The Testimony of One MK

by JC (June 2000)

My experience in church-planting home missions is different from MK's (Missionary Kids) involved in foreign missions or PK's (Preacher's Kids) working in their local church. I have never had to leave my home country, fly across the ocean, adapt to a different culture, learn a new language, or be separated from family and friends for years and thousands of miles. Yet, I have experienced complete dependence on Christ for all my needs, a transitive lifestyle, ministering in many churches, making friends around the world, separations, extensive involvement in my local church, and seeing the desolate hearts of those without Christ. Through the dual nature of our ministry, I can still humbly claim to be both an MK and a PK; this is my testimony.

My parents were called into home missions when I was four years old. At that time, dad was pastoring a small church and working full-time in a local hospital. I can remember his frustration because he felt he was neglecting the ministry. Missions would enable my parents to focus primarily on this calling and allow them to minister to many more people. As a family, we began to travel the deputation trail for the next three years; and, looking back, we often wondered if we would have survived deputation without doing it as a family. Dad called deputation the refining test of a missionary for God had many lessons to teach us through these trials.

When we were school age, we moved and Mom again started teaching; Dad began traveling alone for deputation. That school year was so miserable because our family was separated for long periods of time. On one trip, Dad met a family that was homeschooling their children. He came home very excited and told Mom that we needed to homeschool too. Mom plainly told Dad that it would NOT WORK because a certain child (whose name we will neglect to mention to protect the guilty) was just too "stubborn."

Yet the Lord's grace was sufficient. We began homeschooling the next year, and this enabled us to continue our deputation, church-planting ministry, and reporting back to supporting churches as a family. Homeschooling encouraged us to remain close even when we were continually away from home. It instilled in us the discipline to do well in training and gave us the educational tools which permitted us to fulfill our prospective callings.

My family became a team working together to serve the Lord. For deputation or visiting supporting churches, we have traveled for hundreds of miles. [My parents always said that there was an easier way to learn geography, and Philippians 4:11 took on new meaning, ". . . for I have learned in whatsoever state I am (Delaware, West Virginia, Alabama, Connecticut), therewith to be content." At each meeting, we each had our own responsibility to set up the equipment and display table while my parents visited with the church people. For the actual service, we sang, gave testimonies, and showed slides before dad preached. Deputation resulted in a common mission field for our family in service for the Lord.

While on the field we kids were able to teach Sunday School or Children's Church, form a youth group, sing in choirs and ensembles, play the piano, clean the church, participate in door-to-door canvassing, and aid in a nursing home ministry. Throughout the year we were involved in preparing mass mailings and prayer letters, passing out church fliers and tracts, and hosting visiting pastors, missionaries, and church groups that came to assist our ministry. We supported each other in prayer and were prepared to serve. It was no longer my father's ministry; it was our family's service to God. Dad and Mom were called, and we kids were trained to serve: their area of service became our mission field too.

Through the years I have seen in my parents one particular trait that is needed for a successful missionary; and that is faithfulness. They have continually used their talents in the ministry of missions, church planting, child-rearing, and home education. They have invested their lives in those around them by obediently serving the Lord. My parents, by their example and word, have challenged me to be faithful in every area of my life. The blessings that I have received far outweigh the small sacrifices we as a family have made, and I would not desire to grow up as anything other than an MK/PK.