Are you a dot?

In June 2005 Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple Computers and Pixar Animation, delivered the commencement address to the Stanford University graduating class. A full transcript of his speech entitled Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish is available here.

He speaks of love and loss, and death; but it is his story of connecting dots that comes to mind as I contemplate how God is working in Africa.

I imagine it’s in an earthly sense that Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking back. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

Connecting the dots
Of course, we know God is well able to connect dots in the future. It’s in this sense that I think Paul writes in Romans, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

What are dots? They are events in our lives, or in a continent’s history for example, which are impossible for us to link looking forward, but are very clearly related when we look back.

What happened in the past that makes it possible for us to plan apostolic trips to the four corners of Africa? Coincidence? Chance? No – God has been connecting dots from the foundation of the world, making it all possible. It’s interesting to think of some of the great dots in Africa’s history.

Africa – the dark continent, the forgotten continent. Famine, war, corruption. Missionaries, colonisation, slavery, exploitation. Wars of liberation, cold war influences in Africa. We heard words like glasnost, and perestroika. Democracy coming to South Africa.

Apostolic trips in Africa would not be possible if God had not been there from the start, connecting our dots.

We hear about ordinary people paying a price right now, joining in a baptism of sufferings as the Bible foretold. We are touched not so much by the hardship endured by the people going to the nations, but of the people there – the locals.

There are so many stories of triumph: The gospel shared at a petrol pump leads to a church being planted; a leader demolishes his kitchen to yield the bricks needed to complete a church building; an orphan is taken in who later becomes a leader in the church.

The goal? Christ! A practical, fruitful, sustainable Christianity.

Winds of change
God is not intimidated by Islam, by poverty and hunger, by sickness, AIDS, and malaria. God is not intimidated by corruption. God has shown us how He can send people ahead, preparing the ground for His salvation. He did this with Joseph; sold by his brothers into slavery, promoted by his God into leadership. Commissioned in an instant, but called and prepared for many years before.

In Genesis we read, “Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, ‘The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the easy wind. They are seven years of famine.’”

This passage speaks of a God who is well able to join the dots looking forward. It especially shows though how God takes His servants – both people and nature – to work together for His purposes. Can you imagine the shift in economic power that resulted from that east wind blowing? And yet God had prepared His servant to be there to direct that economic power so that His purposes were accomplished.

Think of the great dots in the Bible from that time onward: Israelite slavery in Egypt; Moses; the Red Sea; the wilderness; taking the land; judges; kings; prophets; silence; then Jesus; the New Testament church.

God can do this in Africa today. He can cause climatic change – rain, drought, and winds to blow – according to His purpose. He can cause Africa to be the food basket of the world; He can cause Africa to prosper through discovery of oil and other natural resources. He can cause Africa to launch a spiritual re-awakening of the First World. Will we be in the right place to work alongside the Lord?

Fit for purpose
God doesn’t have favorites, yet He does use those who have positioned themselves to be available. We need to determine whether we want to be in God’s purpose, and if so, create the steps to get there.

Consider what practical steps we can take to prepare ourselves – get fitter – if called to apostolic service.

In the first place, we may need to improve our spiritual fitness. Set aside time to study the doctrine of Christ, and the biblical church model. Fast and pray for God’s greater revelation of His apostolic purpose for our lives. Take up the challenge laid down by Paul in Colossians in praying for others we do not know.

Paul had never met the Colossians, but he faithfully prayed for them. He was thankful for their faith and changed lives. He asked God to help them to know what He wanted them to do, and to give them deep spiritual understanding. He asked God to help them live for Him. He asked God to give them more knowledge of Himself. He asked God to give them strength for endurance, and to fill them with joy, strength, and thankfulness.

I wonder how many lives would be touched if we prayed like this?

Secondly, we may need to improve our financial fitness. We need to answer these questions: “How often do we conduct our affairs as if God knows nothing about financial stewardship? How often, by our over-spending, do we need God to provide finance into a budget that leaks like a sieve?”

