DownshoreDrift

The Mission of God Study Bible Webcast

Several years ago, I ran across The Mission of God by Christopher Wright and it, along with my seminary experience in San Francisco at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary changed my view of "missions" and what God is doing in the world.  Wright says that we should see the Mission of God, or the Missio Dei, as central to who God is and what He is doing.  He also says that we should read the Bible in light of God's mission to seek and save the lost. He says that most people would agree that there is a Biblical basis for mission, but he actually turns things around and says that mission is so central to the heart of God that there is a missional basis for the Bible. In order to rightly understand the Bible, we need to see it through the lens of God's mission.  The more that I thought about this, the more that I realized that he is correct. The "Big Picture" or "metanarrative" of Scripture centers on the person and work of Jesus and God's plan to reconcile all of Creation back to Himself through Christ.  If we can see that, then we can better understand Scripture and our place in God's Story.  Getting this helped me personally align my life with God's purposes and also helped me as I sought to help others walk with God in the ways that He intends. I don't see "mission" as an add-on to the Christian life when someone becomes really mature, but rather, I see it as the heart of God that captures and affects us from the very beginning of our relationship with Christ.

It is with this perspective in view that B&H Publishing in conjunction with Lifeway has published the Mission of God Study Bible:

The Mission of God Study Bible encourages followers of Jesus Christ to see their everyday life from God's perspective and have His heart for people. It's a reminder that we live around people in desperate need of redemption and reconciliation with God, which can only be found in Jesus. The mission of God has never been just for specialists; it is for all believers to live out through their daily lives and by sharing the good news of what God has done through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus. Wherever you are, you are on mission.

In The Mission of God Study Bible, readers will hear from today's top thinkers, theologians, and leading voices in the church about what it means to live in the mission of God. Essay contributors include Matt Chandler, Tullian Tchividjian, Ed Stetzer, Matthew Barnett, Andrea Mullins, Dave Ferguson, Christopher J.H. Wright, and many others.

Readers will also discover "Letters to the Church" from elder statesmen that speak to the grand narrative of God's mission in Scripture. These words from Billy Graham, Jack Hayford, R. T. Kendall, Erwin Lutzer, Calvin Miller, and R.C. Sproul will inspire you to live God's mission daily.

 

Lifeway is hosting a live webcast with Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation, the editors, and other guests about the Mission of God Study Bible next Monday, January 28th, at 3pm EST (2pm CST). Go to  lifeway.com/theexchange for the webcast. I was asked by Lifeway if I would help get the word out about it and because I think it is a good thing and I know a few of the contributors, I thought it would be a good idea to participate.

They have also made a free code available to be able to access the study Bible online.  I will be giving away that code on Monday morning in another post to the first person who asks me, so be looking for that.

Here is an intro video to the study Bible and the webcast from Ed Stetzer, one of the editors:

 

In addition, Lifeway has provided some articles from the Study Bible to preview. Here is one by Christopher Wright on God's big story that I was referring to earlier. Check it out and take part in the webcast Monday afternoon!

 

The Metanarrative of God’s Mission

Christopher Wright

Too often, the church has separated theology (as a discipline about God—what God is like, what God has said, and what God has done), from missions (being about us and what we do). However, our mission is derived from God’s own mission—he

Some people use the term missio Dei as referring only to the sending action of God. The reason they do this is that the “root” of the Latin verb mitto means “to send.” However, if we reduce our focus only to the sending acts of God, we may ignore a number of important missional themes and teachings in the Bible, which are crucial for our understanding of the fullness of God’s mission and our own practice of missions.

 

Through the experience of God’s grace, God makes Himself known. God declares His desire to be known through salvation (Ex 5:22-6:8, Is 46:9-10). He declares Himself to be the king over the whole earth through His redemptive acts (Ex 2:23-24, 15:18, Ezk 36:21-23). Based on His redemptive deeds, the Bible proclaims that there is “no other” god than the God of Israel (Dt 4:32-39, Is 41:22- 23). Unlike the fictional gods of the other peoples, who were thought of as having limited power that allowed them to rule only over specific locations, the God of the Bible has unlimited power and extends His reign over all of creation (Jr 10:10-12; Ts 45:11-13). He is the only and only God, and the whole universe is His to rule as He pleases.

