Media Missionary Focus

Cooperation and Conflict

Some times you just need to take a break. Especially when doing audio or video editing. That’s how I ended up in another missionary’s office yesterday, talking about co-operation and working with different missionaries.

I had been working on editing two different projects and needed to take a break before my brain turned to soggy corn flakes, so I walked down to the first floor of the Assemblies of God Missionary Fellowship field offices and sat down in the office of our country coordinator. That title may sound important, and it is in it’s way, but essentially this person works to facilitate the ministry of the other missionaries on the field and help us cooperate with each other, other missions agencies and the national church. This time of year there are usually a good number of people coming and going and we started talking about who was coming, who was going, and how that would change the dynamics here.

Missionary work can be very diverse, and it draws a wide range of people from around the world. That’s great, but it’s also a real problem. To become a missionary with the Assemblies of God you have to go through a very long and detailed process, and to make it to the field you have to be SURE that it is really what God wants you to do. So you get there saying “God has called me here to do church planting,” or “teach in a Bible school,” or “do community health evangelism,” or whatever. The problem is that when one missionary sees some other missionary doing something else, they sometimes get the attitude that that other missionary is wasting their time, or doesn’t know what they are doing, or is doing serious harm to God’s kingdom just because that other missionary isn’t doing things the way the first missionary would. So they dismiss or ignore each other, or even at times become confrontational. And that’s all just within our own missions agency! Now add in all the other missions agencies working here, as well as all the independent missionaries, all with different rules, operating procedures and goals, and you can imagine the potential for utter confusion!

I’ve seen both ends of the spectrum (and at different times I have BEEN both ends of that spectrum, both combative and cooperative). I’ve seen huge splits and conflicts, and I have seen great cooperation and team work. The thing I have to remember is that God has brought all of these different people here for a purpose. I might not always like the purpose, but I wasn’t the one who called them here either. I believe all these people truly want to do what’s right and to build God’s kingdom.

The role I fill here brings me in contact with many different missionaries, and puts me in a position to help facilitate their ministry through the use of media. In the last year this has become much easier as more and more missionaries see the value of the tools we produce, but it all comes down to creating a partnership with people who have different visions, plans, personalities and ministries and working side by side to reach the people of Cambodia.

Isn’t it the same where you are? The church is the family of God, right? I know in my family there are some people I get along with very well, and some that I get along with better at a great distance ( if you know what I mean ). Don’t get me wrong, I still love them, it’s just we don’t see eye to eye on much, and at times our relationship can become pretty tense. The church family is the same. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the person in your church that always rubs you the wrong way is really a demonic agent looking to infiltrate and sabotage the work of your church; it just means they are family. And who can irritate you as much as family?

The great thing about my family is that as we have all gotten older, we continue to find new ways to build bridges and get along. The same goes for the church. And the same goes here on the mission field.

posted by Troy In Cambodia @ 9:52 PM