Determine how much is enough – to meet obligations, needs, and even some wants. Yes, even some wants because God is not stingy, and His desire is that we prosper, but not to the point where our increase is met with an equal and opposite consumption. At that place close off your budget. Now God can use it because it is positioned so that any excess is available to be sowed into Kingdom work.

Seize the day to do those tasks we all seem to put off: Clarifying death benefits; establishing what medical and insurance cover is available in countries we may visit; getting travel documents in order; and, sorting out wills.

Thirdly, we may need to improve our physical fitness. We are sometimes presumptuous here, only relying on God’s graces for good health, and not complementing this with good diet and exercise. There are no short cuts, but our ability to endure hardship, and to work harder on mission, is greater if we are physically fitter.

Lastly, we may need to improve our emotional fitness. As we listen to stories of human suffering in Africa, we realise how easy it is become distracted by humanitarian needs, because they are so desperate. In Matthew Jesus puts it simply, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” Yet, hearing of a three-year-old orphan roaming the streets of Blantyre scavenging for food, wrenches the heart.

Many feel most unfit here, in the emotions.

Is this works? Not at all. This is building away from us; putting others, not ourselves, at the center. We’ll feel strangely liberated by carrying a new apostolic focus into our work places and schools, in our family life, and even our leisure activities.

God is connecting the dots in our generation. God is always working in our lives, and His providence is revealed as we join the dots looking backward.

Go on, be a dot.

Can’t spare the time to read Job’s address? No problem, watch it here.

Video review: Institutions vs Collaboration, by Clay Shirky.

Take a moment to watch the video clip. The context is technology, but consider the principles. Now apply the concept of collaboration to the church. Have we placed too much confidence in institutionalized church to fulfill our mandate? I believe the time is now for believers of all walks of life to make their contribution felt. We cannot abdicate our responsibility to the professionals employed by institutions to get the job done.

Leadership is about stewardship; stewardship of affluence, and stewardship of influence. I urge you, don’t just read blogs and quietly disagree: Engage, debate, influence. You can make a difference.

Video by: TED Ideas Worth Spreading| Language: English | Running time: 20:46 | Produced by: TED Conferences, LLC July, 2005 | Speaker/s: Clay Shirky

Many times over the last few years my attention has been drawn to Luke and The Parable of the Shrewd Manager, as the New International Version calls it. Other versions refer to this passage as The Parable of the Unjust Steward.

“Man is surely stark raving mad,” Michel de Montaigne said. “He can’t make a worm, but he makes gods by the dozen.” I imagine that we’re all aware of the subtlety and insidiousness of idolatry, yet how many times, in how many ways, do we set idols before God?

Business can sometimes be that to me. Not that business is wrong, irredeemable. No – simply, it needs always to be kept in its place, always and fully consecrated to God.

I believe for the time being it is my calling to be ‘in business’. I love it. At the same time it’s exciting and repetitive, challenging and easy, there are successes and there are bitter disappointments, people exceed expectations, people fail dismally.

For the vast majority of Christians too, business must be their calling. It must be so economically; the church as we know it could not sustain so large a staff. And it must be so spiritually; the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ must be taken into the market place.

The church incorporate may not be able to access places and people its individuals can; I know this is true because most people I come into contact with in the discharge of my duties seem not to have set foot in a church in many years – some never, apparently.

Jesus, CEO
But are the unchurched impacted in some way, affected somehow, by churchgoers? Probably not – 89% of regular churchgoers in the United States of America live their lives exactly the same as their non-churchgoing colleagues, this according to a Gallup poll conducted more than 20 years ago.

Just in case you’re wondering, I don’t suppose this suggests that the ‘world’, as represented by Americans, lives its life according to Biblical principles, but rather that the alternate case is true. This statistic suggests that only 11% of regular churchgoers in the US, in some way big or small, take the church of Jesus Christ into the highways and byways of day-to-day life.

Indeed, in many ways, corporate America is invading the church. A December 2005 edition of The Economist runs an interesting article on churches as businesses, entitled “Jesus, CEO.”