Even through the experience of judgment, God makes Himself known. Through the plagues and Red Sea, Pharaoh learns why he should obey the God of Israel (Ex 5:2). Israel and the nations learned of God’s uniqueness and sovereignty over the whole earth through the exile of Israel (2Kg 18:32-35, Jr 27:4-6). Even kings who do not know the one true God are used by Him to accomplish His purposes, much as an axe is used to chop wood (Is 10:5-19). And yet God remains faithful and committed to His people even in the midst of sovereign judgment upon them (Jr 27:1-14). Their punishment is to have a redeeming and purifying purpose.

In the New Testament, Jesus fulfills God’s mission to be known—dentifying Himself with the God of Israel, fulfilling the promise made to Abraham by opening up the way to blessing for Jews and Gentiles alike. The biblical story reveals that God wills to be known through Jesus, His Son (Jn 1:18, 17:1-3, 2Co 4:4-6). Making Himself known is God’s purpose in creation and His purpose in redemption. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge” (Ps 19:1-2). God’s “invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made” (Rm 1:20). The whole Bible presents a God of missional activity, from His purposeful, goal-oriented act of Creation to the completion of His mission through the redemption of all Creation in the new heavens and new earth, and the creation of a new humanity in Christ, redeemed from every nation on earth though the blood of the cross.

We also find in the Bible that humanity has a mission (to rule and care for the earth); Old Testament Israel had a mission (to be the agent of God’s blessing to all nations); Jesus had a mission (to embody and fulfill the mission of Israel, bringing blessing to the nations through bearing our sin on the Cross and anticipating the new Creation in His Resurrection); and the church has a mission (to participate with God in the ingathering of the nations in fulfillment of Old Testament Scriptures).

The mission of God, then, governs the story of the Bible from the brokenness of the nations in Genesis 11 to the healing of the nations in Revelation 21-22. If the grand story of the Bible and our world is God making Himself known, then this is the motivation and purpose of the church’s mission. The church’s missional activities, to which they are called and sent on, flows directly from God’s mission. The church’s missional activities are acts of humble participation in God’s great work for His grand purpose. God is on mission, and we, in that wonderful phrase of Paul’s, are “coworkers with God.”

missio Dei —which in turn is a reflection of what God is like, what God has said, and what God has done (and is doing and has yet to do). This unity between theology and missions is one key way of looking at the grand story of Scripture. Our theology of God must include the mission of God as a unifying metanarrative for the whole Bible.Missio Dei  can have a broader sense drawn from the way the Bible paints a picture of the purposefulness of God. The mission of God is the commitment of God to make Himself known to His creation ultimately for the purpose of redeeming and restoring all creation to its right relationship with God. The story of God making Himself known is the grand narrative of the Bible. God’s mighty acts make Him known to the peoples of the world and are predicted, proclaimed, explained, and celebrated throughout the biblical storyline. In His election of Abraham, God makes Himself known, and launches His great agenda of bringing blessing to all nations on earth (Gn 12:1-3), repeating this promise five times in Genesis. Paul defined this great missional purpose of God as ‘the good news ahead of time’ (Gl 3:6-8), and understood his own mission, and the church’s mission, in light of it.

 

The Apostle Thomas and the "Good Ground" for the Gospel in India

I ran across an old book today on the The Search for the Twelve Apostles by William Steuart McBirnie (1973).  In it, he quotes from a special publication that was "published to commemorate the visit to India of the Patriarch of the Church of the East" (145).  This volume was called Souvenir of India, In Honour of the Visit to India of His Holiness Maran Mmar Eshai Shimun XXIII and was written and published by the Editorial Board of the Publicity and Information Committee of H.H. The Patriarch Reception Committee, Enrakulam, Kerala State, India, 1962. 

