What if there are no “natives”?
I cannot imagine coming across an article more beneficial for a missionary or mission agency to read than this one. The importance of focusing on those who have the least access to the Gospel in their native tongue can hardly be overstated. (Please read the whole article!)
Here is one of the paragraphs from the article that stood out most to me. Referring to the idea that the missionary task can be completed by simply sending our money and letting "natives" do the work, the author states:
"Some churches have completely stopped sending their own people to live and die cross-culturally for the Kingdom because it is "so much more economically responsible to just send money to the locals already there." This idea is as understandable in its intent as it is tragically fatal to the life and growth of the church. We should seek to be "shrewd as serpents" even in our missiology, but not at the risk of elevating our economic model above God's Sovereign purpose in world mission: bringing to His flock people from every nation, tribe, people and language."
