The Will of God

“You might say `I’m not called to plant churches.’ Yes, you are! It’s always the will of God to have a people who worship His Son in the nations. You’ll never have to worry about making God mad if you try to plant a church. It seems crazy to me that people are under the delusion they need a special calling to save souls, to disciple them, and to get them together to love Jesus” ("Apostolic Passion", Floyd McClung. "Perspectives on the world Christian Movement", 1999, William Carey Library, Pasadena California . Pg 186c)
 

It is sad to see such a truncated, warped ecclesiology hold back what could be a wave of highly committed, gifted, apostolic leaders.  We should be grieved at the wounds that are inflicted by such a view of the Church that is so biblically, theologically, historically and missiologically deficient.

If what Paul understood to be needed in his outreach to the Greeks had been easily explainable to the Jewish followers of Christ back in Jerusalem, we would not have needed the detailed information in the New Testament. Rarely, down through history, has the exact nature of the need on the field been readily explainable to the people within the sending cultural situation.”  - Missiologist Ralph Winter

Against the backdrop of the 1st century and the common understanding of Jewish proselytizing bands, there was little reason to write about it. Paul and the 40+ people who made up his missionary operation simply lived it out. What they demonstrated by their actions was a ministry dynamic that was a common, well-understood practice of the day.

It’s not the structure that takes new ground nor is it on the cutting edge of the new, particularly when faced with cultural, social, linguistic, or economic barriers. Rather the modality preserves what is and provides a place where all can belong. When healthy, it presses for deeper commitment and vibrant spirituality. It is particularly effective in its own immediate cultural milieu and has a transformation kingdom impact. But when people get really committed, watch out!

When sodalities are healthy, they do two major things for modalities. First, sodalities renew modalities. Secondly, sodalities multiply modalities.   Most of the evidence throughout the history of the Christian movement points to the fact that more modalities have emerged as the result of sodality activity than as a result of the activity of other modalities.


 God will make a way

Issue of Gospel and Culture

James did not ONLY reframe the conflict, he also proposed a solution that addressed both groups. He quoted Scripture confirming apostolic experience among the Gentiles and concluded, “We do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles” (Acts15:19). James the peacemaker focused on truth. He concluded that the gospel is free from Jewish law. It is about Jesus plus nothing. Salvation is by grace alone!

For everyone

We should seek to have all we do become loving service to Him. Paul had this sense of worship in mind when he wrote at the beginning of the application section of the book of Romans, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—which is your spiritual worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (12:1-2).

Universalism in the seventeenth century should be seen partly as reaction to the particularism of high Calvinism, which with its doctrine of limited atonement excluded any kind of divine will for the salvation of all people. Revulsion against the apparent cruelty of the God who created the reprobate for no other purpose than to damn them, led firstly to Arminianism, in which the Gospel genuinely offers salvation to all people; a further step leads to the Quaker doctrine that saving grace is given to all people, but may be resisted; the extreme position is that all people will actually be saved. A further factor promoting universalism was the Platonic tradition, revived during the Renaissance, along with an interest in Origen and the early Greek Fathers, who could plausibly be thought to represent a form of Christian doctrine earlier, and therefore purer, than Augustine, to whom the Calvinists appealed.

With regard to salvation, God has always had only two categories of people those who are His people and are saved and those who are not His people and are lost.

If an isolated person responded to God’s revelation in his heart and in nature, how would he ever hear about Christ?

1. God desires that all men be saved (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).
2. God seeks for those who acknowledge their spiritual need and seek Him (Ezekiel 34:11; Luke 19:10).
3. When people are seeking the true God two things happen:
a. God brings the message to them by prompting a Christian to go to them (Acts 16:6-10).
b. The person hearing the message will respond in faith (Acts 16:13,14).
 