Here is the quote that I found interesting from the foreword of the commemorative volume:

More than one thousand and nine hundred years ago, the holy Apostle St. Thomas, after establishing the first Christian Church among his own people in ancient Babylon, turned to India, led by the Holy Spirit, and with an evangelical zeal traversed this subcontinent preaching the good news and baptising those who believed in Him. His words 'had fallen into good ground, bearing fruit bringing forth a hundred-fold' and spreading to countries all over Asia. But by the vicissitudes of history, through all the centuries, this Church, founded on the blood of martyrs, has become almost extinct, leaving a scattered remnant.

India, in the 30-40 years right after the time of Christ was considered good ground for the gospel and it was planted there and grew rapidly.  That is amazing when you think about it.  What made India "good ground" for the gospel so that there was a huge harvest?  One can only think that God's soveriegn power worked mightily through the Holy Spirit, the preaching of the Word, persecution of believers, prayer, miracles, and faithfulness. God sent Thomas and likely others to India very soon after the Ascension of Christ and many believed. How different this is from the India that we have seen over the past several hundred years - the Hindu India, steeped in Caste and idolatry. (See an interesting article from Time Magazine on St. Thomas from 1953).

If India was once responsive to the Gospel, what happened in history so that the church there was almost snuffed out of existence before the arrival of missionaries from the West in the 1600's?  Why did India then rise up and push Christianity out?  What made the good ground go bad?

I'll look at this more in depth in another post.

 

 

India, Space, and Cruciform Worship

I took a deep breath, stepped off of the plane, and began the journey into mystical India.  After traversing oceans and continents, it was time for my return to this far off land. The Indira Ghandi Airport is much improved and the long walk to immigration and baggage claim helped orient me to my new and not-so-new surroundings. Changing money, the man in the Thomas Cook uniform miscounted, shorting me 2000 rupee. I counted for him and he addressed the error.  We stepped into the warm night amidst the cars, buses, and hundreds of people looking for and giving rides.  There is always that moment of hope in the midst of the unfamiliar, that someone would be standing there with your name on a placard, even if it is misspelled. You are far away from home and are looking for anything familiar - anything that tells you that you are not on your own - even it is is your own name misspelled.

Nothing. But, we have been through this before. People are not where they are supposed to be. Something happens. A car breaks down. Plans change. Miscommunication.  We called the hotel and they said that they had sent a driver, but he was broken down, so just grab a taxi.  That is an adventure, to be sure, because you never know who you are dealing with.  A man comes up to the 6 white people with bags on their shoulders and offers us a ride. We tell him we are going to the Hotel Classic Diplomat and does he know where that is.  He says, sure, and we then start haggling price.

"1800 rupee," he says.

"Too much. No deal," I say.

"Okay then, no deal." he says.  So, we start to walk off, but then hesistate to see his next move. You NEVER accept first price in India. Plus, he was charging 300 rupee per person ($6) for a very short ride up onto the freeway.  Robbery.

After a few steps, he comes back and says, "1500 ruppee, but no more."

"1200 rupee and you have a deal," I say.

1200 rupee it is. 

He takes us to the place to wait for the car. We tipped him 100 rupee.

Everything in India is up for negotiation. It is all one big dance, a flow down a meandering, yet often rushing river.  You don't know where you stand, often.  If you are looking for what is fixed and stable, you will only find it in relation to yourself, others, and the whims of the universe and all of that keeps changing as well.  It is difficult to navigate a nation where there are few fixed points.

But, we are here and in being here I am reminded that in this place and at this time that God, the Creator is at work to reconcile all of the wild streams of India back to Himself and that He has grafted me into one of those wild strands, the children and hills of the Himalayas.  I am here in the midst of the unpredictable to worship and be a child of God, a fixed place in a shifting envrionment, not because I am geographically rooted down, but because my God does not change like the shifting shadows. He is a God who can be worshiped because He is a God who can be known and who can and does reveal Himself to us.

