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Quote of the Week

After a great summer seeing family and friends all over the country we have finally returned home.  While our car didn't quite resemble the one below, it's so nice to not be living out of a suitcase.  While we do miss those we were able to visit, there is truth in this simple quote. 

"Home is the nicest word there is." Laura Ingalls Wilder

Quote of the Week

This time of the year, many thoughts turn to celebrating the freedoms we have, especially here in the United States.  Our quote this week is taken from from a prayer offered by Peter Marshall in 1947  when he served as chaplain to the U.S. Senate.  The obvious takeaway from this quote applies more to the grace vs. license debate, but I want to look at it from a slightly different angle.  For those of us living in "western" nations, we have incredible freedom to travel to almost every nation on earth.  While some may require creative access there are very few nations that we are completely unable to enter.  We also have an immense amount of resources available to make it happen (although this does require others to get on board).  My question for you today is this: are we using these freedoms to do what is right in light of the mandate we've been given by Jesus?

"May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to 

do what is right." - Peter Marshall

World's Toughest Languages

Below is a fascinating infographic I came across dealing with language learning.  To me, language acquisition is one of the biggest parts of preparing to work cross-culturally, as communicating truth in the "mother tongue" is so much more effective.  These findings match up pretty well with what I've heard/experienced. I have heard that Indonesian is one of the easier languages to learn as most people are proficient within 6-9 months.  In my opinion Tibetan languages should be added to the hardest list.  There is an alphabet so you can read it quickly, but the grammar is very different, it is written and spoken differently, and there are endless dialects which vary greatly from each other.

Info graphic from Voxy

Reviewing the SOFM: Week 9

Two of the main focuses of the SOFM, which go hand in hand, are language and culture acquisition.  One reason they go hand in hand is that you can learn so much about a culture in the process of learning it's language.  I find it amazing how much of a culture's mindset and history can be picked up in the process of learning to communicate.  As the vast majority of cross-cultural workers will be learning either a trade or heart language to better communicate,  we always try to include solid teaching on the topic.  This year we had some great teachers come from MTI to impart some principles from their PILAT program.  It was a great time combining traditional linguistic exercises, such as learning to make sounds not used in english by adjusting the position of the tongue, and hands on practice with techniques based on how a child of that culture would learn the language. Obviously there isn't one magic method that will work with all languages since some have an alphabet while others are character based, etc.  That is why one of our goals in all of the SOFM teachings is to adopt principles and adapt methods.

Quote of the Week

Our quote this week comes not from a missionary or theologian, but rather, a politician.  This quote represents a decision many cross-cultural workers face: should they focus on communicating in their native tongue (especially if English), use a trade language, or take the time to learn a people group specific language?  To me it comes down to the question of which option removes the most barriers to someone accepting the gospel?  In that regard I think Mr. Mandela hits the nail right on the head.

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.  If you talk to 

him in his own language, that goes to his heart." - Nelson Mandela

The Herrema's Cross-Country Adventures

This summer our family will be visiting many sites while seeing family and supporters.  Our first stop was Washington DC, which Lyla was very excited about as she had been learning about it in school.

What parents look like after a day exploring DC

SOFM Testimony

Today I want to share a testimony with you from Nat, a girl who participated in one of our most recent School of Frontier Missions (SOFM).  She is currently doing the internship portion of her school in a closed nation.

"I came into my SOFM with little expectation for gained knowledge or growth, because I thought I knew enough about long-term work.  After my first week in the school with Brian Hogan, I gained more insight that I thought I would the entire three months.  The school helped me to think more strategically, without forgetting God's mandate for missions from Genesis to Revelation.  This mandate that flows seamlessly from the old to new testament encouraged me to seek out more of God's heart for the unreached, more of His character, and more of my part in his will.  After three months, I exited with more passion, more drive, and more determination to go and tell the world.  I have been on the field now for only a month, but I am seeing teachings and information I thought to be irrelevant during the school come to life and they have proven to be extremely important.  I have already found myself digging through old notes and searching for language materials.  To me, it has affirmed that the teachings are applicable and the resources are useful."

A Little Fun to Start the Week

I'm somewhere between Florida and Michigan today, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to repost the second video from the Cross-Cultural Misadventures series I did a few years back. 

The What and Why of People Groups

I realized the other day that I throw the term people group around quite a bit, but have never defined what one is or why we focus on them so much.   While there are different opinions of what exactly a people group is, the best definition I've found was crafted by a group of mission leaders in 1982.  They said that a people group is; "a significantly large grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity for one another because of their shared language, religion, ethnicity, residence, occupation, class or caste, situation, etc., or combinations of these."  For evangelistic purposes it is:

"The largest group within which the gospel can spread as a 

church planting movement without encountering 

barriers of understanding or acceptance."

