As the nation watched, officers captured the second of two young men responsible for another terrorist attack on our country. TV networks repeatedly showed (and continue to show) the horrific and senseless bombings of people at the Boston Marathon. As the investigation has continued, it appears that others are implicated in this inhuman act. What does such a heartless action have to do with Siloam Missionary Homes?

In examining the evidence, it took only a relatively short while for law officers to conclude that the attackers “came here to kill people.” By contrast, our Savior Jesus Christ “has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), namely, those separated from God because of sin in all its forms. The ministry in which we are involved at Siloam is to provide a temporary home as well as pastoral care for those who are taking the truth of Jesus Christ around the world. Jesus Christ — the Way, the Truth and the Life — is the final answer to sin, including terrorism and all other manifestations of humanity’s separation from the only true God. The message of salvation in God the Son that the missionaries are taking to the world is more powerful than any force that governments, terrorists or even humanitarians can utilize. Only the power of God can change the hearts of people, turn them away from false gods that promise rewards for merciless deeds and grant them forgiveness through faith that Jesus Christ has paid the death penalty for their sins.

We are privileged to have a part in a ministry to those who are declaring around the world the truth of Christ who can bring even a terrorist to salvation.

Just prior to His ascension back to heaven, Jesus told His disciples (and us), “‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20). We refer to this Scripture as the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. Similar passages occur in the other three Gospels and Acts. Those who commit themselves to obey the Great Commission become World Christians. Not every Christian is a World Christian, either because of not understanding Scripture and our responsibility or because of choosing not to obey.

The term “World Christian,” used as early as 1920, is not a reference to “worldly Christians,” who claim to know Christ, but live like those in the world who don’t know Him. We have enough of those already, as David Bryant points out. However, he says, “every Christian is meant to be a World Chris­tian, whether you physically ‘go,’ or ‘stay at home’ to provide the sacrificial love, prayer, training, money, and quality of corporate life that backs the witness of those who ‘go’.”¹ Monroe Brewer (whose ideas in the quoted source inspired this article) says world Christians are those “so in love with Jesus Christ and so committed to His word that [they] cannot help but look at the world from God’s perspective….” They are “beginning to hear and to see and to think and to feel the way God does about the world because [they are] beginning to develop God’s heart for the world.”²

People with God’s heart for the world are the ones He has used most effectively through history. These are people like Abraham, who knew that God would bless all the world through him; David, whose psalms over and over reflect his understanding of God’s desire for all nations to worship Him; the Apostle Paul, whose vision and min­istry for reaching the world that “God so loved” with the gospel of Christ is unequaled. There are others too numerous to mention in more modern times, like David Brainerd, William Carey, George Mueller, Ida Scudder, Jim and Elizabeth Elliott, multitudes of missionaries and missions-minded Christians desiring to evangelize the world.

World Christians encourage and build up fellow Christians in this negative and critical world. We need to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to keep on in ministry, not to give in to the feeling of hope­lessness in the task of reaching the world for Christ. We need especially to encourage missionaries. We can send cards and letters and almost all missionaries have email addresses. Call a missionary by phone or Skype. Take your vacation or part of it to visit a missionary on the field. Without exception, the missionaries we have visited told us what an encouragement it was for us to come (but make it a planned visit, when it won’t hinder their ministry). How many missionaries do you know?

World Christians give to the work of the Church and its ministry across the street and around the world. Martyred missionary Jim Elliot said that if you are unwilling to give away your possessions, you don’t own them. They own you. We will never be able to keep them; better to in­vest them in what will last eternally. The physical and spiritual needs of the world are overwhelming. How much is a soul worth? If we were all World Christians, our sacrificial giving would be more than enough to supply the needs of missions outreach. We would no longer spend 95% of what we put in the offering plate on ourselves, because we would see that reaching the world for Christ at home and around the world is the purpose of the Church, the fulfillment of the last command Jesus gave us before His ascension.

World Christians know that God can transform anyone in the world through the power of the Gospel of Christ. Do you believe God can save Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran or Jared Loughner, who shot Gabrielle Giffords and others? World Christians are concerned about reaching the unreached all over the world because they know that salvation is possible for anyone through the Gospel of Christ, the one and only Savior.

