Cross-Cultural Misadventures #3

As I'm out of the country, enjoy the third episode of Cross-Cultural Misadventures.  Re-watching these reminds me of how much fun we had making them.



Cross Cultural Misadventures #3 from Aaron Herrema on Vimeo.

Quote of the Week

Our quote this week comes from Nate Saint.  Nate was a missionary pilot who, along with Jim Elliot and three others, was martyred in the jungles of Ecuador.  The thing I love about this quote is that the focus is on the eternal significance of our actions.  I think having such a "bigger picture" way of looking at things drastically changes our everyday actions.

"People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries.  They forget that they too are expending their lives... and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance for the years they have wasted." - Nate Saint

Nate Saint

  

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I will be out of the country for the next two weeks, making pastoral care visits to some of our people overseas.  Fear not, the posts we'll keep coming.

Family Time

It was so nice this past week having Vanessa's dad here for a visit.  Lyla and Sage really enjoyed spending some time with Grandpapa.  We always love seeing family and friends come through town. 

Quote of the Week

Our quote this week comes from a great pioneer in the missions movement, Hudson Taylor.  He was one of the first to realize and respond to the need to take the gospel to the inland parts of nations.  He was also the founder of China Inland Mission, and helped raise up and train people like CT Studd.  I find this quote very comforting and reassuring on the days where I find myself questioning my qualifications to be involved in God's mission of taking His name to the nations.  I love how Father often uses those you'd least expect to advance His kingdom.

"God uses men who are weak and feeble enough to lean on him" - Hudson Taylor

Hudson Taylor

Thangka Project 2

A couple weeks ago I introduced the Hope Project as prepared for Tibetan peoples. Today we'll take a look at the second one in the series.  This thangka takes people through the stories of the Old Testament.  The stories depicted here build a foundation of the need for a savior and the concept of a spotless sacrifice being required to pay for sin.  Stories covered on this thangka are Noah, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, Joseph, and Moses.  We also see the temple as a place where sacrifices took place to pay for sins.  In the bottom corner we see our friendly nomad wondering when the promised deliverer will come.

No Excuses

Yesterday we briefly mentioned one reason why western Christians aren't going to work among the unreached.  Today I just want to mention two numbers that highlight how absurd it is that we, as evangelical Christians, aren't doing more to join with Father in fulfilling His mission.  That mission can be summed up by what we see in Revelations 7:9, a great multitude of people from EVERY nation gathered around the throne praising the Lamb.

• In 2001 the US Center for World Missions produced a study which showed a ratio of 900 churches to every unreached people group left in the world! This number has most likely grown over the past ten plus years.
• Even more astounding to me, is that for every unreached people group there are 95,000 evangelical Christians.  

With numbers like this, we have no excuse for not putting more effort into fulfilling the Great Commission.

Quote of the Week

Sorry this is a day late.  Vanessa's dad is visiting, so yesterday was spent enjoying time with family. Today's quote addresses what, I think, is a major issue with western Christianity and missions.  In my opinion one of the main reasons so few people are going to work with the unreached is an unwillingness to give up the comforts and freedoms we've grown accustomed to.   I think this quote speaks to that, and blows any excuse out of the water.

"If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for 

 me to make for Him." - C.T. Studd

CT Studd

 

DTS Outreach

Over the next five days our winter Discipleship Training School (DTS) will be leaving for the outreach portion of their school.  They have spent the last twelve weeks growing in their walk and learning more about Father.  Now it is time for them to take what they've learned and bring it to the nations!  This school has groups going to three different locations; Indonesia, North Africa, and East Asia.  Please join us in praying for these teams as they go.  Pray for protection, divine appointments, and also that God would reveal more of His heart for the nations to them.   As we hear testimonies from this time, we will share them.

Quote of the Week

For our quote this week we're going to turn back to Charles Spurgeon.   A couple weeks back we spent a couple posts on the topic of Universalism.   Too often, I feel we as Christians try to craft our theology in a way that makes us feel good about how we're living our lives and, at times, justifying our inactivity in reaching the unreached.  The thing I love about Spurgeon is that he didn't pull any punches, just spoke the truth as he saw it.  On this topic he gets right to the heart of the matter.

"Someone asked, 'Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved?' It is more a 

question with me whether we - who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those 

who have not - can be saved." - Charles Spurgeon

Thangka Project 1

One of the ideas we try to impart to our students in the SOFM is the concept of using redeemable cultural forms to express gospel truth.  One of my favorite examples of this is The Hope project.  This is a collection of 4 Thangkas (traditional form of Tibetan art) used to chronologically walk people from creation to Christ. One of the major hindrances in bringing the gospel to unreached peoples is that Christianity is so often associated with western culture.  This makes people feel that they need to become American or western in order to follow Jesus.  Thus, cross-cultural workers need to find ways to communicate that Jesus is a God for all people, not just westerners.  

Projects like these are aimed at portraying that fact.  Everything, from how the painting is arranged, to the way people and scenery are portrayed are done in traditional Tibetan style. In every painting you'll notice a nomad.  He represents you and I, ordinary people searching for truth. Today we'll look at the first one.  The stories included in this one are; God the everlasting, creation, introduction to the spirit world (angels & demons), the Garden of Eden, and finally the fall/exile from Eden.