Sadly, my four paragraphs of comments disappeared when I pressed the back arrow!! So this will be a shorter version of the earlier version, with some additional comments where my back arrow led me astray!! Mike Kiekover here...
In order to keep my train of thought going, I will paraphrase my earlier comments...
I only have the prior 11 posts to refer to in my response.
CRC missions (and this covers both CRWRC and CRWM) have done a great job of educating - training students from early elementary age through seminary. We've also been very successful in the area of health and health administration. But the days of sending a missionary out to be the teacher of students in a single, isolated school are over, in my opinion.
My experience is entirely in Nigeria, so it may not apply to some other areas. My thoughts are personal reflections based on my years of experience in Nigeria.
The CRC has failed to realize the power and impact that Christian businessmen have in the church! By this, I am not referring to local churches here in North America. I am referring to local churches in the country where missions is taking place - in my case, Nigeria. They have the means to empower and support the church, not just our foreign investments! We need to foster and to encourage them, mentoring them to become more productive and to better live their Christian walk Monday thru Saturday.
But we need to do so very carefully and in a new way. I have a very hard time accepting that we can preach to a Nigerian how to live as a Christian businessman, when none of us have been a Nigerian businessman and know how business operates in a highly corrupt environment. My discussion on how to avoid corruption truly has little merit when I live in a house built by mission hands, in a compound secured by 24 hour guards and towering walls with razor wiring atop them, being paid a US dollar salary and not having to worry about my income source being shut down by corrupt officials or goverment employees!
By encouraging and opening opportunities for the businessman to be successful, we only empower the church to be more productive and responsive to the needs of its congregants thru the success of the businessman. Such a church is able to go out into its own community and meet the needs of those around them in ways that show the love of Christ most effectively.
What we need now is to press the missionary to become the trainer of trainers. The high school teacher needs to spread his or her wealth of information and cutural awareness with those within the community who are also teachers. He or she should facilitate and open the door to hosting and accomodating educators from NA to lead short seminars to empower and morally support those in similar fields.
The administrator needs to lead seminars on accounting to local church accountants, giving them the tools necessary to making their jobs more fulfilling.
The mechanic needs to run a for-profit shop, offering training sessions regularly to other mechanics in the area, showing them how to read wiring diagrams, helping them to access repair information and training seminars, both online and by hosting people from NA to lead seminars.
It's thru training and living a life outside the comfort of those walls that we will truly have an impact on the society at large who so desperately need to see Christ's love in a tangible way!
I guess I wrote enough for y'all to ponder for now! Blessings!
Wow! A lot of communication has gone on since I last spent any real time reading thru all your posts and responses!
I don't claim to have the answers to most of these posts. Dan, I agree with much of what you say, but I must admit some of it does elude me some... I will not comment on broad concepts, but rather, make it more personal so that one can understand how I see myself fitting in the broader scheme of mission evangelism.
Let me set the record straight on who I am and what I've been involved in. I was born in Nigeria to missionary parents. While I do not have a great deal of formal training, I found myself back in Nigeria as the Mobile Engineer in 1991 and was there until 2007. The reasons for my deciding to leave at that time were numerous, but one significant one was that I felt that in order to have a greater impact, I needed to return to the US, get caught up on the field of my expertise, and, God willing, return to Nigeria to run a for-profit automotive repair shop in the capital city of Abuja. I have now been in the US working as an employee of a small local garage - after having been in a very large Toyota dealership briefly before that.
I firmly believe that a Christian business is where I personally will have the greatest impact - both economically and spiritually. I also feel that I need to connect with fellow Nigerian Christian businessmen who have been and are successful financially, and instill in them the vision for my business concept. I want the investment in capital to come from people within Nigeria who are excited about what I can bring to the table and see this as a profitable venture, taking ownership of it; while also seeing this as a way to expand Christian values and witness. My business concept includes as a service to the community (but one that is covered financially) bringing in experts in the field for the purpose of training (from NA), while also giving these experts an awareness of how business can be very different than it is here, still being profitable and, even more importantly, opening their eyes to great opportunities that exist.
Partnering with Nigerians is of the greatest import to being successful, both in business and ministry! I hesitate to separate the two, as my work IS my mission! It's not something that can be separated. But the key here is not to get the bulk of our capital from outside the country, but it's to get it from people who LIVE there and who understand the complexities of doing business in a corrupt environment. It's also imperative that one align oneself with those of sufficient influence so as to boycott some of the lower level corruption.
All this said, I was at one point, an investor and part-owner in a locally owned and operated (Nigerian) ISP. We ran a profitable little two cafes within the same city, even setting up a franchise location until a few of the investors become greedy and solicited large investments. We very quickly outpaced our ability to effectively manage our assets. We lost large sums of cash to fraudulent employees and poor business practices. For this reason, it's imperative that the business be very well managed and be operated not as a non-profit or as a charity, but as a profitabe venture.
Somehow, in my opinion, we've got to excite local affluent investors to invest in businesses run by Christians in their own country. If they can see how partnering with someone with expertise in a field that they lack it, the venture can be amicably symbiotic.
I must restate that I don't claim to have all the answers, and that this is a work in progress, but I feel called to put my gifts in a place where it's needed most and that I understand better than most.
A dim candle in a dark room lightens the entire room. A dim candle in a well lit room has little value...
