Time with a Veteran Missionary 

We hosted veteran missionary Jeff Bush for almost two weeks in May. Jeff was a missionary here in La Plata for 10 years. He started the church we attend now. He also trained men here who have started other churches. Jeff knows the language, the culture, and the people here. He told me what worked and what didn’t. He also advised me on what to focus on as I learn the language and the culture. The churches were also very encouraged by having the founding missionary in to challenge them to continue on! One of the highlights of this time was getting away with Jeff Bush and the pastors he trained that are leading the churches that were started. We went to the coast for a time away. It is autumn here and cold, so the town we were in was almost empty. Jeff spent time with each of the men helping them in their specific church. He also challenged them (and me) together.

Learning the Language

Language school has started. We have been learning and practicing the language since the first day we arrived here but the formal classes are now underway. This is one of the most important things right now in the ministry God has given us because these next months really set the pace for how the ministry continues. The truth is we can only reach people, train men, and plant churches if we know the language. Thank you for praying for us as we press forward.

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, and Ivy Henry

In the last blog we emphasized the importance of delegation. This gives opportunity for men to step up and do something for Jesus. As a missionary, I believe that this is very important. It is a tragic thing if a church on the mission field is led only by Americans. God uses His people, and if churches are going to grow and continue, nationals must be trained to continue the work. That means that they must be given opportunities to serve (delegate responsibility) in order to grow. However, delegation is only one half of giving opportunities to serve. It is important that as men are given the opportunity to serve, that they are also given time of assessment to change what needs to be changed, adjust things that are not working, and to continue in things that are. Jesus did this very thing with His disciples. He sent them out with an assignment alongside of instruction and when they returned Jesus took them apart for a time of assessment. Here is a small portion of chapter seven of The Master Plan of Evangelism.

Jesus made it a point to meet with his disciples following their tours of service to hear their reports and to share with them the blessedness of his ministry in doing the same thing. In this sense, one might say that his teaching rotated between instruction and assignment. What time he was with them, he was helping them to understand the reason for some previous action or getting them ready for some new experience. His questions, illustrations, warnings, and admonitions were calculated to bring out those things that they needed to know in order to fulfill his work, which was the evangelization of the world.

Accordingly, not long after the Twelve were sent out, they gathered themselves “together with Jesus” to tell “what things they had done” (Mark 6:30; Luke 9:10). It would appear from the Bible that this reunion was prearranged, and hence, the initial solo excursion of the disciples was merely a field assignment as they continued their training with the Master.

The regrouping of the disciples following their evangelistic tour, of course, provided them some needed rest in body and soul. As to how long the disciples had been out, the Scripture does not say. Perhaps a few days, even a week. The time element here is not the important thing. What does matter though, as the record shows, is that after the disciples were sent out to work, they were expected to share their experiences later with the group.

 Coleman, R. E. (2006). The master plan of evangelism (pp. 81–82). Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.

I arrived in Argentina on March 25, 2016. That was almost two months ago. I am learning the language here in a church in La Plata, about 1 hour away from Buenos Aires. The pastor of this church was trained by a missionary friend of mine, Jeff Bush. Pastor Jorge is a wonderful man of God. I am learning very much from him. He is a true servant and I am grateful to say he is also a true friend. A month or so ago he was telling me about the impact missionary Jeff Bush had here. There is much that could be said about this, but what pertains to this blog is this, Missionary Jeff gave opportunity for men here in Argentina to serve. He didn’t do it all himself. He gave opportunity to serve.

I have another missionary friend whose brother was out of church for a number of years. The brother (we will call him “Duane”) was a Christian, but had allowed some hard times in his life and marriage to stop him from being a part of a church that would love him (a church like this is what he really needed, but that is for another post). Duane started going back to church and had a number of churches near him. He finally selected one church. What made him select that specific church was not the preaching, the music, or the facilities. He said that at that church, he would be given the opportunity to serve and do something for Jesus (this was his testimony, I am sure many churches would have given him the same opportunity, but this was his perception). There is something to be said about delegation. It is often easier and faster to do it yourself, but it is not always better. Jesus trained 12 men to advance the Gospel around the world. Many more were affected, trained, and even sent out, but Jesus spent the majority of His time with 12 men. In training these men, Jesus delegated responsibility to them. Obviously, Jesus could have done it better than them, but Jesus found it important to give them opportunities to grow and serve. Here is a snippet from “The Master Plan of Evangelism” on this very subject…

Jesus was always building his ministry for the time when his disciples would have to take over his work and go out into the world with the redeeming gospel. This plan was progressively made clear as they followed him.