World Christians continually pray for the unsaved world and are always ready to “go” wherever God may call them to take the Gospel of Christ.

We need to call on Holy Spirit to show us the world as God sees it, love the world as God loves it, knowing that His Word reveals His plan for the world. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Lord gave John a vision of “a great mul­titude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’” (Revelation 7:9-10). Helping to amass that “great multitude” is the goal of World Christians.

H. Milton Wilder
Missionary Pastoral Care
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1. David Bryant, In The Gap (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1985), 93

2. Monroe Brewer, “What Does it Mean to be a World Christian?” in The Local Church: Seedbed for Missions, ed. John Bennett (Wheaton: The Association of Church Missions Committees, 1984), 14-15.

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King….” So wrote Isaac Watts as he paraphrased the last half of Psalm 98. This is the truth that missionaries are proclaiming, indeed the truth that all of us as Christians must proclaim. Although Watts did not write “Joy to the World” to be sung at Christmas, it has become one of the most sung Christmas carols. However, its message, like our message to the world is not only for Christmas, but also for any time and all times. The “earth” has not yet received “her King,” but He has come and He is coming.

Some people erroneously believed that the world would end today, December 21, 2012, not because the Lord has come and is coming, but because the Mayan calendar supposedly predicted it. I prayed this morning that many of those people would recognize that if the world had ended today, they were not prepared for the consequences and that they would turn to God through Jesus Christ. My hope is for them to see that they have to face God beyond this world and they are separated from Him because of sin. They have sinned and need His forgiveness through Jesus Christ who has paid the death penalty for sin and through faith in Him as our Savior, God accepts Christ’s death in our place. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” is a message they and everyone without Jesus Christ need to heed and I hope you know that Joy this Christmas and always.

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;
Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.
Sing to the Lord with the harp,
With the harp and the sound of a psalm,
With trumpets and the sound of a horn;
Shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.
Let the sea roar, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell in it;
Let the rivers clap their hands;
Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord,
For He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world,
And the peoples with equity.
—Psalm 98:4-9 (NKJV)

In her article, “Some Reflections on Pastoral Care,” Belinda Ng writes, “While missionary pastoral care may mean different things to different people, it generally encompasses the following elements: understanding the special needs of missionaries, guidance, counseling, sharing, communicating, friendship, fellowship, visitation, crisis care, prayers, encouragement, and affirmation. …” (William Taylor, ed., Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition, William Carey Library, Pasadena, 1997, p. 277). From this list of elements, it is evident that pastoral care of missionaries requires study of and sensitivity to the needs of missionaries as well as interaction and openness to involvement in their lives. Ng asks, “How do we provide appropriate and adequate on-going pastoral care to ensure that those sent out remain on the field for as long as possible to fulfill their call to missions?” (ibid.)

The context of Belinda Ng’s article is the problem of missionary attrition, missionaries leaving the field. Her question is one with which we continually concern ourselves here at Siloam Missionary Homes. Our interest is not only in providing for missionaries’ housing needs temporarily, but also in how we might undergird their commitment to their original call to serve the Lord as missionaries. No doubt, God redirects people’s lives, but we see a number of missionaries who don’t return to the field for a variety of preventable factors. Ultimately, of course, the next step in ministry is between the missionaries and God, but how can pastoral care be a positive influence and encouragement at a time when a “word fitly spoken” (Proverbs 25:11) might be the catalyst for arriving at a right decision?

What we really are talking about is Christians caring for Christians in the Body of Christ, the Church, but with a special emphasis on the particular “category” of “missionary,” one sent by the Church. As Kelly O’Donnell says, “Member care is the ongoing investment of resources by mission agencies, churches, and other mission organizations for the nurture and development of missionary personnel. It focuses on everyone in missions (missionaries, support staff, children, and families) and does so over the course of the missionary life cycle, from recruitment through retirement. Member care is also the responsibility of everyone in missions—sending church, mission agency, fellow workers, and member care specialists” (Doing Member Care Well, William Carey Library, Pasadena, 2002, p. 4)

True sending churches realize they must do more than send money to keep missionaries on the field. They recognize the need to be involved personally in the lives of the missionaries whom they support. They learn about and provide care in areas besides financial, while at the same time, meeting financial needs, which they know is essential.

