Minimum Wage

Please note that this post is not a veiled request for additional support; we always make our support needs known as clearly and plainly as possible. This blog is a reflection on what it means, in a Kingdom that “is in, but not of”  this world, to be rewarded for the work that we do.

As some of you may know, Bonnie and I have been working to find answers to some issues with visa requirements that have come up with our host country. One possible impediment is that in order for officials to feel comfortable extending our stay, they would like to be certain that we are earning at least “minimum wage” for this country.

That sparked an interesting conversation. “So, we would make more here flipping burgers than we do as highly skilled workers in our jobs with Wycliffe?”

The answer is both “yes”, but also a very emphatic “no”!

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

10 years ago, we were well-heeled yuppies with promising careers. That was never taken away from us; we made a choice. Through a great deal of prayer, we came to the conclusion that our skills and abilities were worth more to the Kingdom than what we were doing with them. So we left those jobs and moved to southeast Asia to work with Wycliffe.

For us, the question was then, and continues to be now, whether it made more sense for us to have high-paying jobs so we could support someone who could do the work better than we could, or to go ourselves. And so,  “compensation” for our time and effort has taken on a very different meaning.

That is definitely not to say we’re now so much more spiritual and less worldly, but that money has been put into context for us. Yes, we could earn more money flipping burgers. No, we would not be as well rewarded.

It isn’t just the opportunity to see more of the world, but the chance to work alongside people from different cultures and backgrounds, and to be welcomed into their lives and their homes. To be part of something that is so much bigger than ourselves, and to feel that our contribution is important to that effort. And to be able to share that with those who sent us here, to be a bridge between the world from which we came and the world which we now inhabit.

So, money has become a means to an end. It has lost both its allure and its taboo; we freely discuss what we need in order to keep doing what we believe we’re called to be doing. But we set our salaries according to strictly practical considerations - these days, that’s what our host country requires us to have, which is just a little more than we feel we actually need.

Are we making “minimum wage”? No. We are making far more than we ever did in our old jobs; it’s just that much less of it can be measured in dollars and cents.

Evan

Curling and mission: finding our role as foreign agencies

The game of curling originated in Scotland, probably in the late Medieval period. At the risk of oversimplification, we may say that it involves one player sliding a large stone disc across the ice, trying to have it end up in the center of the target on the other side of the playing area. 

As the rock slides, that player’s teammates run alongside it with brooms, sweeping the ice to clear debris or to polish the surface. This serves to speed up or even slightly change the direction of the stone to align it with the target - all without ever actually touching the stone in any way.

Image by "Photo Mix" from Pixabay

In past models of mission, foreign agencies have “thrown” the stone, and expected local partners to run alongside, smoothing things over and clearing the path. We have made it their job to ensure that our vision for their communities is achieved. In many ways, this echoed and reinforced the model set forth by colonialism.

That isn’t to say that everything ever done was wrong. There have been times when foreign agencies entered new areas where partnership was not yet on the table. The challenge there becomes one of helping local communities imagine their own expanded possibilities, rather than imposing upon them our ideas of what flourishing looks like for their context. With time, patience, mutual respect, and personal relationships, that can grow into partnership.

And as that grows, we who work in foreign agencies see that our role needs to be to step aside - or rather, to step alongside. Not to exit the game, but to take on the role of sweepers; to make use of the resources with which we have been entrusted to help make sure that their stones slide true.

Evan