Raul Corona baptizing in the Pacific

Village Missionary Raul Corona addressing his congregation

When I began this series on Village Missions’ gut check four months ago, many troubling signs existed in the economy, yet few realized that an economic collapse was coming.  It appears our country and perhaps Canada is headed toward a severe recession.  Individual Village Missionaries will experience a severe decline in their retirement savings.  Families in the churches we serve have been and will be hurt by the downturn.  Church offerings may drop significantly and ministries may have to be curtailed or adapted to cost much less.  Village Missions may be affected by the decline in the return in our Pension Funds.  If the environment in which we minister was difficult before, it will be doubly difficult now. 

Yet, we have an incredible opportunity to live and proclaim Biblical truth.  Christians in the U.S. and Canada have paid lip service to the reality that true treasure only exists in heaven but instead have lived primarily for the treasure that exists on earth.  In many ways, we have sought to gain the “whole world,” not perhaps at the expense of our souls but certainly at the cost of the diminishing of our souls.  Rich in the world’s goods, we are generally poor in heaven’s goods.  Such has been the double-edged sword of prosperity, which in most cases does more harm to our souls than good. 

Perhaps we as Village Missionaries have in some ways succumbed to the material temptations around us.  We, however, at least have chosen in many ways to embrace less-less crowds, less prestige, less of a home, and less pay.  In a world that has been grasping for more and now finds “more” slipping through its hands like sand, we will have something to say.  Because we have chosen to pursue true treasure even in the midst of prosperity, our example and words should have greater credibility in the midst of severe adversity.  In the calamities of recent years, God has given us the privileged opportunity to announce to the world that there is a “Rock” on which to build our lives and His name is Jesus.  May we take every opportunity to do so!

The apparent economic collapse is even more reason for Village Missions to do a gut check.  When a family experiences economic turmoil, it seeks ways to trim non-essentials.  It might get rid of TV, pare down the food budget, stop eating in restaurants and other non-essentials that are enjoyable but non-essential to the existence of the family.  Is Village Missions essential to the work of God’s kingdom?

Well, yes and no.  God’s kingdom will move forward even in the tribulation after the rapture of the church (my view of eschatology).  Nothing is essential to God apart from His own person!

Yet, assuming that Jesus will continue to build His church and assuming that Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth includes the U.S. and Canada, the work of Village Missions is essential.  I will not review the nine previous reasons but only present the tenth and final reason why it is important for Village Missions to continue.

Reason Ten: It is important for Village Missions to continue because the approach of Village Missions transcends culture.

Village Missions carries on its ministry in a variety of settings.  The Carsey Institute in New Hampshire[1] divides rural areas in the United States into four primary areas.  The same divisions would hold true for Canada.  They are:

• Amenity rich regions.  These are rural areas enjoying growth because of the presence of beautiful natural surroundings.  We served for eleven years in Red Feather Lakes, CO, an astoundingly beautiful area in northern Colorado.
• Declining resource-dependent rural America.  According to the Carsey Institute, these areas once depended almost solely on agriculture, timber, mining, or related manufacturing industries to support a solid, blue-collar middle class.  Many of these communities have a long history of booms and busts, and now that resources are depleted and low-skill manufacturing jobs are threatened by globalization, they are in economic decline.  We serve several fields that could be characterized this way.
• Chronically poor rural America.  The chronically poor regions are rich in history, but it is a history of devastating hardship, according to the Institute.  Here, both residents and the land have experienced decades of resource depletion and underinvestment, leaving behind broken communities with dysfunctional services, inadequate infrastructure, and ineffective or corrupt leadership.  These are the poor areas of the Deep South and Appalachia.  Although we do not serve any fields that strictly fit these categories, we do serve some fields in pockets that could be characterized as chronically poor.
• Amenity/decline rural America.  The amenity/decline places represent a transitional type, with similarities to both amenity-rich and declining resource dependent communities.  The traditional resource-based economies of these places have weakened but not vanished, and their aging populations reflect out-migration.  At the same time, these areas show signs and potential for amenity-based growth.  The Carsey Institute considered areas in the Pacific Northwest, such as Clatsop County in Oregon and the Northeast, such as Oxford County, ME to be representative of such areas.  We have several fields located in this category.

