An Untraditional Vehicle

This year our overall magazine theme has been to highlight the newer things that Ethnos360 is doing in order to reach the unreached and to see a thriving church among every people group. This mission organization has been around for over 80 years, resulting in the use of new technologies, new vocabulary and improved methodologies, but we have never lost the objective of reaching the last unreached people group.   

With that in mind, let me recall for you one of the ways that we have expanded our reach into the world: starting businesses. There are many types of businesses that can provide access to places that would not accept someone going as a “missionary.”   

I want to introduce you to a couple who is transitioning from traditional missionary methods in order to see a thriving church for every people. Due to the sensitive nature of their ministry, we will not use their real names but will instead call them Francisco and Maria. Both were raised in Christian homes. Both were missionary kids.  

Maria said, “Our parents saw the value of teaching us the Word and taking us to church, and both of us came to know Christ as our Savior at a young age. As we grew up in our different settings, we were exposed to a lot of different ministries overseas. It was in our high school years that we got more serious about our personal understandings of who God is and how that plays out in our lives.   

“When I had a chance to go on a trip to another country with other youth, God really used that in my life to recognize that my Creator created me for a purpose. And I thought instead of me deciding what I was going to be doing, what about getting to know more of who He is and what He created me for? It was on that trip that I decided to start pursuing where He wanted me to go and what He wanted me to do.”  

They both attended a Bible institute, learning, as Maria said, “more about this relationship with my Creator and my Savior. It was in that time that I, through His Word, saw so much of His heart for the nations and how He desires for them to know Him. We were delighting in the fact of having a hope for the future and a reason for being on this earth, and we wanted others to have that hope as well. That’s what took me — took both of us actually — overseas to be a part of other nations being able to have that opportunity.”  

Finishing their training, Francisco and Maria began a life together as cross-cultural workers. Their role was a leadership one, helping new cross-cultural workers prepare to go into church planting works. They continued in this area for a number of years, assisting in a number of countries. Their methodology was consistent with that of the organization that had trained them: culture and language acquisition, literacy, translation and Bible instruction leading to planting New Testament churches among unreached people groups.  

A New Idea Is Planted 

Then the Lord began to change their course. Their destination, their goal — seeing God establish thriving churches among unreached people groups — remained the same, but God gave Francisco and Maria a new untraditional “vehicle” by which they would follow His leading. Francisco worded it like this: “God started challenging our hearts to keep going, you know, and not just stay [where we were]. He started to challenge our hearts to go to work where there’s still little understanding of Him, but we were wondering, ‘How? How will we do this in more restricted places?’”  

But isn’t God amazing in how He delights in involving us in His purposes? How often do we ascribe His working in our lives to “coincidence”? Francisco continued, “I was on an airplane, and I saw this documentary. Actually, I think Maria told me to watch it. And it was about coffee and [featured] one of the top coffee shops in France. This guy would get on his airplane, fly down to Ethiopia and pick out the beans that he wanted. Then he would take them back to France and roast the beans to serve in his shop. But I was intrigued by the fact that he was at the actual plantation and picking out his beans, at a time when we lived in a coffee-producing country. It struck me that, where we want to go and work, they drink a lot of coffee, but they don’t produce it there, and I saw a connection of how we could be involved [in a new ministry].”   

Excitement began to build within Francisco and Maria as they realized that God had already created a foundation in their lives for this new endeavor. They realized that they could purchase coffee locally and look for ways to get the coffee to those places where people are serious coffee drinkers but don’t have it readily available. They also realized that just as they had been the ones to open up new ministry locations with the mission organization, God was going to continue using them to pioneer new ministry opportunities, but this time through a different vehicle.    

Remember that their goal was not coffee centered. Francisco said, “Our goal and heart is to see the unreached people groups of the world reached with the gospel of Christ, especially in countries where extending the gospel using our current methodology would face major challenges.”   

This new idea started with that documentary about coffee, and then God took it from there. He started bringing opportunities and people to them; someone offered to supply green coffee beans, another offered to show them all the ins and outs of running a coffee company, and another shared their business plan.  

Once again, God was going before them, preparing the way. They opted out of getting a four-year university diploma in business. Instead, they decided to start taking coffee courses and learning how to roast coffee, purchasing a small roaster. This led to some excellent training with a top micro-roaster and other coffee experts, learning about green coffee beans and sensory skills (or taste testing). Along the way, they realized that they needed more than just the product; they needed to learn how to run a business. Again, God answered: They were able to take free night courses in small business management and entrepreneurship at a local community college.  

Francisco and Maria continued with their saga: “We were trying to find a location to set up our small roaster where we were, and we got to know a businessman who was following our journey. One day he told us, ‘Hey, I talked to somebody that you really need to meet. He owns a coffee shop.’ So, we went to meet him and his wonderful team and found out that they have a vision that was in many ways similar to ours. Then they offered us an internship with them for three months.  

“We learned so much from them during that time. Not just doing barista-type work but understanding how their business operated and how they engaged with their employees and community.”  