In thinking of the relativism and constant negotiations in India and the fixitity of the essence of God, I am led to reflect on what my own worship looks like.  Do I worship according to negotiations for the best deal, according to the price that I set or according to what seems best to me in the moment?  That is the HIndu way - since all streams lead into one, it doesn't really matter how you get there as long as you are sincere.

But, the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, is not to be approached as I see fit according to the moment, He is to be approached on the basis that He has established through the finished work of Christ on our behalf.  There is a way to come to know and live in and through God - the Jesus Way, and it is not up for negotiation - it is threw faith in Christ alone. 

But, we so often miss that way.

I hope to explore that way this week from Northern India with fresh eyes. I apprecieate your prayers as I seek to encounter Christ in every situation with the attitude and power that He gives. I hope to learn directly from the old sages who have brought the message of Jesus up to these hills years before - people the world has never heard of.  Who knows what supprises will be waiting for me as I worship this way, clinging to the Cross, waiting for resurrection, enjoying surprises along the way.

Can Southern Baptists Be Missional? Part 3: Is the Gospel a Proposition or a Person?

See Parts One and Two if you want to read the background to this series.

I think that we struggle with the gospel. I don't pretend that I have some great revelation into what the gospel is that was heretofore not seen. It is pretty clear in Scripture. But, we still struggle with it.  As Southern Baptists, we seem to have reduced the gospel to a series of propositions that must be believed and accepted. Those who articulate it like we do are in and those who don't are out. We get this tendency from Evangelicals, revivalism, and our application of modernism to our theology.  The gospel becomes "Four Spiritual Laws," or "Steps to Peace With God" that we believe in order for us to get into heaven when we die. We need our sins forgiven to get to heaven, so Jesus provides that if we repent of our sins and ask Him to forgive us. No one wants to go to Hell, so Jesus gets us out of Hell and gets us into Heaven where we will "have a mansion over the hilltop" and see all of our loved ones who have gone on before us. We'll walk on streets of gold and spend eternity in a state of bliss.  Believing in Jesus is how we get there, so we make sure that do that and "pray a sinner's prayer" to gain entrance.  All of this "gospel shorthand" might be helpful in a "gospel" presentation, but it is not necessarily helpful in positioning us to live missional lifestyles now. Nor, is it necessarily biblical.

One of the places where Paul defines his gospel is in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.  He gets pretty explicit. This is the kerygma, or what was preached about Jesus.  

   ¹ Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

 ³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

This is all about Jesus. It is about who He is and what He did. It is about Jesus the Man, the Person. The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ.  When we are confronted with the Gospel, we are to be confronted with Jesus Christ Himself.  Do we believe in HIM? Do we throw our faith into HIM? Do we entrust ourselves to HIM and follow HIM?  When the Philippian Jailer saw the power of God in the release of Paul and Silas from prison and asked what he must do to be saved, Paul answered, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household" (Acts 16:30-31).  He didn't say to believe things about Jesus or to make a transaction with Jesus to forgive your sins so you could go to heaven when you died.  He told the jailer to believe IN or upon Jesus.  He introduced the man to a person, not a system or a set of propositions.

Are Southern Baptists Capable of Being Missional? Part 2

See Part One here.   Please note that I am writing with broad generalizations about overall trends and perspectives. I have seen many exceptions to what I am writing here. But, they stand out in my mind because they are exceptions, not the rule.

______________________

A couple of days ago, I asked if Southern Baptists were capable of being missional. Of course, the answer is a qualified "yes." Anyone is capable if they are in touch with the Spirit of God and are participants in God's Kingdom. But, is it likely? For all of our talk about evangelism, the Great Commission, and missions as a people, I am leaning toward the answer being "no."

