Northern Vertical

Children, Chickens and Fundraising in the UK for World Egg Day

2008-10-09T12:08:00.002-05:00

Several months back I encountered a fundraising idea that I wanted to share here. World Emergency Relief has devised a creative way to raise money for those in need. What I especially appreciate about this programme is that the entire family can get involved and WER gives you very helpful information on their site and kit. Children can really get involved in a way that impacts their view of the world, others in need, and Jesus Christ.

Below is a widget of a Flash game they created to encourage participation... (Actually, it was not displaying properly so I removed the embedded link, so try the link below instead...)

Visit Be A Good Egg

Did you know that 10 October is World Egg Day? Read World Emergency Relief's article here. Read more about World Egg Day at ThinkEgg.com.

What WER are doing is a great example, I think, of Christians engaging in the world. Don't just celebrate eggs; provide nourishment to those in need so that they, too, may join in the celebration...

Celebrating Anniversaries

2008-07-28T13:03:00.009-05:00

Today I received an email marking the 8th anniversary of the Anglican Mission in the Americas. Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary. Yesterday an acquaintance of mine marked his 17th wedding anniversary while detained in his adopted country apart from his wife and children. While on their way out of the country last week, their car collided with another vehicle and at least one of the two passengers was killed. The family who sustained the losses is a prominent Muslim family, and they have pressed charges against my friend, so although he was declared not at fault for the accident, he is being detained in the country awaiting trial. Please join me in praying for him and his family.

In the midst of this week of anniversaries, I am struck by the importance of celebrating anniversaries as remembrance. Certain celebrations and feast-days are proscribed for Israel in the Old Testament. The overall effect is one of helping them to remember and to teach about who God is and what He has done for them. As Christians, we tend to celebrate certain holidays, and those of us who follow a version of a church calendar have even richer opportunities to remember who God is and what He has done on a regular cycle. Yet, how many of us celebrate conversion the way we celebrate a birthday or a wedding anniversary? Some of us have a particular date in the yearly calendar when we can remember our new birth in Christ, but those of us who do not are no less able to select a day to do this.

In light of this idea, which is new to me, I will endeavor to celebrate my new life in Christ on 25 October. Why that day? Since university I have enjoyed celebrating St. Crispin's Day, traditionally marked on 25 October. This began during my rugby days when I would recite the St. Crispin's Day speech penned by William Shakespeare and placed in the mouth of King Henry V prior to the battle of Agincourt. "For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother..." For me, this is a significant day to celebrate on many levels. Jesus took on the forces of evil and shed his blood upon the cross in order to redeem me into his kingdom. That said, parallels break down quickly between the two scenes of Golgotha and Agincourt. Henry needed the help of every one of his men that day and so needed to marshal their courage. Jesus accomplished redemption without my help. As one who is redeemed by his grace, however, all that I am is his and he is mine. Yet, like Paul, I strive to know him more and to grasp the purpose for which Christ grasped ahold of me. And I look forward to yet another anniversary we will never cease to celebrate—the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Let me know what you think of this idea by posting a comment below.

Missions and the Kingdom (Day 4)

2008-07-05T21:08:00.009-05:00

author's note: This is a longer post than usual, so I implore forgiveness from those of you who appreciate my more typical brevity. I assure you I am normally far too verbose.

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about missions?

Lesslie Newbigin's writings on Mission in Christ's Way deeply challenge some of our thinking about missions. As I take these insights and questions to heart, I hope you will join me in doing so. Newbigin considers Acts 1:6-8 a great starting point for our reflexions on missions. The disciples, gathered together, now believe in the resurrection. They ask Jesus, who has appeared before them after the resurrection, if he will now restore the kingdom to Israel. Newbigin understands his response to be twofold: "a warning and a promise". The warning is against thinking that the kingdom is our programme. Rather, it is God's kingdom. The promise is that "the Holy Spirit will come and you will be witnesses".

Newbigin ponders a common question:

I have very often been asked: "Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the gospel in India?" When one gets asked the same question a hundred times one is inclined to develop a standard answer. My standard answer is: "I believe in the resurrection of Jesus and therefore the question does not arise." The gospel is news of a fact—the presence of the kingdom of God in Jesus. About a fact, the question "optimistic or pessimistic?" does not arise. About a programme one can be optimistic or pessimistic, but about a fact you have to ask a different question: "Do you believe it or do you not believe it?" If you believe, the other question does not arise.