An illustration: Suppose a person was lost underground in a dark cave and suddenly found a little lighted arrow pointed a certain direction. Whose fault would it be if he failed to follow it? Obviously his own. God’s “little arrows” are His revelation in man’s heart and nature. We can trust the good and loving Savior to bring the message of salvation to the one who seeks Him.

 Everyone who is saved may not have every i dotted or every t crossed on a fancy doctrinal statement, but they WILL have right beliefs about God, including comprehension of and humble acknowledgement to the belief that Jesus is the ONLY way to God, and that no-one comes to the Father but by him. (John 14:6)

 

 

Baptism

To be baptized upon the name is to be baptized on the confession of that which the name implies: on the ground of the name; so that the name Jesus, as the contents of the faith and confession, is the ground upon which the becoming baptized rests. In the name (ἐν) has reference to the sphere within which alone true baptism is accomplished. The name is not the mere designation, a sense which would give to the baptismal formula merely the force of a charm. The name, as in the Lord's Prayer ("Hallowed be thy name"), is the expression of the sum total of the divine Being: not His designation as God or Lord, but the formula in which all His attributes and characteristics are summed up. It is equivalent to His person. The finite mind can deal with Him only through His name; but His name is of no avail detached from His nature. When one is baptized into the name of the Trinity, he professes to acknowledge and appropriate God in all that He is and in all that He does for us. He recognizes and depends upon God the Father as his Creator and Preserver; receives Jesus Christ as his only Mediator and Redeemer, and his pattern of life; and confesses the Holy Spirit as his Sanctifier and Comforter.

He now solemnly commissioned the apostles and his ministers to go forth among all nations. The salvation they were to preach, is a common salvation; whoever will, let him come, and take the benefit; all are welcome to Christ Jesus. Christianity is the religion of a sinner who applies for salvation from deserved wrath and from sin; he applies to the mercy of the Father, through the atonement of the incarnate Son, and by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, and gives up himself to be the worshipper and servant of God, as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three Persons but one God, in all his ordinances and commandments. Baptism is an outward sign of that inward washing, or sanctification of the Spirit, which seals and evidences the believer's justification. Let us examine ourselves, whether we really possess the inward and spiritual grace of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, by which those who were the children of wrath become the children of God. Believers shall have the constant presence of their Lord always; all days, every day. There is no day, no hour of the day, in which our Lord Jesus is not present with his churches and with his ministers; if there were, in that day, that hour, they would be undone. The God of Israel, the Saviour, is sometimes a God that hideth himself, but never a God at a distance. To these precious words Amen is added. Even so, Lord Jesus, be thou with us and all thy people; cause thy face to shine upon us, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.                    - Matthew Henry
 

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Greatest Sinners

"Let the greatest sinners put their trust in My mercy. They particularly have the right to trust the abyss of My mercy. My daughter, write of My mercy to the afflicted souls. The souls that resort to My mercy delight me. To these souls I grant them graces above and beyond what they request. I cannot punish the greatest sinner if he pleads for My compassion, since I justify him within My unfathomable and impenetrable mercy. Write: Before coming as a fair judge I open wide the door of My mercy. Whoever does not pass through the door of My mercy, he must pass the door of My justice... "  -- Faustina Kowalska

Among the great changes taking place in the contemporary world, migration has produced a new phenomenon: non-Christians are becoming very numerous in traditionally Christian countries, creating fresh opportunities for contacts and cultural exchanges, and calling the Church to hospitality, dialogue, assistance and, in a word, fraternity. Among migrants, refugees occupy a very special place and deserve the greatest attention. Today there are many millions of refugees in the world and their number is constantly increasing. They have fled from conditions of political oppression and inhuman misery, from famine and drought of catastrophic proportions. The Church must make them part of her overall apostolic concern.

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The local church - mission and culture

What is saturation church planting?

Saturation means to fill up one substance with the greatest possible amount of another substance; to soak thoroughly.
Church means the called out ones. Those called out of sin and the world. Those who have been called out of the kingdom of darkness and called into the Kingdom of God. Church also means the called together ones. Wherever two or more of the called believers are together in Jesus' name, they constitute a local church.
Planting means placing a seed or seedling into the ground that it may grow into maturity.