Let's go back to how Southern Baptists started. We say that the Convention started over missions. The SBC was started in 1845 over the right of southern slaveholders to be appointed to serve on the mission field. Northern Baptists, dominated by abolitionists said no. Southern Baptists were offended by this and broke away from the northern baptists, starting their own convention in Augusta, Georgia in 1845. The peculiar institution of slavery had to be defended because that was where the South drew its economic lifeblood. The Southern "Way of Life" had to be protected. Eventually, a war would be fought and 600,000 people would be killed from both sides. Still, Southern Baptists didn't challenge the status quo and they became defenders of the "Lost Cause," a mythos that claimed that even though the South lost, she was in the right and was more pure and moral than the rest of the country.  Racial prejudices were recodified in the Jim Crow laws and segregation that emerged in the late 1800's and early 1900's and Southern Baptists went along, supporting the larger culture and the social economics of the day. The SBC became the state church of the South and helped to solidify the civil religion that emerged.

Are Southern Baptists Capable of Being Missional?

The entire conversation in the Evangelical Christian world has shifted to engaging ourselves with the larger culture missionally.  Even the Rob Bell dust up over the issue of the existence of hell has missionality as a foundation because he is trying to figure out how to discuss difficult issues with people who do not find our doctrines palatable. We are now living in a post-Christian culture in the West and much of what was once taken for granted has faded away. There is no longer a Christian or even a cultural consensus in the West and everyone is trying to feel their way through the resulting confusion. 

Enter Southern Baptists. Just about every blog, conference, and denominational leader is focusing on being missional. That is the buzzword of the day. Guys who didn't know what the word meant 4 or 5 years ago use it exclusively now. It is on the tip of everyone's tongue and the concept is being pushed at every level. SBC leaders like Ed Stetzer have popularized the term and everyone is getting in on it. The Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) was adopted recently (was that last year? It seems longer ago) and the SBC is supposedly realigning according to a "missional" focus. But, like Inigo Montoya famously said to Vezzini, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

The true definition of "missional" has to do with "sentness."  There is a recognition that God is both the sending God and the sent God.  The Missio Dei (Mission of God) has to do with His very character and essence, not just an activity. God doesn't add on "missional." It is who He is.  The Father "sent" the Son.  The Son was "sent." The Incarnation itself declares the missional essence of God.  The Father and Son "sent" the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit empowers and sends us out into the world as ambassadors of Christ, representatives of another Kingdom in a world that is false. This all happened before the foundation of the earth was laid, by the way. Christopher Wright, in his excellent treatise, The Mission of God, states that instead of the Bible giving us a biblical basis for missions, it is better to see that there is a missional basis for the Bible, for the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost (Luke 19:10).

But, is that what we are seeing in the Southern Baptist world?  Are we living as sent people? Are we capable of it as Southern Baptists? Of course, it is possible, but the overarching perspective that we maintain continues to be a defense of the status quo, "us vs. them" positioning, church growth strategies, constant calls for more money, the exalting of celebrity pastors and megachurch expansion, and the building of our religious enterprises.  "Missional" does not equal church growth or denominational growth. They are not the same thing. One implies that we leave what is comfortable and live with open hands among the heathen. The other implies that we try to build our institutions larger and make them more secure. One implies risk and loss while the other implies safety, security, and more influence. The Way of Jesus seems conspicuously absent from what our Southern Baptist leaders are calling us to.  Calling for more expository preaching in our churches (while a great approach to communicating biblical truth) does not equal missionality. Having a missions program in our churches that sends people out on short-term mission trips is not being missional, necessarily. Those are good things, but they do not encapsulate the full range of living as sent people.

To "live sent" means that we are letting go of the need for safety and security and money and large crowds around us to reinforce our lifestyles. It means that we are willing to engage those who disagree with us and we are living life in relational terms with people different from us so that the life of God can flow through us to them. Our posture in the world changes from "insiders" who sit opposed to people who do not know God to those who might come alongside those alienated from God and actually identify with them and join our lives to theirs. This is what Jesus did in the Incarnation.

