and their churches support them financially.

For the Body of Christ which is their home/sending church to really support them now, in 2011, it’s important for new members, to know this history. To dig into why they are where they are, and doing what they are doing.  


My email inbox had a newsletter from them today. Good news. Some tough news. They are moving forward! If you are not on their email list and want to follow them and pray for them, post a comment with your email and I'll forward it to them (can't just show the link!)

Advocating for Sent Missionaries from RHCC:

As I continue to process the issues mentioned below, I feel compelled to be an advocate for a group of M__s from RHCC.

The CAMEL team.

This group has been in 3 countries where one must be cautious about what is said in communication, so as not to jeopardize their presence to a hostile government. For this reason, I don't write any names, or spell out the countries. 

However, I'm starting to lose sleep over their need for their home church to rally behind this entire team who went out the same year we did!

The Creasmans have been pretty straightforward in our journey: 

As originally planned, we’ve had two years of language and culture learning in mainland China (‘97-99), and then settled in for a long term investment in Singapore to be used in strengthening and building Chinese Christian leaders here. Not just for the sake and strength of Singapore’s churches and pastors, and missionaries who are based here, but for their strategic role in influence over this region due to Singapore’s spiritual and financial resources, heart for the world and multi-lingual schooling.

For our fellow laborers The CAMEL team who are now in their 3^rd country and 3rd language, their direction and journey has not turned out as originally hoped or planned. These diversions have been entirely out of their control. 

When they went out as a team (3 families and 4 singles) in 1997, it was a remarkable achievement for our church: sending an ENTIRE team to an unreached people group. 

Among them were former RHCC youth ministries leaders (Junior High Pastor) and administrators. Bright and gifted, they had developed a heart for the world early. Somewhere along the college years, and the missions pipeline of potential missionary small groups and missions retreats, and leading short term teams from the church we confirmed their calling to make a career in bringing the Gospel to the most unreached peoples in the 10/40 window. As a church we excitedly envisioned this team following the inroads our short term trips had made over a few years. We had "adopted the Kaz_ks" and RHCC short term teams had helped establish the first known Kaz_k church. Subsequent visits had made it seem to us as if Rolling Hills Covenant Church instrumental in seeing the Gospel preached and a thriving church established among a people where there had previously been none.

This was not to be the case. 

I will not go into the details here, but as I remember it, due to their being “discovered” for their “covert” work in evangelism, their visas were not renewed after a few years. I think they were asked to leave the country on short notice, with a black mark against them so that they can not return. In turn, they relocated to a similar people group in Uzb_____, with clear leading from the Holy Spirit about where to move, and even which apartments to rent. However, during this term(s) they were in a political situation where ALL foreign non-profit workers were denied visa renewals and had to move their families out of a second country.

Fraught with opposition and conflict and uprooting and challenges, they have had to pull back, pull out, sort out, regroup, reconcile, hear from God and set out once again more times than any living missionary I know. And there’s a whole team of them! There have been marital issues, health emergencies, team strife and discord on top of the political opposition.

Lesser men and women might have given up, feeling like many do after facing such trials, “Well, we gave it a go, we did our best, perhaps God is directing us through these hardships to turn our hearts back toward home, and find a new path.” Heaven knows how many missionaries have set out at the beginning to invest their lives long term and our now back safely in their motherlands. It’s also pretty safe to say, that any of those missionaries who have returned would be the first to acknowledge the tremendous tenacity and commitment and sense of calling it has taken for this group of people from RHCC to stick with it.

I'll post more later, but this is a good start! Let's not forget them! They need our prayers and support as much now as ever!!

"Forbearance," my new favorite word

This past month, there's been a lot of communicating with my home church leaders and a few individuals. Building bridges that had fallen into disrepair. I had lit a match on the fallen tinder by blogging about the fallen bridge (that particular part of the post below has been removed!). 

To sum it up briefly: I was feeling awkward and like an alien whenever we return to our home church where we'd served for 12 years. Over 14 years it had grown worse and worse each of the times we'd come back as a family (In all fairness, Jim came back once on his own for the 50th Anniversary, and that for him was a remarkable homecoming speaking for and being honored in this special Missions Celebration). This summer was especially hard because, due to our serious shortfall in support, we finally had to start making connections at other churches. We've tried hard to keep our ties strong with this sending church because our trips back are so short that we'd prefer to concentrate our face-time, hoping to have a more significant time of re-connecting, rather than a one-off hellos in multiple church patios. 

This summer, the contrasting experience we had going to other churches (and a few unfortunate and circumstantial mix ups and misses at our home church), turned my long-time sadness into anger. I was feeling mother-bearish for all the other missionaries sent from our church.

