The following was adapted from a website from the author Donald Miller. It is thoughtful and challenging. th
Thirteen Paradigm Shifts we encountered doing Christian ministry in a pagan environment…
1. Other People Exist: Simply coming to the understanding that the world does not revolve around "me" but that everybody is having an experience, created by God, loved by God, and that we needed to repent of showing partiality…
2. Nobody will listen to you unless they know you like them: We began to understand that people, subconsciously, merit a religious or philosophical idea not on logical conclusions, but on whether or not the idea creates a "good person"…the definition of a good person being whether or not a person is kind to them, tolerant and understanding, able to listen without arguing and so on.
3. Nobody will listen to God unless they know God loves them: We came to believe there was usually a hidden pain behind hostility, that many people have been hurt by the church, or people or perspectives they believed to represent God. Many times its as simple as an interview they saw on CNN, but an apology and kindness went a long way in helping people understand God was loving.
4. Other people have morality and values: We came to understand that Christians do not own morality, that everybody lives by a moral code, not always informed by an ancient text, and yet it is there. Calling people or even thinking of them as immoral was, then, inappropriate. In fact, we often found that people who did not know Christ lived a morality close to his heart in many areas we had ignored, ie; community, tolerance, social justice, fairness and equality, freedom, beauty and so on and so on.
5. Find common ground: Often the morality of others overlapped Christian morality, and we came to understand that in these cases, we would focus on the overlapping issues. We came to see this as kindness, just as though we were on a date or making friends, we did not focus on what we didn’t have in common, but rather on mutual feelings about life. We would not say or do anything to combat people unless they knew we loved them, and this takes a great deal of time.
6. Define terms in their language: We were careful about Christian sayings and phrases that might be offensive: Crusade, sin, immorality….we came to understand that concepts were more sacred than terms…
7. Telling somebody about the gospel is about them, not us: We were careful not to try to "build our organization" and respected peoples freedom and space. Sharing the gospel became an exercise in friendship, rather than an attempt to grow a machine. Often, people feel used if they feel they are being recruited. The gospel, we learned, is really about them, their feelings about God and truth, about sin, about life
8. Don’t let spreading the gospel feel any different than telling somebody about a love in your life, about your children or a great memory: We realized that in telling somebody about Jesus, we were telling them about somebody we have come to love and need, and about something that had happened to us, an encounter. This keeps us from sounding preachy, and allows us to share part of ourselves in a friendship.
9. Include lost People in Your Community: Our organization was not exclusive. We invited non-believers into the community if they wanted to be invited. We were careful not to not be ourselves with them, but they were certainly invited and enjoyed being a part of the group. We explained terms that we used, what we believed, but other than that, continued as normal.
10. Apologize for what you represent: We discovered that many people have been offended or hurt by what they perceive Christianity to be. We allowed ourselves to stand in the place of "Christianity" and apologize whenever necessary.
11. Be authentic: We discovered the need to be as honest about our lives as possible. We did not feel the need to sale Jesus, as much as share what He has done in our broken lives. We had no problem sharing our doubts and fears about faith, along with our commitment and appreciation for what God had done.
12. Pray for the Salvation of others: We discovered the need to pray for others. This would insure God was working in peoples lives, as we asked Him to. We discovered the work of evangelism is something God lets us watch, but very little of it is what we manipulate. We repented of not believing evangelism was a spiritual exchange between a lost person and God, rather than believing it was a series of ideas we were supposed to convince others of.
13. Ask people if they would like to know Christ: We decided to initiate, whenever the relationship called for it. We were not afraid to ask people if they would like to know God.
Dear Heavenly Father -
What changes (shifts) must happen in my christian life for me to be used for your glory? th
Friday, November 2, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Challenges from the world's reality
The following is an excerpt from a John Piper sermon….what do these truths stir up in you?
Satan's great lie in the past generation has been that the Great Commission is completed, and so the church can forget her wartime mentality. People confused the "nations" of Matthew 28:19 ("Make disciples of all nations") with political nations of our day and concluded that disciples have been made in every nation, so the end can come. But they forget the song of heaven in Revelation 5:9 where Christ is praised: "Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation."
