Discussing global volunteerism with Bruce Wilson is probably something like doing a Beatles interview with Paul McCartney. He was there in the early days. His anecdotes ring with first-person authenticity.

Bruce’s immersion in global missions began with a high school trip to Quito, Ecuador in 1976. Decades of insights are channeled into Bruce’s Doctor of Ministry dissertation entitled,  “Volunteering Abroad: Best practices for connecting the gifts and skill of North American Christians with the expressed needs of the global church.” 

“Many North Americans form a ‘missions’ view in high school and never really think much bigger than that,” he said. “Our main challenge in missions is an adaptive challenge. We need to think more expansively to engage in God’s ongoing mission. If we share our complementary skills more collaboratively – the whole Body thrives.”

Bruce speaks with the candor and perspective afforded a front-row seat. Early on, he experienced the downsides of ‘mission tourism.’  “Short-term field visits are expensive and you can actually do more harm than good,” he learned. “We sometimes created a misconception that the Gospel is North American. And that we had to bring ‘our own’ resources to accomplish anything. That’s not as transformational as you might hope.”

He recalls how that 1990s approach exhausted local mission teams who had to ‘construct a trip’ for their visiting volunteers. “We learned it is more effective to be field-centric,” he said. “If the local team has specific work plans, then we vet and select volunteers who can move those items forward. Teachers teach. Builders build. Evangelists share the Gospel.” And the optimal visiting team size is five.

Bruce also realized certain talents were being lost or misapplied. “A successful business CEO really shouldn’t be struggling with electrical wiring on a building project. Why not have them instruct locals on how to effectively operate and lead an organization?” He also favors the concept of ‘attractional speakers.’

“A colleague in the Czech Republic was trying to witness his faith,” Bruce recalls. “He invited a state Supreme Court justice (who was a Christian) to lead seminars on ethics, principles, and faith. They advertised to his colleagues in the Czech legal community and a lot of non-Christians showed up. That led to fruitful follow-ups with his non-Christian colleagues. We can and should find ways to do that with other skilled speakers.”

Fast forward to 2020’s Zoom calls and ‘virtual roles’ that Bruce helped envision with the Global Switchboard team. “We’re moving from a pipeline model of talent development to a platform model that is not tied to time zones or geography.” Switchboard volunteers match their consultative skills to missional needs wherever they happen to be located.

Bruce is encouraged by the increase in virtual volunteerism but has cautions.  “We need to make sure volunteers aren’t seen as long term ‘service providers.’ There should be a clear avenue to local knowledge transfer. It’s not just a ‘free’ way to get workers,” he emphasized. “I’d like to see an initial virtual consultation potentially progress to a virtual role, but not start there. Ultimately we need to hire locally and not displace nationals. If that requires virtual training to get locals up to speed, we should do so.”

Gospel-based ideas have high value in Bruce’s methodology. “I like doing things that are based on scripture, informed by statistics, guided by the Holy Spirit and integrated with aptitude and developed skills.” He shared a few favorite verses with me,

Romans 12:6  “God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.”

1Peter 4:10  “God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.”

Closing thoughts?  

“I like to say that the ‘mission’ is empowerment,” Bruce said. “It’s always better to empower – with training – local talent for sustainability. And for them to be paid locally. Otherwise you haven’t eliminated the poverty cycle, you’ve just delayed the time to re-hire the next volunteer.”

Bruce Wilson is Director at The Center for Church Multiplication asburychurchplanting.com.

Be encouraged in all you do!