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!)