Mobility
and
Missions
I have seen mobile libraries, mobile medical clinics, and a missionary had a mobile theater running evangelical films. I know there are mobile training centers in China. What about mobile churches? I’ve known itinerary / mobile missionaries who travel from village to village, town to town, and country to country. Many years ago, CCM had a service team traveling to different cities in the States. In Africa, there is the Mobile Member Care Team serving missionaries facing crisis. Mobility and missions indeed are meeting different needs around the globe. There is nothing new under the sun. The fact of the matter about mobility is … it takes energy (physical, spiritual, and emotional) to run around. Those of us who are in missions and mobile are getting up in age. As we are facing the missional needs of this twenty-first century, I ask- where have all the young missionaries gone? Long time passing… Where have all the young missionaries gone? Long time ago… gone to market places everyone… when will they ever learn? When will they ever learn… that youthfulness will not last forever? When will they ever learn… that missions opportunities will not wait? Recently, I ran into a mobile missionary/ pastor in his eighties traveling with two younger partners as a team. What a beautiful picture! If you are an older, more-experienced missionary- won’t you invite a younger person or two to accompany you? If you are a young person who is looking to see if missions is for you- ask to see if you can go to assist and learn alongside a seasoned servant of the Lord. I know, I know, you can think of hundreds of excuses banning this idea- too costly, too unpractical, too unconventional, and too inconvenient. Well, let’s ask our Lord, shall we?
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While I was flipping the four available channels on my television set in Hong Kong for relaxation, a documentary on a mobile court in China caught my attention. I saw a team of three or four men carrying a wooden national emblem of China weighting 30-40 kg on their backs walking to a remote village to serve as judges among one of the minority groups in China. Upon arrival, they asked the villagers to bring three wooden tables and chairs and set them up in the open courtyard. They hung up a plastic banner with “The People’s Republic of China’s Official Court” written on it; the three men’s names were written on separate papers placed properly in front of them on the tables. Thus this mobile court began its session. They were there to settle a divorce case and invited the whole village to witness this open court as a means to increase their understanding of China’s legal system. 