The Rushed Contemplative

Directly across from me, leaning back against a tree, sat the family patriarch. He looked 75 but was likely 15-20 years younger. Around us sat his family – young children, teenagers, and a few perhaps in their early 20s. My hosts brought me a small stool on which to sit, and for the next 30 or 40 minutes we talked about my faith and theirs, the Bible and the Q’ran, about Jesus and Islam. Several times, the patriarch – I never got his name – told me, “What you say is good.” As we concluded our conversation he invited us to return the next day to talk more, but with regret I explained that this was our last day in the area. Repeating his affirmation, “what you say is good,” he added, “We will believe, me and my family. Not today, but probably in two or three days, we will believe.” “We will believe….” The words of this patriarch have come back to me again and again – sometimes almost hauntingly – in the three years since I sat with him in Ethiopia. I have prayed for him and his family of...

Welcome, MMI readers! Thanks to Todd Rhoades of MMI, I read a good Washington Post article about the changing face of short-term missions. You can read Todd's post and the followup comments here , as well as link to the WP article. What I'd like to hear is what your churches are doing in the way of missions...specifically short-term missions (STM). Hear are some things I'd love to know; feel free to go beyond these questions, though: How does STM fit into your broader mission strategy? (Does it? Do you have a broader strategy?) Do you have an ongoing relationship/partnership with a western/US-based mission agency through which you implement your STM strategy? Who/what? What is the focus? Do you have ongoing relationships/partnerships with non-western agencies or churches? Do you have a particular focus area? If so, how did you identify that? What is the nature of your involvement? (e.g., relief, development, evangelism, medical, etc.) How do you select and prepare...