Quote of the Week

Our quote this week comes from E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), a Methodist missionary who worked in India.  One of the barriers often faced when bringing the gospel cross-culturally is the assumption  that to follow Christ one must become American, or whatever ethnic group the missionary comes from.  Both the idea of abandoning one's mother culture as well as assuming a new one, especially one that is often viewed poorly, are distasteful to people.  The joy that follows the discovery that a someone can follow Christ and remain Kurdish, Thai, etc. is infectious.

"The Indian is making an amazing discovery, namely that Christianity and Jesus are not the same—that they may have Jesus without the system that has been built up around him in the West.” 

E. Stanley Jones

E. Stanley Jones

Reviewing the SOFM: Week 2

During the second week of the SOFM we delved into the unique challenges cities present when taking the Gospel cross-culturally.  While cities tend to be melting pots in the sense that many cultures share a given city, cultural prejudices aren't so easily removed.  Within a given city, how do you find the people group you've chosen to work with?  How well will the Gospel flow between different groups?  What existing barriers or prejudices are there between these groups? Will these groups be able to fellowship together initially or will they need to be discipled to love their neighbors from other people groups? These are a few big issues to consider when researching and preparing to move overseas.  Unfortunately there's not a set formula that works everywhere, so as with church planting, this week is aimed at teaching the students principles while encouraging them to adapt methods.

Where are the workers?

We've talked in the past about the skewed percentages of where Christians are working cross-culturally.  I came across a stat today that reminded me of that, and it got me a bit fired up.  In 2010 the nine nations that received the most international missionaries were only home to 3.4% of the world's non-Christians.  I had mentioned previously that on average there is one Christian worker for every 278,431 people living in unreached people groups. Using that ratio we can estimate that in most nations in the 10/40 window there are roughly 4 missionaries for every 1 million non-Christians.  Conversely, we have Samoa at the other end of the spectrum with the highest ratio of Christian workers per million people.  In 2010 Samoa had 1 international missionary for every 2.5 non-Christians* in the country!  Something needs to drastically change if we hope to see Matthew 24:14 fulfilled in our lifetime. 

I need to include a brief caveat here.  I don't intend to lessen or question the obedience of those going to places like Samoa, but rather wonder why more aren't answering the call to go where Jesus name has never been proclaimed.  I know the Father's heart breaks for the tens of thousands that die daily without ever having a chance to hear the name of Jesus. 

*All stats from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon Conwell Seminary
 

Birthday Girl!

Today is Vanessa's birthday.  I was thinking back the other day to the first birthday I spent with her.  It was on our DTS outeach, and it is memorable because it was not a good day.  We spent that day in Cambodia traveling by boat from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.  It would have been uncomfortable enough given that the boat had rickety seats,  but the boat broke down along the way.  This led to hours spent stuck in the middle of the river being, not so gently, rocked by the waves.  After finally reaching our destination, our group discovered the only restaurant open served only fried rice, if it could truly be called that.  All in all it was not a very good day.

Why do I share this story?  It's because one of the things I really treasure about our outreach experience was the opportunity to experience the highs and lows of cross-cultural work and see each other at our best and worst moments while we were getting to know one another.  In the days that followed this disappointment, I was able to see how quickly Vanessa rebounded, and seeing her reaction was part of what drew me to her.  So, I guess this "bad" birthday was part of setting the foundation for the journey we've been on for the past 12 years. 

Special Memories

Last Friday Lyla and I attended our first Father Daughter dance.  I really treasure special moments like this.  In the business of normal life I often forget to enjoy the little moments.  And yes, we had an awesome time dancing the night away. 

Quote of the Week

I picked our quote this week to go along with the SOFM topic we reviewed the other day.   One of the things we try to do when discussing church planting principles is to boil things down to the essentials, and then allow the Holy Spirit to guide the new church as they figure out how that expression looks in their culture.  One of the goals we talk about is that a new believer should be able to come to a church gathering and walk away feeling that they can reproduce the elements used; worship, the Word, giving, etc.  This allows them to quickly become active participants in church rather than spectators. 

"If what we model before others is only reproducible by people like us, then our disciple making & planting methods are too complex.” - JD Payne

Image taken from "Keys to Church Planting Movements" by K. Sutter & B. Hogan

Reviewing the SOFM: Week 1

This fall our SOFM hit the ground running.  We jumped right into an amazing week on the principles of church planting.  One of the goals of the SOFM is to prepare the students to plant viable, indigenous churches.  This week isn't so much a step-by-step "how to" as much as it is a look at principles that hold true in the majority of church planting movements.  One of the concepts we try to instill in our students is that we adopt principles and adapt methods for each situation.  Among the things we talk about are the 7 commands of Christ, which we discussed here a few months back. If you are interested in the idea of cross-cultural church planting, I highly recommend the book below, which is a biographical account of my friend's experiences in Mongolia. It is available in print or ebook format on Amazon.   

SOFM Testimony

Today I'd like to share something with you that Cole, one of our students, wrote about his SOFM experience.  I like being able to share things from different angles, and not just my own so hopefully we'll get in a few more of these as well. 

"The SOFM experience was more than I ever could have hoped. Teachings about culture stress and language acquisition, though engaging and very practical, were just the tip of the iceberg. The SOFM really forced me to look introspectively into my life regarding how a ‘normal’ Christian life should be fleshed out. Fundamentals of my Christian faith were challenged and looked at very objectively, guiding me to make my own conclusions based on sound biblical doctrine. What sticks with me the most about the SOFM is how the school approaches the Gospel. The Gospel, the most powerful, life changing story in history, can easily be put on the backburner of my brain, and brushed off as ‘Elementary Christianese’, however the SOFM challenged both my knowledge and understanding of the Gospel, really stripping away non-vitals and getting to the heart of the Gospel message. This was an extremely powerful experience for me, rediscovering the power of the Gospel at work in my life and firing me up to share it with those who have never heard."

Quote of the Week

One of my favorite aspects of the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course is the way it looks in depth at the Biblical basis for missions.  I remember when I was younger thinking that missions began in Matthew 28 with the Great Commission.  Nothing could actually be further from the truth, and I love the way this quote expresses that in such a simple manner.

"If you take missions out of the Bible you won't have anything left but the covers."

Nina Gunter

Nina Gunter

 

SOFM Recap

These past few months have been very hectic, but incredibly rewarding.  We completed the lecture portion of our School of Frontier Missions (SOFM) shortly before Christmas.  The ten students will now be moving into the internship portion of their SOFM, which entails joining an existing team for two years to put into action the principles learned in the school.  Some of the locations these students are headed are SE Asia, India, and the Middle East. Over the next couple weeks I hope to go a little more in depth about the topics that we covered in the school.  Stay tuned :)