He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30)
When the work we are stewarding becomes led by trusted, competent team members, we will naturally and perhaps to the envy of some, transition from doing something to letting go and doing nothing.
Independence is a necessary milestone of maturity and a coming of age. When a ministry is able to stand on its own, chart its own course and fund itself, the scaffold of our presence as missionaries can and must be dismantled and removed. Inter- dependence, the hallmark of successful mission work, can then materialise and take centerstage. We make a way and then get out of the way.
The Church in our places of ministry has matured and the missions landscape has also evolved in tandem. Gone are the days when we had to cart bibles and medicines across borders or assemble our team of medical staff or educators to the missions field. There are now a slew of publishers, pharmacies and no lack of competent and compassionate hands and boots on the ground ready to serve their people. There are also more Christians in government able to shape policies and bring systemic changes to their own communities.
This shift is evident in how most of this year’s articles are written by local disciples who have taken over the mantle of leadership.
It is true that even more challenging than doing something, is doing nothing! Yet difficult and uncomfortable as it is to decrease and descend, there is nothing more satisfying than reading faith-filled write-ups of the next generation of missional disciples and witnessing them envisioning the future with the Holy Spirit.
A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, 'We did it ourselves!'
Lao zi (circa 604 – 531 BC)
