Monthly Archives: August 2012

Praying for Missionaries 4

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And forgive us our debts,

Or forgive us our sins/trespasses. It may surprise you, but missionaries do sin and do need to seek God’s forgiveness. Although some people put missionaries on a pedestal, they have the same struggles as everyone else. Pride, jealousy, anger, lust; you name it, missionaries are prone to it in the same way that other people are.

In fact, missionaries and other Christian workers often struggle more with some things than the general population. Sometimes Christian workers can rely on the fact that they are doing ‘Christian stuff’ all of the time and can neglect their own devotional lives, with the intendant problems that this can bring. It is dead easy for Bible teachers and preachers to become proud of what they are doing and to live for the performance rather than for seeing others built up in Christ. It is also true, as we’ll discuss in the next post, that Christian workers are often very vulnerable to the attacks of the Evil One.

as we also have forgiven our debtors

This bit is always uncomfortable. Christian work is based on character. It is important that missionaries, preachers and others have the technical skills they need to do the job, but it is far more important that they have a Godly character. Someone who is unforgiving, who bears grudges, is always going to struggle to be effective in Kingdom ministry. It isn’t always easy to forgive people, but we have to do it. Many a Christian minister has had their heart broken by the very people they are trying to serve, but bitterness and being unforgiving is just not an option.

In passing, it is also important that Christian leaders learn to seek forgiveness from other people when that is appropriate. It isn’t easy, but it has to be done.

So with that in mind, here are three things that you might like to pray for a missionary (or anyone else, come to think of it).

  • Pray that they will keep short accounts with God and will regularly turn to him for forgiveness and strength to grow.
  • That they will have forgiving hearts and won’t hold grudges against others.
  • That they would seek forgiveness from others when they have stepped out of line.

Unity in Diversity

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What would John have understood from the words ‘as we are one’? What kind of unity was that in the Gospel record so far?

  • The Father and Son share one life (John 5:26, 6:57), and yet they are not identical as Persons. In the same way believers share in the family life of God as those born again by God’s Spirit, yet with all the variety of background, ethnicity and gifting.
  • The Father and Son share one purpose (John 4:34). There is a strong emphasis in John’s Gospel on the unity of will between Father and Son, right up to and including the cross itself. Similarly, believers have a common mission and goal, while having multiple tasks and ministries in pursuit of it.
  • The Father and Son share on agenda (John 5:19). What Jesus did, the Father did in and through him, such that ‘he who has seen me has seen the Father’. Similarly, Christian unity does not mean that we all do the same thing, but that all the things we do as believers have the coherence of a simple agenda – to serve God, glorify Christ and bring blessing to the world.

Chris Wright in Living Witness: Explorations in Missional Ethics p.55

Praying for Missionaries 3

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Give us today our daily bread

There is one thing that twenty years of leadership in a mission organisation has taught me; we never have enough time, people or money to do what we think we should be doing. Individual missionaries may well have the resources they need for whatever it is they are doing, but across the board, agencies struggle. This means that mission leadership is a constant round of both praying for God’s provision and working out how you can do what you need to do when God doesn’t provide in the way you would like him to. We constantly need to refocus, cut programmes and find ways to allow two people to do three peoples’ work – all the time praying for God to provide.

There are those who rather simplistically say that “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply”. I looked at this at some length in another post. Let me just say here that you can’t guarantee that the doing the right thing for the right motives means that the financial resources will be there, nor does the lack of finance mean that something is being done wrongly. It isn’t that simple.

God does provide for our needs, though not always for our desires. Sometimes missionaries and agencies over-reach themselves and need to rein in their ambitions and sometimes he has very important lessons to teach us as we see how much he can do when we don’t have the resources we think we need. We can sometimes learn far more in times of shortage than in times of plenty.

So what is the daily bread that you should pray for missionaries to receive?

  • Stuff: this will depend on the person and the situation, but missionary letters generally list a few things that the person needs.
  • Money: Brits don’t like to talk about this, but missionaries do need financial support, please pray that they will receive it (even better, give something, as well as praying).
  • People: it was the Lord Jesus who said that the harvest was plentiful and the labourers were few. Things haven’t changed much, so pray for people to join in the work.
  • Wisdom: to know how to continue working for the Kingdom when resources are short

Praying for Missionaries 2

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Your kingdom come, your will be done,  on earth as it is in heaven.

Missionaries talk a lot about doing stuff; attending meetings, preaching, travelling and what have you. But, in the final analysis, it isn’t the stuff we do that is important, it is the impact that it has that matters. Ultimately, the work of a missionary is to demonstrate the kingdom of God in word and deed. The meetings, preaching and travelling are means to an end, not the end in itself. If the stuff we are doing isn’t contributing to the coming of God’s kingdom, then something is going wrong somewhere.