The "why" of people groups is twofold, having both a biblical and strategic aspect to why we focus on them.  In the great commission (Matt 28: 18-20) Jesus commands us to make disciples of all "nations."  The word used for nations in this passage is "ethne" which has a meaning closer to families than nations.  We have an English word that is very similar: Ethnic. It is the same idea we see in Genesis 12: 1-4 when God tells Abram that through him "all the families of the earth will be blessed."  As an example, let's look at India and China.  Each one is considered a single nation, but how many families, or ethne, are there in each?  China has 56 recognized ethnic groups, but Joshua Project lists over 500 distinct people groups in the country ranging in size from around 1,000 - 840 million (Han).  India on the other hand has over 1,800 unique people groups with the largest being 77 million (Shaikh).  So the task is much more complex than just reaching a politically defined nation.

The strategic aspect of why we focus on people groups is mentioned in the definition above.  By focusing on individual people groups, the hope is to remove as many barriers as possible to a person accepting the truth of the gospel.  The same strategy and approach will not work in every group.  As an example, let's look at India again.  The Shaikh and the Brahman are the two largest people groups in India (77 million and 55 million respectively).  One is 100% muslim and speak Urdu, while the other is over 99% Hindu and speak Hindi.  Thus, these two groups need different teams working to reach them using their own language and culture.  In many instances there is also animosity between people groups that hinders the flow of the gospel between them.   This is why we focus our efforts on unreached people groups rather than a whole nation.  Today the waters are muddied even more by the mass urbanization we see around the world.  In many urban settings the worker needs to discern whether it is more efficient to work among an ethnolinguistic people group (one that shares a language and ethnic background) or a sociopeople group (one that sees each other as peers, regardless of background).  

The 56 recognized ethnic groups of China

Quote of the Week

Our quote this week comes from James Gilmour, a missionary to Mongolia and China in the 19th century.  I love this because, for me, it is so true.  All too often we follow common sense instead of kingdom sense.  We find ourselves pursuing the things this world finds important: comfort, security, financial stability, etc.  How different does this look from what Jesus told his followers to expect in Matthew 10?  This next week, try to view your actions through the lens of kingdom sense instead of common sense. 

"I go out as a missionary not that I may follow the dictates of common sense, but that I may 

obey that command of Christ." James Gilmour

Reviewing the SOFM: Week 8

One of the more difficult aspects of taking the gospel cross-culturally is discovering how people best learn.  One thing that makes it so difficult is that close to two-thirds of the world's population are oral preference learners, which differs extremely from our western learning style.  The majority of people in the remaining unreached people groups  are oral preference learners, many of whom have no written language.    One of the best ways to present the gospel to these people is in story form.  So, we had a week in the SOFM about oral Bible presentation.  We had a teacher come from the Onestory partnership to teach on crafting story sets and to impart principles to be a successful storyteller.  There are many organizations like New Tribes Mission, who I first heard of the concept from, using chronological Bible stories to present the gospel to unreached peoples.  Onestory is unique in the fact that it isn't a single organization, but rather a partnership between Wycliffe, Cru, YWAM, the IMB, and others.  I suggest you check them out, and see what cool things are happening in unreached people groups through storytelling.

They're Among Us - Students

A couple months ago I posted a challenge to look at the area you live and see if there are people from unreached people groups (UPGs) living nearby.  I want to dig into that and look at some specifics. This will be the first in a short series looking at some of the different demographics of people from UPGs living in the United States. 

The first group I want to explore is students.  At any given time there are close to half a million students from nations in the 10/40 window studying in the US. For the 2012-13 school year among the top 10 countries sending students to the US were: China (235k), India (96k), Saudi Arabia (44k), Japan (20k), Vietnam (16k), and Turkey (11k).  Other nations in the top 20 include Nepal, Iran, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia*.

Why is this important?  First, many of these students hail from unreached people groups, which gives us unprecedented access to people from nations where we often have difficult time getting to.  Second, 40% of the world's current 220 heads of state studied in the United States at some point.  Imagine how different our world could look if people had reached out to them during that time.  Finally, It's important because currently we're not doing a good job of even attempting to reach these students.  Of the nearly half million students here at any given time, 80% will return to their home country without ever having been invited into an American home.**  If you live anywhere near a state university, chances are good that you have an opportunity to help change this number. 