It goes on to describe how America’s most successful churches are modelling themselves on business. “There’s no shortage of criticism of these fast-growing churches,” the article states. “One is that they represent the Disneyfication of religion. Forget about the agony and ecstasy of faith. [These churches] are said to serve up nothing more challenging than Christianity Lite – a bland and sanitised creed that is about as dramatic as the average shopping mall.”

One conclusion the article reaches is that these churches have “result[ed] in a wash: Rather than making America more Christian, the mega-churches have simply succeeded in making Christianity more American.”

And with all due respect to The Economist, it even despairs at the future of these mega-churches, and the imminent clashes between the religious leadership and the management team. A management team? Yes, these churches have CEOs, COOs, and soon CTOs. Wonder who gets the job of Chairman?

“Where in God’s name is the church?” the authors ask. Really. Business should burn as chaff before the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, his bride. Yet we have invited it in. One reason, I believe, is found in the parable of the shrewd manager.

Introspection finds a lack
Luke recounts this story: “Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

“The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg – I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

“‘A hundred barrels of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’

“Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“‘A hundred bags of wheat,’ he replied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’

“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?”

The Message puts a contemporary slant on this thought: “Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way – but for what is right – using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”

“On constant alert.”

“Looking for angles.”

“Surviving by my wits.”

Jesus says that the people of this world are doing these things, and that we, the children of light, need to act in the same way – act shrewdly, using every adversity to stimulate creative survival!

Sometimes I’d rather crawl into a corner and wait for adversity to go away; that arrogant colleague, that ungrateful employee.

Shrewd is a funny word; it sounds bad but it really isn’t. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines shrewd as ’showing astute powers of judgement; clever and judicious’, whilst Roget’s reckons that ‘cunning’, ‘intelligent’, and ‘knowing’ are its synonyms.

Poor Titus Andronicus! For forty years he led Rome’s armies against the Goths, giving up twenty-one sons in the process. He returns triumphantly to Rome, where he passes up election as Caesar, in favor of Saturninus. Titus is, after all, a soldier, not a politician. Yet, soon after this change in political power Titus’ efforts in battle are reduced to nought, his life and family destroyed. In the end, a murderer, he is murdered.

I have always felt Titus should have known better, should have shown more foresight, should have been shrewder. But he wasn’t; I feel let down by him in a way. My sensibilities are affronted by Shakespeare; this Titus – in many ways I can be like him. Toiling away loyally for the caesar, year after year, day and night, at others’ expense – God’s Kingdom, the church, my family – always distracted, always thinking about the business; only to start all over again when there’s a change of guard.

Read the beginning of Exodus to see how easily a lifetime’s effort can be brought to nothing.

It’s as if the church has had an introspective, a looking inside, and found lack. It sees a lot more innovation, creativity, living by one’s wits, outside of it, in the business world. It’s as if shrewdness needs to be imported into the church. It’s exactly as Jesus says, “The people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.”

God owns innovation and creativity; wouldn’t it be great if we tapped into it and started making a Kingdom difference in our workplaces?

All stewards
How do we set things straight, restore order, make it right, act shrewdly? In the context of the parable we’d be showing astute powers of judgement to believe two things for sure: First, we are all stewards of someone else’s property; and second, we are all going to have to give an account, because there will be an end to all things here on earth for each one of us.

Asterius of Amasea said, “There is one fictitious and false conception prevalent among men, which multiplies their transgressions, and diminishes the good which we ought, all of us, to do. And this false conceptions, that all that we have to enjoy in this life we possess as lords and masters. And on account of this notion we do fiercely fight and war and contend for it and protect it to the uttermost as a precious possession.

“Now the truth of the matter is not so, but quite otherwise. For none of those things which we have received is our own, nor do we as absolute possessors and lords dwell in this life as in a house of our own; but as sojourners, and strangers, and wanderers, and when we do not expect it, we are led whither we would not go. And when it seems good to the Lord we are deprived of the possession of our wealth.