If you are someone who regularly prays for a missionary, why not ask them in what way the activities they are doing are contributing to God’s kingdom? It doesn’t do anyone any harm to stop and think through the deeper impact of their work. Of course, sometimes, the connection between the day to day activities and the kingdom can be a little distant. It is far easier for a Bible translator to point out the kingdom impact of his or her work than it is for someone running a finance department. But, the translator knows full well that they couldn’t do their work without the backup provided by finance and other administrative staff. We can’t be too simplistic about this.

It seems to me that there should be two aspects in praying for the kingdom impact of missionaries’ work.

The first is that the way in which the work is done demonstrates God’s rule on earth. The way in which we work should be God honouring and should contribute to the growth and development of the people around us. The remark by an African church leader that he wanted to see the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of Bible translators before he read the words Holy Spirit on the page is an excellent illustration of this principle. Missionaries need to be faithful disciples in the everyday details of life.

The second aspect is that the results of our work need to have a kingdom impact. It’s not enough to preach a fantastic sermon or to translate an epistle, we need to see people drawn into deeper communion with Christ through the sermon or epistle.

So when you pray for a missionary, pray that both the way in which they do their work and the impact of their work will contribute to God’s kingdom coming and his will being done on earth – just as it is in heaven.

Praying for Missionaries 1

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When I first started this blog, it was intended as a way of sharing what we were doing with those who pray for us and who have supported us over the years. Somewhere along the lines, it metamorphosed into something slightly different. However, I thought it might be good to return to my roots and to talk about praying for missionaries. This blog series is based around the Lord’s prayer and at some point in the future might turn into a video.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

It is appropriate that any prayer for missionaries should start with thinking about God. At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, when Jesus gave the ‘Great Commission‘ to his disciples, the first thing they did was worship. Mission must always start from a heart that overflows with love and gratitude to God, otherwise we have nothing to offer to a needy world.

Missionaries also face a particular temptation; in order to raise interest and support for their work, they have to talk about themselves an awful lot. Unless they are very careful, they can draw attention away from God and on to themselves. Many missionaries have extraordinary stories to tell about travelling to exotic places, eating strange foods and seeing wonderful things happen, but if we just talk about these things, we are missing the point. The centre of mission work is the God whom the missionaries serve, not the missionaries themselves.

So if you want to pray for missionaries, here are two starting suggestions:

  1. Start with worship yourself. Don’t forget to acknowledge whom you are praying to and your dependence on your heavenly Father.
  2. Pray that “your” missionary will have a life which is typified by gratitude and worship for God. Even if you don’t have time to work through all of the other things in your prayer list, don’t miss out on this one.

The other posts in this series are:

The Soul Survivor Youth Bible

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Hodder and Stoughton have kindly sent me a copy of the NIV Soul Survivor Youth Bible to review.

In their blurb, Amazon write:

With over 500 extra bits from the team and young people at Soul Survivor and other well-known experts, the NIV Soul Survivor Youth Bible digs deep into the Bible – its key themes, the big stories that run all the way through, the wisdom, stories and human lives that we can learn from. It also shows what the Bible has to say about things that we all face today, from tough life and world issues to the questions you really hope your mates don’t ask.

‘We’ve asked tough questions (like, ‘Why does God allow suffering?’ and ‘What’s Leviticus all about?!’) as well as tackling important issues that we face today (like relationships, terrorism, money).There are different streams on each topic for individual or group study, Bible reading plans, helpful facts and accessible stories. In short, we’ve packed every last thing that we could into these pages- and we’ve banned all jargon so it all makes sense!’

The first question that I might be expected to ask is whether there is need for yet another English Bible. However, this is not a new translation – it uses the NIV text – but a new edition with various helps to Bible reading and study included. If this gets people reading God’s Word, I’m all for it.

This Bible is currently only available in hardback, which makes for a nice solid book, but I’m not sure how well it will be adapted to a life of being stuffed into backpacks and carried around. Sometimes paperback Bibles can put up with a nomadic life better than hardbacks. The cover has a three colour dramatic design with the Soul Survivor name and logo prominently displayed; it certainly isn’t your standard ‘Bible-black’. While the cover isn’t a big issue, I do think that the prominent ‘Soul Survivor’ branding could be a mixed blessing. It will certainly be attractive to the large number of young people who are associated with Soul Survivor, but it may alienate those who have no contact with the movement. This would be a shame, because this really is a very good ‘youth Bible’.