How often are we tempted to think about ministry—and especially missions—in programmatic terms? The more heavily we focus our attentions on strategy and human action, the more likely we are to find ourselves down such a path. Do we truly believe that the ministries of worship, prayer and waiting on God are as important as preaching? This is not to suggest that any of these are dispensable—quite the contrary! It seems to me that preaching ought to result in worship, prayer and waiting on God as much as these ministries should lead to preaching empowered by the Spirit.

As Newbigin attests, it is common to be asked questions that betray a humanistic outlook on spiritual work. Not a few of these questions come from within the church. Eventually, we give in to the questions and determine that they require an answer. We formulate, perhaps in thoughtful prayer, what we think is an appropriate response. Yet, in accepting the question as a valid one, we have swerved off the King's highway.

A warning

Newbigin continues:

We need this warning. We are constantly tempted to see the cause of the gospel as if it were a programme about which we could be optimistic or pessimistic. In England, where the churches are on the defensive, we are always tempted to fall into the world's way of looking at the church. For the media, Christianity is a "good cause" that requires support and that will collapse if enough people do not rally to its support. Christians are tempted to fall into this absurd way of thinking...
We need the warning. The kingdom of God is, quite simply, God's reign; it is not our programme. The question is not optimism or pessimism; it is belief or unbelief.

In the process of raising support, when we discuss missions with churches are we not tempted to believe that our efforts and the efforts of our supporters will make the difference? In our communications do we suggest, or even subtly hint, that by our presence or efforts we will turn the tide? Should we not rather proclaim the majesty and reign of God in His church? I am not suggesting that we refrain from communicating with excellence what God is doing, but that we would be cautious of overstating our importance in God's mission. We are unworthy servants who have been made heirs to the kingdom by God's sovereign grace. When the Spirit comes upon us, we give witness to the amazing things He has done. But such things are amazing, and worthy of proclamation.

A promise

Similarly, the promise is not that we shall undertake a programme of witnessing, but rather that the Holy Spirit's presence will cause us to be witnesses. Newbigin says it this way after quoting Isaiah 43:8-11:

It is clear that God is not calling the oppressed Israelites to undertake some kind of campaign for liberation. It is he, the mighty Lord, who is going to act, and they will be the witnesses, interpreting to the nations what he has done. Here is the background for the assurance "You shall be witnesses." It is not that the church is called upon to undertake a programme. It is that the liberating presence of the Spirit will constitute the church a witness to the mighty acts of the living God who alone is king.

This is where I think things get messy. Although the church is not to create programmes out of mission or the proclaiming of the Kingdom, there is a significant record of individuals and church movements which take on what appear to be characteristics of a programme, if considered from a purely human perspective. Newbigin mentions Paul's statement, "Woe is me if I do not preach". If I quoted the entire section from Newbigin all of it would be worth considering. Newbigin's point, though, is that Paul is expressing an outpouring of the Spirit from within himself which compels him to preach the gospel. Other men and women have felt similar compulsion throughout history. It is this outpouring I think particularly worth our attention.

...mission is wrongly understood if it is seen primarily as a task laid upon us. It is primarily a work of the Spirit, a spill-over from Pentecost.

Revivals are an obvious example of this spill-over, though we tend to consider them in terms of people movements. Prophets, carried along by the Spirit (2 Peter 1:21), are another example. Apostles and missionaries, compelled to preach the gospel are yet another example of the Spirit's work.

Diagnostic Questions

For this reason, I urge you if you are considering missionary service—or any ministry, for that matter—to consider your motivation. Are you compelled by the inner working of the Holy Spirit, whose power is at work within you, or are you intrigued by the work in strictly human terms? Perhaps in a later article I may suggest some diagnostic questions to assist us in evaluating our motivations for ministry.

Jesus and the Kingdom (Day 3)

2008-07-01T10:30:00.004-05:00

I continue reading "Mission in Christ's Way". Lesslie Newbigin concludes his section on Jesus preaching the kingdom with the following words:

So, for God's sake, let us not fall into this game of setting words and deeds against each other, preaching against action for justice and action for justice against preaching. Do not let us set "kingdom" against "church" and "church" against "kingdom". The church is not an end in itself. "Church growth" is not an end in itself. The church is only true to its calling when it is a sign, an instrument and a foretaste of the kingdom. But, on the other hand, talk about the kingdom is mere ideology if it is not tied to the name of Jesus in whom the kingdom is present and if it does not invite men and women to recognize that presence, to do the U-turn, to become part of that company that (sinful as it has always been) acknowledges Jesus as the one in whom God's kingdom is present and so seeks to honour him, to serve him, to follow him.