“Wherefore the enjoyment of this perishable life is very liable to change. He who is today glorious, is tomorrow an object of pity, eliciting compassion and help. He who is now prosperous and flourishing in wealth, suddenly finds himself poor, without even bread to support life.

“Know then, that each one of you is an administrator of what belongs to another; cast off then the pride of authority, and put on the humility and prudence of a steward, accountable for his acts. Be always waiting for your Lord, to whom with fear you must render a strict account. For you are a sojourner who ahs received the privilege of only a temporary and fleeting use of the things in your possession.”

We are all stewards of God’s resources, that is sure, but in which economy? Is there a choice? Here’s a problem that I face, and quite frankly, you face as well, whether we recognise it or not. The Bible makes no distinction between the sacred and the secular. Where, in a biblical economy, do we discover the boundary between the world and the church? Where, in the Old Testament or New, do we read about things that fall outside of God’s care, influence, or control?

We do read, in Colossians, “For by [Christ] all things were created: Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

In Psalms the Lord declares, “The world is mine, and all that is in it.”

Again, in Acts we read, “For in [God], we live and move and have our being.”

All this debate about sacred and secular is moot. There is no distinction in God’s order; any supposed disctinction is a creation of man.

Therefore, it must be to the extent that I live a separate, segregated life, I am in error. It is not as if I can put God on this side and business on that side. It is not as if God is confined to Sundays, whilst the business world runs unchecked in my life the other six days of the week.

A monk, Brother Lawrence, in his book, The Practice of the Presence of God says it well: “Our sanctification does not depend as much on changing our activities as it does on doing them for God rather than for ourselves.”

Which way should it be then? Should churches become business, or should our office colleagues feel the Kingdom of God is near as we pass by?

Two economic systems war constantly within us, in our minds, in our hearts, and in our wallets. On the one hand, there is the economy of buying and selling; on the other, the economy of giving and receiving.

I imagine that most people think only of money when considering their stewardship. What about the other legal tender in God’s economy of giving and receiving? What about our time, our attitudes, our deeds, our words, what we watch, and what we choose to listen to?

We all have twenty-four hours a day, both rich and poor alike. No one has more, no one has less. We all control our own attitudes, both rich and poor alike. And with our deeds and words, we all choose to whether to build up or break down.

This parable shows us that God values our shrewd use of His resources. We are God’s managers. As God’s managers then, we are all, one day, to give an account of our management, our stewardship.

David asks the Lord in Psalms, “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath. Selah.”

Although we know we must give an account of our stewardship, we don’t quite know when. “It becomes us then to live as creatures of a day, awaiting the signal for our departure,” Asterius says.

It’s a sight to behold: When stewardship is wrested away and given to another. In business recently, we won a major account away from a competitor, for which I am most grateful to the Lord. There’s a time allotted to us to steward this account, hopefully as shrewdly as possible.

Again in business, after many years of successful service, a management shuffle has seen a few of us potentially marginalised. What to do? Jesus tells me: “Use every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival.”

Looking around you, with your senses quickened, you will notice that daily, now one, now another, we receive and lose stewardships. May it be that our consciences approve of those taken away. May we not be given to say, “I never knew its true value until it was gone. I wish I had done more with it.”

Jesus says that to the shrewd manager of God’s resources more will be added. And finally, having presented a good account of our stewardships, we’ll be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

We, you and me, are stewards of God’s resources at this time. But, are we shrewd managers?

Two Oklahoma City financial advisers are launching five stock funds aimed at attracting Christians seeking investments that don’t conflict with the tenets of their faith.

FaithShares Trust, established by Tom Phillips and Garrett Stevens, will offer shares of exchange traded funds based on indexes that track recommendations of organizations representing Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist and nondenominational Christian groups. The funds will include large-cap stocks, excluding those that conflict with core beliefs of the various denominations. You can read the full article here.

A recent article on PRWeb suggests Twitter and Facebook may be the new face of Christian evangelism.