The extra materials; study guides, introductions and such like, are all clearly set apart from the biblical text and, for the most part, don’t distract from reading the Bible itself, which is undoubtedly a good thing. That being said, the quality of the ‘extra material’ is generally very good. Each biblical book is preceded by a short introduction explaining what the book is about and why we should read it. These introductions are short, pithy and they were written for young people just getting to grips with the Bible, not for specialists in biblical studies. No doubt, it would be possible to pick holes in them, but that would be to miss the point. They set out to do a simple job and they do it well. I wish I’d had these introductions available to me 35 years ago. At the end of the Bible there is a short study guide to the Bible and a list of verses to look at in particular situations.

One particularly helpful concept is the ‘Walks’; these are guided series of readings touching on essential topics in the Bible. Each of these walks has fourteen passages to read and takes you through a subject such as the life of Jesus, or the journey to the promised land. I reckon that each of these walks could provide excellent material for a term’s talks or studies for a church youth group.

Scattered through the Bible are individual articles on subjects such as giving, prayer, evangelism and such like. These articles don’t avoid the tough questions and there are pieces on hell and genocide. As you would expect, the quality of these articles is variable; some are excellent, most are good and one or two could do with rewriting – but I’m being picky.

On a lighter note, there are some great little pieces which are not very deep, but which would grab the attention of the intended readership. Who could resist a study of the most disgusting meals in the Bible?

Overall, I think that this is an excellent edition of the NIV. I’m not sure whether the Soul Survivor branding is a good idea or not. It will certainly help people who have attended the various manifestations of Soul Survivor to pay attention to their Bibles, but it might also alienate others who would benefit from this great youth Bible. Just being a little picky, unless I missed something, the issue of world mission doesn’t really get adequate coverage though some of the trendier causes of the day do get a mention.

If you are looking for a Bible to give to a young person, I strongly suggest that you go out and give the Soul Survivor Youth Bible a look. Now that I’ve finished writing this, I’m going to go and give my review copy to our Youth department!

The Word in West Africa

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Sue has just completed her MA in aspects of Biblical Interpretation. Her dissertation was on the role of translated Scriptures in the contextualisation of the gospel in West Africa, or how having the Bible in African languages has helped the development of authentic Africa Christianity, if you prefer. You can download it as a pdf if you are interested (contributions gladly accepted) or if you are a Kindle user you can buy it from Amazon (UK) (USA).

Whilst many of the first Jewish Christians struggled with the idea of Gentile believers not adopting Jewish customs, the same cannot be said about their attitude to language. Already in Jesus’ day the Hebrew Old Testament was being used in translation in the form of the Septuagint. In Acts chapter 2 we read that, by a miracle, as the apostles explained the gospel, those listening heard the message in their own languages. This fact is so significant that it appears three times in the telling of the story.  From the very beginning the apostles (who were already functioning in a multi-lingual environment) did not question the appropriateness of communicating the gospel in different languages, according to their audience. Indeed, when the New Testament writers came to record the momentous events regarding the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, it is striking that they chose koine Greek as their medium, providing a record of Jesus’ words, not in Aramaic as he would have spoken them, but already in translation! It is perhaps surprising that we have so few words of Jesus in Aramaic, yet the writers evidently did not think that important and saw their message as totally translatable.

The Word in West Africa (pdf)

The Church in the North and West

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This week, I’ve been reading Global Mission: Reflections and Case Studies in Contextualization for the Whole Church, edited by Rose Dowsett. It’s an excellent book which should probably be included as a basic text in any undergraduate mission training course. Over the next day or two, I will be posting a few quotes that I found striking or thought provoking.

In most places in the west/north (though not all) the church is declining and there is widespread loss of confidence in the gospel and in the uniqueness of Christ in the face of widespread other world religions. Even evangelicals are caught up in this. We have lost our Reformation understanding of truth, and with it the authority of Scripture is undermined. With the collapse of Christendom, not only has the church largely lost its credibility as a voice in public affairs (in Europe especially, now dominated by secularism), but it also faces an internal crisis of how to reach a generation increasingly totally alienated from traditional forms of church life and values. Further, there is an uncomfortable realization that much of our ecclesiology has itself been in cultural captivity to Christendom and Enlightenment structures. Too often it has mirrored rather than challenged the assumption that authority should be expressed through power; too often it has been preoccupied with structures and organizations rather than with the simple, flexible, authentic life of the Spirit among God’s people.

Bible and Mission Links 21

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It’s been a while since my last update of all things Bible and mission floating around the internet, so there is a fair bit to mention this time round.

Bible Translation

Coming from a secularised western society, I find it difficult to get my mind around concepts such as witchcraft and sorcery. However, this is something that Bible translators cannot ignore; the Bible has a fair bit to say on the subject and many languages have very complex ways of addressing it. The complexity of this issue is a great illustration of the  simple fact that not just anyone can be a Bible translator. The Huffington Post has an interesting background piece on myths about translation.