While Siloam Missionary Homes is not a sending agency per se, we want to do our part in cooperating with the church and “everyone in missions” to provide “member care” for the missionaries while they are living here. Please pray for us, give financially and give your time and effort as a volunteer to help with the many tasks on site here at Siloam. Please continue to help us help missionaries that we may be an encouragement to them to “keep on keeping on.” Also, pray about and look for ways that you can care for and invest in the lives of missionaries in your circle of influence.

H. Milton Wilder

Siloam Missionary Homes, the Staff and the missionaries who come to stay here all depend on God to provide the financial support needed to fulfill the ministry to which He has called us. We depend on the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of the followers of Christ — individual Christians, churches, organizations, businesses — inspiring them to give. They give because they believe in obeying the mandate of Jesus Christ to reach around the world with His gospel. They give because they have a special care for and interest in Siloam’s ministry or the ministry of a particular missionary or field of service. Many Christians give very generously and even sacrificially because they want to see the Word go out into the world and want to make sure the needs of the workers are met.

This is a demonstration of how God works through people. Isn’t it amazing and such a blessing to realize what God accomplishes through us as His people when we work together to obey His call and fulfill His purpose? Just as He called Abraham or the disciples, He has called us. He calls us to pray, give and go, each according to the gifts, abilities and prosperity He has given us. Some of us are able to give large amounts, others give small amounts comparatively, as the Lord blesses. Combining the gifts meets the needs. Some of us can go around the world personally to take the message of Christ. Some of us can go locally with His message. All of us can provide prayer support for each other in our partnership of obedience to the Commission of our Lord. He has called us to unite in being His witnesses “both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Together, we serve in all these representative places at the same time to fulfill our call as His servants and messengers.

Thank you who have become our partners in helping to provide “a place for missionaries to call home.” Let us continue to pray for one another and work together as the Body of Christ.

H. Milton Wilder
Missionary Pastoral Care

A war to win the world has been raging for centuries. It is a war between the forces of Jesus Christ and the forces of Satan. Satan thought he won when Jesus gave up His life on the cross, but the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ proved otherwise. After His resurrection, Christ’s fearful followers emerged from hopeless disappointment to become the Holy Spirit empowered warriors sent with God’s love into battle. Their weapon was the Word of God, which they used to make disciples, baptize and teach in Jesus’ name, going as He sent them with the assurance that He would always be with them (Matthew 28:19-20).

The war to win the world is a war fought for and within the hearts and minds of people everywhere. It is a war waged not primarily against atheists, but between religions and believers in Jesus Christ. Satan has used the innate need that all peoples have to worship, to lure them into devising false religions and distorted forms of worship (Romans 1:21-23). These religions teach various means of appeasing a superior being or beings or in some way earning the right to receive rewards of assorted kinds in the afterlife. Because of the profound differences between religions and Christianity, a clash is inevitable. In religions, people put forth great effort in attempting to reach what they call God, while the followers of Christ teach the truth that the only true God has come into the world to reach us in Jesus Christ to offer eternal life in Him.

Those who live for Christ face opposition from many religions. Other religions persecute believers in Christ simply because of their faith in Him. They terrorize Christ’s followers and try to force them with guns, machetes or other means to denounce Christ and convert to their religion. When they refuse, they burn their homes, torture them and kill them, often with the approval of those who could otherwise prevent these atrocities. What kind of religions are these? They destroy churches, confiscate and burn Bibles and no one apologizes. How must we react? With what weapons must we fight?

It is right for our government to stand strong against Islamic terrorism, fighting it with all means to prevent it from taking over our country and the world. It is right for us as Christ to stand strong against false religions to prevent them from taking over the hearts and minds of the peoples of the world. We cannot simply rant and rave against their beliefs as I often hear. Nor can we try to be “politically correct” or “tolerant” toward them in the sense of accepting everybody’s beliefs as equally true and valid. In spite of what they believe, God’s word calls us to love them, even as our enemies, as He loves them.