The patience with which Jesus brought this out to his disciples reflects on his consideration for their ability to learn. He was never premature in his insistence on action. The first invitation to the disciples to follow him said nothing about going out and evangelizing the world, although this was his plan from the beginning. His method was to get the disciples into a vital experience with God, and to show them how he worked, before telling them they had to do it.

On the other hand, Jesus did not discourage their spontaneous reactions to bear witness to their faith, and in fact, he seemed delighted that they wanted to bring others to know what they had found. Andrew got Peter, Philip found Nathanael, Matthew invited his friends to a feast in his house—and Jesus responded to these new introductions with gladness. It is well, also, to note that on several occasions Jesus specifically asked those who were helped by his ministry to say something about it to others. However, in none of these early instances is the real purpose of their life of witnessing made a matter of explicit command.

He used his disciples in other ways to help along his work, such as caring for the manual burdens of getting food and arranging accommodations for the group as they followed him. He also let them baptize some people who were aroused by his message (John 4:2). Outside of this, however, it is rather startling to observe in the Gospels that these early disciples really did not do much more than watch Jesus work for a year or more. He kept the vision before them by his activity, and in his call again to the four fishermen he reminded them that following him they were to be fishers of men (Mark 1:17; Matt. 4:19; Luke 5:10), but it does not seem that they did much about it. For that matter, even after they were formally ordained to the ministry a few months later (Mark 3:14–19; Luke 6:13–16), they still showed no evidence of doing any evangelistic work on their own. This observation perhaps should cause us to be more patient with new converts who follow us.

But as Jesus was beginning his third general tour of Galilee (Mark 6:6; Matt. 9:35), he doubtless realized that the time had come when his disciples could join him more directly in the work. They had seen enough at least to get started. They needed now to put into practice what they had seen their Master do. So “he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth” (Mark 6:7; see Matt. 10:5; Luke 9:1–2). Like a mother eagle teaching her young to fly by pushing them out of the nest, Jesus pushed his disciples out into the world to try their own wings.

 Coleman, R. E. (2006). The master plan of evangelism (pp. 71–72). Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.

The Master Plan of Evangelism explains Jesus’ plan to evangelize the world. Jesus’ plan is the best plan, it is not something we can improve upon. We drove to the capital on Monday (Buenos Aires). To see the incredible amount of people that live in this place and to think of how anyone or any team could possibly reach this mass of people with the Gospel is daunting! How can we possibly even begin? I think the answer is found in studying how Jesus set out to reach the world. The majority of His time was spent in training 12 men (one of whom would betray Him). This is how we as Christians will reach the world with the Gospel, by training men! So how did Jesus train His men? One of the things He did was demonstrate to them how to live! It was just “do as I say”, it was also “do as I do”. Jesus demonstrated how to pray, how to use the Scriptures, and how to win souls. Here are a few snippets from the chapter entitled “Demonstration”.

Jesus saw to it that his disciples learned his way of living with God and man. He recognized that it was not enough just to get people into his spiritual communion. His disciples needed to know how his experience was to be maintained and shared if it was to be perpetuated in evangelism. Of course, in a technical sense, life precedes action, but in a thoroughly practical point of view, we live by what we do. We must breathe, eat, exercise, and carry on work normally if we are to grow. Where these functions of the body are neglected, life will cease to be. That is why the effort of Jesus to get across to his followers the secrets of his spiritual influence needs to be considered as a deliberate course of his master strategy. He knew what was important.

All the disciples had to teach them was a teacher who practiced with them what he expected them to learn. Evangelism was lived before them in spirit and in technique. Watching him, they learned what it was all about. He led them to recognize the need inherent in all classes of people, and the best methods of approaching them. They observed how he drew people to himself; how he won their confidence and inspired their faith; how he opened to them the way of salvation and called them to a decision. In all types of situations and among all kinds of people, rich and poor, healthy and sick, friend and foe alike, the disciples watched the master soul winner at work. It wasn’t outlined on the blackboard of a stuffy classroom nor written up in a “do it yourself” manual. His method was so real and practical that it just came naturally.

Classes Always in Session. This was as true in his approach to the masses as his way of dealing with individuals. The disciples were always there to observe his word and deed. If the particular approach was not clear, all they had to do was to ask the Master to explain it to them. For example, after Jesus told the story of the sower to “a very great multitude” (Mark 4:1f.; see Matt. 13:1–9; Luke 8:4–8), his disciples “asked him what this parable might be” (Luke 8:9; see Mark 4:10; Matt. 13:10). Whereupon Jesus proceeded to explain to them in detail the meaning of the analogies used in the illustration. In fact, judging from the printed text, he spent three times the amount of time explaining this story to the disciples than he did in giving the initial lesson to the crowd (Matt. 13:10–23; Mark 4:10–25; Luke 8:9–18).

Coleman, R. E. (2006). The master plan of evangelism (p. 63, 66-67). Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.