English Bibles

Tim asks the not unreasonable question of why we need so many versions of the Bible in English while Joel asks how our favourite Bible translations measure up. I am constantly amazed at the new and rather odd editions of the Bible which are produced in the US. If this review is at all accurate, I won’t be hurrying out to buy a copy of the Founders’ Bible at any time soon, but I might be tempted to buy a copy of the Mission of God Study Bible.

βλογάπη (great name for a website) has a fascinating link to a piece which evaluates the historical impact of the KJV.

Cross-Cultural Mission

Mark Woodward picked up on my links to Mark Meynel’s blog (the Two Marks of Mission?) and wrote an excellent piece which is well worth quoting:

What would it mean for us to make strategic decisions based on a study of God’s mission throughout the Bible? Or what Jesus had to say about poverty and wealth? As we are working across cultures and in multi-ethnic teams, what can we learn from Paul’s New Testament letters as he continually battles with a multi-racial church, with vastly different cultures, histories and traditional beliefs, that he insists has been united in Christ? How might we plan our work in a post-colonial and globalised world in light of the Bible’s interaction with the major themes of empire and oppression? Or slavery and (both geographical and spiritual) exile? How might the biblical approaches to suffering and persecution inform our decisions? Or the experiences of communities in the Bible as they live as ethnic minorities, with their culture and identity under threat from every side? What can we learn from Jesus about how to announce a kingdom that is putting everything right, but starts out as a small seed that falls to the ground?

I think at times we can be afraid to discuss these things in a corporate setting (particularly those of us working in an inter-denominational environment), as we are afraid to disagree. But again I think this fear stems from the modern insistence that there is only one right answer, and that we must decide on it together. Maybe the truth is that it’s only actually as diverse but united believers, wrestling with these huge issues and humbly stepping forward in faith, that we begin to draw closer to God and appreciate more of what he is doing in his world.

Jonathan Martin writes about a controversy which has convulsed parts of the American Christian blogsphere, but does so from a perspective of the world Church. What he has to say puts a lot of our current theological questions into perspective:

The average Christian in the world right now is an African or Latin American female in her early 20’s.  She doesn’t read our blogs and she doesn’t readChristianity Today.  She doesn’t know or care who I am and she never will.  The names Piper, Driscoll, Chan, Bell, Stanley, Warren—mean nothing to her.  Like most Pentecostal women coming into the kingdom around the world, words like “complementarian” and “egalitarian” are not in her vocabulary, nor Calvinism and Arminianism.  Unlike some of my brothers would lead you believe (where their lunch table is the only one that cares about Scripture and THE GOSPEL while anybody who believes differently from them in these tired conversations are flaming liberals), she takes the authority of the Bible very seriously.  But more importantly, she believes in the power of the Bible in ways that are incomprehensible even for our most rabid “conservatives.”  The western filter and language that frames these issues will not be determinative for her, unlucky as she is not to read our blogs.  She may well in end up leading a church one day where she preaches Jesus like a woman on fire and lays hands on the sick and watches God heal them, though this will surprise those Reformed colleagues who are sure all female church leaders have been trained by godless-Unitarian-lesbian-leftist-radical feminist-seminarians (she didn’t have access to seminary at all–unfortunately she has read the Acts of the Apostles).  Who knew?

The world has moved on, God has moved on, and we didn’t even notice.

Resources

There is a fascinating pieceon the Affinity website about reaching post-modern youth who come from an Eastern-Orthodox background. Thanks to Tim for pointing out that  Thomas Shcirrmacher’s collection of essays,  World Mission: Heart of Christianity, is available as a free pdf download. I’ve only just started reading this, but it seems very good so far. Ben has linked to some fascinating maps which look at the way in which religious believers have migrated around the world and Mez has reviewed one of the best books I know on Christian social involvement.

Varia

The Beaker Folk have posted an excellent guide to evaluating mission initiatives:

From the Beaker FOlk

 While the Opinionated Vicar has a great illustration of discipleship:

Meet the Author

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Imagine that you have gone to watch a Shakespeare play and have got really immersed in the story. Suddenly, about half an hour before the end, William Shakespeare himself strides onto the stage and tells the actors to stop. Then he addresses the audience, you, and says; “now it’s your turn. I want you to write and act out the next part of the play. When you have done that, the ending will be played out”. In many ways, this is what the Bible is like, because we are still living in the story.  God hasn’t stopped doing the things he did in the Bible and as we get to grips with the story, the story grows.  The Book of Acts ends Paul in prison in Rome but the growth of the church and the work of the Spirit didn’t stop there. We are still living in the Book of Acts. When you read The Lord of the Rings, you never actually get to meet Gandalf.  However, when you read the Bible, you encounter the central character and you start to learn that the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob is also your God.  The experiences that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob lived through are repeated in our lives as we grow to know, love and serve God.  The story of the Bible goes on with us as participants.