I suspect that Newbigin's words here are more challenging than they even at first appear. Is it possible that God could have an active purpose for small congregations of believers other than to grow in numbers? We often assume that growth in numbers is a sign of health and our actions can succumb to the temptation to focus on growing as opposed to other things God may have in mind for us to do. If God's calling for some congregations is to grow in numbers, what if growth in numbers were a distraction to His calling for other congregations? Is it possible that God could use small churches to accomplish unique things for His glory that larger congregations either cannot or are not called to do? What about the local church you attend?

Please post a comment if you have thoughts on this one way or another.

For Trust (Day 2)

2008-07-01T10:06:00.003-05:00

Poetry is too often overlooked for its devotional value. Though I am myself a poet, I am guilty of the same forgetfulness about poetry's devotional value. Here is a poem by the Scottish poet John Huie from a book I discovered in the Highlands called The Singing Pilgrim.

For Trust
Lord, when my way I cannot see,
When earth and heaven are dark;
I know my path is clear to Thee,
For Thou my steps dost mark.

Give me to live by faith—I grieve,
And this is all my grief,
I would have sight—Lord, I believe,
Help Thou mine unbelief.

When halt and blind I go, my God,
Still would I hope in Thee,
For Thou art with me, and Thy rod
And staff shall comfort me.

Why should I fret in troubled mood
When I may rest in Thee?
All things together work for good,
Because Thou lovest me.

Thou lovest me—here would I rest
From all perplexity;
O take me to Thy loving breast,
And grant full trust in Thee.

I most like the line above, "When halt and blind I go, my God, / Still would I hope in Thee..." This accords well with a prayer of Thomas Merton's mentioned in last Sunday's sermon at Church of the Redeemer. I quote the prayer below:

My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean
that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that my desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.

This week this is my continual prayer as I feel I can relate so well to Merton's, "I have no idea where I am going". Yet, I want to know more deeply the trust he writes about, so that even when I cannot see the road ahead, I have faith that Jesus will guide and lead me.

Jesus and the Kingdom (Day 1)

2008-06-30T20:28:00.005-05:00

I am intending to be more intentional this week about understanding my role in God's mission. This is a challenge with the many distractions of having several jobs to provide for my family and a one year old son who just started walking, but my wife and I have committed this week to more focused prayer, silence and reflexion.

I would like to invite you to join me on the journey. I have been reading some Bible studies produced by Lesslie Newbigin in early 1986, now published in a booklet entitled, "Mission in Christ's Way" (WCC Publications, Geneva).

When the message of the kingdom of God is separated from the name of Jesus two distortions follow, and these are in fact the source of deep divisions in the life of the church today. On the one hand, there is the preaching of the name of Jesus simply as the one who brings a religious experience of personal salvation without involving one in costly actions at the points in public life where the power of Satan is contradicting the rule of God and bringing men and women under the power of evil. Such preaching of cheap grace, of a supposed personal salvation that does not go the way of the cross, of an inward comfort without commitment to costly action for the doing of God's will in the world—this kind of evangelistic preaching is a distortion of the gospel. It is seductive, and we must be on our guard against it. A preaching of personal salvation that does not lead the hearers to challenge the monstrous injustices of our society is not mission in Christ's way. It is peddling cheap grace.

On the other hand, when the message of the kingdom is separated from the name of Jesus, then the action of the church in respect of the evils in society becomes a mere ideological crusade, inviting men and women to put their trust in that which cannot satisfy. It is to betray people with false expectations. Worse than that, it is to deliver people into the hands of demonic powers, for whenever a particular political or social programme is identified with the kingdom of God, those who follow become the victims of forces that they cannot control. We have seen that in every revolution from the French Revolution two hundred years ago to Ayatollah Khomeni's revolution today.

To separate Jesus from the kingdom, to preach Jesus without the kingdom, or to preach the kingdom without Jesus, is to betray our generation and it is to divide and destroy the church. The gospel is this: that in the man Jesus the kingdom has actually come among us in judgment and blessing. It is now the reality with which we have to deal—whether in our most private devotions or in our most public actions in the life of society.

