Muslim Followers of Isa

Can people remain in their faith but follow Jesus?

Check out this video and let me know your reactions.

Mission Movements – Reflections from the 1200’s-1400’s

Thinking and reading about mission/renewal movements within the Catholic church pre-Reformation (another renewal movement with tremendous success.)

The following is Dr. Paul Pierson (Fuller Theological Seminary) through his book, Dynamics of Christian Mission

“new mission movements are nearly always initiated by key leaders – men or women who have gone dep in thier life iwth God and consequently felt His heartbeat for the world and then have communicated their vision to other” (p.108)

“mission and renewal movements virtually always arise on the periphery of the boarder Church.  Often, but not always, they are lead by laypersons.” (p.109)

“The historical reality is that every movement, no matter how it began, will become institutionalized and fall into the danger of losing its original vision and vitality.  None is exempt from that danger.” (p.109)

“Often a movement of renewal or mission makes theological rediscoveries … and are often accompanied by new patterns of leadership selection and training.” (p.112)

“a missiological entrepreneur is one whose vision goes beyond that of the dominant Church and mission structures of the time, and who consequently creates new movements to implement the vision.” (p.118)

Examples he gives: Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Dominic, Samuel Mills, Hudson Taylor, Cameron Townsend, Ralph Winter.  On top of his preceding list I would add: Donald McGavarn, the reformation leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as others.

Good stuff.  Continue the conversation with me.

Short Term Missions

Here is some of my recent thinking along the lines of short term missions.  Most of the comments apply to the majority STM trips taken by local churches.  For those going long term as career missionaries who take a scouting trip, different rules apply.  Allow me to summarize my thoughts at the onset: STM is happening, but we need to take steps back to determine the most effective steps forward.  When thinking through STM the ministry of the career missionary is the central, creative steps need to be taken to truly serve the people being ministered to (dependency a huge issue with STM).

When planning a STM trip, you really need to have a sense of what your purpose is for this trip and guide everything along those rails. The strategy of having an assortment of different activities and events may not benefit the nationals or the missionaries and it may not make lasting impact on the people you bring.  A lot of times STM takes the shotgun approach that accomplishes its goal but also destroys the growth surrounding the focal point of the STM.

If you really want to go and learn the culture, experience life in country and show the nationals you care for them, go and learn.  Sit still and don’t have an agenda of things “to-do”. You cannot run activities (that may come outside the cultural context) and expect to learn the culture and language at the same time. They are often dichotomous – choose either a work trip with little cultural exposure or a immersion trip with little doing. You can’t learn when you are busy doing.

The more people that go, the less each will learn. If you have a small group they will be forced to stay in the culture, learn language and participate with locals. The more people come the more the conversation will sink to the lowest denominator. I would ask the the host missionary how many they would like to have, and let them determine your group size. If you have more applicants than spots, it allows you to take the most dedicated individuals who will seek the most out of the trip and go the most. Short Term Missions is not an experience that automatically makes those going pray more, more concerned for the lost or poor, give more, or naturally develop a heart for missions and a calling to go. Those who put the most into their preparation and into the experience will receive the most benefit to themselves.

Know the possible complications that can arise with immaturity issues in middle schoolers. Also if parents go, the children may experience the trip through their lens and protection. Determine if this is what you want or not.

Here are a few websites I see as very helpful:

• http://www.stmstandards.org/standards/
• Code of Best Practices for STM

Question now, what is the most stated purpose of STM?  I usually hear that the experience is good for the people going, that their vision expands and they grow more with God.  I will confess that I am a skeptic, anecdotally I see many people who come back from STM just like those who go to a summer camp: “camp high.”  They turn spiritual for the first week they are back then return to their normal self.  I would love to see some research.  How many long term missionaries have been overseas on a short-term trip (especially before sensing God to call them as career missionaries)?  What percentage of the people who return from STMs do we see tangible evidences of growth: increased passion, increased giving, remain following Jesus (many more as well)?

Comments?

Book Review: From Seed to Fruit (edited by J. Dudley Woodberry)

It is not often to come across a book that has breadth and depth at the same time, especially concerning missiological topics on Muslim peoples.  From Seed to Fruit: Global Trends, Fruitful Practices and Emerging Issues among Muslims is such a book.  This book has it all to me.  Various authors sharing their concentrations.  Different missionaries sharing their context-specific experiences.  Topics covering both macro and micro ideas for the missiologist (theorist) and missionary (practitioner).  It seemed like a great overview of the missiology I have been learning for the past five years.  The book is the result of research taken from field practitioner reports and attempts to analyze what practices lead most effectively to people movements.