The redemptive dimension of the Christian message and its role in inculturation implies all that the transformation of the cross means. Incarnation always points to the Cross and the Resurrection. Redemption is won through the power of the Father raising up Jesus on the third day. This central Christological dimension is essential to the understanding of inculturation as the transformation of a people and its culture. The people and their culture is called to die and rise with Christ in order to become a Christian people: a Christian culture.

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God pursues His orginal promise

Romans 8:24- 25 says that we are saved by hope and wait for the unseen with patience. We have a promise from God. Although we have not yet seen a perfect man or a perfect Earth, we wait with perseverance, doing all that we have been taught by the Holy Spirit, because of hope. It is important that we spend time in worship and edification so that God can take us to a place of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us into victorious intercession. It is in these places in the Spirit that hindrances are broken, revelation given, and purpose discovered.

Isaiah 56:6-7  New Living Translation (NLT)

⁶ “I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord,
who serve him and love his name,
who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest,
and who hold fast to my covenant.
⁷ I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem
and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer.
I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices,
because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.

 

This passage is often used to encourage prayer on behalf of the nations.  This is fine, but it may miss the point of Christ's passionate teaching and temple-cleansing: the hope that the nations themselves will pray in full-hearted worship.

 

The Lord wants us to see His glory! He has created an incredibly beautiful and marvelously expanding universe to proclaim His glory and omnipotence! He has given us Jesus Christ to reveal Himself to us. He does not withdraw Himself, cover Himself and hide Himself. He is bringing a revelation of His glory throughout all His creation, and He will be seen in all the earth. This is the beauty of the gospel message!

 

Luke 11
1 And it came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.2 And He said unto them, When ye pray, say Our Father Which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.3 Give us day by day our daily bread.4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

 

Christ the Lord, High Priest taken from among men, made the new people "a kingdom and priests to God the Father". The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated as a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, in order that through all those works which are those of  Christians they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the power of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. Therefore all the disciples of Christ, persevering in prayer and praising God, should present themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.  Everywhere on earth they must bear witness to Christ and give an answer to those who seek an account of that hope of eternal life which is in them.

 

 

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Themes in the Old and New Testament

1.  Be fruitful and multiply - In Genesis 1:28 God blesses Adam and Eve and instructs them to be fruitful and multiply.

2.  The Seed - In Genesis 22:18, God promises Abraham that through his seed, all the nations of the world will be blessed and vows to work through his descendants, Isaac and Jacob. 

3.  God's presence with His covenant people - 1. "I will be your God" Gen. 17:7-8
                                                                                2. "You will be My people" Exodus 4:22; 6:7
                                                                                3. "I will dwell among you" Exodus 29:43-46

4.  Nationhood, Land, Heir - God charges Abram in Genesis 12:1 to leave his country and relatives and go to a new land. God promises His land (Lev. 25:23) to the Jewish people 69 different times in the book of Deuteronomy alone. Shortly after the Israelites leave Egypt, God summons Moses to Mount Sinai and there promises him that Israel will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:3-6).

(Ezek. 37:12-14) "Therefore prophesy, and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD God, "Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. {13} "Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. {14} "And I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it," declares the LORD.'"

5.  A blessing to the world - In Genesis 12:3b, God promises Abraham that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. In Isaiah 49:5-6, God states that Israel will be a light to the nations and that God's salvation will reach the ends of the earth, not just Israel. Christ charges His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations (ethnos) (Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:8).

6.  The Law - Jesus summarizes the law: "Love God and love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt. 19:19)

7.  The eternal dynasty and the kingdom - In the person of David, it becomes clear who "the seed" will be. He will be a king, a descendant of David, and an heir of the promised eternal throne (II Samuel 7:11-16).