“With social media users sharing everything from what they’re reading to where they’re eating and when they’re going to sleep,” the article says, “it’s no surprise that social sites such as Twitter and Facebook have become a place to voice one’s beliefs and faith.

“Crosswalk.com, the largest online destination for Christians, has seen how valuable these sites can be for ministry and the sharing of Christian Faith. In the past two weeks alone, Crosswalk.com’s Facebook page has experienced a 190% growth in fans.”

A recent article in The Examiner: Is Christianity Becoming a Crime in America asks: “Are you willing to go to prison for your faith?”

“This would be a bizarre question to ask of any average American who considers themselves to be a Christian, but not so for those living somewhere other than the US. In a world that cries for tolerance and equality, Christianity is becoming the new minority. And while you sit comfortably in your easy chair nestled in the safety of a perceived freedom, do not be so naive to think you are the lucky one.”

Many Christians seem to be experiencing a growing unease with debt. A number of Christian debt consolidation services are being established to meet this need.

News report from Mission Network News, July 29, 2009.

Another Christian behind bars for his faith died while in the Mitire Military Confinement Camp in Eritrea. 43-year-old Yemane Kahasay Andom died six days ago and reportedly is secretly buried in the camp.

Jerry Dykstra with Open Doors USA reports, “He was suffering from a severe case of malaria. He allegedly was further weakened by continuous physical torture he received while in solitary confinement in an underground cell for the last two weeks” for refusing to sign a recantation form.

A disgrace
Andom is the third known Christian to die this year at this camp, located in northeastern Eritrea, and the ninth in Eritrean detention centers. He was hunted down in the government’s effort to stamp out a growing church. “Many of these Christians who have been imprisoned for their faith (we put it at 2800) have refused to recant their faith in Jesus Christ, and that is a tremendous witness.”

“What is happening regarding the persecution of evangelicals in this small country in eastern Africa is a disgrace,” says Open Doors USA President/CEO Carl Moeller. “There is no legal recourse for those Christians who have been tossed into prison camps. Many of them face torture and death, as with Andom and others. Many of them continue to keep their faith under tremendous pressure. Please join me in prayer for those still in prison camps.”

Worse, Christians in Eritrea have reported that the government has taken a turn in their tactics to suppress the evangelical faith in the country.

Open Doors released new information found in a letter smuggled out of a place of detention. In it, incarcerated Christians say interrogators are trying to force Christian prisoners to admit that their churches have been participating in work for the CIA on behalf of the United States government.

Christians in Eritrea explain that if the imprisoned believers give in to this pressure, they may be forced to testify against their church associations in a military court. A guilty verdict in this court could have severe implications for the church associations.

Although the government has legalized worship inside the Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox churches, there have been instances of persecution against followers from all three groups.

Dykstra urges solidarity with these believers. “Pray for them that they may stand strong in their faith. Wherever Christians are imprisoned or under persecution, Open Doors is there to support them.”

From Fox’s Book of Martyrs: History of Christian Martyrs to the First General Persecutions under Nero

The apostle Peter, along with many other Christians, was condemned to death and crucified. Some say this happened in Rome, although others have good reason to doubt this.

When Hegesippus told Peter’s supporters that Nero was after a reason to put Peter to death, they pressed him to leave the city in a hurry. He was eventually persuaded by their insistence, and as he was leaving the city gate Jesus Christ came to meet him.

“Why have you come?” Peter asked Jesus. “I’ve come to be crucified again,” Jesus replied. Peter then understood how he was to suffer and die, and he returned to the city.

Jerome says that Peter was crucified upside down at his own request, because he thought himself unworthy to die the same way as Jesus.

From Fox’s Book of Martyrs: History of Christian Martyrs to the First General Persecutions under Nero

Mark was the son of Jewish parents – Levites. The story goes that he was converted to Christianity by Peter whom he served after his conversion as a transcriber. Mark wrote his gospel, in Greek, under Peter’s oversight.

During a feast for their idol Serapis, the merciless people of Alexandria killed Mark by literally dragging him to pieces.