wfn.org | Coming home

[BethAH <BethAH@mbm.org>]

August 8, 2001
Beth Hawn
Mennonite Board of Missions
(219) 294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

August 8, 2001

Coming home: RAD team reconciles expectation with experience

BARCELONA, Spain (MBM/CHM)  There is a big difference between
popular perceptions of mission trips and reality say the members
of the Sweden RAD (Reaching and Discipling) team after finishing
their seven-month term in Jokkmokk, Sweden.

I knew people who went on mission trips and they just came back
so full of God, and I wanted that, said Laurel Wiens, a team
member from Manitoba.  But let me tell you, what I expected of a
mission trip was very different than what I experienced.

In Jokkmokk, a town of about 7,000 people, the team helped teach
English in the local schools and staffed The Cave, a youth center
and outreach program run from the basement of the local free
church.  They were the first RAD team to serve there, though the
church welcomed YES (Youth Evangelism and Service) teams since
1987.

Jokkmokk, and Sweden in general, is the most post-Christian
society in Western Europe, said Tom Rutschman, a Mennonite Board
of Missions worker there.  This means that in Sweden, though
there is an official state church, only 4-6 percent of the
population consider themselves active Christians.

In such a context, said team members, it was harder to witness to
people and difficult to see any tangible outcome of their work.

Its a place where its very hard to share the gospel when they
dont really feel like they need anything, said Marc
Hochstetler, the teams leader from Millersburg, Ohio.  If
youre looking for numbers and youre looking for converts,
thats not a place youre going to find it.

Instead, said Doris Thiessen, a member from Manitoba, You find a
lot of [your work] is investing in relationship building.

I think we saw changes in attitudes, said Nic Kennedy, team
member from Bluffton, Ohio, relating a story of two boys who
stopped cursing because of the influence of the team.  Because
you dont see too many steps [in seven months], even the little
steps are significant.

The team also found Jokkmokk very similar to North America.

Before I came, I thought of [mission work as] being really busy
in just a totally different environment, said Wiens.  It was so
much like home and I wasnt expecting that.

Going to a place thats so similar [is challenging], said
Hochstetler, but that holds a valuable lesson.  Youre not going
to a poor place.  Youre not serving the [financially] needy.
But you come to see how needy people really are, even though
people dont seem like it.  It makes you realize how much you
need to share where youre at, even in your own setting.

Despite reality being different from expectations, members still
felt blessed by the experience.

Part of me is looking back at the mistakes I made, said Wiens.
I still have the mind-set that what I do is all that matters.
Im slowly learning that Gods grace doesnt really depend on
what I do.   No matter what I do, wrong or right, his grace is
still the same.  And once that pressure is taken off, youre
really free to live how he wants you to live.

Though the mission teams often struggle to find tangible signs of
their work during their stay, the impact of the YES and RAD teams
has been significant, said Rutschman, who has been part of the
30-member church since 1983.

Since the start of the youth outreach in 1980, said Rutschman
dozens of kids have come to faith, though almost all now live
elsewhere because there are few available jobs in Jokkmokk.

Fifteen years ago, if youd asked [kids in school] if they knew
a Christian, theyd say no.  If you asked what a Christian was
like, they would tell you a person who has a lot of rules and
couldnt do a lot of things.

In the past 10 years through working in the schools, Rutschman
said, every child in town has known the team members and they
know you can have fun and be a Christian.  Thats something of a
revelation.

Another benefit is that the teams have been a witness to the
youth growing up inside the church.

Im convinced none [of our kids] would have stayed on with the
church without those positive role models, Rutschman said.
Imagine what it is to be the only one in your class who is
Christian and to be made fun of.  Suddenly, you have North
American teens who are cool [in your school].  It means its
something positive to be a Christian.  I think the church has
finally realized how important this has been for our own
children.

I feel good overall about things that happened, Hochstetler
said.  I believe we did what was asked of us and that God will
use that and bless it.  Thats the bottom line, letting God do
what he wants to further his kingdom.

RAD offers youth, age 18 and older, a way to explore meaningful
short-term mission as they receive three months of intensive
discipleship training, followed by an eight-month team assignment
to a mission site in Europe, Latin America or North America.
* * *

Grant E. Rissler       PHOTOS AVAILABLE