What do we make of this? Newbigin begins his section on the kingdom of God by establishing that "Jesus is the kingdom". The two are inseparable and unintelligible in a true sense apart from one another. He sketches a short history of theological thought on the relationship between the gospel and Paul's writings, capitalism, Marxism and the Enlightenment. I like his points here very much. Essentially, he is warning us not to be distracted by human things so that we "dethrone" God from our understanding of his kingdom. On the flip-side, we cannot talk of Christ the King without understanding something of his kingdom.

In this entire discussion, Newbigin comes continually back to the devastating effects these errors have upon the church. I am challenged by his conviction that following Jesus leads us to costly action. Take up your cross. It reminds me of some of Bonhoeffer's writings—particularly about "cheap grace" and the "cost of discipleship", two of Bonhoeffer's more famous phrases. I am increasingly encountering people who speak romantically of the kingdom of God, but who do not seem to have a real place for a real Jesus in it. Their motivations seem entirely ideological, though their rhetoric emerges from Christian terminology and tradition. I thinking back to the thought that it all comes back to something quite simple: following Jesus. This is what I hope to reflect on more deeply in the days to come.

Following up the Following Jesus post

2008-06-15T13:31:00.000-05:00

As I continue to reflect on Barth and Bonhoeffer's understanding of discipleship, I now realise there is a connexion between Eve's deception in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) and our attempts to discern the will of God apart from His command. It is commonly suggested that although God gave a clear command to avoid eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the serpent's argument lead Eve to second-guess the command in order to reach for the "higher" meaning of the command. In other words, there arose a tension between humanity's intended reflexion of God and the command that was received. After the cross we could state this tension as between "becoming like Christ" and "obeying Christ". Yet, here is the distinction: when we imagine becoming "like God" in Old Testament terms, we often think of God's all-knowing and all-powerful traits. So, becoming "like Christ" clarifies in extraordinary ways, what it truly means to become "like God". It is not that God has changed, but that Christ has clarified the reality.

So rather than focusing our attentions and energies on a goal of "becoming like Christ" it may be more critical to have a goal of "following Christ" with the implicit trust that doing so will ultimately yield our becoming like Christ.

In this age we desire to have options. So, we look at Christ's commands as options which we can selectively obey. Rather, the foundational command of "Follow me" is the first command of the disciple, and the gateway to the Kingdom, which makes our obedience to all subsequent commands essential.

Following Jesus

2008-05-16T16:19:00.004-05:00

In The Call to Discipleship, an excerpt from Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics, he quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

Anywhere else in the world where commands are given, the situation is clear. A father says to his child: go to bed! The child knows exactly what to do. But a child drilled in pseudotheology would have to argue thus: Father says go to bed. He means you are tired. But I can also overcome my tiredness by going to play. So, although father says go to bed, what he really means is go play. With this kind of argumentation, a child with its father or a citizen with the authorities would run into an unmistakable response, namely, punishment. The situation is supposed to be different only with respect to Jesus' command. ¹

Barth then clarifies Bonhoeffer's statements thus:

The command given to a person by Jesus is not given to the one who receives it in such a way that he may freely distinguish between what is meant and what is willed, between the implicit content and the explicit form, the former being accepted but the latter provisionally ignored. It has its content only in its specific form. Only as it turns to the latter can it keep seriously to the former. Again, it is not the case that in obedience to the call of Jesus we can and should and even (in all prudence) must postpone a full inward and outward rendering of it until we find a favourable opportunity and situation; the psychological, historical, economic or political situation indispensible to its integral achievement. To be sure, we for our part have not to create a situation of this kind. But we have to realize that the command of Jesus given us itself creates the situation and all the conditions of the situation in which we have to obey, so that there is no place for any further waiting for a developing situation or suitable moment, nor for any further consideration, appraisal or selection of different possibilities, but only for instant obedience. In obedience we are not about to leap. We are already leaping.²

"Follow Me"

Both Barth and Bonhoeffer stress "simple obedience" to Jesus in discipleship. They stress that being a disciple of Jesus is always an action, implied or explicit, in the Greek of the New Testament. We often use it, claims Barth, in a conceptual sense. We talk of discipleship as if it is something we can divorce from the forward propulsion of Jesus' call and command. We treat it as if there is a separation between the 'content' and the 'form' of discipleship. Yet, both argue this is not so.