8.  The day of the Lord - Zephaniah and Zechariah indicate that the day of the Lord will involve a sacrifice which will consecrate the people and removal sin (Zeph. 1:7; Zech. 13:1). Peter explains the disciples speaking in tongues as a fulfillment of a prophecy in Joel 2:28-32 regarding the last days.  Jesus and his apostles warn that it will come in the future "like a thief in the night." (Mt. 24; II Peter 3:10) The New Testament gives a rough blueprint of what must occur before Jesus returns and the day of the Lord is finished (Mt. 24, Mk. 13, Lk. 21, I Thess. 2). 

9.  The New Covenant - The covenant that God made with Israel through the law of Moses was unsuccessful, failing to produce a covenant people who would faithfully act as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Ex. 19:6) to represent God. In Isaiah 49:8, God promises that he will use his "servant of the LORD" to "make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land." In Isaiah 55, God specifies that this covenant will be his "faithful love promised to David." In Jeremiah 31:31-34 God promises to make a new covenant, not like the old one that could be broken.

http://www.xenos.org/ministries/crossroads/OnlineJournal/issue1/otframes.htm

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A God of global purpose

First things first - the covenant with Abraham discloses God's purpose for every person -

Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:14)

Secondly, God did not create robots. That would have brought very little glory to God. Because His creatures were not robots, there was the risk of a negative choice. But God, by His sovereign will, purpose, and foreknowledge, determined to allow this, indeed, He ordained it by His own eternal wisdom. 

There are inescapable cravings in the core of every human heart that cannot be ignored, denied or pacified: they must be satisfied. When we wake up in the morning, whether we realize it or not, we are being driven by innate desires that demand answers and refuse delay. These longings are inherent to us as human beings. We have longings, yearnings, placed deep within us by God, for the purpose of wooing us into His grace and presence. As we understand their origin in God, we begin to cooperate with these longings in accordance with His will. We find the answer to our longings in the One who put them in us. His master plan extends even into the realm of our emotions.

In order to please God, we need to sacrifice our own lives to God just as Christ did. And how do we live our lives as a sacrifice like Christ did for us? We need to sacrifice our own will to the will of God. We need to stop thinking of what is best for us and think instead of fulfilling God’s larger purpose with the Earth. Jesus’ faithful life of service and willing crucifixion are the perfect living examples of the faith God is calling us to have. It isn’t until we give ourselves fully to God, rather than our own selfish desires, that we will begin to understand what it is God wants from us.

A "World Christian"

Are you hungering for greater depth and rootedness in your spiritual life?
Are you seeking to discern God’s call in your life?
Do you desire to serve in and through the local church in the city?
Are you carving space in your life to slow down and prayerfully listen?
Do you want to know and be known in the context of an intimate community?
Do you long to live more simply in community with others?
Do desire to imaginatively engage friends and neighbors with the love of Christ?

"For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time--to show us his grace through Christ Jesus." - 2 Timothy 1:9

 

These questions and their answers has happened to everyone who has been “transferred from the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son” (Colossians 1). We’ve been summoned to be part of a narrative far greater than we could have imagined – a larger purpose, a longer story, a higher calling, marching toward a grander horizon. We’ve stepped into something rooted in an ancient history, moving toward a nearly incomprehensible culmination, contending with a more formidable enemy, and fulfilling the most incredible task humankind could ever assume, one that invites all the earth into eternal transformations. Our story is about a Lion who reigns supreme, portrayed as a Lamb at the center of the throne of the universe (Revelation 5).

This takes us to what is called, Whole-life Embracing,

1. It embraces questions, doubt and struggle as part of the journey of a disciple.

2. There’s a clear appreciation of the role of the church ‘scattered’ as well as ‘gathered’.

3. There’s a recognition that mission is missio dei – God’s intention to renew all things

     under the Lordship of Christ.

