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From nearby communities to faraway lands, small churches can have an incredible impact on global missions.
In this episode, Jeff & Christine Stanfield of World Gospel Mission share their experiences with small churches throughout their decades of missionary service. From their time in Africa to now living stateside, their heart for missions remains constant.
Whether your church is already deep in supporting missionaries or just exploring the possibility, listen in to learn a few common mistakes to avoid and how to get started in building stronger partnerships.
Links Mentioned:
Connect with Jeff & Christine Stanfield:
https://www.wgm.org
jeff.stanfield@wgm.org
christine.stanfield@wgm.org
Small Church Network: https://smallchurchministry.com/network/
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058: Small Churches & Global Missions: How To Build True Partnerships | Jeff & Christine Stanfield From World Gospel Mission
Laurie Graham 0:01
Hey, this is Laurie Graham. Welcome to the Small Church Ministry Podcast.
Laurie Graham 0:14
Hey, welcome back to the Small Church Ministry Podcast where we are all about joining God at work right where He has planted. We believe God is very much at work right now in small places, all over the globe. In fact, we really believe that small church ministry can be the very model of Jesus-style ministry. So that’s what we’re about here and I’m happy you’re listening. We’re in the middle of a series talking about the opportunity for small churches to be involved in global missions. Like Acts 1:8 talks about, you know, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria,” and even, right, to the ends of the earth.
So whether your church is already involved in missions, or you are personally, or wondering how to do it better or different or deeper, or even involve others, please listen in. Today, Christine and Jeff Stanfield are joining us to share about their experience and heart for the Gospel all over the world, and where God has led them, how they’ve seen small churches making incredible impact. And so let me just welcome you to the podcast, Jeff and Christine. I am thrilled to spend even just a few more minutes with you like, it’s just such a joy in my heart!
Jeff Stanfield 1:27
Well, it’s good to be with you too, Laurie, it is, and just exciting for what God is doing through you in the ministries to small churches, and to be a part of this podcast is just a blessing to us as well, to know that there’s someone out there really promoting missions is even more exciting to us!
Laurie Graham 1:48
Well, I was just having so much fun before we came live, just, just thanking Jeff and Christine for educating me because I’ve been involved in churches my whole life, and I know some about missions. I’ve done some mission trips, we’ve supported missionaries, but man, there is so much more relational connection and partnership. And so that’s why we’re diving into this series. So you are educating me and a whole bunch of other people as we share our experiences together, but Jeff and Christine, could you introduce yourself, just talk about the work you’re doing now, where God has led you? Just a little bit about you know, where you’ve been and what you’re doing now and that transition?
Jeff Stanfield 2:24
Well, yeah, we’re just happy to share with you and give a little foundation background to where we’ve come from. We have been serving with World Gospel Mission for over 30 years in East Africa and Kenya. First of all, we went in 1990, spent 21 years there serving at a Mission Hospital named Tenwek. Hospital, that our mission partners with there. It’s a very large Mission Hospital. Christine was involved in nursing, there teaching in the School of Nursing, and I was the IT guy for many years. And both of us though, a major component of our professional ministries there, was training Africans to come behind us, and ultimately working ourselves out of jobs. And so that was the focus of our day-to-day ministries Monday through Friday, but also beyond that was connecting in the community with the local churches, there helping to shape the church and help the church be the church they need to be in sharing the gospel there, along with our ministries there at Tenwek Hospital.
Jeff Stanfield 3:32
So those were our first 21 years of service. And then we shifted over to a field that WGN has worked, they have in the country of Uganda, which is right next door in East Africa, right along the equator, just like Kenya is, and serve there in church partnership there, mentoring and developing leaders there within the church. A wonderful relational ministry there, but also serving as our team leader for our missionaries based there. Just wonderful years of nearly 30 years on the ground, serving the Lord there before the Lord called us out to give back to our missionaries there in the form of member care. Being pastors to our missionaries there, using the wisdom and experience we’ve had to come alongside younger missionaries that come from a whole different generation and are, are facing challenges, but but being there to encourage them, to walk alongside them, to pray with them, and help them on their journey. So now we are Africa Leaders for Member Health of our missionary staff in East Africa. Just enjoying that opportunity.
Laurie Graham 4:43
And I know you’re not in Africa anymore. You’re in Indiana, right?
Jeff Stanfield 4:46
Right. We’re based at our headquarters here in Marion, Indiana, living in the Midwest. So we’re enjoying our time and living here.
Christine Stanfield 4:55
And then we traveled back to Africa to be with our colleagues there periodically through each year.
Jeff Stanfield 5:00
Right.
Laurie Graham 5:01
Well, before we jump into the whole small church thing, Christine, what has it been like to shift from being, you know, boots on the ground in Africa versus like being a support, like here at home, and I know you travel back and forth, but what does that transition been like for you?
Christine Stanfield 5:16
It’s been difficult in some ways, and it seemed very natural in other ways. If we can look back and see how Jesus had been preparing us for this transition and had been laying the foundation for it through our own experiences, through our family, I mean, gracious, He invited us to come live in Indiana. And it just happened that several years ago, our daughter married an Indiana man, so now we live actually in the same timezone, the same state as our, our daughter and son in law and grandchildren. So that’s beautiful! So there’s so many ways that Jesus had been preparing us for that, but it’s hard. We didn’t know how to live in America. America changed in the 30 years, and it’s not like we’d never come here, but we never engaged in the American culture and lived here. Over those 30 years. We came. We visited. We spoke in churches. We promoted missions. We spent time with family. We did some fun stuff, but we always knew we were going home, which was to Africa. So it was a hard adjustment, but Jesus’ grace helps us, covers a multitude of sins and a multitude of cultural blunders. So we’re very grateful for His help and His grace.
Laurie Graham 6:29
I wouldn’t even think about you making cultural blunders back here, you know, when you have considered Africa your home, so that is cracking me up.
Christine Stanfield 6:35
Indiana is the third foreign culture we’ve lived in, because we were raised on the west coast in Oregon. So Indiana feels like, it felt like, a whole nother foreign culture. But again, we have culture coaches here, our daughter who knew all of our cultures from before us. And so that was very helpful.
Jeff Stanfield 6:40
Right.
Laurie Graham 6:55
I love that you’re at a place of supporting missionaries on the field, because even small churches, one of the things that’s been so fun about the Small Church Ministry, and one of the best blessings most people have found, is that they have felt so alone in a small church, like surrounded by big churches, and like, nobody understands us, and we feel so alone. And so it’s so interesting, watching small churches connect from the US and Canada and all over the globe, feeling like we have this support and to think of missionaries, like there must be such an aloneness feeling out on the field, I imagine. And now you’re in a position, right, of supporting those missionaries. Is that correct?
Jeff Stanfield 7:33
Correct. Correct.
Christine Stanfield 7:35
That is true. And it can be very isolating, depending on, on their situation and all.
Jeff Stanfield 7:39
Right, but really, today, in today’s world, irregardless of where you are in the world, you can stay connected easily because the technology. When we first went, the only real communication method that was reliable was the mail and that took five to six weeks each direction. Whereas now our missionaries on the field can stay in touch with family, with supporters, with churches in a moment’s notice by having a live stream even. So that’s, that’s a different thing, but yet, in reality, the opportunity for us to connect is vitally important, either on the ground or at a distance, like we do most of the time. So.
Laurie Graham 8:22
Yeah. Okay, so let’s talk about small churches. You have had decades of experience on the mission field, and now, I was gonna say back home, but now in a new home, back here in the States for you all just supporting missionaries on the field. Have you seen any small churches ever really make an impact whether you were on the field, or they’re supporting, or they’re visiting? Like, because a lot of small churches just feel like we’re just too small to be involved, or to really make an impact, and we can send a check and we can read a newsletter, but can you share any stories of, of more than that, or where you really felt impacted by a small church, even yourselves when you were on the field?
Jeff Stanfield 8:57
You want to do that Christine? Go ahead.
Christine Stanfield 8:59
Yes, definitely. We love small churches, and part of it, I’ll admit, might be my inherent bias, shall I say, because I grew up with my father as a pastor, and he pastored small churches in rural Oregon, different places, and I love the small community. I’m a rural girl at heart. I loved small community churches because they get each other. There’s, so that’s what I like, love about small churches is they understand each other. They come from a common culture, usually, not always, but often. But they also don’t get get distracted by many programs for many different things in many different ways to try to appeal to many differences within their congregation. And so, small churches often we see, have a keener focus and they stay true to it.
