By Phil Warren

A few weeks ago, I took my wife Cindy on a tour of the General Baptist Bible College in Davao.  As we walked around the beautiful campus I became aware of a spy following us.  She watched us from behind the green shrubbery in her pink dress. She could not have been more than five, and wherever we went she followed, scurrying from bush to bush watching our every move.  My wife began to giggle and said, “Have you noticed we have an escort?”  We found out later she had left her room to use the bathroom, but in the process her curiosity had gotten the better of her.  After a little while my wife and I sat down, and she slowly inched closer to us.  Her dark, mahogany-brown eyes twinkled with mischief and her long black hair danced in the slight breeze.

Finally, her curiosity pushed her beyond the safety of her self-imposed boundaries and she came over to me and began to rub the hair on my arm.  I smiled; this was a first for me.  She had touched me with grace and acceptance and I gently reached over and rubbed her arm as well.  Grace and acceptance: the heart of missions.

Whenever you leave home and enter another country, you do not attempt to impose your cultural values upon them.  Rather, you hold loosely your values and integrate as best you can into your new surroundings.  You eat different foods.  You travel in different modes of transportation.  You experience different forms of worship.  You don’t worry as much about time, and value relationships instead. However, there are two values you must always give and receive: grace and acceptance.

Jesus said if you give it will be given back to you in disproportionate amounts. Give grace and receive grace. Give acceptance and gain acceptance.

This is not only true in international missions but in the local church as well.

Our spy took a big risk to approach these people who looked different from her. I saw her the other day at the college and she ran over to me and gave me a high five. Once fear is broken by little acts of grace and acceptance, a whole new world can open up for you.