Bishan church

Will there be future missionaries from Singaporean CoC christians?

January 1st, 2009

The second and third generation christians from churches of Christ are a pampered lot. Unlike denomination churches, I am pessimistic we will find young or middle aged Singaporeans missionaries from our local congregations.

In recent years any missionary sponsored by a local church is usually a foreigner eg American, Malaysian, Indonesian, HK or Filipinos. The days of Singapore born missionaries going to new fields are fast waning.

What are the chances of finding such a rare specimen? Let’s do the stats!

1. Chance of finding a mission minded congregation in Singapore - a %

2. Chance of finding a man from a% willing to go for mission trip as a spiritual tourist - b %
( A spiritual tourist is someone whom I consider willing to spend time going on a trip but not committed to doing it for a long haul. He goes just for the experience. A good first attempt to step out of comfort zone)

3. Chance of finding a man hearing the Call to start a new work - c%

4. Chance of finding support for a long term mission work in another location for this brother - d%
The support includes spiritual and emotional support

5. Chance of having a supportive wife who would leave the comfort of home and home congregation to be a helpmate to her husband in the mission field - e %

1 Corinthians 7:33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.

Just do the maths a X b X c X d X e %

If we have a=b=c=d=e = 50 %
What do we have? 0.03125 i.e. 3 % and this is pretty optimistic

What may be more realistic:

a = 90 % , easier to give money than self
b = 60 % as spiritual tourism is easy and hardly any sacrifice

c % onwards gets a bit tricky , say 3 %?

d , maybe 10%? People rather give money. Not sure about spiritual and emotional support. Folks may shed a tear or two for you only when they see you.

e, chances of finding a supportive wife from a pampered self seeking educated generation , 1%?

What do we get? 90 X 60 X 3 X 10 X 1 % = 0.002% 2 out of 100,000 members

Not forgetting % of discouraged men thanks to factors contributing to d % and e % especially.

Consequence: Whatever the valid reasons(eg. “I have matters to settle”, ” I respect my wife’s decision”) a man may have for not responding to the Call, God’s work associated to the Call in another mission field is not done.

Looks like even for God’s work we need foreign talent.

Entry Filed under: General