I have prepared for this, I anticipated it, yet when I actually heard the words I was shocked. I was told today by the head of a church missions committee, that they will not support me because I am not part of a missions organization. She explained quite directly, that I need to have people who would take care of me on the mission field, people who could form committees to discuss where I was to work and how my work was to be done. I needed to be a part of something bigger than myself for accountability.

I agreed. But I can't just leave it at that. This woman hasn't even talked with me about what I'm doing. She has no idea what God is up to in Korea, and yet she has the confidence to tell me that it's all moot if I'm not part of an organization. She may be flexible on this point, I don’t know. But I couldn't help but fume at her response (although I didn't fume at her).

Are not we accountable to God first and foremost? When God tells people to go to the nations does he say it must be through an organization? Does he say go serve a board? I agree that organizations are terrific, they do provide much needed accountability and support, but they are not a prerequisite for mission work.

What mission organization sent out the first apostles? Who were they accountable to? Jesus sent them out. They were accountable to him and to each other. If I am accountable first to God and then to other Christians, must I make an organization out of it so I can be "official?" This sort of thinking has the potential to bog down work God wants to do whether it be overseas or not.

When I was in college, I read an autobiography called Bruchko. At the beginning of his story, Bruce recounts how he felt God calling him to missions. As a 19 year-old, he applied to countless mission organizations and was rejected time and time again. The mission boards told him he was too young. They advised him to go to Bible school, get some training and then apply again. But he didn't feel God calling him to go to Bible school. He then realized, God was not even calling him to join a mission organization, he was being called to go to the mission field. So he packed up and went. He decided that it was more important to follow God's call on his life. Bruce trusted that God knew what he was doing.

I have never forgotten that story, not simply because of Bruce’s sometimes stubborn refusal to adhere to the limits man places on God, but because his story is a blazing testament of how God can use one person, sold out and committed to him, for amazing things. I remembered being in absolute awe of his faith. The man did crazy things.

I don't want people to read this and think I am against accountability or having leaders above me. Absolutely not. Mission organizations are great. I would love to join one. I tried to join one but there isn't one that will accept me. All the missions agencies I talked to in Korea are only there for recruiting reasons or they don't do the kind of work I'm doing. Either way, God hasn't opened that door. All I can assume is that God does not limit himself to mission organizations. Why then do we?

Because it makes us feel more secure to have life sorted into little boxes. But God, the Almighty Creator, the King of Kings, cannot be placed in a box.