I’m thinking specifically of one church that, not in my growing up time that they were lovely and we, I still call those churches in their communities home, but one that when we were new missionaries, this church invited us to come and speak to them. And there were less than 50 adults that regularly attended the church, and but they were gung ho for missions. They had decided, years before we got there, that they wanted missions to be a part of their day-to-day culture in their church, because they believe scripture, when Jesus said, this is what you are to do. Just to share the beginning, you know, from Matthew 20, that we are to go and make disciples first where we are, and then gradually grow that out from for local impact and a global impact. And so they believe that and said, okay Lord, what do we do? And they spent time prayed.
Christine Stanfield 10:58
They prayed for God to give them a heart for the nations, a heart for people everywhere, the way that God had a heart, has a heart for people everywhere. They, this is the background they told us as they invited us. So, we have asked Jesus to raise up missionaries out of our congregation. We want to be part of discipling people into becoming missionaries, and we want missionaries to come and help us in that and to share what’s happening. So, we were delighted, of course, to want to be a part of a congregation like that, and this little church, they served our family personally.
When I would speak to women’s groups, you know, they had their women’s missionary groups, mother/daughter groups and things. When I would speak, they had, their church had what they call the missionary closet. It was a big old cupboard space, and they would always take their missionary speaker, whether it’s man or woman, they would take us to the closet, and they would open it up, and they say these are things that our church congregate, congregants want to bless missionaries with. So take whatever you need.
They had games and puzzles and special thing toys for children. They had things that we might need in our kitchen because you don’t carry everything to live between the countries, you know. So when you’re living temporarily in the US, they had linens, they had clothes, they had shoes, they had books, they had arts and crafts material, like all everything, you know. They were their little only, our own little department store in the missionary cupboard.
Christine Stanfield 12:29
So that was a personal blessing. And they’re like, we aren’t many people, but we’ve got people in our congregation that shop sales, that keep their eyes out for things. If it’s secondhand, we clean it up. So that was a blessing to serve us personally. They also wanted to stay in touch with us. They wanted to know when our birthdays were, what kinds of things our kids liked, what would be fun to receive in the mail when they’re back in Africa, things like that. So they got to know us personally. People wrote us letters, not just the church letter, you know, but, but individuals wrote us letters. They sent us funny cartoons, they sent us prayer requests. So they shared themselves with us, we shared ourselves with them, and so we felt like we were really a part of that congregation whenever we were present.
But another thing they did was they wanted their people, as many as possible, to get to a mission field. So they would have little church fundraisers, to help somebody go on a mission team, trying always to send them with, to a field where they had a missionary that they were, you know, partners with. So we got to receive many of them coming to our place of service in Africa to Kenya. And that was just very special. Because then when you go them, go to them, to the church, they know of what you speak, of where you speak, there’s always somebody there that can be like, yeah we met that person or we went to that school with you or we saw people from that church in a meeting, we went to that lady’s group with you, whatever. And so they get it. They’ve smelled the smells. They’ve seen the, they’ve seen the victories. They’ve seen the contentedness. Many Americans think people who can’t live like Americans live are never content and that’s true. So just getting the picture of reality.
Laurie Graham 14:26
So this, this little church actually sent some people from their congregation to visit you, like they got to see you on the field?
Christine Stanfield 14:33
Yes, yes.
Laurie Graham 14:35
So as you’re talking, I am just feeling all warm and fuzzy like, this is so relational and so like, like you’re actually part of their congregation even though you’re far away and, and they feel connected with you and I think many churches that I’ve talked to like it’s, it’s there’s a disconnection with the missionaries. Like we know they’re there. We want to support them. We’re gonna send stuff, but that relational connection hasn’t been there. Is that possible like, for, for all small churches? Like if they say, I want to be connected to the missionary like, is that on our end or your end, both ends, like how can this happen more because that feels so beautiful to me and so impactful?
Jeff Stanfield 15:17
It really is possible. And you know, we serve a relational God and He wants us to be in relation with Him. Obviously, most of all, He wants us to help others be in relation with Him, but also He wants us together to be in relationship in every aspect of the, the ministry of the church, whether it’s as a community together, or as a community having a focus of outreach. So it is possible, whether it’s to, you know, work in the, in the local community, having a relationship in the local community to meet the needs there as missions. Whether it’s in an urban setting nearby or some other place, it’s, it’s, that’s missions. Whether it’s around the world, its mission, so that relational component is possible for whether it’s a group of one, whether it’s a group of 300, but also in between the, you know, 20 or 30.
Christine Stanfield 16:16
It takes commitment. It doesn’t just happen. They have to be intentional. And that’s, like I’ve said, that church made the decision under the pastor’s leadership, I think he was a revision caser, but years before we got there, they made the commitment that they wanted missions to be the DNA of their church, in their daily culture, so a part of every service apart. And so in praying for missions, and praying for missionaries, and praying for themselves as a congregation to be all that the body of Christ is supposed to be and all that the Christ has commissioned us to be a part of at His invitation, they also realized that when one of them went on a trip, they were representing the whole congregation. So people came with that mindset.
What can I carry back to the church? What can I show? What do you want me to tell them? How can I represent you, the missionary, you, the church, the missionary works with you the school, they teach in youth, what, what? How can I represent this back to our congregation? And, you know, it was back and forth, but I would say it takes intentionality, it takes commitment, and it takes an understanding. We’re not just sending, you know, Laurie for her own personal adventure in another country. Laurie is going as our ambassador, as our representative, and she’s going to, you know, present us, represent us to them, and so she better make us look good.
Laurie Graham 17:48
You know, I love what you just said about like, being an ambassador. Last week, Charmaine was on the show sharing about her trip to Nepal, and how her coming back and being able to share with her congregation and her people back at home in Canada, like, what this was like it, it brought a whole new connection, and she’s sharing her photographs with them. And I think just the fact that that happened was amazing. One thing you said is about like, it takes intention and commitment. And one thing you didn’t say was it takes a whole lot more time and a whole nother program, because in small churches, and I want to just jump on that right now, because in small churches, most small churches can’t do one more thing.
But they can get more from the things they’re doing because all the things you talked about, sending a letter, you know, you know, being in relational connection, these things can happen in an existing Sunday school program, in an existing small group on Sunday morning. And I just, I think it’s so important, because I just know, being in a small church, starting one more thing feels oh, we can’t do one more thing. But I believe, and we’re going to be talking about this in the coming weeks, like, there’s a way to be more intentional with missions with the things we’re already doing! Like, wouldn’t it be fun to have a church potluck, and have a food represented there at the church potluck, just a food from your missionaries culture. And that’s not a whole nother program or a whole nother thing to do, it’s just that intention.
Jeff Stanfield 19:11
Right.
Christine Stanfield 19:11
Yes, and I would say that’s where it all begins, really, is with what’s already happening. And so, like this church had shared with us, you know, so we, we knew we needed to get involved in missions. We, so our pastor, of course, preached on the heart of God, but then we made it a part of prayer in every service. We pray, God, give us a heart for the nations. Show us what we are to do. What are you inviting us into? There’s all of this in the world, but you intend everybody to be a part of that. So what are you inviting us into, but it starts with prayer and listening.
Jeff Stanfield 19:45
Right, and really, it starts as far as people within the church, it starts with the pastor. The pastor has to make this a priority, that they understand that, that that’s part of who they are, that missions is a part of the gospel and to share that vision because that vision, people follow the vision of a leader and if the pastor isn’t bought into it, then, then that gets challenging to work, work and develop something like that. But yet, it can be done even without that, but yet, if you can get the pastor, if the pastor’s involved in it, then it’s going to be much more successful and develop much more rapidly, I would say, into what God intends it to be.
Laurie Graham 20:32
Yeah, and it doesn’t mean the pastor has to put more hours into it. Like, I just want to throw that out there. Like.
Christine Stanfield 20:38
Right.
Jeff Stanfield 20:40
We have to understand that that is a vital, important part of the DNA of what our church needs to be, and empower those in the church to go with it.