I would also add a fifth and sixth type of area served by Village Missions.  The fifth would be formally rural areas but now suburban or mixed rural and suburban.  These areas are sometimes called “rurban” because of the mix of rural and urban characteristics.  Village Missions serves many such fields.  The sixth type would be non-Anglo areas where the majority populations are Hispanic, Native American, or First Nation.

Each area presents unique challenges and ministry contexts.  As the Carsey Institute has identified, many of the areas we serve face increased challenges because of the societal and economic breakdowns occurring.

Still further, Village Missions serves a wide variety of churches.  Almost every church we serve started out small, but now several are larger, multi staff churches.  Approximately 44% require salary support.  The self-supporting churches account for our largest source of revenue.  Often we communicate the cutting edge of our mission, which is going to a church that is in danger of closing, but perhaps we don’t communicate as well the success of our mission, which involves the larger churches that send out and support missionaries and do an effective job of reaching their area for Christ.

Additional variety is found ethnically.  We now serve one entirely Hispanic field in Avenal, CA and one entirely Navajo field in Twin Mesa, AZ.  In addition, several of our fields have significant Native or First Nation populations or Hispanic populations.

Why mention all this diversity?  Because the ministry approach of Village Missions allows enough flexibility to adapt to a multitude of situations.  Our approach of local church independence, Biblical ministry consisting primarily of “Preaching the Word and loving the people,” and effective support of the missionary and church translates into extremely effective ministry over a wide range of situations.

God uses our approach to rescue many churches from the brink of closing.  Jennings, MI, was down to six people when we went there but now is growing numerically, financially, and spiritually.  Yet, the flexibility of our approach allows a local congregation also to transition to larger size.  It is unfortunate that some of the churches we serve don’t realize this and feel they have “outgrown” Village Missions.  Even then, we have done our part, as we have been a significant factor in their development.  It will be good for their own spiritual progress as a church to recognize that they can help duplicate elsewhere what happened in their situation by continuing to support Village Missions (Romans 15:26-27).  Several churches do.

Village Missions’ ability to transcend culture is especially evident in how the Lord has worked in Avenal, CA.  The church in Avenal has averaged over 250 this year in attendance.  They have developed several ministry outreaches.  They use their numerous small groups as a training ground for church leaders.  I have posted pictures of their recent baptism service on my Facebook profile.  Each year the congregation travels to the coast to conduct a baptism service.  They are rapidly moving forward in having their own church building, rather than renting the local school.  Our provision of salary support to Village Missionaries Raul and Teresa Corona, the support of their DR., and the independence of the local congregation has enabled the church (without ignoring the sovereignty of God) to become what it’s today.  The Coronas and the church leadership can determine how God is leading in their cultural context.  Certainly, another major factor is the quality of the missionaries themselves.  The Coronas are an outstanding couple who work tirelessly for the furtherance of the Gospel.

That the approach Rev. Duff developed has worked so well across so many varied situations and even cultures bears wonderful testimony as to how he was led by the Holy Spirit.

The adaptability of Village Missions will perhaps be put to its severest test in the current economic crisis.  Adapting will depend on whether God’s people feel that the ministry of Village Missions is essential and whether they are committed to having treasure in heaven.

Here are two more reasons why Village Missions should continue despite its current adversity.

Reason Six: It is important for Village Missions to continue because our approach to ministry is Biblical.

Sixty years ago, our founder, Rev. Walter Duff, Jr., described what he wanted missionaries to do in a succinct phrase: “Preach the Word and love the people.”  This phrase still captures our ministry today and is resoundingly Biblical.

Paul reflects on his ministry with the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13.  Called by God, they “had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition” (1 Thessalonians 2:2).  Several verses in this passage speak to the importance of the proclamation of the Gospel message (vss. 2-5, 9, 11, 13).  Paul “preached the Word” because he knew it to be (in contrast to the relativistic emergents of today) “. . . what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe (1 Thessalonians 2:13).  We believe that God transforms people as His Holy Spirit applies the preaching and teaching of the Word of God.

Yet Paul knew that his life had to be united with his message and that his love for the Thessalonians would and did give credibility to his message.  Paul’s love extended much beyond mere sentimentality but showed itself in a life devoted to ministering to them.  Rugged, doctrinally correct, intellectually astute Paul loved them “as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children (1 Thessalonians 2:7).  Paul says that he was willing to “to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:8).

