Ministry Founder: U.S. Churches Missing Out with Just Short-Term Mission Efforts
by Allie Martin
June 7, 2005
(AgapePress) - The founder of Gospel for Asia says most churches in the United States don't have a proper understanding of missions. For many, he says, mission work is thought of as a necessary evil.K.P. Yohannon started Gospel for Asia more than 30 years ago as a way to support native missionaries in Asia. Now Yohannon travels to churches across America, sharing his vision for U.S. churches raising support for native workers. But it is unfortunate, he says, that many American churches believe missions programs consist only of one- to two-week overseas trips.
"It's very sad that churches are sending people for two weeks, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars saying and claiming they are doing missions," the GFA founder says. "Dear me -- they don't even have time [in such a short period] ... to understand even what is going on."
He laments that lasting change often does not occur in those who limit themselves to the short-term work. "I think it is good when people go to get an experience and exposure to the reality of the lost world that their heart will be burdened," the mission founder says. "[But] when they come back [from short-term mission work], they care for nothing in terms of people all around them that do not know the Lord."
Yohannon encourages Christians in America to fast and pray at least once a week for unreached people groups. Still, he says, most churches in the U.S. set aside few resources to reach the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
"In the Bible, everything is missions," he exclaims. "The whole New Testament church came into being because of the missions they were doing. Again, this has to do with the shepherd of the congregation and the leaders -- actually [it has to do with] their passion and their willingness to lead the people with a life example instead of just words."
GFA supports more than 14,000 church planters in the heart of the "10/40 Window."
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
