We have been in Argentina for three months now. In three months we set up and are are in language school. So what is life like for a missionary in language school? My life is in Spanish. Everything that is done is done in Spanish. Language school only lasts a few hours but language learning continues throughout every day. I have been told that learning the rules of the language is important, but it is more important to get out and “practice” Spanish. If you think about it, our children did not learn English by being in a formal classroom setting learning the rules of when to say this and how to say it. They learned by being around us, by listening and trying to say a word here or there themselves. Before long our children were speaking fluently! The most important thing about language school is not just the rules, but the practice! How can we practice Spanish? Practicing Spanish is two-fold, you listen, and you speak. It is best to converse with someone because in doing so you are listening and speaking. So how are some ways we practice Spanish. In Argentina it is easy. We listen. Any message, announcement, prayer request or anything else in the church is how we can listen to Spanish. Listen to the talk radio. If someone is talking on the radio, it is in Spanish, so we listen. Watch the news. All of the news is in Spanish. What about talking, how do we practice speaking in Spanish. Again this is very simple, if you see a human, that human speaks Spanish! Talk with people. Talk with people you know and talk with people you don’t know. Talk about the weather, shoes, food, customs, holidays, the community and city, the country, talk about Jesus and the Bible. Talk about anything and everything you can possibly think about. At first it is very slow. It may be a “Hello, how are you?” sort of thing. In time you will be able to say more and more. I think you get the idea. Just talk to people. Ask them to correct you (I am finding people are very kind, they want to talk to me and many of them don’t mind correcting me).

Our days are filled with Spanish. Some times it is overwhelming. Some times we speak and understand much better than other times. We continue on and we are loving it! The next few weeks I will address what it is like to be a new missionary learning the language in Argentina.

This is the final post on The Master Plan of Evangelism. It has been great for me to re-read this book. I firmly believe we can be used of God to change the world by taking the “Master’s plan” and making it our ministry. The epilogue of The Master Plan of Evangelism is entitled “The Master and Your Plan”. The world is looking for someone to follow. Will you pour your life into another who can go out to make a difference. Make “The Master’s plan” your plan! I end this series with a question my mentor asks, “Where is the guy that you are training?” Here is a final snippet from the book…

What is the plan of your life? Everyone has to live by some plan. The plan is the organizing principle around which the aim of life is carried out. We may not be conscious of the plan in every action, or even know that we have a plan, but nonetheless our actions invariably unfold some kind of a pattern at the center of things.

When we actually get right down to it and try to see our objective and how we are going about to achieve it, what we discover may not be very satisfying. But an honest appraisal should cause us all to be more concerned for our calling, at least for those who believe Jesus’ way is the rule by which every action should be tested.

It might well be that some cherished plans of our own making may have to be redirected or perhaps abandoned altogether. Equally agonizing may be the adjustment of the congregation to the Master’s view of the ministry. In all probability our whole concept of success will have to be reevaluated. Nevertheless, if the principles outlined here have any validity at all, they should be understood as guidelines for action. It is only as they are applied to the everyday work of living now that they have any real significance for our lives. To regard them as true means that they must be relevant.

 Coleman, R. E. (2006). The master plan of evangelism (pp. 99–100). Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.

I remember my first mission trip. Our church went to Mexico. I was reluctant to go but was invited so I went. The trip impacted my life! That mission trip did something in me. My eyes were opened to a need beyond my own city and country! I remember the Sunday night service after we returned home. People gave testimonies to how the trip impacted their lives. It was very exciting to the church. It burned in the hearts of those who went and the others who were not able to go saw it in them!

I firmly believe that a mission trip will do something amazing in a church. I believe a youth group will be challenged by it. God will use a mission trip to open eyes and hearts to the need of the Gospel around the world. But mission trips are not easy to organize. Where do we go? Who do we contact? When do we go? How much will it cost? All of these are great questions? But it doesn’t have to be that hard. I have included information in this post about upcoming “Vision Tours” for 2017 (Vision Tours are mission trips). There are options for a mission trip for your church to different places around the world (Argentina is not included as an option and it is something we will be working to provide in the years to come. The dates are notated on the pamphlet as well as cost and contact information. Any of these options would be an incredible opportunity for you and the church! Click here for a PDF version of this pamphlet. 2017 can be the year God uses a mission trip that makes an impact you will never forget!

  

Chapter 7 of The Master Plan of Evangelism is about reproduction. Jesus’ training of the 12 would not stay with the 12. Jesus would send out the 12 with others as the church to go out and do exactly what He had done in them. In other words, they were to reproduce what Jesus had done in them. This commission continues to propel us to reproduce in others what Jesus did in the disciples, and what Jesus has done in us by mentors in the church. Here is a small snippet from the Master Plan of Evangelism.

Jesus intended for the disciples to produce his likeness in and through the church being gathered out of the world. Thus his ministry in the Spirit would be duplicated manyfold by his ministry in the lives of his disciples. Through them and others like them it would continue to expand in an ever-enlarging circumference until the multitudes might know in a similar way the opportunity that they had known with the Master. By this strategy, the conquest of the world was only a matter of time and their faithfulness to his plan.

Jesus had built into his disciples the structure of a church that would challenge and triumph over all the powers of death and hell. It had started small like a grain of mustard seed, but it would grow in size and strength until it became a tree “greater than all the herbs” (Matt. 13:32; see Mark 4:32; Luke 13:18–19). Jesus did not expect that everyone would be saved (he recognized realistically the rebellion of men in spite of grace), but he did foresee the day when the gospel of salvation in his name would be proclaimed convincingly to every creature. Through that testimony his church militant would someday be the church universal even as it would become the church triumphant.

It was not going to be an easy conquest. Many would suffer persecution and martyrdom in the battle. Yet no matter how great the trials through which his people would pass, and how many temporal skirmishes were lost in the struggle, the ultimate victory was certain. His church would win in the end. Nothing could permanently prevail against it or be strong to its detriment, or hold out against it. (Matt. 16:18).

Coleman, R. E. (2006). The master plan of evangelism (pp. 89–90). Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.