Buy the Book HERE

Here are other reviews of the book:

• St. Francis Magazine (Callum Johnson)
• IJFM (Robert Stone)
• Amazon Review

Here is the Table of Contents to get a snap shot of the book:z

Part I Global Trends: Soils, Seed, Sowers and First Fruits
Chapter 1 Look at the Fields: Survey of the Task – Patrick Johnstone
Chapter 2 Unplowed Ground: Engaging the Unreached – Jeff Liverman
Chapter 3 The Imperishable Seed: Toward Effective Sharing of Scripture – Andrea & Leith Gray
Chapter 4 Laborers from the Global South: Partnering in the Task – Greg Livingstone
Chapter 5 Sister Laborers: Partnering in the Task – Sue Eenigenburg
Chapter 6 First Fruits and Future Harvests – Jim Haney

Part II Fruitful Practices: Sowing, Watering, Gathering, Reproducing
Chapter 7 Eyes to See, Ears to Hear – Don Allen
Chapter 8 The Sowing of Witnessing – David Greenlee & Pam Wilson
Chapter 9 The Watering of Discipling – John Becker & Erik Simuyu
Chapter 10 The Gathering of Reproducing Fellowships – Eric and Laura Adams
Chapter 11 The Equipping of Leaders – Debora Viveza & Dwight Samuel
Chapter 12 The Gathering of Teams of Laborers – Andrew & Rachel Chard

Part III Emerging Issues in Fruitful Practices: Birds, Rocks, Sun, and Soil
Chapter 13 Factors Affecting the Identity that Jesus Followers Choose – John & Anna Travis with Phil Parshall
Chapter 14 Factors which Facilitate Fellowships becoming Movements – David Garrison & Seneca Garrison
Chapter 15 Bible Storying and Oral Use of the Scriptures – Jack Colgate
Chapter 16 Expatriates Empowering Indigenous Leaders – Abraham Durán, Michael Schuler, & Moses Sy
Chapter 17 Are We Nourishing or Choking Young Plants with Funds? – J. R. Meydan a& Ramsay Harris
Chapter 18 Relevant Responses to Folk Muslims – Caleb Chul-Soo Kim & John and Anna Travis
Chapter 19 Pre-Field Preparation to Sow – Don Allen & Abraham Durán

Part IV Emerging Issues in Global Trends: More Birds, Rocks, Sun, and Soil
Chapter 20 Islamism and Receptivity to Jesus – Moussa Bongoyok
Chapter 21 Toward Respectful Witness – Joseph Cumming
Chapter 22 Peacemaking and Church Formation – David Shenk & Ahmed Haile
Chapter 23 An Integrated Identity in a Globalized World – Patrick Lai & Rick Love
Chapter 24 Recapturing the Role of Suffering – Nik Ripken

Staying Might be More Effective

Have you ever wondered what missions enthusiasts (like yourself) might do if they don’t go overseas to serve?  “Why would they though?” you might ask yourself.  Staying in your domestic context might be more effective for God’s Kingdom.

Here’s a scenario: you are walking down the side of the road in your neighborhood and notice a house down the street is burning down.  What are you going to?  You can put out a little kitchen fire maybe, but isn’t this task too big for just you?  What is the most effective thing to do?  Call for re-enforcements! Why do we think the missions enterprise is any different?  Anyone who stays should be recruiting and challenging others to find their role as well.  Sure you try to tackle the house fire (or bringing the gospel to those who haven’t heard), but with help, the task is much more accomplishable.

What if you have a heart for missions but pursuing a degree that doesn’t line up with formal mission roles?  God can use (and needs!) every role to be sanctified to His plans and His tasks.  We play this game with college students, kind of stump the expert like, you name a job or career that you think can’t be used in missions and we’ll find a way to use it.  Since we are talking about how to be effective while staying, I’ll stick with just domestic roles.  For time sake I’ll name two: law and psychology.  Here we go.  Lawyers could donate their time and expertise to aid missionaries going to the field with many practical things like: assets, wills, advise on international law, and when to contact their embassy.  Psychologist could donate their time at a training center for missionaries, aiding them with their inner struggles and finding resolvement before going overseas.  Any issues a person has with them cross cultures get aggravated and exaggerated.

Let me end with this statement:  you can’t go unless you willing to stay, but you can’t stay unless you are willing to go.  This takes your personal agenda out of the equation and forces you to lay your plans at the foot of the cross.  We are all called to the Great Commission, the question is not if you will join, but where.

Why are local households so effective for God’s work in the book of Acts?

Local households are very effective means of communicating the truth of the Gospel and expanding the Kingdom of God in the book of Acts.  Multiple reasons exist, but I should give a few: 1) small group discipling made modeling the gospel real 2) leaders were chosen by communities and those leaders applied skills immediately 3) households were natural networks of families connected in communities and neighborhoods 4) households were inconspicuous to outside persecution, they did not have “church” or “Christian” written all over them. 5) Households were geographically dispersed, widening the physical capacity for Gospel influence (as opposed to a centralized church with influence in only immediate surroundings.