Laurie Graham 20:49
You know, one thing I’ve seen in small churches is just a lot of different projects. Like at our church, historically, we’ve sent the kids on a mission trip, a short-term mission trip, the youth, and it’s a big thing to raise the money and do that. And then at Christmas time, there’s some sort of collection for something in town, and then there, maybe there’s this global project that we do. And throughout the years, it’s all kind of getting dispersed to different places, and it sounds like it could be really valuable to develop a partnership, right, and do different things in a partner, it almost feels like that would bring a little more focus or intentionality. Have you seen that in places, like does that even resonate, what I’m talking about? Like, do you see some value to that?
Christine Stanfield 21:32
Yes, I think like you said, if you’re too fractured, you know, in the spring, we always send kids on a spring break trip. And then the next thing we’re trying to raise money for, or whatever is, you know, helping kids in our local community have what they need to start school in the fall, and then a Christmas collection that maybe is going to some other project. Those are good and right things. It’s not wrong to be a part of them, but what’s your focus as a congregation? So I think, focusing, and this and this takes some work, again, in terms of thinking about who are we as a congregation? And what is going to be our focus? What is Jesus inviting us into, and how will we live that out? So we do see value in, but then maybe who we are, all of these different things are part of that, but their avenues, right, to connect people to Jesus, they’re not something that we don’t really relate to. And it’s great to send youth, but what about sending adults to somewhere else where you might not send the youth as a group?
Jeff Stanfield 22:44
Right, but also a combination, a group of the youth and the adults?
Christine Stanfield 22:49
Yes.
Jeff Stanfield 22:50
Because they look at it, if, through different lenses, and so they can share and have strengths, from their view that help each other have a more rounded view of missions and what it’s about.
Christine Stanfield 23:03
And that is our church doing this instead of the kids, or the lady that’s interested in a crisis pregnancy center, but it’s not really our church. So if it’s the focus of the church that makes it different, and I think that’s way easier, in a small church than it is in the church.
Laurie Graham 23:21
Well, and that’s kind of why I thought about that, you know, as you were talking about, you know, this church that had the missionary closet, and really did all these things, you know, focused directly with you. Because one of the big struggles in small churches is volunteers are burnt out, there aren’t enough, and, and I don’t even think that’s the problem of the church body. Like, people think we need more volunteers, and I think no, I, I think we’ve split ourselves. I think we’ve split ourselves in multiple directions, that is actually taking more energy, and even trying to have a youth group with five kids, versus hey, let’s do this project together. And again, I’m with you, I don’t think it’s wrong at all! I think we can have, you know, different projects going on too, it was just kind of a random thought, as you were talking. I thought, wow, how cool would that be? To have almost a unified vision or partner and maybe we still do a few other projects, but we have some focus of just, I don’t know somebody that’s part of us instead of just somebody we send money to.
Jeff Stanfield 24:15
Yeah, one of the one of the things we firmly believe and have learned over the years is that our doing, if whether it’s missions, whether it’s our responsibilities, should flow out of our being. And I think that applies in missions, but also as a church body, that you know, if we’re being the body of Christ, then the doing, whether its missions or in our congregation, the volunteerism so to speak, would be flowing out of the right priorities of why they would be, and there may be things we need to lay down. There are things that we’ve had to lay down because it wasn’t really what God wanted or what we were feeling like, was for us, so we were laying those things down, but that only flows out of that being in a strong relationship that is so foundational to the doing the work of the church or a missions and that kind of thing. So.
Laurie Graham 25:10
Yeah. You know, Jeff, early in the podcast, you mentioned way earlier when you were introducing yourself, but it’s still in my head, you mentioned some of the changes from the decades from when you first started in missions, just culturally, even, even here in the US, you know, being sending churches and stuff. Can you speak about that a little bit? Like, what has changed with missions? One of the struggles that comes up in the churches now is, we have the old guard, the older people who are very involved in something and maybe it’s more difficult to get the younger people involved or just some different shifts. So I’m curious what you’ve seen and how that’s affected the mission field or your particular organization even?
Jeff Stanfield 25:47
Well, I think culturally, the shift in the churches are, a big thing is, that they’re not nearly as engaged on a Sunday with churches, with missionaries. As missionaries, we used to go to have a meeting every Sunday, in a church we were invited. When we were in the States, you know, to be a part of their service, that doesn’t happen anymore, really, per se. It goes back to a positive shift, to a relational component of us communicating with individuals about the work, about missions, getting them excited. That’s a positive thing because we can work one on one. The shifts in the church here toward programs is great, and buildings, but yet, again, we’re leaving behind some of those, the importance of the relational ministries, and that’s, the bigger the church goes, I think the challenge that that is.
Christine Stanfield 26:46
I think another big one we see is that churches don’t tend to have prayer meetings very often anymore. When we first started, they would have, you know, Sunday evening services, Corporate Services, and a big part of that would be prayer, and then Wednesday evening prayer meeting or they might also have once-a-month prayer meetings just for missions. And that’s where people actually came together in someone’s home or at the church, just to pray. And there’s very few churches now that communicate with us anyway, that are still having corporate prayer meetings.
Jeff Stanfield 27:21
Right, it’s a big shift.
Laurie Graham 27:21
That’s so interesting. I’m, in my head, I’m like thinking even about like, the younger generations, and even our children and, and just the impact and what maybe has shifted in our culture, but I’m all about cultural shifts. So let’s shift back a little bit to some more relational connection and, and really teaching each other and working together with how we can, you know, light that fire again for, for global missions and local missions. But honestly, it should be easier now, right? We’ve got Skype, we’ve got the internet, we’ve got, we don’t have to send, you know, letters across the ocean in a boat!
Laurie Graham 27:24
It’s the technology shift that opens up the door to stay in touch with your missionaries, to get a sense of what’s going on in the field.
Christine Stanfield 27:40
And that takes a shift for those in the Old Guard, which is our generation. You know, we have small churches that have always had a women’s missionary group. They meet once a month, they get together, they do fundraisers for the year to help missionaries with a project, et cetera. Why don’t the younger women come? We can’t get any of them to come? Well, the younger women are way more apt to join a Zoom meeting with a missionary, to have a short, want to watch a short video clip because, in the younger generation, a whole lot of the women are not home during the day and looking for an exciting outing in the evening to be with friends. They’re out and about, they’re at work, they’re, you know, getting their kids to and from the culture is just different of the life they live. So they’re much quicker. So if the old guard can, can shift a little, and the younger ones shift a little, there’s so many ways to meet in the middle, to keep the values going, to transfer the values, to pass it on, to be involved. And I think, again, small churches can be in a great situation to do that because they’re small enough, they can talk together about it, they can acknowledge what would work better for you, what would help us come together on this?
Jeff Stanfield 29:29
And with, with technology that opens up the door to do a virtual missions trip, a huge opportunity to connect virtually, and recently, of course, COVID changed things. There were a lot of challenges associated with it, but it also opened up doors to think outside the box as far as missions. And so, like our organization during COVID, particularly when things were shut down, people couldn’t travel, the idea came of doing a virtual missions trip to a mission field, and do a, do a project with missionaries on the ground checking in every day, of course, you have the time change differences, but yet have some prerecorded sequences that this group could be gathered together. If they’re physically located the same church, they could meet together and spend two or three hours a day on their virtual missions trip, praying for them, hearing maybe even directly live from the missionary on the field. Agreat opportunity and a shift that’s happened that’s a positive because of technology. So, technology isn’t all bad, as we all know, but yeah, this is a great opportunity to take the best of technology and use it in a way that helps connect people to missionaries to missions, but also to help connect the missionary on the field back to the States.
Laurie Graham 30:49
Oh, it’s so fun to talk about the good things in cultural shifts, because we can talk about what’s changed over the past couple of decades, but I believe God is at work in every shift, every place, every decade, every new challenge and opportunity that God is so there. So there are so many more, newer opportunities and new ways. And I’m Christine, you were even talking about, you know, the role of women and how much that has changed and shifted in the women’s ministry area, which is so true. And maybe instead of hanging on to what it used to be, we all could come together and create some new ideas that, that have even newer blessings and new ways of engagement. And even children these days, you know, how much they are learning about global, even economies and cultures and how connected we can be like, how fun would that be to have children even connecting over virtual aspects? And doing it.
Christine Stanfield 31:44
And they’re doing it for gaming, they’re doing it already for so many things. Why can’t the church help them connect with kids in another church or whatever? You know, I mean, there’s so many possibilities.
