A Survey of CBF Missions... some of it by Patrick R. Anderson

Essays by Pat

Imagine being assigned to evangelize all of Florida's population. One of the CBF teams is working with an unreached people group of 12,000,000. Some assignments aren't quite that large. How would you feel to be called to reach a population of people roughly the size of Jacksonville, or Tampa, or Pensacola...with not a single church or other witness among the people.

CBF is like the 19th century Texas Rangers whose motto used to be, "One Riot One Ranger." Ours is "One People Group One Missionary" almost. .

In May I was fortunate to visit CBF missions points in the Middle East, Indonesia, and Thailand. It was a most encouraging and challenging experience. I stayed with CBF missionaries almost every night and shared meals in their homes. When we went to restaurants to eat, I picked up the check and paid -actually, you paid. I knew that the Florida CBF people would not want me to free-load off of our best and brightest half a world away!

The price was right most of the time. For instance, in Surabaya, I (the last of the big time spenders!) picked up the check in a very good Chinese restaurant for five of us adults and one child, a full meal with coffee and dessert...all for about $9.00. Our people in that region of the world live in an environment of a strong dollar and weak local currency, something good for the CBF budget but hard on the local people.

The trip around the world had two primary purposes. First, I wanted to see and hear for myself the evangelical dream developed in places I had never visited. I wanted our missionaries on the field to show me and tell me about the obstacles they face and the strategies to overcome them. Second, I wanted to learn how to help that dream come true, how to link CBF-Florida people and churches and resources to the work being done in very difficult places.

Unreached people groups are unreached for good reasons. As Keith Parks says, all the easy places have been taken! CBF has determined to use the limited resources and personnel entrusted to us to focus on hard-to-reach people. They are dominated by Islam, or Buddhism, or Hinduism, or animism. They are often remote, isolated, and cut off from outside influences. I experienced an up close and personal look at some of those people groups.

I was able to sit on the ground next to a fire pit in a tent and drink tea with Arafat-looking bedouins. I brushed up against the revolution in Indonesia, but not before experiencing a unique people group, the Balinese, people enslaved to a fundamentalist brand of Hinduism which requires total devotion of its unquestioning adherents. I sat with village head men in "impossible to penetrate" Muslim villages in Southern Thailand and listened as first-time-ever plans were laid to bring American Christians into the villages, something previously thought to be life threatening. I shared a meal in the shade of a tree with a group of hill tribe people in Northern Thailand, people without even so much as a single verse of Scripture translated into their native language, people who are oppressed and enslaved by human beings and fears of the spirits they believe to lurk all around them. I sat with the poorest of the poor hill tribe people in the mountains near the Burma border whose men had been unjustly imprisoned and who face the real possibility of starvation. They too are without Bible, enslaved to fears of spirits, imprisoned in abject poverty, lost and undone.

I was moved emotionally and spiritually as I witnessed these things in the company of CBF people who have gained the trust and acceptance of these people. My evangelical imagination was stimulated as I listened to strategies, heard testimonies, and discussed both the disappointments and successes with our people working among these peoples. I understand better the constant struggle with difficult languages, the enormity of the challenge.

I gained a new and deeper appreciation for the very special gifts and abilities of our workers. Each has obstacles to overcome, inconveniences to endure, hardships to suffer. But in all my travels and with each family I visited I heard no complaining, no poor-me commiserating. As some said, "I cannot believe I am being paid to do this. This is the most exciting fun I have ever had in my life!" I was thrilled at their quick and easy laughter, their sense of humor, their deep and abiding love for the people they are called to minister to. They have realistic optimism, patience, tolerance, resolve, and creativity.

CBF missions does not pop out of an egg or come from a cookie-cutter approach. Each situation and each people group has unique challenges, and CBF is blessed to have a cadre of smart, imaginative missionaries who do not need to have someone in America tell them what to do or how to do it.

I was especially happy to see letters from prayer groups and missions groups in Florida proudly displayed for me. Many of you have blessed and encouraged them. Some of our churches in Florida have already sent volunteer teams to some of these places, and others have plans to do so in the near future. I want to stimulate more of us to do that.

We all need to pray for CBF missions more and support the work better.