What parallels do you see in mission work today to the shift from Jewish to Greek culture?

There are many parallels in mission work today we get from the lateral shift of Jewish to Greek culture.  In many ways this one shift that was seen in the Bible validates and gives Biblical backing for the basic mission practice of contextualization.  The principle is that no one culture is better than another, and no one culture has the complete picture of scripture, different truths are more apparent in different cultures.  Another parallel is that in both cultures of “Christianity” (a looser term of the cultural religion), there are honoring and devout “God-fears” and strict law abiding nominal believers.  Similarly, it is true that people on both sides of the coin struggle with the interpretations and applications of the same biblical truths on either side.  Acts 15 shares the struggle they had with this issue; today we see it in the syncretism/insider movement debate.

Explain the lasting influence of Greek and Roman roots in Western civilization and Western Christianity.

The Greek roots of the Jewish people (notably the Septuagint) dominated Western Christianity and Western Civilization until the Protestant Reformation.  The original Hebrew text and culture were not valued or seen as relevant until Luther’s days.  In a reversal of sorts, modern Protestants do not affirm the prominence of the Septuagint in the early days of the church.  Alexander the Great created tremendous change in this time period that we can trace much of Western Civilization back to this era.  The prominence of philosophers Aristotle, Plato, Socrates grew out of Alexander the Great’s connection to these individuals.  Again, much of the way of life in Western Civilization derives its roots from these scholars and philosophers.

What is the meaning of the ancient role of the Septuagint (LXX) for modern missionary strategy?

The meaning of the ancient role of the Septuagint for modern missionary strategy concerns the language and culture of the people being served.  The Septuagint was seen as attractive to the Romans because they could go and hear Greek being read and learn the language.  It was a felt need that the early church and synagogues used.  Usually the Jews made these “God fearers” sit in the back because of their ethnocentricity (a practice we should not repeat), but nevertheless Roman citizens were exposed to the truth.  I think there is a missiological correlation with using the Bible to teach English.  This strategy has been widely used in China and other such closed countries where “English teachers” will come into to Universities, schools, or just neighborhoods and teach English using the truth.  While I have not participated myself, from reports it seems like this strategy helps open people to receive the truth and use one on one mentor relationships to challenge individuals/families to faith and further disciple them (in both English and God’s word).

Missiological Implications of the Intertestamental Period

This summer my wife and I are going through Foundations of the World Christian Movement, a 3 hour all of history overview course.  It follows similar path of the program we run called INSIGHT.  It is a lot of Dr. Winter’s missiology.

This week we’ve been reading about the time before Jesus comes to the scene called the Intertestamental Period.  Here are two major missiological implications of this time period:

• Diaspora: The diaspora set up the possibility for God’s chosen people to be spread out all around the region.  It is said that God’s word was taught in all the cities.  Had the Northern and Southern Kingdoms not been taken over, the people of God would have been geographically isolated.   These spread out believers is who the 1st century missionaries like Paul and Peter went to first.  In these synagogues across the region people’s hearts were more ready to receive the truth that the Messiah had arrived.  The diaspora (along with the Septuagint {in detail below} ) made it possible for Gentiles to engage with truth before the ultimate truth (Jesus) came.  These “God fears” were the start of the Gentile church – greatly aided by the diaspora Jews.  A current missiological strategy could gather the local Christ-followers and make them catalysts for the spread of the gospel.  Most missions tend to neglect the local Christians and toss their nominal faith aside, rather than re-light a fire within them.  Another strategy could be proposed out of this example is saturation.  This is where we infuse an area with a large number of Christ followers and hope they share their faith with their neighbors.
• Septuagint: The Septuagint is the Greek version of the Old Testament, put together during this time of Hellenization (see Alexander the Great).  The meaning of the ancient role of the Septuagint for modern missionary strategy concerns the language and culture of the people being served. The Septuagint was seen as attractive to the Romans because they could go and hear Greek being read and learn the language. It was a felt need that the early church and synagogues used. Usually the Jews made these “God fearers” sit in the back because of their ethnocentrism (a practice we should not repeat), but nevertheless Roman citizens were exposed to the truth. I think there is a missiological correlation with using the Bible to teach English.  This strategy has been widely used in China and other such closed countries where “English teachers” will come into to Universities, schools, or just neighborhoods and teach English using the truth. While I have not participated myself, from reports it seems like this strategy helps open people to receive the truth and use one on one mentor relationships to challenge individuals/families to faith and further disciple them (in both English and God’s word).