Monday, December 18, 2006
Here we go
Please pray for Jacqui and the baby. She has been confined to bedrest. There is a high probability of a prem birth. We desperately need this to hold off at least 2 weeks. We will also therefor stay in polokwane for Christmas.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Who ya' callin' a Missionary?
I find the topic of missions very thought provoking. Missions is more than just, "We need to get the gospel out there..". It is actually very hard to define, because it strafes between a specific calling with a certain life-direction, and a universal calling to all God-followers in whatever path of lifestyle they find themselves.
Missionaries themselves seem to have many questions and debates on what exactly missions is, and how one measures the success of it. One magazine article highlghts that missions goes beyond planting churches - it also helps the community to strategize their local skill and infrastructure development, so as to create a healthy community that does not disintegrate. It talks about a South American community that has an established church, but has become such a broken community because there is no sustainable, feasible work, and all the capable workers, mostly male, have left their families behind to go and earn money in the US. This results in fatherless homes, and broken families, and a nominal battling church.
What is missions? I have just completed a course in it, albeit very quickly (5 months). We managed to touch on evangelism and church planting. But I still don't know whether I know exactly what it is, or how to measure my alignment to it.
The line between "missions" and any other ministry is so grey and yet the term "missionary" has aquired such a distinct picture in people's minds. Why has this happened? Is it all the romantic stories we hear from missionaries on the field, passing back their exciting antics to the rest of us?
In I.T., there is an age-old problem of projects being completed and hailed a success, yet down the line they are hardly ever measured to verify how well it achieved the goal. The same thing seems to happen in missions. At CBC, the mission is now revisitng a lot of past work and going back to strengthen and sometimes re-root the churches that were planted so long ago. Now, who are the missionaries? The ones who planted the church? The ones who are growing it now?
Most people wind up defining missionaries in 3 groups,
1. those who are ministering to 'unreached' people in very similar cultures as their own
2. those who are minsitering to 'unreached' people in slightly similar cultures
3. those who are ministering to 'unreached' people in very different cultures to their own.
Well, I'm not sure that this is a necessary distinction. We should mostly all be in group 1 sometime in our New Life, because we are all compelled to witness our faith to those around us.
Some of us find ourselves in group 2 or 3, based on where the Lord has led and placed us. Hey, if you want to call me a missionary, go ahead. Polokwane has a culture of its own ;-). But if the common missionary denominator is "reaching the unreached"... why is that unique to missions?
When I think about it, the Bible doesn't seem to describe the office of missionary. It talks about evangelists. Paul felt God's leading to reach the unreached, and off he went to look for these people. He traversed groups 1, 2 and 3. So did Peter. And Jesus didn't only hang around his hometown either. The apostles were "sent ones", like missionaries. But missionaries certainly aren't apostles!
The problem with labelling anyone as a missionary is that it creates a perception that that person is the one called to reveal God to the unreached. Therefore, if I am not a missionary, I'm not compelled to do it.
Isn't this true? Do you consider yourself a missionary? Why not?
THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE IN THE PURPOSE AND MINISTRY OF A MISSIONARY TO ANY OTHER PERSON IN CHRIST, be it a pastor, a Sunday School teacher, or a Christian in a secular job. Each one has his vocation and his overarching goal.
Is there one defining difference between a missionary, and any other Christian? I don't see one yet.
Can you disagree? Post your comments.
I find the topic of missions very thought provoking. Missions is more than just, "We need to get the gospel out there..". It is actually very hard to define, because it strafes between a specific calling with a certain life-direction, and a universal calling to all God-followers in whatever path of lifestyle they find themselves.
Missionaries themselves seem to have many questions and debates on what exactly missions is, and how one measures the success of it. One magazine article highlghts that missions goes beyond planting churches - it also helps the community to strategize their local skill and infrastructure development, so as to create a healthy community that does not disintegrate. It talks about a South American community that has an established church, but has become such a broken community because there is no sustainable, feasible work, and all the capable workers, mostly male, have left their families behind to go and earn money in the US. This results in fatherless homes, and broken families, and a nominal battling church.
What is missions? I have just completed a course in it, albeit very quickly (5 months). We managed to touch on evangelism and church planting. But I still don't know whether I know exactly what it is, or how to measure my alignment to it.
The line between "missions" and any other ministry is so grey and yet the term "missionary" has aquired such a distinct picture in people's minds. Why has this happened? Is it all the romantic stories we hear from missionaries on the field, passing back their exciting antics to the rest of us?
In I.T., there is an age-old problem of projects being completed and hailed a success, yet down the line they are hardly ever measured to verify how well it achieved the goal. The same thing seems to happen in missions. At CBC, the mission is now revisitng a lot of past work and going back to strengthen and sometimes re-root the churches that were planted so long ago. Now, who are the missionaries? The ones who planted the church? The ones who are growing it now?
Most people wind up defining missionaries in 3 groups,
1. those who are ministering to 'unreached' people in very similar cultures as their own
2. those who are minsitering to 'unreached' people in slightly similar cultures
3. those who are ministering to 'unreached' people in very different cultures to their own.
Well, I'm not sure that this is a necessary distinction. We should mostly all be in group 1 sometime in our New Life, because we are all compelled to witness our faith to those around us.
Some of us find ourselves in group 2 or 3, based on where the Lord has led and placed us. Hey, if you want to call me a missionary, go ahead. Polokwane has a culture of its own ;-). But if the common missionary denominator is "reaching the unreached"... why is that unique to missions?
When I think about it, the Bible doesn't seem to describe the office of missionary. It talks about evangelists. Paul felt God's leading to reach the unreached, and off he went to look for these people. He traversed groups 1, 2 and 3. So did Peter. And Jesus didn't only hang around his hometown either. The apostles were "sent ones", like missionaries. But missionaries certainly aren't apostles!
The problem with labelling anyone as a missionary is that it creates a perception that that person is the one called to reveal God to the unreached. Therefore, if I am not a missionary, I'm not compelled to do it.
Isn't this true? Do you consider yourself a missionary? Why not?
THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE IN THE PURPOSE AND MINISTRY OF A MISSIONARY TO ANY OTHER PERSON IN CHRIST, be it a pastor, a Sunday School teacher, or a Christian in a secular job. Each one has his vocation and his overarching goal.
Is there one defining difference between a missionary, and any other Christian? I don't see one yet.
Can you disagree? Post your comments.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Down in jhb
We're in jhb this weekend. We came to see granny Jeanne who has an apparently agressive cancer. It is hard to see the real effects of a degenerating creation. I long for the new creation, and I long for people to know new life, both in this age and in the one we wait for.
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