I wonder if Southern Baptists are capable of this? I wonder if our theology and historical experience allows us to live in any way other than as religious people defending our way of life in the world?  Are we confident enough in God and His Kingdom that we can take His life everywhere we go, even if we are not reinforced by money, power, crowds, and programs and systems?  I'm asking.  I have come to the conclusion that just talking about being missional does not make one missional and I'm wondering if the whole way that we see things might be an impediment to us actually joining God in His work and actual essence in the world.

Maybe the issue that holds us back is bigger than us just not being "sold out" enough. Maybe there are fundamental structural problems with how we see theology and the world.  More on this later.  

 

Advent Meditations: Peace Without End

Of the increase of the Messiah's government and peace, there will be no end ~ Isaiah 9:6

The Message says, "His ruling authority will grow and there'll be no limits to the wholeness He brings."

Ever increasing shalom.  The Kingdom is come and is coming and Jesus is going to keep extending His reign and rule and will keep taking over. The Lord's Prayer tells us to pray this way: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."  We are told to pray for the coming reign and rule of God. We are to pray that the way things are in heaven will be the way that they are on earth.  Those are Advent prayers. (Image included is Rembrandt's "Adoration of the Shepherds," 1646).

Isaiah 9:1-7, as we looked at yesterday, shows us yokes of bondage being broken, oppressors being put to flight, and military equipment being put aside and done away with.  It shows light shining on those in darkness and joy spreading across the land. All of this happens because

Incarnating the Gospel: Bringing Jesus Into the Neighborhood

Alan Hirsch says that we are to plant the gospel and not plant churches. Church emerges from people incarnating the gospel in their neighborhoods. Everyone is commissioned to carry the gospel - our baptism IS our commission.  Good stuff. Take a few minutes to listen and tell me what you think.

 

Does the Church Have a Future in Montgomery, Alabama?

Of course, the immediate answer is yes. But, I am asking the same question I asked about a year and a half ago in this post:  http://www.downshoredrift.com/downshoredrift/2009/07/can-the-christian-church-help-montgomery-alabama.html.

Not much has changed in Montgomery in a year and a half except that more people have moved to bedroom communities and more Christians have congregated in megachurches. It will be interesting to see what the new census numbers reveal about regional migration. White flight and middle class flight continue to take hold in Montgomery and Christians continue to run away to nice, safe, secure environments. I really wonder about this. Jesus didn't run away to environs that were safe for Him. He ran straight into a deadly situation out of love for us. Yet, we continue to run away from problems in our community and make decisions based on "what's best for us and our family."  Is that a Christian response to the problems in our neighborhoods, our schools, and our community?  If there is crime in a neighborhood, where is the church?  Can't we run in and address it?  If there is family breakdown, fatherlessness, and hopelessness, shouldn't the church be there?

Anyway, read the post above, if you like. It was written last year, but is still pertinent for today. I think that the days are urgent and we have a generation that will be lost if we don't engage them with the gospel.  If the church does have a future, it will be a future of missional engagement instead of entrenchment for our own safety and security.

In a follow up post on White Flight/Middle Class Flight, I said this:  "we should not just cede other people to the enemy without collective engagement."  It is hard to take the gospel to people who are set against it. It requires sacrifice - maybe even our lives. But, isn't that what we're called to? Where does the church call for that?  Scripture does - but, do we?

Alan Hirsch has a great message on the need for the church to be a community of missional engagement with the powers of darkness. I posted it on Facebook the other day.  Check it out:

 

How NOT to Help the Poor (HT: @timmybrister)

I saw this video over at my friend, Timmy Brister's site. He is also reading the book I mentioned in my post yesterday. In light of initiating a discussion on poverty and Christian solutions, I thought I'd repost it here.

Thoughts?

 

What Are Christians to Do to Help the Poor?

