Returned tentmakers into mentors

When tentmakers return home they go through what is commonly known as “return culture shock”. Adjusting to life as it used to be seems easy enough, but the surprise is that they have changed as they have seen and experienced another culture and been impacted by it.

I often hear how hard it was to adjust to no one asking them about their faith anymore. As tentmakers, they always had people around them asking about God or what they believe. At home, hardly anyone asks about faith matters.

The home church has changed while they were abroad, some friends have left, new people have come, perhaps the pastor that sent them is now gone as well. Finding their place at the church they earnestly missed is challenging. Some find it impossible to adjust and thus change churches. Continue reading →

I received a phone call from a returned tentmaker couple saying their time abroad had been a total failure. They did not see anyone become a follower of Jesus and in their situation it had been nearly impossible to make relationships with local people.

They had come to the conclusion that tentmaking as mission does not work.

We agreed to meet together so I could hear their full story. Continue reading →

She’s a nurse, a MENA Total Employment tentmaker serving in a closed country for over 14 years.  She shares a brief window here into the countless opportunities God gives her–and the uncanny creativity she has for using them. She is totally employed in her God-given mission  to touch others with encouragement, good advice, spiritual truth, and a picture of Jesus’ help in their great need.

Mariam, what has kept you in a foreign country, supporting yourself, and in the same job for all these years?
I love my work!  This is my chance to give back all the opportunities and blessings I’ve been given.  I have a purpose for being here.  I can bring joy into the lives of the people around me.  I love bringing smiles to their faces.  Even when they’re on their sick bed, I want people to say, “I want to come back here!”  I like to think they want more joy, more peace, more of what they’ve experienced here. Continue reading →

The book opens with a story about a teacher who presented the Gospel story to a group of bible college students. The presenter left out any mention of Jesus. Nobody noticed. Even when he told them something was missing and asked them to identify what was left out the students could not do it.

The purpose of the illustration was to demonstrate how we often are so wrapped up in our doctrines and facts about the Bible that we can leave Jesus out of the conversation and still think we have covered all the important teaching. The problem is we are just presenting information and not the person of Jesus.

Medearis summarizes, “I was so busy trying to convert people to Christianity that Jesus never had a chance.” Continue reading →