When Jesus commissioned his church to disciple the peoples, he did not have in mind merely political boundaries. He had in mind the distant, distinct groups including tribes and tongues and peoples. And today there are over 16,000 such groups undiscipled.
If every Christian in the world won all his neighbors to Christ, half the world would be unevangelized; because two billion people make up culturally distant people groups who do not have an indigenous witness. They are the "hidden peoples," the "frontier missions" of our day. The only way they can be reached is by cross-cultural missionaries. The day of foreign missions is not over. On the contrary, we stand on the brink of a new movement in the western and third-world churches to penetrate the last frontier.
One-hundred-fifty Protestant missionaries from North America serve among 733 million Muslims in 4,000 Muslim people groups; 100 missionaries among 537 million Hindus in 3,000 Hindu people groups; 200 missionaries among 405 million Han Chinese, and 200 missionaries among 255 million Buddhists, for a total of 650 Protestant North American missionaries among a little less than half the world's population who are basically unreached (1,930,000,000). And then we look at America.
There are more churches in the Twin Cities than there are missionaries to almost two billion Muslim, Hindu, Chinese, and Buddhist people. Is that obedience? Americans give $700 million dollars a year to mission agencies—the same amount they spend on chewing gum. Every 52 days Americans spend as much on pet food as they do annually on foreign missions. And the reason for these things is not that we are living for pleasure, but that we do not believe Jesus when he says that a hundred times more pleasure can be had by forsaking everything for his sake and for the gospel.
Satan's great lie in the past generation has been that the Great Commission is completed, and so the church can forget her wartime mentality. People confused the "nations" of Matthew 28:19 ("Make disciples of all nations") with political nations of our day and concluded that disciples have been made in every nation, so the end can come. But they forget the song of heaven in Revelation 5:9 where Christ is praised: "Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation."
When Jesus commissioned his church to disciple the peoples, he did not have in mind merely political boundaries. He had in mind the distant, distinct groups including tribes and tongues and peoples. And today there are over 16,000 such groups undiscipled.
If every Christian in the world won all his neighbors to Christ, half the world would be unevangelized; because two billion people make up culturally distant people groups who do not have an indigenous witness. They are the "hidden peoples," the "frontier missions" of our day. The only way they can be reached is by cross-cultural missionaries. The day of foreign missions is not over. On the contrary, we stand on the brink of a new movement in the western and third-world churches to penetrate the last frontier.
One-hundred-fifty Protestant missionaries from North America serve among 733 million Muslims in 4,000 Muslim people groups; 100 missionaries among 537 million Hindus in 3,000 Hindu people groups; 200 missionaries among 405 million Han Chinese, and 200 missionaries among 255 million Buddhists, for a total of 650 Protestant North American missionaries among a little less than half the world's population who are basically unreached (1,930,000,000). And then we look at America.
There are more churches in the Twin Cities than there are missionaries to almost two billion Muslim, Hindu, Chinese, and Buddhist people. Is that obedience? Americans give $700 million dollars a year to mission agencies—the same amount they spend on chewing gum. Every 52 days Americans spend as much on pet food as they do annually on foreign missions. And the reason for these things is not that we are living for pleasure, but that we do not believe Jesus when he says that a hundred times more pleasure can be had by forsaking everything for his sake and for the gospel.
Missionary Movers - Prayer letter Oct 2007
Well, here we are, back in Honduras. Our last few of weeks have been really busy, emptying the house, shipping boxes, packing bags and saying goodbyes.
At the airport, only one piece of luggage was overweight by a couple of pounds, which we quickly remedied and we actually had two bags that hit 50 pounds right on the nose. I think we should get some kind of prize for those “professionally” packed bags. Perhaps, the missionary community should begin some sort of monitoring of that sort of thing in order to recognize those otherwise unnoticed and completely unmarketable skills.
I joke about it only because goodbyes are tough and always have been. However, it seems like they are becoming exponentially more serious as we grow older. Maybe, we have a greater appreciation of time as we get older. It’s kind of like our experience with little kids.
If you have been a parent for some time then you know what I mean. When children are toddlers, it is hard to explain 2 or 3 years. Shoot, they have a tough time comprehending the half-hour drive across town. A thirty-minute “Barney” program was what we compared it to and the kids seemed to be somewhat satisfied with that explanation. You can only imagine how difficult it has been to explain not being able to see family and friends for a couple of years.
