Book Excerpts and Notes

The Great Omission

Steve Saint

Chapter 1:

    •    Connecting it to the Waodani - Lots of people showed up to do things for them. No one did it with them and let them continue.

Chapter 2 - the need is too great:

    •    The need is too great for current model of missions. 100,000 missionaries. 3 billion people yet to receive the offer Christ made them

Chapter 3 - Dependency:

    •    Deception of dependency
    ◦    Perceptive nationals will begin pitting one foreign aid organization against another. Competitive dependency beats helpless dependency.
    ◦    "Not only is dependency one of the devil's most frequently used barriers to stop the spread of Christ's message of forgiveness, but it is one of the longest lasting. Once established, it is extremely difficult to break." (53,54)
    ◦    Guard against dependency
    ◦    If they didn't build it, they don't own it, and they won't repair it.
    ◦    "When, in the name of Christ's Comission, we do for indigenous believers what they can and should do for themselves, we undermine the very church that God has sent us to plant" (56).

Chapter 4 - Myth of formal education:

    •    Dentistry Story - we do damage to the gospel when we think of ourselves more highly than we ought to for having formal education. Indigenous brothers and sisters have what it takes. We need them and their help.

Chapter 5 - Myth of technology:

    •    Ravi Zecherias - "If you want to know what water is like, don't ask the fish." If you want to know about technology, don't ask a North American... we're immersed in it.

Chapter 6 - Ways technology CAN help:

    •    Three most important relevant areas of technological need - transportation, communication, and "door-openers."

Chapter 7 - Myth of Money:

    •    Money is like medicine. You take it in specific doses.
    •    In the U.S. we perceive money like so: too little is what you make. "Enough" is more than you make. And "Too much" can never happen. For a development project to work, ask not only how much is enough, but how much is too much.
    •    "Too much money is more often the cause of mission failure than too little."
    •    Try and get new Christian communities:
    ◦    Self propegating (leading others to Christ)
    ◦    Self governing (organize and police their own affairs)
    ◦    self-supporting (support their own ministries)
    •    * Not only can they not afford lots of the tools we use, I can't afford them! Only an organization can!

Chapter 8 - Critical observations:

    •    Are we on the right road? Ask the tough questions. You have to do God's will, God's way.
    •    "In missions it's more important that what we do is productive on the receiving end than that we feel good about it on the sending end." (148)
    •    "Whenever possbile, believers should work within their own culture. The exception to this is the necessity that the message and church need to be planted in every people group where it doesn't yet exist."  The purpose, then, of missions is to plant the church where it doesn't exist so that it can then evangelize it's own world. (158)
Mincaye's observations about U.S. culture
    •    Foreigners are always in a big hurry, but spend most of their time sitting down.
    •    Some strangers are very friendly, like the ones that "gave" us food, but most of the other foreigners seem very angry. They won't talk to anyone for very long
    •    Foreigners don't like to talk to each other much. Lots of times they drive away from everyone and then talk to them on little things they wear on their belts.
    •    In airports, when they can't get away from each other, they all sit close but look away from each other and talk into those same little things on their belts.