Paul’s “loving the people” showed itself in other ways as well.  He worked incredibly hard, “working night and day” (1 Thessalonians 2:9) to bring them the Gospel.  He lived a life of complete integrity before them, not wishing to harm anyone by providing a poor example of following Christ (1 Thessalonians 2:10).  He loved them enough to not wish to build his own following, or to enrich himself but rather to exhort them constantly to “. . . walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12, see also 1 Thessalonians 2:4-6).

So, for sixty years we have looked for missionary pastors, godly shepherds who would truly love people.  We have looked for men and women who wish to be involved in the lives of the people and the communities they serve.  Finding the balance in the time required to both effectively preach and love people will always be a challenge but our approach to ministry comes right out of the Bible.

Reason Seven: It is important for Village Missions to continue because of the quality of people who serve with us.

As a Village Missionary, I only knew the missionaries serving in my district.  Since becoming director, I have had the privilege of meeting all our Village Missionaries that serve in the United States and Canada, our office staff, and several retired Village Missionaries.  The quality of the men and women who serve or have served with Village Missions continually impresses me and I thank God for the privilege of serving such a quality group of people.  They are choice servants of God.

Other people notice this as well.  At one of our annual staff conferences in Estes Park, CO, we share the conference facilities with several groups.  One such group was a gathering of internists.  Our Navajo consultant, Nelson Betoney, befriended one of the couples, an internist from Illinois.  They attended one of our evening sessions and we met.  Later Susan e-mailed me, “We were blessed to share the dining hall with your group and to hear the praises of God so naturally shared around a dinner table.  Hopefully other physicians’ families were attentive to your witness for Christ!”

I realize that Village Missions is not the only organization that has quality people.  Countless missionaries, Christian workers, and pastors serve the Lord faithfully and well.  We tend to forget this when we are exposed to the Christian celebrity who seems to be more interested in building his own empire than in building the Kingdom of God.  I am just always personally struck by the quality of the missionaries who serve with us.

This stands to reason.  God has called our Village Missionaries to serve in out-of-the way places where little opportunity for reward or recognition exists.  They are willing to go to often isolated and tough places.  Dr. John Koessler, head of the pastoral department at Moody Bible Institute and co-author with Ron Klassen of No Little Places, once referred to Village Missionaries as the “Green Berets” of rural ministry.  Not all our missionaries serve in isolated or small places but most once did and all were willing to do so.

Remarkable results have occurred over the sixty years that Village Missions has served the Lord.  I can’t help but believe that God has gathered this small band of faithful men and women to continue to do remarkable and unexpected exploits in the spiritually darkening countries of the United States and Canada.

Lord willing, in the next blog or so, I’ll finish up with the final three reasons.

The Twin Mesa Bible Church is located near Kykotsmovi, AZ.  I tried to find the actual location of Twin Mesa on Google Earth, but looks like I will need some GPS coordinates.

God’s leading to the Navajo Nation began for me in, of all places, Chicago.  I was attending my first meeting of the Association of North American Missions, held at AWANA headquarters near Chicago.  My roommate was Nelson Betoney, a Navajo pastor.  As I explained to Nelson the ministry of Village Missions—that we send a couple to a church requesting leadership and provide salary and other forms of support to the couple so that they are able to minister effectively and full time, Nelson’s interest grew.  He said to me, “The Navajos do not need more churches.  But many of our Bible College trained men do not go into the ministry because of the high unemployment on our reservation.  Our pastors must work full time in order to provide a living for their families.  So many of our churches are weak or are without a pastor.  It sounds to me that Village Missions would be a good fit.”

My own visits to the Navajo Nation confirmed what Nelson told me.  I met extremely sharp young men who had graduated from Indian Bible College, yet were not in full time ministry because of the economics.  I met Pastor John Trujillo, pastor of the Red Lake Grace Bible Church, who works full time as a custodian in order to be able to pastor his church.

In many ways, the situation is not that different in Anglo country churches.  Churches tend to languish when the pastor has to work in addition to the ministry.  They struggle to find a pastor who is committed to their church and area and not looking simply for experience until he gains a “desirable” suburban church.  Village Missions’ approach in which we provide effective support and accountability and yet the independence of the local church is maintained has proven extremely effective.  God has used our approach in the Hispanic church we serve in Avenal, CA.  Many have come to Christ and the church is over 200 in attendance.

