Thomas Swinea’s ambitious writing pace has beaten me to the punch as far as Panamá trip commentary is concerned. His thoughts, however, were excellent and very much in line with my own post-trip reflections. It is good to see teenagers like Swinea showing such wisdom.
Okay, all amiable insults aside, I would like to share a very short thought about one of the lessons I have learned in the mission field. I have been travelling abroad to do mission work for much of my life. Years ago, my interest stemmed mostly from my love for international travel. More recently though, mission work has taken on much greater significance. I have come to understand that one of the most crucial things a person can gain from a mission trip is a stronger sense of brotherhood.
Allow me to explain what I mean. It seems to me that we all return from trips abroad and pat ourselves on the back for the baptisms and responses we had or how many children we served—and these are important facts. But in the end, what most short-term mission groups accomplish, including what our group accomplished in Panamá last week, is a fraction of the work that the church in a given nation does year round. We do not sustain the efforts of the church, we merely participate for a short time. But I think this is a beautiful arrangement. There are so many differences between the church in the United States and the church in Panamá. There is the obvious economic disparity, but there are also marked differences in education, culture, and lifestyle (especially in places like the Embera Puru village we visited). Yet we have no problems working as equals with the brothers and sisters in these places. We share their homes, food, and lives for as long as we are in their country, and they are as excited to receive us as we are to be there. For this reason, mission trips inevitably lend me a strong sense of the brotherhood I share with people around the world as part of the family of God.
Then, I come home. And I see churches of Christ on every corner in towns like Nashville and Florence that scarcely acknowledge each other’s existence. I see petty disagreements split congregations and alienate friends. I see a Christian family that often forgets to be, well, a family. Working in Panamá or anywhere else in the world requires us to put aside what divides us and emphasize the love of Christ that unites us. Thankfully, we have no problem putting aside socio-economic differences, but should our magnanimity stop there? Why can we not seem to lay aside differences in political alignment or opposing views on a particular congregational conflict? It never ceases to amaze me how much can be accomplished by just a few mission workers in a matter of days. The Panamanian travelers spanned the Central American nation, working with individuals from five separate local congregations, tending to the needs of hundreds of clinic patients, and spending time with countless children. Imagine what over a million American Christians could do to our hometowns and our nation if we adopted the same principles of unity and brotherhood needed for success abroad.
Thomas was right in saying that mission work will change your life. It will change your heart. And what it teaches me is that nothing can turn the world upside down quite like a passionate group of people united for a common cause, regardless of what divides them personally. This unity is exactly what Christ prayed for in John 17:20-23. He expects no less of us. The call of the mission field is a call for unity, for oneness, for brotherhood. Let’s respond to that call by not only standing and serving with our international brothers and sisters, but also with the ones down the street—the spread of the Gospel depends on it.
Caleb Paul
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