The inadequacy of this model results from an insufficient awareness that to change a heart, we must first reach that heart. We must have insight, either through personal experience or by God’s own edict upon us, allowing us to know first-hand, how the people we are trying to reach are feeling in their present existence, thereby breaking down barriers and earning the trust of the people to whom we are hoping to minister. First, we must die to self, becoming Christians in the truest sense, seeing our vocations as giftings from God, given to us as tools for walking out our faith. We must clearly hear, without doubt, God speaking to us, proceeding only after we receive succinct instruction from our heavenly Father. Dr. Christine Lunsford, a medical doctor and a missionary, in a recent discussion about a mission trip to Nicaragua, from which she had just returned, stressed the
Well-meaning individuals send donations and well-meaning missions allocate the funds for immediate relief. However, such important factors as the poverty of community and poverty of self, which results in feelings of shame and inadequacy, are overlooked. Noone implements a long-term solution. Consider the quote “give a hungry man a fish and feed him for a meal, but if you teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” (Ritchie 1885) Without the foresight of planning and implementing systems, a poor man, or poor community, cannot thrive beyond the short-term handouts they receive. Missions must equip communities and individuals to rise out of their situations and care for both themselves and each other.(Corbett and Fikkert, 2012 74 ) Missions who successfully do this are most effectively incorporating the incarnational model of contextualization, both spreading God’s word and creating a positive change in the world. (Lingenfelter and Meyers 2007,