What Exactly Do You Do?
SOUTH AMERICA — Our goal is to always teach ourselves out of a job. Isn’t that the way Jesus did it? He trained disciples then left them to do their work.
Most missionaries are asked the question, “What exactly do you do?,” but our favorite answer is a more ambiguous one. And we like it that way. We show the love of God in a practical sense to the people of this world. To some missionaries, a specific or “exactly” statement may mean they dig wells for villages without water. For others, it may mean they start or maintain an orphanage or food center. For many short-term mission projects, it usually entails some sort of construction project for a church, home, or school.
For April and me, it meant one or all of the above at various seasons. However, to give a specific/exact answer: “We are teachers! We make disciples who can make other disciples.” Our goal is to always teach ourselves out of a job. Isn’t that the way Jesus did it? He trained disciples then left them to do their work. Even more specifically, I left Lee University as a professor of World Missions to help train missions students in the Latin world. The vision and call God gave me years ago concerned the missionaries He was raising out of Latin America and other places that were former mission fields, but are now becoming the missions force!
Now, I teach world missions seminars and intensive courses in our seminaries and schools scattered across South and Central America. My hope is that those students will join the missions program in Ecuador, or be a part of the newly created Latin Missionaries Sending Agency. The bigger picture is that each year we reproduce greater numbers of ourselves with disciples who can make other disciples. This exponentially changes the world faster than one gringo (white man) dropped off in the middle of the jungle. We can save 10 to 20 years of language training and cultural acceptance by sending Latin Americans to the remaining strongholds in South and Central America instead of an English-speaking “gringo.” We are also finding that the acceptance for Latin Americans in Asian and Middle Eastern cultures may significantly speed our evangelistic efforts there. Even now, we have former students scattered across the globe sowing seeds in new fields — multiplying our harvest!
Yes, from time to time God opens other doors, and I love going through them. Our favorite “extra” events came last summer with nearly 80 screaming Campus Choir members from Lee University, with New Hope’s youth group, and with the Bruce family, who gave puppet and children ministry seminars. Typically, anything that can help promote Jesus is welcomed. However, we concentrate mainly on events that can help train and equip our missions and pastoral students for their fields and callings.
We are so thankful for the opportunity we have. We love each and every school and are always amazed at what they are able to do with so little. Part of the reason they are able to continue is through supported missionary teachers like April and I. We are NOT salaried, and receive NO reimbursement from the schools in which we teach. 100% of our funding comes from supporters like you who read our articles and posts.
Matthew and April Jett
Missionaries to South America
Project Number 0650186
© 2009 Church of God World Missions