Most people I talk with about discipleship are confused about the term. Everyone seems to be sure that we need it and that it is desperately important to have it in abundance within the Church. Yet, we struggle to speak about our following Jesus in the present. We want to leap into the future and plan our discipleship activities, or to look backwards and see where we have grown in our walk with Jesus.

When Jesus calls us, says Barth, the call creates the specifics of the situation. We cannot manufacture the conditions, though we make every effort to do so. Discovering our strengths or gifts or talents may offer us insight into the way that God has uniquely crafted us and therefore shed light on the opportunities before us, but such exercises may equally lead us to conclude that what Jesus wants us to leap into is not something we were "made" to do. We can easily overlook the role of God's sovereign purpose in His call to us. Follow me, He says. And we weigh our perceptions of the situation so as to "follow" in a way that "honors" the resources (materials, gifts, talents, skills, ambitions, personality, spiritual or emotional IQ, etc.) we "possess". It seems to me this is dangerously close to the situation described in Luke 9:57 and following:

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

Considering that the Great Commission in Matthew 28 contains the imperative command, "Make disciples of all nations", can we take these thoughts lightly?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works 4 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001). German ed. 1937.
Karl Barth, The Call to Discipleship, Fortress Press Facets Edition, 2003. This volume is an excerpt from: Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, vol. 4, pt. 2: The Doctrine of Reconciliation, translated by G. W. Bromiley (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1958). The original edition is Die Kirchliche Dogmatik, vol. 4, pt. 2: Die Lehre von der Versöhnung (Zolikon: Evangelisher Verlag, 1956).

Safe Returns

2008-05-13T00:12:00.001-05:00

Although I returned safely on 7 May, I have had very little time to send any updates. I am still sharing details about the forum with my wife, Danielle, and hope to get some time to reflect in writing and in person with some of my readers. I am grateful for your prayers.

The photo here is from an afternoon trip that a group of us took to Mercy Ministry, a drop-in center for "rugby boys" (so called because of the brand of solvent they inhale to ward off hunger pains). The man between the two older boys is Pastor John, who moved his wife and two children into the center in order to minister more effectively to them. They hope to be able to open the center overnight, but the ministry has many government regulations to satisfy before they will be allowed to do so. John explained that the reason for such regulations is that some places that are opened to street children are really fronts for child trafficking. Although we didn't do much more than meet some of the kids and hear about the ministry, John said our presence blessed these kids because they often feel unwanted and unnoticed. Hearing John's heart for these children was a great blessing to me.

Finishing in Manila

2008-05-06T01:06:00.003-05:00

The International Leadership Forum has been a whirlwind of information, stories, worship and connections. It has been a good week, but I am looking forward to being home with my family. In what little time I have had so far to reflect on the forum, I have thought mostly about the relationship between family and ministry.

One couple I met who are Americans working among churches in Sydney, Australia told me that whenever they move as a family for mission, they ask for input from their children, so that they can at least voice concerns, excitement and such. They also have always told their children that it is not "Daddy's job" but "the life God has called their entire family into".

I am leaving at 3:00 AM PHT for Japan and then home again.

Stop over in Tokyo

2008-04-30T04:37:00.004-05:00

So far my journey has gone well. I am currently writing from Tokyo Narita airport where I have a couple hours before heading to Manila. Unfortunately, I'll only be in the airport in Japan, so my experience of Japanese culture will be very limited. Security is taken very seriously here. Everyone is required to exit the plane and go through a security re-screening, even for connecting flights. At least that gives us something to do while we wait.

I have been reading The Emotionally Healthy Church, when not trying to sleep. I intend to read as much of the book as possible during my next flight so as to be exhausted when I reach Manila at midnight. Tomorrow will be a full day with a pre-conference on mobilisation.

Journey to Asia

2008-04-29T04:26:00.000-05:00

I am taking my first journey to Asia this week. My destination is the Philippines for a conference regarding international teams. The following entries will be more spontaneous and personal in nature, as a warning to those of you who are expecting more thoughtful articles here. Please pray for me as I take this journey.

New design in production

2008-04-09T22:42:00.002-05:00

I have made little time to post new thoughts on mission lately, but I did create several new designs before reverting back to one that was similar to the original. I hope to work on a new design that will be a bit more readable and then post a number of things I have been working on behind-the-scenes.

