Plans Change: Mid-term Missions
by Ian Montgomery
Plans change. For my newly-wed wife and I, that seems to be the theme of this season of life. Nevertheless, Proverbs 16:9 has been a key verse to encourage us, saying: “A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” If you know my wife and I, you know the visa hoops we have had to jump through to get married have been crazy. For us, our plans quickly changed from getting married and settling in the U.S. to getting married in the Netherlands and settling in the EU for a couple years while waiting for a spousal visa. It’s pretty grievous having to say goodbye to our local church for a season, but that’s when we started praying about a possible mid-term mission trip to a sister church right after marriage. Kinda crazy, but for us we decided that starting our marriage in the context of a good local church was important. After talking with our pastors and reaching out to Andrew Ong, by God’s grace we got the green light. Three days after our wedding, we were off to Southeast Asia for a three-month trip.
“We in the Living Faith Fellowship are so blessed with a network of like-minded churches and church plants all over the world — take advantage of this opportunity!”
Plans changed, and praise the Lord for it! During our three month stay with the church in Southeast Asia, God taught, challenged, and grew my wife and I in ways I just couldn’t have foreseen — much to the thanks of the faithful local ministers. Thinking back, I’m tempted to feel bad for how blessed we were, because the church 1,000% ministered to us more than we ministered to them. They were so good to very quickly and whole-heartedly adopt us into their local church family. Being with them almost felt like being with our church family back at MBT... almost.
Southeast Asia is very different from both Kansas City and the Netherlands, so while joining such a good church family was relatively easy for us, adapting to a different culture, language, and city proved to be significantly harder. Not to mention we had only been married for three days when we arrived AND (we didn’t know it for the first month) my wife was also pregnant! Whoa. Plans change.
“We learned not only how to weather a storm, but how to thrive in it”
Newly-wed, new culture, and now pregnant. What the world may call an unfortunate combination of circumstances, James 1:2-4 calls an absolute joy. Don’t get me wrong, this trio of transitions was actually quite hard on us, but I count ourselves fortunate to be able to grow and trust God in such a unique set of situations. Moreover, in our transitions we were not alone! By God’s grace, we found ourselves surrounded by faithful, experienced, and loving brothers and sisters who knew exactly what it's like to be newly-wed, to be pregnant, and to adapt to Southeast Asian culture. In the storm of transitions God gave us a good local church for a safe haven. From our church family we learned not only how to weather a storm, but how to thrive in it — pressing even more into the Lord through the Word, fellowship, and prayer. My wife and I certainly weren’t perfect; we fell short often. But God’s grace was greater than our short-comings, and He used us there.
“God is at work and using the handful of faithful laborers in this great harvest.”
Outside of the local church there are tens-of-millions of unreached souls. A brother from church gave me a tour of the city with his motorbike, and there’s a lot of cool things to see. However, more important than the novelty of a new city to explore, he pointed out the overwhelming number of people who haven’t had the opportunity to hear the good news of the Gospel. The people I got to share the Gospel with were largely people of peace and asked really genuine, truth-seeking questions about Jesus and the Bible. One guy I talked to said that his only exposure to Christians was from the show “Young Sheldon.” He told me he was surprised a Christian could be so laid back and “cool” (compliment received). Kinda funny, but also sobering to know that for many there, I might be the only Christian they ever meet, let alone Gospel preacher. During the few months I was there, I got to see many come visit the church, visit FOI, and visit Bible study. Many heard the Gospel, and by God’s grace I got to see one young man accept Christ — even now he’s prayerfully considering COD. God is at work and using the handful of faithful laborers in this great harvest. It was a blessing to be a part of that work in particular.
“...The honor of co-laboring with the faithful may not be as distant a dream as you might think.”
The work and need in South East Asia truly is great, but the honor of co-laboring with the faithful may not be as distant a dream as you might think. If you’ve passively considered going on a mid-term (1-3 month) mission trip, it may be time for you to take real steps of faith. We in the Living Faith Fellowship are so blessed with a network of like-minded churches and church plants all over the world — take advantage of this opportunity! Midterm mission trips are mutually beneficial to the church and the visitor and God, by His grace, can use you in them! That itself is worth a serious prayer, so I’d encourage you to pray about it and to reach out to your leaders. After all, if God can graciously use the newlywed, pregnant, and somewhat crazy Montgomerys, He can certainly graciously use you.
Ian Montgomery is a member of Midtown Baptist Temple and a part of C&YA. Due to visa concerns, he and his wife, Olessya, currently live in the Netherlands.