We must remember what Paul said in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” The war for hearts and minds is a spiritual war, not a war against people. We fight against spiritual forces of wickedness and our weapons are the Sword of the Word of God and Prayer. Our prayer is “that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ” (Colossians 4:3). We win through the gospel of Christ piercing the hearts and minds of those without Him.

That’s why we need to continue to support every mission effort we can to win the world for Christ, not to dominate politically or otherwise, but to free people from slavery to sin and enable them to have the gift of eternal life. This is the gift they can never earn, never gain any other way, except through Jesus Christ; “‘there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved’” (Acts 4:12). Our missionaries are declaring the Name of Jesus to adherents of all religions as well as to those who claim no religion. We can use guns and bombs to deter the advance of terrorists and other evil people, but more will come. The only way to change their actions is to change their hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.

The government spends billions on weapons of war to defeat our enemies while the followers of Christ have the weapons of God’s Word — the Bible — and Prayer that produce lasting results, but small resources to send out Christ’s “soldiers” to use them. Our part is to pray, give and go through the door that God opens for His word (Acts 14:27, Colossians 4:3-4) to share His love as He told us to, and to equip others to go in His name. This is not a time to cut back on missions giving, regardless of the economic conditions. If the times demand more frugal living and reducing expenses, then we must find ways that do not fall into Satan’s trap of hindering the essential task of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.

H. Milton Wilder
Missionary Pastoral Care

Nobody “pays” missionaries to go and take the gospel to people who need to hear of the salvation available in Jesus Christ. Missionaries go in obedience to the calling of God who has saved them and they desire to share His truth and saving power with those who have not received Him. Although true missionaries do not fulfill their calling for pay, it is necessary that they receive financial support in order to live and serve.

In contemplating a conversation I had with a missionary recently, I realize that there is some “injustice” in the Christian community. The Scripture indicates that Christians are responsible to other Christians who give themselves to serve as missionaries. Paul is a prime example. Another is John, writing to Gaius about those “who went out for the sake of the name” saying “we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth” (3 John 5-8). Also, Galatians 6 reminds us that we should “bear one another’s burdens” and “do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith” (vv 2, 10).

The missionary I talked with, now in the States away from the field, uncertain as to the future area where he and his family will serve, must continue to live and provide for his family. During this interim period, he has sensed that God would have him receive seminary education to enhance his ability to carry out his work as a missionary. Because of problems over which he had no control that developed on the field and because he is not actively serving on the field, several churches have dropped the family’s monthly support. (This is kicking the missionary when he’s down.) Now he has taken a part-time job, which reduces the time he needs for study and for contacting other sources for financial support. It is difficult also to raise support without knowing exactly where the next assignment will be. Have you faced a predicament such as this?

In short, now is when churches and individual Christians should come to the aid of this family, rather than cutting off support in their time of special need. Sometimes Christians act on hearsay and rumors (and the economy!) without a clear appraisal of matters and what the personal impact will be. Having pastored a missions minded church for many years and knowing that churches have missions policies, I also know that it is not possible for a policy to cover every conceivable situation. I also know that churches should administer any policy with compassion and concern for the missionaries under their care who are sincerely seeking to serve in a responsible manner. It is a serious step to cut a missionary’s support and it should not be taken without consultation with the missionary and much prayer.

I relate this story as only one example of the difficulties in which missionaries sometimes find themselves. I have talked with other missionaries in similar situations where believers need to come along side of the missionaries, help them bear their burdens, encourage them, support them and truly become “fellow workers with the truth.” They need our love, understanding and empathy, our tangible, practical help and prayer that they “will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:3).

H. Milton Wilder
Missionary Pastoral Care

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SMH M&B Siloam NL, 09-2011 – Web

A number of years ago, an area newspaper published a survey wanting to know “what you think about sin.” The survey asked “which…do you consider sinful?” and listed such things as drinking alcohol, using tobacco, dancing, cursing, not going to church, being homosexual, etc. The paper also asked readers to rank the Ten Commandments in order of importance and the “seven deadly sins” in order of sinfulness, along with a question: “What is sin?”

As I read the “Sin Survey,” I wondered if some people would actually use the results of the survey as a guideline to determine their own conduct. That may appear farfetched, but people have been using that approach for years — emulating what they think the majority are doing. I also wondered what standard most people would use to measure sinfulness or to rank a sin’s severity. How many would consider the Bible their source and final authority?