A Struggle 

One of my questions for Francisco and Maria centered on any cultural issues that they found most troublesome. I was at first amazed and then very understanding at their response. They had both been raised by missionary parents and had ministered in the “traditional” way for over 20 years. [Editor’s Note: “Traditional” usually means living openly as a missionary, translating the Bible, working in literacy, group teaching of the Scriptures and worshiping openly.] Now, they were stepping away from the “traditional” to be able to move into a new area. As Francisco put it, “In my own mind, I’m like, ‘Am I allowed to do this? Is this spiritual? Am I allowed to want to do business? Am I allowed to be a businessperson?’ And it was nobody necessarily telling me this, but it came from, perhaps, the way I grew up. I’m thinking, ‘Is this even OK?’  

“And God in His grace continues to show that for us — maybe not for everybody — ‘Yes, this is what I want you to do.’ That was probably our biggest hurdle, and even now it’s still a struggle regarding our identity in a way because we had been functioning for so long in this [traditional] missionary identity, and now we needed to set that aside for another context.”  

Our identity — what do we base that on? I understood their dilemma, having been raised in an organization myself where our identity is strongly based in the organization. Then, Francisco gave this incredibly enlightening picture of bringing to the forefront a different identity to meet the needs of the moment.   

“In the Scriptures you see Paul, right? And he was a Jew. He was a Pharisee. Later you see he was a Roman and that became very, very important. And he needed that identity to engage with people. He was a philosopher, and he was able to use that identity to engage a certain group of people there in Athens. Later, he was a tentmaker. He worked with leather, and he worked with these tents, probably for the Roman military. But he had a skill — or a craft — which helped support what he was involved in. He was a preacher and a teacher. In one way, he was all those things all the time. Yet, he used different identities to gain access and to engage with people within particular contexts.  

“This has been something that we’ve worked on, that we’re still working on. And we’ve got to look at things differently, within our different identities. As a Roman, Paul would look at a certain context a little bit differently than he would as a Pharisee, and then he would engage with that context in a different way. However, as a child of God (and that’s our core identity), we want people to see that lived out no matter what the context.” By assuming an identity that is more relevant and comfortable to the people they are engaging with, Francisco and Maria hope to “be a part of giving people a chance to hear the Good News.”  

How refreshing it was to hear that! Listening to Francisco speak about the new “vehicle” that God had provided for them, I was encouraged to realize that being a cross-cultural worker is not and cannot be restricted to one stereotype. When we follow what God wants us to do, there are innumerable ways that you and I can minister and be just as effective.  

Looking Ahead 

What are the next steps for Francisco and Maria? They need to do some market research to find the best place to set up a coffee company — that’s different vocabulary from the “traditional” method of evangelism, isn’t it? Francisco said, “We’re going to be asking God to lead us. That’s going to be the big thing. And yet, of course, we’re going to be aware of what people groups are in what area. Wherever we establish [this business], we want to engage with God’s people who are already there, and [we want] to see if they already have a vision for the unreached.   

“The idea is to be set up in a way that we are wanted, paying taxes, employing locals and giving back to the community. But while we’re there, we’re not going to hide the fact that we are Christians — although we will be discerning regarding how we use this word. We need wisdom to know how we can engage with local brothers and sisters in that area. As we learn what their vision is, we are going to really need the Lord’s wisdom to know how to move from there into the next steps. As our credibility grows and as opportunities present themselves to teach as well as to share what God has on our hearts, we would love to be participants in what God is already doing there on the ground toward giving these least reached people groups access to the gospel. But we also recognize that God may bring in other people from outside to be a part of this as well.”  

Final Comments 

As we look back at over 80 years of cross-cultural work and ministries, there have been quite a number of changes. Our technology has changed dramatically. Even our vocabulary has changed. Nevertheless, one thing has not changed — our vision. As it is with Francisco and Maria, our vision is to see a thriving, mature church in every people group. And that vision has seen any number of changes in the “how to reach them” category. With each year that passes since our organization’s inception in 1942, more and more restrictions have been put in place to prevent missionaries from openly bringing God’s Word to those who have yet to hear. And now Francisco and Maria are part of an ever-changing group of cross-cultural workers who have stretched beyond the “traditional” into creative ways to reach people.  

Not everyone may agree with the vehicle being used, and not everyone may be in a location where they need to make this transition. The main thing is obedience to what God is asking, whether it fits our traditions or looks completely new, keeps us within our comfort zone or stretches our boundaries, or whether it feels like it is within our abilities or forces us to recognize our inadequacies. The two of them said, “We are very supported [by our leaders] and nearly all of our partners and churches; without that it would be very difficult. So, if what we say here could help bring more understanding [about this new ministry reality], that would be wonderful.”  

As Francisco mentioned, the Apostle Paul had many identities. In 1 Corinthians 9:22b, we read, “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” As Francisco and Maria step out with their new identity as coffee people, let’s stand behind them in prayer, asking God to direct them to the best location to use coffee as a way to reach the unreached. May they be bold and courageous, and may God continue to make the next step clear. May they be intentional with those He has placed in their lives all along the way.  

And, the next time you walk into a coffee shop, be reminded that God can use any venture as a vehicle for reaching the unreached. 

— Bruce Enemark, Contributing Writer