Abraham Left, Abraham Obeyed

2008-02-20T15:43:00.009-06:00

"As you reflect back on Genesis chapter 12, you see an example of a great missionary in verse 4: 'Abraham left... as the Lord had told him'."
— William Taylor, Introduction to World Christian Missions
(Lecture 3)

I want to reflect upon the pause that Dr Taylor places between "Abraham left" and "as the Lord had told him". That slight vocal pause interests me. When we consider opportunities to 'go' somewhere or to 'leave' where we are, how do we know whether or not to undertake the journey?

This has come across most powerfully to me in recent opportunities which have been presented to embark on new missions for Christ. If we stopped listening at Dr Taylor's pause (and if we were not familiar already with the Scripture passage), we might conclude that anytime we have an opportunity to GO, we should do so. It is what God wants. If this is the case there are deeper implications for the Christian life in that all Christians should be traveling to new lands. Furthermore, we would not need to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit on matters of leaving our country and going to another. We would perhaps need His guidance in the new country, but the decision of whether or not to go would be a non-question.

The second part of the Scripture is really the more important piece, I think. "As the Lord had told him", Abraham obeyed. God very clearly tells Abraham to leave his country and to go to another (which incidentally, God will show him), and Abraham is faced with a choice of whether or not to obey God. Whether or not to go is a subset of the question about obedience. If God had told Abraham to stay, he would have faced the same test of obedience. The aspect of Abraham's story I want to underscore here is his obedience. It is easy, particularly in missionary circles, to focus on the fact of his going—but this is incidental—important for the life of Abraham, but incidental to the primary question of his obedience to God.

What is the Lord telling you today? Are you obedient to Him? Am I? How many of us are willing to GO if God asks us to go? How many of us are willing to STAY if that is God's desire for us?

I recall a quotation shared by Sunder Krishnan, pastor of Rexdale Alliance Church in Toronto, when he spoke on missions at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School years ago. "I want to live in North America in such a way that Satan would rather have me overseas as a missionary." (I think this was a quote from Don Richardson, but if anyone can verify this, please post a comment...) Are we living this way where we are? Or are we waiting for a call to GO somewhere else? Engage with God in the lives of the people around you and see what He will do... But keep listening and obeying. Keep open to His guidance in your life.

Courage to be a Christian

2008-02-15T11:00:00.010-06:00

It takes courage to follow Christ—whether it is for the first time or another day in the journey. Sometimes there are enormous obstacles to our coming to Christ. It requires a level of honesty and vulnerability beyond imagination to recognize our sin for what it is and to openly confess our need for Christ. Following Christ day by day, and entrusting our past, present and future to his care also requires enormous courage—often more than we have on our own. Stepping into the day with our eyes open to God's leading is our desire and goal, but how do we achieve such a thing in a continuous sense?

In Who You Are When No One's Looking, Bill Hybels writes about a game he played as a child at camp. A child was blindfolded and told to walk through a forest with the help of other children calling out to him to jump over a log or watch out for a tree. Then he writes this:

As Christians, we sometimes feel like those blindfolded children. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:7, "We walk by faith, not by sight." We are not alone in the woods, though—God "shall direct thy paths" (Prov 3:6 KJV). But following Jesus Christ demands an enormous amount of courage. Quite often his leadings sound illogical, irrational, countercultural. Sometimes he is so challenging that I say, "No, I think I'll just crawl back into my shell and play it safe." Then a voice inside me says, "Where's your courage, Hybels? Get up and walk. You can trust God."

Cowards do not last long on their spiritual pilgrimages. They shrivel up and disappear. It takes enormous courage to repent and become a Christian. It takes enormous courage to follow God's leadings in the Christian life. Some of his callings demand the best that you can summon. Some of his tests stretch you to the limit. Some of his adventures evoke great fears and doubts. Truly, spiritual courage is on the endangered character-quality list.

Are you open to God's calling, his leading in your life? Are you open to the adventure, even if it will require you to face your doubts and fears? What choices will you make today to intentionally open yourself to Christ?

Personally, I have experienced a lack of courage regarding following God's leading in my life. It is far easier to advise others than it is to put into practice for one's self the disciplines that fuel the Christian life. Right now my battle seems to be with time and energy. My responsibilities (some of which cause me to genuinely praise God) attack me the moment I awake and cling to me all the way to sleep. Pushing out some of these in order to introduce 'margins' into my daily life has proved a harrowing battle. Yet, in God's grace I continue to endure the battleground with the hope that with his help I will discover 'margin' again.