I didn't deal with the growing conflict in my heart in a Biblical way by approaching the missions pastor and commission advocate with grace. I instead spent a few jet lagged hours blogging about it when I got back to Singapore.

Then some actually read my post, and I subsequently needed to do a lot of apologizing! I've been humbled, and convicted that we didn't bring the problem up years ago to people who would probably have listened (calling it "grace" when it was really a lack of courage to speak up).

It's starting to be an amazing case study of dealing with and working through conflict, when to be part of the solution when you have a burden about something (and when to let things go), and seeing leaders - brothers and sisters in the body of Christ show forbearance (my new favourite word) and grace, and work together to build Christ's church. I still have a few people I need to apologize to directly (I pray the Holy Spirit will reveal any more!), but there's already such a hope that we are all going to be stronger and better from this.

It seems now, that even though I lacked judgement in writing publicly, and that I hurt some people by what I wrote; these instrumental leaders have heard. They have also apologized to us personally for this regrettable "blind spot," and now we're working together to make a change. 

For the future, our united heart is that our sent missionaries will no longer be/feel forgotten. We'll find ways to introduce and advocate for them to those who are new people in the congregation (who didn't know them when they went overseas), and for those at home who have let their ties become too loose, we'll work to restore the bond. The mutual hope is that in the future, all of our church's "home-grown" missionaries will feel built up from their visits home. The wheels are in motion for this church to give them an intentional welcome, offer more practical care for them, and somehow publicly honor them when they return.

If you are interested in reading or talking more about it, you can write to me personally. As a case study, it is a remarkable model of processing conflict and I hope others will be able to learn from our mistakes. I'm really encouraged to know that I am part of a church where leaders can respect one another and all be humble enough own our sin and move forward in unity.

Our Sending Church's Human Capitol: A Legacy of Leaders

As I've been learning who are the missionaries currently supported by my home church USA, I realize something they may not have: This sending church can be proud that among those who have gone out from our church over the years. There are a surprising number of directors or presidents of other mission organizations, or seasoned and godly and wise lights for the gospel on the front-lines in difficult places. I just started listing them...

Bill & Robin Harris. Missionaries whose passion for ethnomusicology and networking resulted in founding International Council of Ethnodoxologists (ICE). Robin is the ICE coordinator. Robin and her husband, Bill Harris, now work forOperation Mobilization-USA in the Heart Sounds International division. Bill and Robin Harris write several blogs.

Gwynn & Pooka Lewis, Sowers Int'l, Founder & Executive Director

Joe & Silk Handley, Asian Access, President

Dennis & Susan Wadley, Bridges of Hope Int'l, Founder/Int'l Director: From the Bridges website info on their Partners. BTW: This partnership was profiled in DualReach article about involving local church leaders in mission which in-turn inspires a congregation.

Rolling Hills Covenant Church

In 2004 Rolling Hills Covenant Church [RHCC] sent its first short-term mission team to South Africa to support Dennis Wadley, former high school ministry pastor at RHCC, and his family in their ministry “Bridges of Hope.” Since then, RHCC has continued to partner with Bridges of Hope in its efforts to serve communities and townships ravaged by HIV/AIDS, with specific care for the growing number of children orphaned by this disease. Together with Bridges of Hope, RHCC also partnered with St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Philippi, and provided funds for the construction of the church facility in Philippi.

The children in the black townships outside Cape Town grow up in terrible poverty in neighborhoods with high rates of crime and gang activity and lives that are devastated by AIDS. Many children are orphaned by AIDS and grow up with only knowing life in the township and the hopelessness it can breed.  The vision shared Bridges of Hope and RHCC was to have a retreat center in which children could come and be ministered to in a loving outdoor and retreat center atmosphere. Rolling Hills Covenant has sent several short-term teams comprised of high school students and adults to run after school programs at the Center. 

The dream was also to build a residential High School Academy for children orphaned by AIDS.  This dream was rooted in the belief that God could use the children’s lives and transform them to become key parts of an emerging new generation to lead South Africa. With significant help from our RHCC, as well as other churches, that dream has now become a reality. A former bed and breakfast with acreage that used to be a vineyard was purchased. Rolling Hills helped to fund a full-time missionary, Ted Holdeman, who served in a key role during the construction of various buildings for the Bridges of Hope Leadership Academy, as well as maintaining the operations of the Bridges of Hope Retreat Center.

Rolling Hills Covenant Church has enjoyed our thriving partnership with Bridges of Hope. As a congregation we give praise to the Lord for connecting our church with Bridges of Hope. We pray that together we will serve Jesus in redeeming lives for His glory and bring lasting and sustained positive change to South Africa.