MTW Report – Susan Hunt
(Speech to pastors and elders at PCA
General Assembly, 2002)
Why go on a short-term mission trip? I have asked this question many times. I was convinced that a trip would not increase my love for the Lord or His great commission.
I was wrong.
It all began when Gene and I went on a vision trip to Turkey and Ukraine. I met women . . . and made friends. Four of them came to Atlanta for the '99 WIC Conference, and I returned last summer with a team from my church.
In April, a team of nine women went to Japan and spoke in women's conferences in seven cities. This was at the invitation of a Japanese pastor who sent ten women to the '99 WIC conference.
What have I learned?
A mission trip is good stewardship.
In the PCA, the Lord has given us incredible opportunities to learn and grow in the grace and knowledge of Him. In my case, God has given me a passion to teach women what He says about womanhood and woman's place in His church. Frankly, it never occurred to me that what I wrote and taught was transferable to other cultures, but I learned that women all over the world are asking the same questions and need the same answers.
In Japan and Ukraine there are more women than men in the church, and the prevailing question among the women is: the men are not assuming leadership, so why shouldn't we take charge? They have been taught the biblical position of male headship, but it seems that it is difficult for them to joyfully embrace that position until they hear from female lips that this is a good thing. But this is the covenant way, as Paul told Titus: teach sound doctrine, and be sure that older women are equipped to help younger women apply that doctrine into their situations.
I encourage you to send women to the MTW conference in November
so that PCA women will have a global perspective of the opportunities
and needs to spiritually mother our sisters around the world.
The second thing I've learned is that going is a matter of obedience.
I did not want to go to Japan. I felt obligated because they sent women here. I also believed that God had opened this door and it would be wrong for me not to go.
Duty and obedience are not wrong, and sometimes it is all we can offer.
But the wonder is that as we walk in the way of duty and obedience, we encounter grace. That happened for me in Japan.
On the first day, the Japanese pastor who invited me explained his reason for the conferences. He said, "When the women attended the WIC conference in Atlanta, they returned with brighter faces. I want women all over Japan to learn what they learned."
I wept. My heart was softening. I, too, wanted them to have brighter faces that reflect God's glory.
At one conference, a woman asked, "Do you mean that God designed everything and each thing? Do you mean He designed me as a woman?"
When I answered yes she gasped, "That is so wonderful!" We embraced and we both wept. At that moment I realized that my heart overflowed with love for that country and people. Along the way, God had stretched my heart and filled it with more grace. And in the process I knew and loved Him more.
Third, I think a missions trip strengthens our marriage.
When Gene and I go on mission trips together, it is a wonderful shared experience.
When we go separately, our common commitment to God's glory, even though we do not like the separation, is another kind of shared experience.
Fourth, when an individual or group goes on a mission trip, it strengthens their local church.
The Sunday after we returned, I was stunned at the number of people who told me they had prayed every day. I physically went to Japan, but our whole covenant family made that trip on their knees.
Fifth, I believe it strengthens our families.
We have ten grandchildren-- I don't like being away from them. But I want them to know that they are part of a glorious church that extends through history and around the world.
All of our children and grandchildren were with us the Sunday before I left. Our missions committee sent two other women from our church, and on that Sunday our elders commissioned us. We knelt before the congregation and the elders laid hands on us and prayed.
After lunch that afternoon, I gathered the grandchildren and told them again where I was going and why. And then I asked them to pray for me. Immediately, they all got up and stood around me. Imitating the elders, they solemnly laid hands on me and one by one they prayed.
And I pray that they will never forget . . .
I pray that God in His mercy will use me to give them a glimpse of the bigness of Him and the bigness of His kingdom.
For information about mission trips to Japan, contact Bart Johnson via e-mail at bart@bartjohnson.net