When engaging in cross-cultural ministry, the key thing is building relationships – relationships of mutual trust, mutual respect, mutual understanding. This takes time. In the story of the Tower of Babel, God confuses the languages of mankind. That’s why there will always be a need for long term missionary personnel – men and women who have given their adult lives to learning languages and cultures so that they may transmit the gospel of Jesus Christ and work with indigenous churches in culturally appropriate ways.

Does America still need to send out long term missionaries to foreign places? Aren’t the churches of Asia, Africa, and Latin America now mature enough to do without us? Shouldn’t the church in America, which is losing ground, pay attention to lost people at home? I get asked these questions when I come home on furlough.

It’s important to realize that the role of the long term American missionary has changed. We are no longer the church planters and evangelists. We are the support staff. We bring skills and qualifications that are in short supply overseas. We are no longer the in-charge people; colonialism has ended. We work in partnership with and often under the authority of the indigenous churches abroad.

I teach at a Bible college in Malawi, a country that is experiencing rapid church growth, but is desperately short of pastors. The people are sheep without a shepherd, and often have a bare minimal grasp of Christianity. Because of the grinding poverty there, they struggle to support pastors, much less Bible college professors. Another problem is “brain drain.” The best and the brightest tend to find their way to developed nations where standards of living are higher, instead of staying home where their education and skills are needed. The church, like the nation as a whole, appears to be generations away from being self-reliant. Meanwhile the American church still has resources that are non-existent in the “Developing” nations. So countries like Malawi continue to be dependent upon expatriate personnel – such as Bible teachers and doctors – and funding.

Over the years I’ve seen positive developments. I teach at African Bible College, and have in addition to teaching, been the faculty member responsible for outreach. Increasingly the students are taking my job away from me and are taking more initiative in starting their own ministries. We – students and I – will go into a village and do evangelism for a weekend or a few days. We’ve even gone into largely Muslim areas, especially along the shores of Lake Malawi, where Islam is concentrated. It works because the students know the language and culture and there is an immediate connection between the students and the villagers. I provide things the students don’t have – car, projection equipment, etc. Pastors allow me to work within their jurisdictions because I’ve been with ABC 20 years and they know me and ABC.

So that’s why I stay in Malawi. In terms of both growth and need, that’s where the action is. As God raises up more developing world churches, pastors, and evangelists, African Bible College and institutions like it around the world are training the leaders for this new movement of the Lord. And as long as these institutions suffer shortfalls in resources and teaching staff, American long term missionaries will continue to be needed.

When engaging in cross-cultural ministry, the key thing is building relationships – relationships of mutual trust, mutual respect, mutual understanding. This takes time. In Genesis 11, the story of the Tower of Babel, God confuses the languages of mankind. That’s why there will always be a need for long term missionary personnel – men and women who have given their adult lives to learning languages and cultures so that they may transmit the gospel of Jesus Christ and work with indigenous churches in culturally appropriate ways.

Larry Brown is a minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a member of Central South Presbytery, and serves as Professor of church history, world history, hermeneutics and missions at the African Bible College in Lilongwe, Malawi.