Jeff Stanfield 31:54
And they are the future leaders of the churches, the children are. So if you engage them and the younger ages, involved in outreach, the importance of it, and being involved in it, then when they get to be the teenagers, they’ll, they’ll be actively pursuing missions, you know, short-term missions, but when they get to be adults and leaders within their churches or their communities, they’re going to be passionate about missions. So, you know, one of the things that, or one of the quotes of a missionary that we served with in Kenya, that is very powerful. I mean, he said, “In order to change the face of a nation, (I would say in this case, the church,) you’ve got to start with the children,” because they are very, their values are forming and so if they value missions at a young age, and they’re taught that, then as they grow up, they’re gonna value missions and promote it in the right way, not just to do it, but to be it.
Christine Stanfield 32:49
And that was so true in that small church that I talked about as our example, they taught missions in the Sunday school, they had their kids write letters to missionary kids, and then they would get connected to, in our case, African kids that wanted to write letters, or share information, you know, not in a wrong way, not in an asking way, but just in a curiosity and get to know you as a person way. And then, those kids were teenagers, and then they were helping with fundraisers for missions and for missionaries, and how could they help send, bring in funds and other resources to help send people from the church because sometimes it would be somebody in their Sunday school class or age group to go on one of those mission trips. And then that church, because they prayed and made it a part of the culture, they actually, God answered their prayer. He honored that. He raised up missionaries out of their congregation, and they were ready to help disciple them, and so on. So it can be so exciting what Jesus can do!
Laurie Graham 33:47
Well, we are not just excited to continue the conversation, but we are going to be working on connecting more, and developing resources and getting some step-by-step, you know, ideas for small churches everywhere too, you know, like, let’s level up. Let’s be intentional. Let’s develop some relationships and see the kind of impact we can have. If you’re listening and you’re not part of the Small Church Network yet, please check it out! Our February event in I guess, if you’re listening later, in 2023, is that the year we’re in now? Our February event in 2023 is all about global missions and we’re developing some resources there just to help churches, whether you are at a place where you’re developing something brand new, or you just want to change and re-up some value and impact with what you’re already doing, that is coming up soon, too.
So definitely check out smallchurchministry.com/network. We will drop that link in the show notes, but before we run out of time, Jeff and Christine, can you tell us about World Gospel Mission, the organization you have served with for decades, and what do they do? Like, because I believe they also will do like individual trips out right? Like, you can actually sign up for short-term trips. You support missionaries. Can you tell us a little bit more about them?
Jeff Stanfield 35:03
Sure! World Gospel Mission is an inter-denominational organization, not associated with a particular denomination, that sends missionaries out around the world. I think the last number we had currently out on the field, 180 missionaries, pretty much all over the world, on every continent except Antarctica. And God has just really blessed the organization over 110 years. Ministries, including medical ministries, community development, community health, church development, leadership development, education, all kinds of ministries you think of it. I mean, and over the years, there’s been all types of ministries even beyond that.
Christine Stanfield 35:50
And partnerships.
Jeff Stanfield 35:50
And partnerships with other organizations. So WGM sends out missionaries every year long-term, but also we send out groups of people through our mobilization department, to go and serve in a local area with a missionary, partnering with a missionary on the field for an experience, but also we have short-term volunteers. A lot of university students go out from anywhere from six months to, or six weeks to three months, missions internships. Internships, and such to partner in an area. And so we have people on staff that focus on helping to connect people to the passion that God has for missions.
Christine Stanfield 36:31
And also we have a coordinator to send out teams.
Jeff Stanfield 36:34
Right.
Christine Stanfield 36:34
So if a church wants to do a team, World Gospel Mission would be very interested in helping see if that would be a good fit, you know, if WGM would be a good fit for them. So we do a lot of teams every year as well.
Jeff Stanfield 36:47
And so we’re happy to facilitate any connection if need be.
Laurie Graham 36:51
So if a church listening right now, like if they’re thinking of sending a team out, or they’re like, oh, that’d be really cool, or maybe they have one person or two people or whatever, would they actually go and visit with and be with one of your missionaries? So it’s very long-term effort? Because we all hear the stories about how sometimes short-terms mission really doesn’t have as much impact as you think because of the cultural implications, but would they actually go and serve like, with or alongside one of your projects? Is that what you’re saying?
Christine Stanfield 37:19
That’s usually the case, yes. We don’t send them where we don’t have organizational connections. Yes.
Jeff Stanfield 37:24
And it may be partnering, I mean, they’d have the, be under the supervision and side by side, maybe not side by side day to day, but they’d be under that connection, they would be hosted by one of our missionaries. That would be the cultural liaison between them and the ministries they’re a part of, living perhaps with the missionary or a mission housing. Or, depending on what the person is interested in, what they feel like their boundaries are, might even be able to be willing, if they’re willing to, to be living in a home with one of the local people. It’s a great opportunity to understand missions from a whole different perspective.
Laurie Graham 37:25
I am just so excited for future conversations with you two. I just have to be honest, I’m just so excited about more. But if a small church is listening right now, and they’re not connected with missionaries currently, and they have a heart for this, or they’re praying about this, is that something they also could reach out to your organization and say, hey, I’m looking for a missionary to support or, you know, how does that work?
Christine Stanfield 38:28
Yes, they can reach out to World Gospel Mission, just go to www.wgm.org. That’s right, not the whole word. wgm.org. Or they can reach out to us Stanfields. And if you want to put our contact, our email contacts in the chat to the community, that’s fine. Yeah, I mean, in the notes, yeah. Feel free to do that as well. They can just reach out to us personally, and we can explore with them where they want to get connected and for what purpose, so yeah.
Laurie Graham 39:03
We will drop the link in the show notes for World Gospel Mission, so it’s an easy click for you all, as well as a Jeff and Christine’s email if you want to reach out to them personally. But I am so thrilled to have you here today. Did I forget anything? Is there anything you wanted to add or a question that you wish I had asked before we go?
Christine Stanfield 39:20
Just one thing that I would put in summary is we believe it’s really true, when Jesus said “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So if you want to have a heart for missions, ask Him how He wants you to allocate your resources for that. That will help you grow quickly into missions if, as an individual and as a church body you’re starting already to allocate resources.
Jeff Stanfield 39:46
Right, and then a couple of things too, that have been important for us on our journey of understanding who we are as missionaries, what God intends for us, it’s not necessarily geographically bound. What a missionary is and just want to share those two quotes from two different people. Hudson Taylor, an early Christian missionary to China said that “A missionary is not one who’s crosses the sea, it’s one who sees the cross.” And that’s truly what it’s about. And then another Christian leader said that, “You’re either a missionary or mission field.” So a couple things that resonated with our hearts to keep it in right perspective, we’re not some grandiose savior of a people group or going to be the focal point. The point is that we are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and living that out right where we’re at, whether it was Kenya, Uganda, or even back in the States now or wherever the Lord will take us.
Christine Stanfield 40:51
To keep the focus, the whole purpose is to connect people to Jesus.
Christine Stanfield 40:54
Right, that’s what it’s about.
Christine Stanfield 40:55
Not just that we’re doing a good thing, or to achieve a certain level of social justice. The whole point is to connect people to Jesus.
Jeff Stanfield 41:01
And so, it goes back to that relational component that I think we started off with, and how important that is. And so, it’s connecting people to Jesus, most of all, but if we’re not connected ourselves to Him, then that’s where we need to start.
Laurie Graham 41:15
Wow, what a beautiful conversation. If you’re listening right now, I just would ask that you would share this podcast with somebody. Like, we start these conversations, and we really pray that it continues in your home church. You know, share it with your ministry partner. Share it with someone that you’re just excited to say, hey, you know, maybe our church could, you know, learn something, or do something different or be an impact here, or maybe God’s just changing your heart in a new way. And so, we just really pray that these podcast episodes really will be continued on in more conversation and more impact because the last thing any of us needs these days is more information, right? Just information that sits there, and we just really want to be about influence and just being a light, as we talk about so much in this show that God has called us all to influence.
Laurie Graham42:01
Coming up next week, I’m super excited to have Tim Rickle on the show. We’re gonna be talking about the cross-cultural mission field that is not a plane ride away, or a boat ride away or anything that’s much closer than you think. Tim is developing just so much in this edge of ministry to people who have been displaced out of their homelands, wherever that may be. And so much of this is happening in our current culture right now. And we’re going to be talking about just practical ways that Jesus calls us to be an influence, even just extending hospitality, you know, even if it’s just that, just a love of a people group that maybe we don’t even understand or we’re curious about, or we don’t even know how God is calling us. So that’s the conversation that’s happening next week, and don’t forget to check out the Network event coming up, smallchurchministry.com/network. If you are not a member yet, definitely check it out because we are going to be emphasizing global missions at our next meeting coming up in February! And until next week, just wherever you’re at, wherever you’re walking today, just be a light!