Posted in: Concept of a Global Missions' Agency
Sadly, my four paragraphs of comments disappeared when I pressed the back arrow!! So this will be a shorter version of the earlier version, with some additional comments where my back arrow led me astray!! Mike Kiekover here...
In order to keep my train of thought going, I will paraphrase my earlier comments...
I only have the prior 11 posts to refer to in my response.
CRC missions (and this covers both CRWRC and CRWM) have done a great job of educating - training students from early elementary age through seminary. We've also been very successful in the area of health and health administration. But the days of sending a missionary out to be the teacher of students in a single, isolated school are over, in my opinion.
My experience is entirely in Nigeria, so it may not apply to some other areas. My thoughts are personal reflections based on my years of experience in Nigeria.
The CRC has failed to realize the power and impact that Christian businessmen have in the church! By this, I am not referring to local churches here in North America. I am referring to local churches in the country where missions is taking place - in my case, Nigeria. They have the means to empower and support the church, not just our foreign investments! We need to foster and to encourage them, mentoring them to become more productive and to better live their Christian walk Monday thru Saturday.
But we need to do so very carefully and in a new way. I have a very hard time accepting that we can preach to a Nigerian how to live as a Christian businessman, when none of us have been a Nigerian businessman and know how business operates in a highly corrupt environment. My discussion on how to avoid corruption truly has little merit when I live in a house built by mission hands, in a compound secured by 24 hour guards and towering walls with razor wiring atop them, being paid a US dollar salary and not having to worry about my income source being shut down by corrupt officials or goverment employees!
By encouraging and opening opportunities for the businessman to be successful, we only empower the church to be more productive and responsive to the needs of its congregants thru the success of the businessman. Such a church is able to go out into its own community and meet the needs of those around them in ways that show the love of Christ most effectively.
What we need now is to press the missionary to become the trainer of trainers. The high school teacher needs to spread his or her wealth of information and cutural awareness with those within the community who are also teachers. He or she should facilitate and open the door to hosting and accomodating educators from NA to lead short seminars to empower and morally support those in similar fields.
The administrator needs to lead seminars on accounting to local church accountants, giving them the tools necessary to making their jobs more fulfilling.
The mechanic needs to run a for-profit shop, offering training sessions regularly to other mechanics in the area, showing them how to read wiring diagrams, helping them to access repair information and training seminars, both online and by hosting people from NA to lead seminars.
It's thru training and living a life outside the comfort of those walls that we will truly have an impact on the society at large who so desperately need to see Christ's love in a tangible way!
I guess I wrote enough for y'all to ponder for now! Blessings!
Mike
Posted in: Concept of a Global Missions' Agency
Wow! A lot of communication has gone on since I last spent any real time reading thru all your posts and responses!
I don't claim to have the answers to most of these posts. Dan, I agree with much of what you say, but I must admit some of it does elude me some... I will not comment on broad concepts, but rather, make it more personal so that one can understand how I see myself fitting in the broader scheme of mission evangelism.
Let me set the record straight on who I am and what I've been involved in. I was born in Nigeria to missionary parents. While I do not have a great deal of formal training, I found myself back in Nigeria as the Mobile Engineer in 1991 and was there until 2007. The reasons for my deciding to leave at that time were numerous, but one significant one was that I felt that in order to have a greater impact, I needed to return to the US, get caught up on the field of my expertise, and, God willing, return to Nigeria to run a for-profit automotive repair shop in the capital city of Abuja. I have now been in the US working as an employee of a small local garage - after having been in a very large Toyota dealership briefly before that.
I firmly believe that a Christian business is where I personally will have the greatest impact - both economically and spiritually. I also feel that I need to connect with fellow Nigerian Christian businessmen who have been and are successful financially, and instill in them the vision for my business concept. I want the investment in capital to come from people within Nigeria who are excited about what I can bring to the table and see this as a profitable venture, taking ownership of it; while also seeing this as a way to expand Christian values and witness. My business concept includes as a service to the community (but one that is covered financially) bringing in experts in the field for the purpose of training (from NA), while also giving these experts an awareness of how business can be very different than it is here, still being profitable and, even more importantly, opening their eyes to great opportunities that exist.
Partnering with Nigerians is of the greatest import to being successful, both in business and ministry! I hesitate to separate the two, as my work IS my mission! It's not something that can be separated. But the key here is not to get the bulk of our capital from outside the country, but it's to get it from people who LIVE there and who understand the complexities of doing business in a corrupt environment. It's also imperative that one align oneself with those of sufficient influence so as to boycott some of the lower level corruption.
All this said, I was at one point, an investor and part-owner in a locally owned and operated (Nigerian) ISP. We ran a profitable little two cafes within the same city, even setting up a franchise location until a few of the investors become greedy and solicited large investments. We very quickly outpaced our ability to effectively manage our assets. We lost large sums of cash to fraudulent employees and poor business practices. For this reason, it's imperative that the business be very well managed and be operated not as a non-profit or as a charity, but as a profitabe venture.
Somehow, in my opinion, we've got to excite local affluent investors to invest in businesses run by Christians in their own country. If they can see how partnering with someone with expertise in a field that they lack it, the venture can be amicably symbiotic.
I must restate that I don't claim to have all the answers, and that this is a work in progress, but I feel called to put my gifts in a place where it's needed most and that I understand better than most.
A dim candle in a dark room lightens the entire room. A dim candle in a well lit room has little value...