Missio Colonia | Kevin and Kathi in Cologne, Germany

As we've been traveling through this process, we've encountered so many different attitudes towards missions and support raising. One particular attitude has saddened both Kathi and I. We are finding people who view ministry to Europe simply as an overpriced vacation. Many believe that the only legitimate expression of missions to Europe would involve some sort of tentmaking, presumably because it would involve "real" work.

But, when we think about it, there's probably a very good reason why this view has developed among so many people. Many supporters hear back from the mission field and see pictures of castles, rivers, and palaces and they presume that those missionaries are simply living it up. Maybe they are. At any rate, it has given Kathi and I pause. We're realizing that for better or for worse, because we will be ministering in a perceived vacation spot, our ministry will have to be that much more beyond reproach. We're going to have to work much harder so that there is no doubt to what (and Whom) we are sacrificing our lives there.

The other reaction this has elicited in me is actually a sense of guilt. I'll confess. I love Europe. Living over there has been some of the richest and most rewarding experiences of my life. I love the people, the culture, the beauty, and the land. But, doesn't my love for this place make the urgency for their need of the Gospel that much greater? I'll be honest and say that I've struggled with this question. Why am I going to Europe? I can't deny that there has been a call. But, many of the stories I've heard have involved people being called to the one place they never wanted to go. That hasn't necessarily been the case for us.

I guess it strikes at the heart of what you believe missions to be. Is it simply living in grass huts and eating bugs so that you can evangelize primitive natives? It is that (and I have friends that are doing just that). Or is it what the very word means - being "sent ones" to bear witness to Jesus Christ and what he did for us that day on Calvary? Perhaps it is somewhere in between those two. I'm really not sure. My prayer though is that Kathi and I would live up to what God has called us to right now.