4. The focus is on transformation rather than the acquisition of knowledge or activism.

5. Being and Doing are in healthy tension.

6. Growth of the whole person is encouraged – body, mind, spirit, soul.

7. It connects to all contexts of life – home, work, leisure, art, sport etc.

8. It connects to contemporary culture and the issues of today’s society and world.

9. It promotes community rather than individualism

It is about exploring how to live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. Learning about God's grace, which is the character of the divine-human relationship, and learning the basic practices God has given to draw us to Christ and keep us with Him. These basic practices of Christian faith and life are known in the Wesleyan tradition as the means of grace. If love describes the what of our relationship with Christ, the means of grace are how we live with Christ in the world and grow in loving and knowing God, our neighbors, and ourselves.

In Missions it means being involved in - sending, going, praying, giving, welcoming, mobilizing and networking.

In our personal lives we need to ask the question - what’s the secret to living a spiritual life? So much is happening in our world that we often get distracted and listen to voices other than the voice of God.

“If we want to be disciples of Jesus, we have to live a disciplined life.” - Henri Nouwen

In the spiritual life, discipline requires conscious effort to keep every area in life from being filled up. It means creating space in our life for God to act and speak. Nouwen identifies 3 essential disciplines for maintaining a life of discipleship: solitude, community, and ministry.

I like the purpose statement of Belfast Bible College -

To be a welcoming community in which God works to form His people by integrating spiritual, academic and practical education rooted in His Word, for growth in Christian life and service, locally and around the World.

A World Christian perspective focuses the Christian life on the world-wide mission of Jesus. Whether in our community or elsewhere, the priority is reaching the unreached, and adopting a "wartime" lifestyle to evangelize, plant churches and support those who are doing these things. Rather than find new ways to entertain ourselves, more meetings to attend, more trips to take and more things to buy, a World Christian perspective simplifies and focuses the Christian life away from being a consumer in a Christian culture to being a participant in God's global project. Whether through informed praying, sacrificial giving, personal evangelism, spreading the vision, church planting or involvement on the field in a supportive role, the World Christian's neighborhood is not just the local church, but the Christian movement throughout the earth, and his or her life reflects a measurement by a radically different standard.

What is the meaning of life? How can purpose, fulfillment, and satisfaction in life be found? How can something of lasting significance be achieved? So many people have never stopped to consider these important questions. They look back years later and wonder why their relationships have fallen apart and why they feel so empty, even though they may have achieved what they set out to accomplish. An athlete who had reached the pinnacle of his sport was once asked what he wished someone would have told him when he first started playing his sport. He replied, “I wish that someone would have told me that when you reach the top, there's nothing there.” Many goals reveal their emptiness only after years have been wasted in their pursuit.

So we live in the homes with a family, work in local businesses, and share in the lives and experiences of people in their neighborhood. The “classroom” is our neighborhood, the church, home and work place. We meet in homes for meals, worship, discussion and community building.

How about this short-term project that I came across in South Asia, in  Bhogpur Children’s Home, which provides education and a safe living environment for underserved children. Two-week teams are needed to help lead and facilitate youth retreats, VBS, and English camp. Construction experience needed for work projects to improve campus facilities.

How about this welcoming paragraph I found in a church in my neighbourhood -

When arriving at Graceway you’ll quickly find a warm, friendly group of people committed to making church exciting, life-changing, and enjoyable. When you enter the main foyer you will see a Welcome Center and friendly faces to answer your questions.
Clothing varies from casual to dressed up to extremely relaxed. You may notice people wearing the native dress of their birth country. Bottom line – you will feel comfortable. We encourage you to come as you are.
You can choose from one of three Sunday worship services, each featuring a different style of worship and praise. They are best described as Reverence (8am), Mosaic (9:30am), and Progressive (11am). The 11am service is translated into Spanish. Services are approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes in length. After the service we invite you to join one of our pastors in the International Visitor’s Suite. We look forward to meeting you personally and answering any questions you might have.