Laurie Graham 0:01
Hey, this is Laurie Graham. Welcome to the Small Church Ministry Podcast.
Laurie Graham 0:14
Hey, welcome back to the Small Church Ministry Podcast where we are all about joining God at work right where He has planted. We believe God is very much at work right now in small places, all over the globe. In fact, we really believe that small church ministry can be the very model of Jesus-style ministry. So that’s what we’re about here and I’m happy you’re listening. We’re in the middle of a series talking about the opportunity for small churches to be involved in global missions. Like Acts 1:8 talks about, you know, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria,” and even, right, to the ends of the earth.
So whether your church is already involved in missions, or you are personally, or wondering how to do it better or different or deeper, or even involve others, please listen in. Today, Christine and Jeff Stanfield are joining us to share about their experience and heart for the Gospel all over the world, and where God has led them, how they’ve seen small churches making incredible impact. And so let me just welcome you to the podcast, Jeff and Christine. I am thrilled to spend even just a few more minutes with you like, it’s just such a joy in my heart!
Jeff Stanfield 1:27
Well, it’s good to be with you too, Laurie, it is, and just exciting for what God is doing through you in the ministries to small churches, and to be a part of this podcast is just a blessing to us as well, to know that there’s someone out there really promoting missions is even more exciting to us!
Laurie Graham 1:48
Well, I was just having so much fun before we came live, just, just thanking Jeff and Christine for educating me because I’ve been involved in churches my whole life, and I know some about missions. I’ve done some mission trips, we’ve supported missionaries, but man, there is so much more relational connection and partnership. And so that’s why we’re diving into this series. So you are educating me and a whole bunch of other people as we share our experiences together, but Jeff and Christine, could you introduce yourself, just talk about the work you’re doing now, where God has led you? Just a little bit about you know, where you’ve been and what you’re doing now and that transition?
Jeff Stanfield 2:24
Well, yeah, we’re just happy to share with you and give a little foundation background to where we’ve come from. We have been serving with World Gospel Mission for over 30 years in East Africa and Kenya. First of all, we went in 1990, spent 21 years there serving at a Mission Hospital named Tenwek. Hospital, that our mission partners with there. It’s a very large Mission Hospital. Christine was involved in nursing, there teaching in the School of Nursing, and I was the IT guy for many years. And both of us though, a major component of our professional ministries there, was training Africans to come behind us, and ultimately working ourselves out of jobs. And so that was the focus of our day-to-day ministries Monday through Friday, but also beyond that was connecting in the community with the local churches, there helping to shape the church and help the church be the church they need to be in sharing the gospel there, along with our ministries there at Tenwek Hospital.
Jeff Stanfield 3:32
So those were our first 21 years of service. And then we shifted over to a field that WGN has worked, they have in the country of Uganda, which is right next door in East Africa, right along the equator, just like Kenya is, and serve there in church partnership there, mentoring and developing leaders there within the church. A wonderful relational ministry there, but also serving as our team leader for our missionaries based there. Just wonderful years of nearly 30 years on the ground, serving the Lord there before the Lord called us out to give back to our missionaries there in the form of member care. Being pastors to our missionaries there, using the wisdom and experience we’ve had to come alongside younger missionaries that come from a whole different generation and are, are facing challenges, but but being there to encourage them, to walk alongside them, to pray with them, and help them on their journey. So now we are Africa Leaders for Member Health of our missionary staff in East Africa. Just enjoying that opportunity.
Laurie Graham 4:43
And I know you’re not in Africa anymore. You’re in Indiana, right?
Jeff Stanfield 4:46
Right. We’re based at our headquarters here in Marion, Indiana, living in the Midwest. So we’re enjoying our time and living here.
Christine Stanfield 4:55
And then we traveled back to Africa to be with our colleagues there periodically through each year.
Jeff Stanfield 5:00
Right.
Laurie Graham 5:01
Well, before we jump into the whole small church thing, Christine, what has it been like to shift from being, you know, boots on the ground in Africa versus like being a support, like here at home, and I know you travel back and forth, but what does that transition been like for you?
Christine Stanfield 5:16
It’s been difficult in some ways, and it seemed very natural in other ways. If we can look back and see how Jesus had been preparing us for this transition and had been laying the foundation for it through our own experiences, through our family, I mean, gracious, He invited us to come live in Indiana. And it just happened that several years ago, our daughter married an Indiana man, so now we live actually in the same timezone, the same state as our, our daughter and son in law and grandchildren. So that’s beautiful! So there’s so many ways that Jesus had been preparing us for that, but it’s hard. We didn’t know how to live in America. America changed in the 30 years, and it’s not like we’d never come here, but we never engaged in the American culture and lived here. Over those 30 years. We came. We visited. We spoke in churches. We promoted missions. We spent time with family. We did some fun stuff, but we always knew we were going home, which was to Africa. So it was a hard adjustment, but Jesus’ grace helps us, covers a multitude of sins and a multitude of cultural blunders. So we’re very grateful for His help and His grace.
Laurie Graham 6:29
I wouldn’t even think about you making cultural blunders back here, you know, when you have considered Africa your home, so that is cracking me up.
Christine Stanfield 6:35
Indiana is the third foreign culture we’ve lived in, because we were raised on the west coast in Oregon. So Indiana feels like, it felt like, a whole nother foreign culture. But again, we have culture coaches here, our daughter who knew all of our cultures from before us. And so that was very helpful.
Jeff Stanfield 6:40
Right.
Laurie Graham 6:55
I love that you’re at a place of supporting missionaries on the field, because even small churches, one of the things that’s been so fun about the Small Church Ministry, and one of the best blessings most people have found, is that they have felt so alone in a small church, like surrounded by big churches, and like, nobody understands us, and we feel so alone. And so it’s so interesting, watching small churches connect from the US and Canada and all over the globe, feeling like we have this support and to think of missionaries, like there must be such an aloneness feeling out on the field, I imagine. And now you’re in a position, right, of supporting those missionaries. Is that correct?
Jeff Stanfield 7:33
Correct. Correct.
Christine Stanfield 7:35
That is true. And it can be very isolating, depending on, on their situation and all.
Jeff Stanfield 7:39
Right, but really, today, in today’s world, irregardless of where you are in the world, you can stay connected easily because the technology. When we first went, the only real communication method that was reliable was the mail and that took five to six weeks each direction. Whereas now our missionaries on the field can stay in touch with family, with supporters, with churches in a moment’s notice by having a live stream even. So that’s, that’s a different thing, but yet, in reality, the opportunity for us to connect is vitally important, either on the ground or at a distance, like we do most of the time. So.
Laurie Graham 8:22
Yeah. Okay, so let’s talk about small churches. You have had decades of experience on the mission field, and now, I was gonna say back home, but now in a new home, back here in the States for you all just supporting missionaries on the field. Have you seen any small churches ever really make an impact whether you were on the field, or they’re supporting, or they’re visiting? Like, because a lot of small churches just feel like we’re just too small to be involved, or to really make an impact, and we can send a check and we can read a newsletter, but can you share any stories of, of more than that, or where you really felt impacted by a small church, even yourselves when you were on the field?
Jeff Stanfield 8:57
You want to do that Christine? Go ahead.
Christine Stanfield 8:59
Yes, definitely. We love small churches, and part of it, I’ll admit, might be my inherent bias, shall I say, because I grew up with my father as a pastor, and he pastored small churches in rural Oregon, different places, and I love the small community. I’m a rural girl at heart. I loved small community churches because they get each other. There’s, so that’s what I like, love about small churches is they understand each other. They come from a common culture, usually, not always, but often. But they also don’t get get distracted by many programs for many different things in many different ways to try to appeal to many differences within their congregation. And so, small churches often we see, have a keener focus and they stay true to it.