*Stats taken from The Institute of International Education
**Taken from The Traveling Team

Quote of the Week

Our quote this week come from Robert Moffat, a pioneer missionary to South Africa in the early 1800s and the father-in-law of David Livingstone.  This quote is a good reminder of the task remaining.  While progress has been made in the 200 years since Moffat went to Africa, there are still over 3,000 people groups that are considered both unreached and unengaged, meaning no one is even working towards bringing them the gospel.  It brings to mind the words of Jesus. "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

"In the vast plain to the north I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been - Villages whose people are without Christ, without God, and without a hope in the world." Robert Moffat

Robert Moffat (1795-1883)

Quote of the Week

I love this quote for so many reasons.  The first truth in this is that those ministering cross-culturally depend on those back home who are praying for them.  There are countless stories of people being led to pray for a missionary and later finding out that at the exact moment they were praying, that person had been in a place of great need.  The second truth is that prayer is the missionary's means of expressing their dependence on God for strength as well as to move in the hearts of those they are trying to reach. Hudson Taylor expressed this thought when he said, "brother, if you enter that province, you must go forward on your knees."  So when there is fruit and when the worker is able to persevere, those are answers to prayer.  A third, and I think exciting aspect, is that sometimes the missionary going is an answer to prayer.  In Acts 10 we see the story of Cornelius and Peter.  We still see instances like this today, when God sends a believer into the path of someone who is hungry for truth.  To me all these truths are a great reminder that we are called to join God in His mission, not accomplish it all on our own. 

"The history of missions if the history of answered prayers." - Samuel Zwemer

Reviewing the SOFM: Week 7

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
These famous words flowed well with the topic in week seven of our SOFM. I feel that it's important to take a look at those who have gone before us to see what has worked, and to see what has failed miserably.  While there are many things that can be taken away from a look at the history of missions, to me one of the greatest is this: God has been calling people to the ends of the earth, and there have always been those who have heard that call and obeyed, regardless of the cost involved.  Did they always do things perfect?  Of course not, and we've learned a lot from the time of missions compounds and other interesting methods of reaching the lost.  As someone who loves history in general, I especially love digging into the Moravians, Raymund Lull, Samuel Zwemer, and Adoniram Judson.

Friday Fun

We've been addressing some challenging topics recently so today we'll just have some fun.  This is the first in a series of videos I made a few years back taking a lighthearted look at the challenges people face when communicating in a cross-cultural setting.  All too often we find ourself unintentionally offending people without realizing what we did wrong.  This is one reason it is so important to take the time to learn the culture, so we can do our best to avoid these pitfalls.  Some may have seen this before, but this series still makes me chuckle, even after countless views.

Quote of the Week

Our quote this week dovetails off my previous post.   A lot of times when we think about going cross-culturally and the sacrifice involved, we forget who has asked us to join in that endeavor.  An important aspect of the great commission in Matthew 28 is that the first of four "alls" Jesus mentions is that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.  It is out of this universal authority that we are commanded to make disciples, baptize and teach all nations.  In the book Finish The Mission  there is a chapter by Louie Giglio looking at exactly who is asking us to join in the pursuit of global evangelization.   Without going into much detail he essentially comes down to the same conclusion as Stott. This leaves me with a sense of responsibility as well as one of expectation.  While Christ is asking me to play a role in the great commission, it is not solely on my shoulders to make it happen. Rather, He is asking me to join in with what He is already doing. 

"His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice.” 

John R. W. Stott

The Gospel of Self-Preservation

At the frontier missions consultation I recently attended one of the things we were challenged in was to continue mobilizing people to the least reached, even though many of the remaining places are not considered "safe" by any stretch of the imagination.  Within this was a call to search our hearts and see if we truly believe that seeing Jesus worshiped in all the ethne of the world is worth the price.  This was an especially powerful word coming from a colleague whose husband was martyred in North Africa.  These words were still resonating in my mind when I came across this quote:

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer  

I think we've lost touch with, or chosen to ignore, this aspect of the gospel.   We've replaced it with a gospel of self-preservation, one that places value on avoiding putting ourselves or those we love in positions where they might suffer.  While Jesus did say, "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt 11:30),"  He also said "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:20)"

How does this apply to our usual topic of the least reached?  Simply put, there is a cost involved in reaching the least reached.  It can be anything from leaving friends, family, or comfortable surroundings to paying a high price.  Within my circle of friends there are those who, while working in these areas have been imprisoned, found themselves on a terrorist organization's list of kidnapping targets, and another who walked through the death of his infant son.  The common theme is that, while walking through difficult situations, they all saw the kingdom of heaven advance in dark places.  I think one of the big reasons we haven't been more faithful in pursuing our biblical mandate to "bless all the families of the earth (Gen 12:3)" is this:   

We have counted the cost.... and found ourselves unwilling to pay it.   

Quote of the Week

Last week we looked at the idea of attempting things that are impossible without God's help.  Our quote this week addresses how we look at people who do exactly that.  Often when hearing about what we do, missionaries get responses along the lines of, "That's crazy, I could never that" or other statements describing how unusual it is for someone to live their life that way.  This is not how it should be! Every follower of Jesus, whether ministering cross-culturally or working a "normal" job in their home country, should be living their life in such a radical manner. 

"Lukewarm people call radical what Jesus expected of all His followers."

Francis Chan