If you belong to a good church, hopefully your pastor or deacons can help your to prepare to be a missionary. I would also talk to missionaries on the field to get advice, wisdom and counsel from them. I would start studying the field where you plan on serving. You should pray that your vision to serve God as a full time missionary is genuine. Many times God will not call someone to be a missionary unless someone is faithful in their morning devotions, prayer life and witnessing or preaching where they live right now. Also, many people feel called to be a missionary right after they are saved, when in fact God just wants them them to witness locally. At this time, right after someone is saved, it is good to get active locally and go on some short term missions trips.

Your stated aim and objectives of partnerships could look like this:

1. Building capacity for interpersonal relationship and community building.
2. Challenging the theological and missiological status quo.
3. Motivating mission action, and
4. Empowering young people to return to their local congregation and continue their journey as mission animators and partners.

 

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Planting Churches

According to the Lausanne 1982 Convention, for evangelistic purposes, a people group is "the largest group within which the Gospel can spread as a church planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance". A people group segment is a subset of a people group, where understanding may not much of a problem, but acceptance is.

In round figures, 3,000 non-Christian peoples still need cross- cultural pioneer church planting ministry. Many already have this, but the breakthroughs for which we pray are yet to come among the Fula of West Africa, the Turks of the Middle East, the Hindi speakers of North India, and others. There are already many working among these peoples, however, with increasing cooperation of effort.

Consider when a Western unbeliever comes to faith, he or she will already be aware of some biblical stories and teaching.  It is part of our cultural background, whether or not we were “raised Christian.” As a result, expatriate workers in developing countries can sometimes take for granted a minimum biblical understanding. That, of course, is a mistake. We mustn’t assume anything. For example, according to Islam Abraham’s most important son was Ishmael; people don’t sin, they just make mistakes; there was no “fall,” but rather man has always been immoral (no pre-fall sinless Adam and Eve); blood sacrifice is only a ritual with no atonement meaning; Jesus did not die on the cross; and no man—even al-Masih (Christ)—can pay for the sins of another. The point is, every important truth must be explicitly taught from the Word.

But neither do we want to minimize the cultural and linguistic differences that often exist between the sent- out-ones and the unbelieving context where pioneer church planting takes place. I like to say that any assembly that is planted in a Muslim background context will probably make me a little uncomfortable, even if I had a hand in helping establish that church. If it makes someone uncomfortable who knows the language fairly well and understands the culture well enough to be considered an acceptable outsider, how much more uncomfortable might it make the visiting elders, pastors or guest from the West. What I mean is that pioneer church planters cannot make the comfort of short term visitors or sending churches their motivating goal as they undertake to practice biblical contextualization in showing and telling the gospel. They need the accountability of dialogue with trusted outsiders for sure. But it needs to be a dialogue, I think, and contextualization, even good contextualization often makes outsiders clearly uncomfortable, as perhaps it should.

There is a book authored by Roland Muller which I have not read yet, but want to. It is titled, The Message, the Messenger and the Community.   It begins by looking at what it takes to be accepted as a 'messenger' with something of value to say. He then moves on to look at the gospel message that we share, and ends up examining the community of believers that we want to gather. This book includes a frank look at shame- based cultures, and also the importance of building a sense of community into a new group of believers.

I am always challenged how I can learn these truths in my own home before I head out to the unknown. Especially now that I am working with SAT-7 in Canada.  One idea I saw today was to take the extra room in my home and open it up to a refugee. 

I also come across this blog - Church Planting Movements – Ten Common Elements - it is rarely simply stated and yet incredibly powerful.

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Incarnation: Model of missionary humility

When you talk to several people who use the word incarnational, you begin to realize the usage is anything but uniform. Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, observes,

“Over the last few years I’ve seen how so many different people are the using the word ‘incarnational’ to convey very definite and different theological agendas.”