I’m thinking specifically of one church that, not in my growing up time that they were lovely and we, I still call those churches in their communities home, but one that when we were new missionaries, this church invited us to come and speak to them. And there were less than 50 adults that regularly attended the church, and but they were gung ho for missions. They had decided, years before we got there, that they wanted missions to be a part of their day-to-day culture in their church, because they believe scripture, when Jesus said, this is what you are to do. Just to share the beginning, you know, from Matthew 20, that we are to go and make disciples first where we are, and then gradually grow that out from for local impact and a global impact. And so they believe that and said, okay Lord, what do we do? And they spent time prayed.
Christine Stanfield 10:58
They prayed for God to give them a heart for the nations, a heart for people everywhere, the way that God had a heart, has a heart for people everywhere. They, this is the background they told us as they invited us. So, we have asked Jesus to raise up missionaries out of our congregation. We want to be part of discipling people into becoming missionaries, and we want missionaries to come and help us in that and to share what’s happening. So, we were delighted, of course, to want to be a part of a congregation like that, and this little church, they served our family personally.
When I would speak to women’s groups, you know, they had their women’s missionary groups, mother/daughter groups and things. When I would speak, they had, their church had what they call the missionary closet. It was a big old cupboard space, and they would always take their missionary speaker, whether it’s man or woman, they would take us to the closet, and they would open it up, and they say these are things that our church congregate, congregants want to bless missionaries with. So take whatever you need.
They had games and puzzles and special thing toys for children. They had things that we might need in our kitchen because you don’t carry everything to live between the countries, you know. So when you’re living temporarily in the US, they had linens, they had clothes, they had shoes, they had books, they had arts and crafts material, like all everything, you know. They were their little only, our own little department store in the missionary cupboard.
Christine Stanfield 12:29
So that was a personal blessing. And they’re like, we aren’t many people, but we’ve got people in our congregation that shop sales, that keep their eyes out for things. If it’s secondhand, we clean it up. So that was a blessing to serve us personally. They also wanted to stay in touch with us. They wanted to know when our birthdays were, what kinds of things our kids liked, what would be fun to receive in the mail when they’re back in Africa, things like that. So they got to know us personally. People wrote us letters, not just the church letter, you know, but, but individuals wrote us letters. They sent us funny cartoons, they sent us prayer requests. So they shared themselves with us, we shared ourselves with them, and so we felt like we were really a part of that congregation whenever we were present.
But another thing they did was they wanted their people, as many as possible, to get to a mission field. So they would have little church fundraisers, to help somebody go on a mission team, trying always to send them with, to a field where they had a missionary that they were, you know, partners with. So we got to receive many of them coming to our place of service in Africa to Kenya. And that was just very special. Because then when you go them, go to them, to the church, they know of what you speak, of where you speak, there’s always somebody there that can be like, yeah we met that person or we went to that school with you or we saw people from that church in a meeting, we went to that lady’s group with you, whatever. And so they get it. They’ve smelled the smells. They’ve seen the, they’ve seen the victories. They’ve seen the contentedness. Many Americans think people who can’t live like Americans live are never content and that’s true. So just getting the picture of reality.
Laurie Graham 14:26
So this, this little church actually sent some people from their congregation to visit you, like they got to see you on the field?
Christine Stanfield 14:33
Yes, yes.
Laurie Graham 14:35
So as you’re talking, I am just feeling all warm and fuzzy like, this is so relational and so like, like you’re actually part of their congregation even though you’re far away and, and they feel connected with you and I think many churches that I’ve talked to like it’s, it’s there’s a disconnection with the missionaries. Like we know they’re there. We want to support them. We’re gonna send stuff, but that relational connection hasn’t been there. Is that possible like, for, for all small churches? Like if they say, I want to be connected to the missionary like, is that on our end or your end, both ends, like how can this happen more because that feels so beautiful to me and so impactful?
Jeff Stanfield 15:17
It really is possible. And you know, we serve a relational God and He wants us to be in relation with Him. Obviously, most of all, He wants us to help others be in relation with Him, but also He wants us together to be in relationship in every aspect of the, the ministry of the church, whether it’s as a community together, or as a community having a focus of outreach. So it is possible, whether it’s to, you know, work in the, in the local community, having a relationship in the local community to meet the needs there as missions. Whether it’s in an urban setting nearby or some other place, it’s, it’s, that’s missions. Whether it’s around the world, its mission, so that relational component is possible for whether it’s a group of one, whether it’s a group of 300, but also in between the, you know, 20 or 30.
Christine Stanfield 16:16
It takes commitment. It doesn’t just happen. They have to be intentional. And that’s, like I’ve said, that church made the decision under the pastor’s leadership, I think he was a revision caser, but years before we got there, they made the commitment that they wanted missions to be the DNA of their church, in their daily culture, so a part of every service apart. And so in praying for missions, and praying for missionaries, and praying for themselves as a congregation to be all that the body of Christ is supposed to be and all that the Christ has commissioned us to be a part of at His invitation, they also realized that when one of them went on a trip, they were representing the whole congregation. So people came with that mindset.
What can I carry back to the church? What can I show? What do you want me to tell them? How can I represent you, the missionary, you, the church, the missionary works with you the school, they teach in youth, what, what? How can I represent this back to our congregation? And, you know, it was back and forth, but I would say it takes intentionality, it takes commitment, and it takes an understanding. We’re not just sending, you know, Laurie for her own personal adventure in another country. Laurie is going as our ambassador, as our representative, and she’s going to, you know, present us, represent us to them, and so she better make us look good.
Laurie Graham 17:48
You know, I love what you just said about like, being an ambassador. Last week, Charmaine was on the show sharing about her trip to Nepal, and how her coming back and being able to share with her congregation and her people back at home in Canada, like, what this was like it, it brought a whole new connection, and she’s sharing her photographs with them. And I think just the fact that that happened was amazing. One thing you said is about like, it takes intention and commitment. And one thing you didn’t say was it takes a whole lot more time and a whole nother program, because in small churches, and I want to just jump on that right now, because in small churches, most small churches can’t do one more thing.
But they can get more from the things they’re doing because all the things you talked about, sending a letter, you know, you know, being in relational connection, these things can happen in an existing Sunday school program, in an existing small group on Sunday morning. And I just, I think it’s so important, because I just know, being in a small church, starting one more thing feels oh, we can’t do one more thing. But I believe, and we’re going to be talking about this in the coming weeks, like, there’s a way to be more intentional with missions with the things we’re already doing! Like, wouldn’t it be fun to have a church potluck, and have a food represented there at the church potluck, just a food from your missionaries culture. And that’s not a whole nother program or a whole nother thing to do, it’s just that intention.
Jeff Stanfield 19:11
Right.
Christine Stanfield 19:11
Yes, and I would say that’s where it all begins, really, is with what’s already happening. And so, like this church had shared with us, you know, so we, we knew we needed to get involved in missions. We, so our pastor, of course, preached on the heart of God, but then we made it a part of prayer in every service. We pray, God, give us a heart for the nations. Show us what we are to do. What are you inviting us into? There’s all of this in the world, but you intend everybody to be a part of that. So what are you inviting us into, but it starts with prayer and listening.
Jeff Stanfield 19:45
Right, and really, it starts as far as people within the church, it starts with the pastor. The pastor has to make this a priority, that they understand that, that that’s part of who they are, that missions is a part of the gospel and to share that vision because that vision, people follow the vision of a leader and if the pastor isn’t bought into it, then, then that gets challenging to work, work and develop something like that. But yet, it can be done even without that, but yet, if you can get the pastor, if the pastor’s involved in it, then it’s going to be much more successful and develop much more rapidly, I would say, into what God intends it to be.
Laurie Graham 20:32
Yeah, and it doesn’t mean the pastor has to put more hours into it. Like, I just want to throw that out there. Like.
Christine Stanfield 20:38
Right.
Jeff Stanfield 20:40
We have to understand that that is a vital, important part of the DNA of what our church needs to be, and empower those in the church to go with it.
Laurie Graham 20:49
You know, one thing I’ve seen in small churches is just a lot of different projects. Like at our church, historically, we’ve sent the kids on a mission trip, a short-term mission trip, the youth, and it’s a big thing to raise the money and do that. And then at Christmas time, there’s some sort of collection for something in town, and then there, maybe there’s this global project that we do. And throughout the years, it’s all kind of getting dispersed to different places, and it sounds like it could be really valuable to develop a partnership, right, and do different things in a partner, it almost feels like that would bring a little more focus or intentionality. Have you seen that in places, like does that even resonate, what I’m talking about? Like, do you see some value to that?