We are not so naïve to think that this ministry will be easy.  Navajos, rightfully so, are ready to move on from dependence upon mission organizations.  I believe the independence of the local church under Village Missions will be a good fit but they will have to learn to trust us.  Many of the Navajo churches may never reach the self-supporting level but some of our Anglo churches will never reach that level.  In a future blog, I will explore the idea of whether a church can be an indigenous church and still receive financial support.  For some understanding of the debate read this article by Marvin Olasky in World Magazine.

Our approach will have to be sensitive to the Navajo culture.  We’ll have to depend on Nelson, Albert, and other mission organizations such as UIM International, as well as our own sixty years of experience in keeping country churches alive.  Yet I believe that great potential exists for spiritually vital Navajo churches to exist.

If you would like to see some pictures of our Navajo ministry go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6031&l=b013e&id=604744023

I have also provided a link if you would like to give toward this project.

http://www.firstgiving.com/vmnavajo

All were extremely sharp couples but particularly gratifying to me was the fact that four of the couples came from fields served by Village Missions.  At least two of the four and perhaps more came to Christ and were discipled by Village Missionaries.  I am extremely grateful that we are being used by God to develop our own missionaries!  Please pray for all these couples as they raise prayer and financial support and as we pray about their first assignment.

I have, however, been discouraged by some recent resignations.  Generally, it appears to require at least ten new Village Missionaries each year just to keep pace with resignations and retirements.  The spiritual need is so great and without missionaries, many churches will permanently close.  We could be so much more proactive in finding fields if we just had the missionaries to send!  Please pray that missionaries will stay the course in their calling by God and that we will grow in our recruitment of new missionaries.

Here are some of my humble suggestions for staying the course in ministry:

1. Cultivate your relationship with your spouse.  Make sure that your spouse is your best friend and that you have enjoyable times together in ministry.  Constantly work at a team approach to ministry.  Carole so often provides the lift and support I need in ministry.
2. Give all your expectations over to God.  You cannot produce spiritual growth in your people.  Your job is to be faithful in the ministry, growing on your own, and letting God direct His harvest.  Otherwise, you will become angry and bitterly disappointed with your people.
3. Make sure that God truly comes first in your life.  Ours truly is the life of the cross in which we forsake all to follow Christ.  We must never allow family, location, circumstances, possessions, or any other person or thing to interfere with our following Christ.  If you are leaving ministry or even changing ministry, make sure that you are still carrying your cross and following the path of Christ.
4. Remind yourself of your call.  I assume that you once became convinced that God called you into this ministry.  He did not call you conditioned upon results or even your enjoyment of the ministry.  We serve at the pleasure of the Master and only for His good purposes and not our own.  I am completely puzzled as to why God would call me, of all people, to do anything for Him.  As the decision to obey God’s call was an extremely important decision, so the decision to abandon God’s call, with the possibility that you might be disobeying Him, is extremely important.  Leaving pastoral ministry is not like changing jobs!
5. Develop, by God’s grace, godly leaders around you and be patient as they develop.  A group of godly men shared with me and were partners with me in my most difficult time of ministry—the church fire.  Other situations arose during those times that were even more difficult.  But we prayed and worked together.  Even having one godly man helps.
6. Laugh at yourself and refuse to take yourself too seriously.  Life is a mere vapor and we are but blades of grass!  God Himself holds all the issues of enormity and eternity in His hand, not our hand.  Therefore, we can laugh and poke fun at ourselves and just plain lighten up.
7. Talk to your District Representative.  We want you to do well and for you to stay the course.  He and his wife have many resources available to help you.  The greatest resource, their listening ear, is instantly available.  They will not think less of you if you tell them you are discouraged or thinking of quitting.  They might have some counsel that will prove to be extremely helpful.  Most of all, they can begin praying for you specifically.  Don’t you realize that Satan will gain a great victory if you quit?  Have others join you in the spiritual battle.
8. Study and apply Hebrews 12:1-3.  This passage speaks of our life as an agony race that we must keep running.  We are to run the race that God has set before us.  Running this race requires memory—remembering those (the cloud of witnesses) who stood firm by faith.  It requires discipline as we get rid of things that weigh us down and trip us up.  Most of all it requires focus, as we look away to Jesus.  We remember what He endured on our behalf.  His great joy was redeeming you and I.  What a joy it is as a Village Missionary pastor to share His joy of announcing the Gospel!