Keller surveyed folks from a high-church setting, who mean “sacramental ministry,” to others like Hirsch, who contrasts incarnational with attractional ministries, where instead of bringing friends to hear the sermon, you go into the community to love people and share the gospel.

Keller explains that in the past he has used the term to mean that our “deeds and lives should embody what we believe” or “a synonym for expressing the Christian life to a new situation.”

"So I’d say that a young Broadway actor who wants to show his peers the beauty of the gospel will have think out how to “incarnate” the gospel in his life. It won’t be exactly the same way that an 80-year-old grandmother living on a farm with her extended family does it."

  

It’s interesting to note that Keller uses incarnational in a non-technical way, unrelated to Christ’s incarnation. This may seem like a small distinction, but it's important to note.

How can missionaries help churches grow? This is a question asked by many missionaries and is part of the larger question of their identity and role as cross-cultural workers. Can a foreigner struggling to become fluent in the local language, still learning the rudiments and some of the fine points of the culture and its worldview, really make a helpful contribution to the work and mission of the local church to its society? These questions are asked not only by first-termers, but by missionaries throughout their cross-cultural mission career.
“Building a bridge has nothing to do with compromising your beliefs. It’s all about your behavior and your attitude toward others. It’s about genuine love for people. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Before people ask, “Is Jesus credible?”, they want to know if you are credible. Before people trust the Jesus you present, they must trust you. You cannot win your enemies to Christ, only your friends. It is part of what Paul calls ‘the ministry of reconciliation.’ It is Christ-like to treat people with dignity and listen to them with respect.”  -  Rick Warren

If we are going to deal with people as people in a culture that is vastly different from our own, we have to come to fundamental realization that people are different from society to society, and to do this we are going to have to make the major move to change.

If we are going to be persons among people, our privacy, our established patterns of what is convenient and comfortable are going to have to be drastically modified. Our sense of belonging to ourselves will have to be filed away and we will have to develop a sense of belonging to others, which characterizes so many societies in the world.

This sort of experience involved a tremendous emotional drain. It is an extremely difficult attitude to take and position to follow. It means 'becoming all things to all men so that by all means we might win some' in the deepest sense, and it means a type of cultural suicide which Paul characterizes as being 'crucified with Christ.'" -- William Smalley

Most people today view cross-cultural ministry as something performed in a foreign nation. But North America today has become very secular, developing a culture of its own in an ideological sense--one very different from the culture of the church. So today, we need to view our North American culture as a place of opportunity for cross-cultural ministry! We do this by investigating the world views of our culture. According to David Hesselgrave in his book Communicating Christ Cross- Culturally, "understanding another person's world view (or belief system) is the starting point for communicating the gospel." (1) By showing an understanding of and interest in another person's beliefs, we gain credibility and integrity before that person--and probably even a hearing for the Christian message.

The Gospel authors said, “Believe,” but they also report Jesus as saying, “Love.” The core of Christian identity lays on us an obligation to love our neighbor—including our non-Christian neighbor—that must be weighed versus the obligation to assert the truth of our creed. What, then, if our insistence on preaching our beliefs is an offence to the integrity and identity of our non-Christian neighbor? Christ’s commandment to love that neighbor may imply that we curtail our insistence on our own rightness. Put simply, to tell the Hindu, for example, that he cannot find salvation or fulfillment in his own tradition and community is morally a very un-Christian thing to do. - Hesselgrave

By helping leaders define and deepen their own identity and authenticity that comes from the journey within, potentially that leader will have the integrity to remain attuned to that identity thereby becoming a more effective leader

"Mission of the church as a whole loses force and integrity, too often becoming bad news, rather than good news both for those who encounter it and for those involved in its proclamation” - Nancy Bedford

Evangelicals and evangelism have always been bracketed. So much so that the adjectives 'evangelical' and 'evangelistic' have often been identified in the popular mind. It is not at all surprising, therefore, that whenever evangelicals have become concerned about social issues, some eyebrows have been raised, and questions have been asked whether the cause of the gospel is not about to be betrayed.