Christine Stanfield 21:32
Yes, I think like you said, if you’re too fractured, you know, in the spring, we always send kids on a spring break trip. And then the next thing we’re trying to raise money for, or whatever is, you know, helping kids in our local community have what they need to start school in the fall, and then a Christmas collection that maybe is going to some other project. Those are good and right things. It’s not wrong to be a part of them, but what’s your focus as a congregation? So I think, focusing, and this and this takes some work, again, in terms of thinking about who are we as a congregation? And what is going to be our focus? What is Jesus inviting us into, and how will we live that out? So we do see value in, but then maybe who we are, all of these different things are part of that, but their avenues, right, to connect people to Jesus, they’re not something that we don’t really relate to. And it’s great to send youth, but what about sending adults to somewhere else where you might not send the youth as a group?
Jeff Stanfield 22:44
Right, but also a combination, a group of the youth and the adults?
Christine Stanfield 22:49
Yes.
Jeff Stanfield 22:50
Because they look at it, if, through different lenses, and so they can share and have strengths, from their view that help each other have a more rounded view of missions and what it’s about.
Christine Stanfield 23:03
And that is our church doing this instead of the kids, or the lady that’s interested in a crisis pregnancy center, but it’s not really our church. So if it’s the focus of the church that makes it different, and I think that’s way easier, in a small church than it is in the church.
Laurie Graham 23:21
Well, and that’s kind of why I thought about that, you know, as you were talking about, you know, this church that had the missionary closet, and really did all these things, you know, focused directly with you. Because one of the big struggles in small churches is volunteers are burnt out, there aren’t enough, and, and I don’t even think that’s the problem of the church body. Like, people think we need more volunteers, and I think no, I, I think we’ve split ourselves. I think we’ve split ourselves in multiple directions, that is actually taking more energy, and even trying to have a youth group with five kids, versus hey, let’s do this project together. And again, I’m with you, I don’t think it’s wrong at all! I think we can have, you know, different projects going on too, it was just kind of a random thought, as you were talking. I thought, wow, how cool would that be? To have almost a unified vision or partner and maybe we still do a few other projects, but we have some focus of just, I don’t know somebody that’s part of us instead of just somebody we send money to.
Jeff Stanfield 24:15
Yeah, one of the one of the things we firmly believe and have learned over the years is that our doing, if whether it’s missions, whether it’s our responsibilities, should flow out of our being. And I think that applies in missions, but also as a church body, that you know, if we’re being the body of Christ, then the doing, whether its missions or in our congregation, the volunteerism so to speak, would be flowing out of the right priorities of why they would be, and there may be things we need to lay down. There are things that we’ve had to lay down because it wasn’t really what God wanted or what we were feeling like, was for us, so we were laying those things down, but that only flows out of that being in a strong relationship that is so foundational to the doing the work of the church or a missions and that kind of thing. So.
Laurie Graham 25:10
Yeah. You know, Jeff, early in the podcast, you mentioned way earlier when you were introducing yourself, but it’s still in my head, you mentioned some of the changes from the decades from when you first started in missions, just culturally, even, even here in the US, you know, being sending churches and stuff. Can you speak about that a little bit? Like, what has changed with missions? One of the struggles that comes up in the churches now is, we have the old guard, the older people who are very involved in something and maybe it’s more difficult to get the younger people involved or just some different shifts. So I’m curious what you’ve seen and how that’s affected the mission field or your particular organization even?
Jeff Stanfield 25:47
Well, I think culturally, the shift in the churches are, a big thing is, that they’re not nearly as engaged on a Sunday with churches, with missionaries. As missionaries, we used to go to have a meeting every Sunday, in a church we were invited. When we were in the States, you know, to be a part of their service, that doesn’t happen anymore, really, per se. It goes back to a positive shift, to a relational component of us communicating with individuals about the work, about missions, getting them excited. That’s a positive thing because we can work one on one. The shifts in the church here toward programs is great, and buildings, but yet, again, we’re leaving behind some of those, the importance of the relational ministries, and that’s, the bigger the church goes, I think the challenge that that is.
Christine Stanfield 26:46
I think another big one we see is that churches don’t tend to have prayer meetings very often anymore. When we first started, they would have, you know, Sunday evening services, Corporate Services, and a big part of that would be prayer, and then Wednesday evening prayer meeting or they might also have once-a-month prayer meetings just for missions. And that’s where people actually came together in someone’s home or at the church, just to pray. And there’s very few churches now that communicate with us anyway, that are still having corporate prayer meetings.
Jeff Stanfield 27:21
Right, it’s a big shift.
Laurie Graham 27:21
That’s so interesting. I’m, in my head, I’m like thinking even about like, the younger generations, and even our children and, and just the impact and what maybe has shifted in our culture, but I’m all about cultural shifts. So let’s shift back a little bit to some more relational connection and, and really teaching each other and working together with how we can, you know, light that fire again for, for global missions and local missions. But honestly, it should be easier now, right? We’ve got Skype, we’ve got the internet, we’ve got, we don’t have to send, you know, letters across the ocean in a boat!
Laurie Graham 27:24
It’s the technology shift that opens up the door to stay in touch with your missionaries, to get a sense of what’s going on in the field.
Christine Stanfield 27:40
And that takes a shift for those in the Old Guard, which is our generation. You know, we have small churches that have always had a women’s missionary group. They meet once a month, they get together, they do fundraisers for the year to help missionaries with a project, et cetera. Why don’t the younger women come? We can’t get any of them to come? Well, the younger women are way more apt to join a Zoom meeting with a missionary, to have a short, want to watch a short video clip because, in the younger generation, a whole lot of the women are not home during the day and looking for an exciting outing in the evening to be with friends. They’re out and about, they’re at work, they’re, you know, getting their kids to and from the culture is just different of the life they live. So they’re much quicker. So if the old guard can, can shift a little, and the younger ones shift a little, there’s so many ways to meet in the middle, to keep the values going, to transfer the values, to pass it on, to be involved. And I think, again, small churches can be in a great situation to do that because they’re small enough, they can talk together about it, they can acknowledge what would work better for you, what would help us come together on this?
Jeff Stanfield 29:29
And with, with technology that opens up the door to do a virtual missions trip, a huge opportunity to connect virtually, and recently, of course, COVID changed things. There were a lot of challenges associated with it, but it also opened up doors to think outside the box as far as missions. And so, like our organization during COVID, particularly when things were shut down, people couldn’t travel, the idea came of doing a virtual missions trip to a mission field, and do a, do a project with missionaries on the ground checking in every day, of course, you have the time change differences, but yet have some prerecorded sequences that this group could be gathered together. If they’re physically located the same church, they could meet together and spend two or three hours a day on their virtual missions trip, praying for them, hearing maybe even directly live from the missionary on the field. Agreat opportunity and a shift that’s happened that’s a positive because of technology. So, technology isn’t all bad, as we all know, but yeah, this is a great opportunity to take the best of technology and use it in a way that helps connect people to missionaries to missions, but also to help connect the missionary on the field back to the States.
Laurie Graham 30:49
Oh, it’s so fun to talk about the good things in cultural shifts, because we can talk about what’s changed over the past couple of decades, but I believe God is at work in every shift, every place, every decade, every new challenge and opportunity that God is so there. So there are so many more, newer opportunities and new ways. And I’m Christine, you were even talking about, you know, the role of women and how much that has changed and shifted in the women’s ministry area, which is so true. And maybe instead of hanging on to what it used to be, we all could come together and create some new ideas that, that have even newer blessings and new ways of engagement. And even children these days, you know, how much they are learning about global, even economies and cultures and how connected we can be like, how fun would that be to have children even connecting over virtual aspects? And doing it.
Christine Stanfield 31:44
And they’re doing it for gaming, they’re doing it already for so many things. Why can’t the church help them connect with kids in another church or whatever? You know, I mean, there’s so many possibilities.
Jeff Stanfield 31:54
And they are the future leaders of the churches, the children are. So if you engage them and the younger ages, involved in outreach, the importance of it, and being involved in it, then when they get to be the teenagers, they’ll, they’ll be actively pursuing missions, you know, short-term missions, but when they get to be adults and leaders within their churches or their communities, they’re going to be passionate about missions. So, you know, one of the things that, or one of the quotes of a missionary that we served with in Kenya, that is very powerful. I mean, he said, “In order to change the face of a nation, (I would say in this case, the church,) you’ve got to start with the children,” because they are very, their values are forming and so if they value missions at a young age, and they’re taught that, then as they grow up, they’re gonna value missions and promote it in the right way, not just to do it, but to be it.