Our society continues a steady departure from and indifference to the Biblical foundation of laws and morality. Nine Supreme Court Justices can decide five to four what is legally “right” and “wrong” without precedent or appeal to any higher authority and their ruling becomes the law of the land. Even church organizations are deciding “right” and “wrong” by majority vote rather than by the Word of God. This applies not only where Scripture does not give explicit direction, but even where the Bible speaks clearly, a majority can overrule. This is not new. Twenty years ago, a committee of a major denomination stated that “the historical distance between twentieth century Christians and first century Christians is too great for us ‘to borrow…their conclusions [meaning what is written in the Bible] about human sexuality’” (quoted in Christianity Today, 5/27/91, p.15).

This kind of thinking began much earlier than twenty years ago. Francis Schaeffer wrote in How Should We Then Live: “In the days of a more Christian culture, a lone individual with the Bible could judge and warn society, regardless of the majority vote, because there was an absolute by which to judge. There was an absolute for both morals and law. But to the extent that the Christian consensus is gone, this absolute is gone as a social force” [(Fleming H. Revell, 1976), p. 250]. When majority vote rather than appeal to the Bible as the authoritative Word of God determines morality and law, then it can become “right” to kill unwanted or defective babies, old people, the incurable, engage in any kind of sexual practice or do anything else the majority who are given the power, decide.

I said all the above to say that the drift of the church away from the Bible as the authoritative word of God has a negative impact on world evangelization. It is a basic reason that missionaries and mission agencies struggle to find the financial support to take the gospel to the world. Jesus spoke clearly about the responsibility He left for His Church to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:18-20), but many who claim the name of Christ disregard the authority of His word. Since the Word is not absolute, diversity, tolerance, inclusiveness and relativism lead “Christians” to reject the truth Jesus spoke in John 14:6: “‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’” Why evangelize the world for Jesus if other religions have the way, the truth and the life? When people deny one truth of the Bible, the rest gradually erodes away in their minds.

Christians give other reasons for not making known the gospel message of the crucified, buried and resurrected Savior who paid the death penalty for the sins of the world. Let me then add another question to the “sin survey”: Not to be involved in making Jesus Christ’s disciples of all the nations – is that a sin?

H. Milton Wilder
Missionary Pastoral Care

The only miracle of Jesus that all four Gospel writers record is the one we call the Feeding of the 5,000 (Matthew 14:15-21; Mark 6:35-44; Luke 9:12-17; John 6:5-14). While the miracle has many aspects of truth that we can apply to our life and relationship with Jesus, I will mention only two or three.

Within the huge multitude of people that day, Jesus’ disciples found a small boy who had brought five loaves of bread and two fish to eat. When they gave that small quantity of food to Jesus, He multiplied it so that there was enough to feed 5,000 men plus women and children. This was a great miracle.

The most obvious application of this event is that we must bring what we have to Jesus and let Him take it and transform it and multiply it to meet the needs that arise. Within that particular application of the miracle, we should recognize that He could have fed the multitude without the boy’s bread and fish. After all, He created the world ex nihilo, out of nothing. However, He wants us to trust Him enough to give Him what we have and allow Him to use it for His glory.

That’s how we operate at Siloam Missionary Homes. We know that we can’t do the work without Him. We don’t have enough resources ourselves, but Jesus takes what people give and multiplies it and transforms it to supply the needs of the missionary families who come to us for housing. We ask people to give what they can to Jesus for Him to do the work at Siloam, which He has been doing for over 19 years.

Like feeding the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, the need sometimes seems impossible to meet, but over and over we see at Siloam how God continues to do what to us seems impossible. If left up to us, many things are impossible. The Word of God, however, reminds us “all things are possible with God” (Matthew 19:26).

The miracle emphasizes that we must not look only for human resources to provide solutions. We must not look only at the problem, but at the Problem Solver. Jesus Christ, who is “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), is the One who provided yesterday and today. He will continue to provide, many times in miraculous ways, from unexpected sources and resources day by day and at just the right time.

H. Milton Wilder
Missionary Pastoral Care