I pray for the day when we advance the cause of the Gospel in rural North America by finding the churches about to close and having the missionaries to send them, so that we have hundreds of spiritually vital churches.  Stay the course and develop some missionaries!

15Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

I want to make the most of my time in my walk with the Lord and in my various roles as husband, father, and Director of Village Missions.  May His sufficiency enable us all to make the most of our time!

Thinking about time reminds me that it has been some “time,” October to be exact, since I updated you about the Mission.  God is moving in many exciting ways, and I would like to take the “time” to share with you some of those ways.

First, I am praising the Lord for the response to our appeal for staff conferences.  As of today, we have received about $50,000 in donations.  I had really no idea what to expect.  This response demonstrates, of course, God working, but also the depth of good feeling about Village Missions.  I have also noticed that some donors to missionaries who hadn’t given in some time not only gave to the staff conference need but also to their missionary.  I really praise the Lord for this outcome for the Mission and missionary.

We had quite a challenge working with our software.  We have recently upgraded all of our Stewardship and Accounting software through the Murdock grant we received.  We are still learning more about the software and integrating the accounting and stewardship areas.  Without going into details, we had some difficulty matching a missionary with their donor.  I personally signed about 200 letters to certain donors that support missionaries and wrote a small note.  I wanted to encourage and thank them personally for supporting their Village Missionary.  Again, without getting a formal report, it seems that at least some have responded with increased giving to their missionary.

A very significant development is the approval by the Board of the Statement of Purpose and Values.  You will find a copy of this statement in this issue.  I believe that this purpose statement describes what we are trying to accomplish as we provide leadership to churches.  It is as relevant for the large church as it is for our smaller church because, small or large, we are trying to develop spiritually vital churches.  In the coming months we will be exploring any other changes that need to be made in light of this new Purpose Statement.

The Board also approved a Sliding Scale for new churches requesting leadership.  As I have mentioned in previous articles, I have been concerned about the inability of some small churches to afford us, especially with the high costs of the Benefit Plan.  The sliding scale works like this:  A church will be required to give 10% of their general fund offering to Village Missions.  If they have some unusual expenses such as having to rent a parsonage or church building, this amount will be deducted from the remaining offering.  We will allow the church to have $600 per month for operating expenses and outside missions giving.  The remainder will first go toward the Benefit Plan and then toward missionary salary.  As the offerings increase, more will go toward the Benefit Plan and salary.  The sliding scale will be helpful to the churches and will result in more going toward our costs as the church grows.  I am very excited about the great opportunity this will provide for struggling churches to receive leadership.

The Board also gave approval to move forward in exploring an expansion in Alaska and in the Navajo Nation.  District Representative Vern Wilkinson and Village Missionary Craig Norwood did some survey work in Alaska in the early fall.  They found many closed churches or churches needing leadership.  Their visit resulted in a request for leadership from Nenana, AK, near Fairbanks.  We are still working out the details of the costs and our strategy for raising funds for the project.  A proposal will then be brought before the Board.

Mike Jones and I visited the Navajo Nation in December.  We learned of many churches without leadership or with pastors who were forced to work full-time in outside jobs.  We met several young men who had been to Bible College but were unable to serve as pastors because of the lack of funds.  One sharp young man, Daniel, works during the summer to save enough money so that he can minister fulltime as a youth pastor during the remaining months.  An Anglo pastor and missionary who was born and raised on the reservation told us that various mission organizations have struggled with turning leadership over to Navajo pastors because they have no financial support.  Consequently, many of the churches are weak and ineffective.  It appears that the ministry of Village Missions would fit quite well.  As with Alaska, we are working on a plan to present to the Board for funding and for providing leadership.

The need in Alaska and in the Navajo Nation is great; much like the need across rural North America when Rev. Duff founded Village Missions.  I believe that God is leading us to continue supplying leadership to country churches (the sliding scale) and to reach new peoples and areas (Alaska, Hispanics, Native/First Nation) in rural North America.  Please pray with me for wisdom and God’s direction as we move forward.  I believe that this is the way that God would have Village Missions make the “most of the time” until Christ returns.