Who are we mobilizing and to what end?

2008-02-14T15:45:00.006-06:00

Author's Note: This post is not intended to be a critique of the cited article. I have attempted to clarify my intentions after a challenging comment (see below).

The January-February 2008 issue of Mission Frontiers (US Center for World Mission) includes an article by Steve Shadrach, director of mobilization for USCWM. In the article he uses two "examples" in an effort to motivate Christians to find a role in missions mobilization.

He points to the fact that some Muslims understand that college campuses are a great place to gain new converts—and particlarly ones who are willing to be sent throughout the world. Shadrach sees this as a serious threat to the growth of Christianity, and encourages Christians to see the university context as an opportunity for Christian missions to ride the same wave.

Next, Shadrach reports that Coca-Cola has a business plan to "get a cold Coke within one mile of every person on earth by the year 2020". He writes that some of his colleagues are using this vision as a catalyst for world missions, but their website (www.BeatTheCokeTruck.com) is not currently operational.

Both of these examples are intriguing and may inspire some Christians to help in missions, but after reading Shadrach's article I want to consider some foundational questions in mobilization. It is obviously not Shadrach's intention in this article to take up these questions, and I imagine he might agree that these are crucial questions: What is our motivation for mission? Whom are we mobilizing and to what end? Far from being pedantic, these questions aim at the heart of Christian life and community. If we do not attend to the biblical teachings of mission, we run the risk of chasing after Coca-Cola, or lambasting Muslims when they are reflecting God's image by employing intelligence and creativity. I am not analyzing truth in the above comment; I am simply looking at methodology.

The muted text of the final sentences above are ones I wish I had reread and rewritten before posting. Here's why: I intended them to be provocative in the sense that they might make us think more deeply about our approaches to mobilization. Yet, it now strikes me that these comments could be read as a critique (or worse, an attack) on Shadrach or his recent article. I realize now that I was reacting to a growing sense that our efforts at mobilization—whether ecclesiastical or para-ecclesiastical—are increasingly straying from biblically-based motivations. Shadrach was simply offering some potentially inspiring examples, as he himself states in his article. I hope these statements clarify my intent.

Mobilization is a topic I intend to revisit with considerable frequency in this blog.

Good sources for missions research and resourcing

2008-02-13T15:23:00.023-06:00

The following resources have been recommended by Richard Cotton in his introductory lectures to World Christian Missions, produced by the Institute of Theological Studies. Some of the website addresses have changed since his lecture, as they are prone to do in this age. The links below should be current, however.

The US Center for World Mission publishes Mission Frontiers, a free monthly publication including challenging articles and editorials by Ralph Winter. Their catalog from William Carey Library is one of the most comprehensive and decently priced sources for missions-related books and literature. USCWM also publishes a monthly Global Prayer Digest and produces courses and resources for churches and individuals who are interested in learning more about World Christian Missions.

BRIGADA has links to mission agencies, mission researchers and more.

Caleb Project provides access to information about unreached people groups, mission mobilisation and more. They send teams to local churches to help inspire them to think and act more missionally.

MARC - Missions Advanced Research and Communications Center, a division of World Vision, publishes the many helpful missions books in several categories.

ACMC - Advancing Churches in Missions Commitment publishes many helpful tools for churches to get involved. Look for Cultivating A Mission-Active Church and their annual conferences. They have consultants available by regions.

International Journal of Frontier Missions provides scholarly articles on world mission and related topics.

EMQ - Evangelical Missions Quarterly is a professional journal that publishes articles on missions-related topics.

IBMR - Published by the Overseas Ministries Study Center, International Bulletin of Missionary Research is an excellent source for current research and study on mission.

Looking for the horizon

2008-02-01T19:10:00.000-06:00

Here I sit, bursting with the need to write, but longing to be with those I love. The curse of the writer is the necessity of creative solitude. Alone with my thoughts they are free to come forth from the shadows, free for these few moments to be heard, and I am attentive. thought: Too often I neglect to attend to my Lord. If a servant, I am poor at hearing; if a friend, I am too busy for the One who loves me. From morning until evening I reel as a sailor caught upon a storm; moving from one distraction to another, unable to secure my footing. And "only one thing is needful": to fix my eyes on Jesus.