Christine Stanfield 32:49
And that was so true in that small church that I talked about as our example, they taught missions in the Sunday school, they had their kids write letters to missionary kids, and then they would get connected to, in our case, African kids that wanted to write letters, or share information, you know, not in a wrong way, not in an asking way, but just in a curiosity and get to know you as a person way. And then, those kids were teenagers, and then they were helping with fundraisers for missions and for missionaries, and how could they help send, bring in funds and other resources to help send people from the church because sometimes it would be somebody in their Sunday school class or age group to go on one of those mission trips. And then that church, because they prayed and made it a part of the culture, they actually, God answered their prayer. He honored that. He raised up missionaries out of their congregation, and they were ready to help disciple them, and so on. So it can be so exciting what Jesus can do!
Laurie Graham 33:47
Well, we are not just excited to continue the conversation, but we are going to be working on connecting more, and developing resources and getting some step-by-step, you know, ideas for small churches everywhere too, you know, like, let’s level up. Let’s be intentional. Let’s develop some relationships and see the kind of impact we can have. If you’re listening and you’re not part of the Small Church Network yet, please check it out! Our February event in I guess, if you’re listening later, in 2023, is that the year we’re in now? Our February event in 2023 is all about global missions and we’re developing some resources there just to help churches, whether you are at a place where you’re developing something brand new, or you just want to change and re-up some value and impact with what you’re already doing, that is coming up soon, too.
So definitely check out smallchurchministry.com/network. We will drop that link in the show notes, but before we run out of time, Jeff and Christine, can you tell us about World Gospel Mission, the organization you have served with for decades, and what do they do? Like, because I believe they also will do like individual trips out right? Like, you can actually sign up for short-term trips. You support missionaries. Can you tell us a little bit more about them?
Jeff Stanfield 35:03
Sure! World Gospel Mission is an inter-denominational organization, not associated with a particular denomination, that sends missionaries out around the world. I think the last number we had currently out on the field, 180 missionaries, pretty much all over the world, on every continent except Antarctica. And God has just really blessed the organization over 110 years. Ministries, including medical ministries, community development, community health, church development, leadership development, education, all kinds of ministries you think of it. I mean, and over the years, there’s been all types of ministries even beyond that.
Christine Stanfield 35:50
And partnerships.
Jeff Stanfield 35:50
And partnerships with other organizations. So WGM sends out missionaries every year long-term, but also we send out groups of people through our mobilization department, to go and serve in a local area with a missionary, partnering with a missionary on the field for an experience, but also we have short-term volunteers. A lot of university students go out from anywhere from six months to, or six weeks to three months, missions internships. Internships, and such to partner in an area. And so we have people on staff that focus on helping to connect people to the passion that God has for missions.
Christine Stanfield 36:31
And also we have a coordinator to send out teams.
Jeff Stanfield 36:34
Right.
Christine Stanfield 36:34
So if a church wants to do a team, World Gospel Mission would be very interested in helping see if that would be a good fit, you know, if WGM would be a good fit for them. So we do a lot of teams every year as well.
Jeff Stanfield 36:47
And so we’re happy to facilitate any connection if need be.
Laurie Graham 36:51
So if a church listening right now, like if they’re thinking of sending a team out, or they’re like, oh, that’d be really cool, or maybe they have one person or two people or whatever, would they actually go and visit with and be with one of your missionaries? So it’s very long-term effort? Because we all hear the stories about how sometimes short-terms mission really doesn’t have as much impact as you think because of the cultural implications, but would they actually go and serve like, with or alongside one of your projects? Is that what you’re saying?
Christine Stanfield 37:19
That’s usually the case, yes. We don’t send them where we don’t have organizational connections. Yes.
Jeff Stanfield 37:24
And it may be partnering, I mean, they’d have the, be under the supervision and side by side, maybe not side by side day to day, but they’d be under that connection, they would be hosted by one of our missionaries. That would be the cultural liaison between them and the ministries they’re a part of, living perhaps with the missionary or a mission housing. Or, depending on what the person is interested in, what they feel like their boundaries are, might even be able to be willing, if they’re willing to, to be living in a home with one of the local people. It’s a great opportunity to understand missions from a whole different perspective.
Laurie Graham 37:25
I am just so excited for future conversations with you two. I just have to be honest, I’m just so excited about more. But if a small church is listening right now, and they’re not connected with missionaries currently, and they have a heart for this, or they’re praying about this, is that something they also could reach out to your organization and say, hey, I’m looking for a missionary to support or, you know, how does that work?
Christine Stanfield 38:28
Yes, they can reach out to World Gospel Mission, just go to www.wgm.org. That’s right, not the whole word. wgm.org. Or they can reach out to us Stanfields. And if you want to put our contact, our email contacts in the chat to the community, that’s fine. Yeah, I mean, in the notes, yeah. Feel free to do that as well. They can just reach out to us personally, and we can explore with them where they want to get connected and for what purpose, so yeah.
Laurie Graham 39:03
We will drop the link in the show notes for World Gospel Mission, so it’s an easy click for you all, as well as a Jeff and Christine’s email if you want to reach out to them personally. But I am so thrilled to have you here today. Did I forget anything? Is there anything you wanted to add or a question that you wish I had asked before we go?
Christine Stanfield 39:20
Just one thing that I would put in summary is we believe it’s really true, when Jesus said “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So if you want to have a heart for missions, ask Him how He wants you to allocate your resources for that. That will help you grow quickly into missions if, as an individual and as a church body you’re starting already to allocate resources.
Jeff Stanfield 39:46
Right, and then a couple of things too, that have been important for us on our journey of understanding who we are as missionaries, what God intends for us, it’s not necessarily geographically bound. What a missionary is and just want to share those two quotes from two different people. Hudson Taylor, an early Christian missionary to China said that “A missionary is not one who’s crosses the sea, it’s one who sees the cross.” And that’s truly what it’s about. And then another Christian leader said that, “You’re either a missionary or mission field.” So a couple things that resonated with our hearts to keep it in right perspective, we’re not some grandiose savior of a people group or going to be the focal point. The point is that we are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and living that out right where we’re at, whether it was Kenya, Uganda, or even back in the States now or wherever the Lord will take us.
Christine Stanfield 40:51
To keep the focus, the whole purpose is to connect people to Jesus.
Christine Stanfield 40:54
Right, that’s what it’s about.
Christine Stanfield 40:55
Not just that we’re doing a good thing, or to achieve a certain level of social justice. The whole point is to connect people to Jesus.
Jeff Stanfield 41:01
And so, it goes back to that relational component that I think we started off with, and how important that is. And so, it’s connecting people to Jesus, most of all, but if we’re not connected ourselves to Him, then that’s where we need to start.
Laurie Graham 41:15
Wow, what a beautiful conversation. If you’re listening right now, I just would ask that you would share this podcast with somebody. Like, we start these conversations, and we really pray that it continues in your home church. You know, share it with your ministry partner. Share it with someone that you’re just excited to say, hey, you know, maybe our church could, you know, learn something, or do something different or be an impact here, or maybe God’s just changing your heart in a new way. And so, we just really pray that these podcast episodes really will be continued on in more conversation and more impact because the last thing any of us needs these days is more information, right? Just information that sits there, and we just really want to be about influence and just being a light, as we talk about so much in this show that God has called us all to influence.
Laurie Graham42:01
Coming up next week, I’m super excited to have Tim Rickle on the show. We’re gonna be talking about the cross-cultural mission field that is not a plane ride away, or a boat ride away or anything that’s much closer than you think. Tim is developing just so much in this edge of ministry to people who have been displaced out of their homelands, wherever that may be. And so much of this is happening in our current culture right now. And we’re going to be talking about just practical ways that Jesus calls us to be an influence, even just extending hospitality, you know, even if it’s just that, just a love of a people group that maybe we don’t even understand or we’re curious about, or we don’t even know how God is calling us. So that’s the conversation that’s happening next week, and don’t forget to check out the Network event coming up, smallchurchministry.com/network. If you are not a member yet, definitely check it out because we are going to be emphasizing global missions at our next meeting coming up in February! And until next week, just wherever you’re at, wherever you’re walking today, just be a light!