"In order to achieve meaning and relevance in the communication of the message, contextualization

takes into account linguistic and cultural forms of the target group. It refers to “any action that puts the gospel into a more understandable, culturally relevant form by including elements from

a target culture’s customs, language, and traditions.”  David Racey

Related articles

• The Greatest Missionary

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• Preach the Gospel, and Since It's Necessary, Use Words

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• Missional in Context

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• The Lift Project: Shaping Culture: The Incarnation Model

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Anchor the race

Jesus alone stimulates and evokes our faith. Jesus is the source or origin of our faith. He is the originator of Christian faith within the believer. He initiated and sustained it. He is the completer or finisher who has gone before us and has completed the course. He is waiting for us in heaven (John 14:1-3; 1 John 3:1-3). "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 6:19-20).


The optimistic belief in the possibility of actually finishing the task is diminished by the way in which we define the task in terms of reaching lost people everywhere. In contrast to this, when the task is conceived in terms of penetrating peoples it opens the door to a host of specific definitions that can measure in terms of those definitions the progress of the task. Thus changing missiological reality, which now becomes measurable through the “reaching” of people groups, fuels the hope of closure, completing this aspect of the task of the Great Commission and fulfilling the condition of Matthew 24:14 so that the end of this age can come.


This reminds of St. Joseph only because Tyndale University College & Seminary purchased the convent of the Sister of St. Joseph and I learned a few things.


"St. Joseph was an ordinary sort of man on whom God relied to do great things. He did exactly what the Lord wanted him to do, in each and every event that went to make up his life."


One has to feel sorry for individuals like George Whitfield who lost touch with the extraordinary.

"As for the extraordinary operations of the Holy Ghost, such as working of miracles, or speaking with divers kinds of tongues, they are long since ceased."

William Carey reminded his readers of the ultimate significance of missionary work:
“What a heaven will it be to see the many myriads of poor heathens, of Britons amongst the rest, who by their labours have been brought to the knowledge of God. Surely a crown of rejoicing like this is worth aspiring to. Surely it is worth while to lay ourselves out with all our might, in promoting the cause, and kingdom of Christ.”

To the average Christian there is no distinction between evangelism and evangelization. But to the World Christian Movement there is a distinction. Essentially, that distinction is that evangelism involves the saving of souls, while evangelization means the saving of whole nations or "people groups spiritually and temporally through political and social action.

A major obstacle to understanding the true motives and goals of the World Christian Movement is the inability to discern this distinction. That such a distinction exists is openly acknowledged by the Lausanne Committee on World Evangelization, from which the World Christian Movement has sprung. In an interview prior to the first International Congress on World Evangelization, Bishop A. Jack Dam of the Anglican Church in Sydney, Australia, who served as Executive Chairman of ICOWE, stated:


"Lausanne is a Congress on evangelization, not a Congress on evangelism. [The World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin, held in 1966] was the first of many congresses on evangelism. But I think now the present thought in the minds of many leaders around the world is that we need not only to think of evangelism, that is, the proclamation of the Gospel, but the whole task given to us by the risen Christ. This, I think more aptly, is called evangelization."

Maybe this is a good time to end this post with the anchor of choice - women. Love this quote from a gathering in Edinborough in 2010 of the world leaders - which had this to particular say about women and missions --


"Since both women and men are made in the image of God, they should both be present, working side by side in mission. Failure to fully integrate women will hinder the capacity of Edinburgh 2010 to assess critically the status of the world, to renew our understanding of God’s purpose for creation in Christ, and to further a renewed vision of spirituality and mission for the 21st century’.

They concluded with a prayer:‘Let us all, women together with men, hold up the highest possible vision for this important historical moment and walk together as we open ourselves to the movement of the Triune God’."

Related articles

• Marks of the Messenger, Chapter Four - Living the Implications of the Gospel

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