Well, that’s what I mean. As we get older, I believe we all begin to be able to get our minds around this concept of time, how precious it is and the reality of spending it apart from people that you love.
This time was no different. We had a wonderful time with family and friends this summer. Saying “goodbye” was hard! There were lots of hugs and too many tears for our comfort. It is great to love and be loved, but it is certainly not painless and we realize that this is part of the price and privilege of serving as missionaries.
You cannot be in two places at the same time (at least in this life you can’t). You must choose where you invest your life and that means that someone and something gets left out. That is a huge part of the missionary cost. There is no way to avoid making those payments.
However, one of the great benefits is a currently heightened and ever-growing appreciation for heaven. I will not say “goodbye” to you, or anyone else for that matter, in heaven. We will have a level of life far beyond the limits of time. I can hear all of your stories and you can hear all of mine. We can fish along the banks of the crystal sea and perhaps share our fish with Jesus Himself. There will be lots of food, fun and laughter in heaven. We will enjoy God together in an intimate and perfect community. No pain or suffering, no regrets, no misunderstandings or blatant sin will contaminate our fellowship. We will enjoy God and each other forever! And we will not do it alone.
I was reminded last night as we enjoyed being with our church family that you will also be able to meet our brothers and sisters in Christ from Siguatepeque. You will experience the welcoming hugs that have been so precious and necessary for us. My friends will be your friends and that will be beautiful! We will enjoy God together!
Thanks for loving us in so many tangible ways. Please know that you are loved. Come see us!
In Him,
Tim, Kathee, Hannah, Daniel, Abigail & Elizabeth
At the airport, only one piece of luggage was overweight by a couple of pounds, which we quickly remedied and we actually had two bags that hit 50 pounds right on the nose. I think we should get some kind of prize for those “professionally” packed bags. Perhaps, the missionary community should begin some sort of monitoring of that sort of thing in order to recognize those otherwise unnoticed and completely unmarketable skills.
I joke about it only because goodbyes are tough and always have been. However, it seems like they are becoming exponentially more serious as we grow older. Maybe, we have a greater appreciation of time as we get older. It’s kind of like our experience with little kids.
If you have been a parent for some time then you know what I mean. When children are toddlers, it is hard to explain 2 or 3 years. Shoot, they have a tough time comprehending the half-hour drive across town. A thirty-minute “Barney” program was what we compared it to and the kids seemed to be somewhat satisfied with that explanation. You can only imagine how difficult it has been to explain not being able to see family and friends for a couple of years.
Well, that’s what I mean. As we get older, I believe we all begin to be able to get our minds around this concept of time, how precious it is and the reality of spending it apart from people that you love.
This time was no different. We had a wonderful time with family and friends this summer. Saying “goodbye” was hard! There were lots of hugs and too many tears for our comfort. It is great to love and be loved, but it is certainly not painless and we realize that this is part of the price and privilege of serving as missionaries.
You cannot be in two places at the same time (at least in this life you can’t). You must choose where you invest your life and that means that someone and something gets left out. That is a huge part of the missionary cost. There is no way to avoid making those payments.
However, one of the great benefits is a currently heightened and ever-growing appreciation for heaven. I will not say “goodbye” to you, or anyone else for that matter, in heaven. We will have a level of life far beyond the limits of time. I can hear all of your stories and you can hear all of mine. We can fish along the banks of the crystal sea and perhaps share our fish with Jesus Himself. There will be lots of food, fun and laughter in heaven. We will enjoy God together in an intimate and perfect community. No pain or suffering, no regrets, no misunderstandings or blatant sin will contaminate our fellowship. We will enjoy God and each other forever! And we will not do it alone.
I was reminded last night as we enjoyed being with our church family that you will also be able to meet our brothers and sisters in Christ from Siguatepeque. You will experience the welcoming hugs that have been so precious and necessary for us. My friends will be your friends and that will be beautiful! We will enjoy God together!
Thanks for loving us in so many tangible ways. Please know that you are loved. Come see us!
In Him,
Tim, Kathee, Hannah, Daniel, Abigail & Elizabeth
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