Our church is sending a team to Haiti next Spring and a lot of our youth are going. We have also been very active in India over the past few years and have also done a good deal in our own community to try and alleviate poverty and give aid to the poor. Jesus commands us to do this (Matt. 25).  Still, it is good to think through how we are to really help the poor and not make things worse. Lots of times, our best efforts can be things that we do to make us feel better instead of things that really provide long-term solutions for long-term problems. Plus, we need to consider what our view of "poor" is.  Economic inequality does not necessarily mean that someone is poor. Compared to Bill Gates, I am very poor. But, my basic needs are met, my quality of life is good, and I do not consider myself to be poor, even though I can in no way match his lifestyle. The presence of wealty people in the world does not mean that everyone else is poor by comparison.

At the same time, if basic needs are not met related to food, water, health, housing, clothing, etc., then we have issues. Becoming a real source of help for the poor in these situations means that we need to think through things and provide real solutions that make a real difference. More money, education, and services can be helpful, but if a dependency mentality is created, it does little long term good. At the same time, if someone is sick, hungry, thirsty, or dying, you don't stand over them and preach about long-term solutions. This is what Jesus was getting at in his parable of the Good Samaritan. You help right then.

I am reading a book called "When Helping Hurts:  How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . And Yourself."  You can join me in reading it if you like.  Here is the website for the book that expands the discussion. I think it might have some good insight on how Christians are to really be involved with the poor and help bring transformation. At least it will initiate some good thoughts and discussion.  Along with Tim Keller's Generous Justice that I am also reading, this focus might be a good way to discipline our minds during the Christmas season, where so much buying/spending/feasting seems to be focused on ourselves.

Another great resource is Walking With the Poor by Bryant Myers.

 

Why It Hard for the World to Listen to Christians

I am a firm believer that we must contextualize the gospel to our current culture. That is the work of a missionary. Every culture speaks a certain language and thinks a certain way. The Missionary Christian must exegete his/her culture and find ways to declare who God is so that people can understand. Every culture also has built in barriers and bridges to the gospel and the wise missionary (I use this term to refer to every Christian) understands this and travels over those bridges that are present.

However . . .

No matter how much to seek to contextualize the gospel and explain it in ways that people understand and seek to meet felt needs and minister to people on their own turf, you are still in a situation where people who do not know God are actually incapable of knowing Him unless the Lord enlightens them. That is humbling for those of us who seek to spread abroad the knowledge of God.  It causes us to depend upon the power of the Holy Spirit to convict people and draw people to Christ. This is a spiritual work and no matter how much we seek to relate to people, we have no ability whatsoever to cause people to come too faith in Christ. Yes, we are responsible to preach the gospel, love people, build friendships, serve people, and represent Christ everywhere we go. But, we cannot convert anyone.  Only God can do that.

When we were in India back in April, I had a conversation with a woman in the holy city of Rishikesh on the Ganges River. She said that all roads led to heaven and that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not the only way to God.  I kept talking with her about this and at one point, she asked if I was trying to convert her. I told her that I was not and that I could not.  Relieved, we kept talking about God, Jesus, and salvation. I told her that not to mislead her, but because it is impossible for me to convert anyone. All that I can do is give witness to who God is and to the power of His gospel revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We can tell people what we have seen and what the Bible says, but we cannot save anyone. Only God can.  Yes, He does it through the foolishness of preaching the gospel, but He is still the one who does it.

No matter how much we try to relate to non-Christians (and we should try as we are neighbors together with all people on this planet), at some point we have to recognize that their relationship with God, or lack of one, is something that God must work in. Hopefully, He will work through us, but recognizing that it is His work should not make us passive. Rather, it should remove the pressure of having to perform and should enable us to freely love people who cannot know God unless God draws them.

Should it be a surprise to us when they do not listen to Christians or when they reject our witness?  No. 1 John 4:4-6 says,

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them (spirits who deny Christ), because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. 

This is interesting. It is saying that there are Christ-denying spirits who engage in falsehood and they are rampant throughout the world. The "world" represents the domain that is set up against the knowledge of God. It consists of the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does (1 John 2:16).  The things that belong to the world are perpetuated by demonic spirits that also deceive people through an unending array of messages that contradict who God is and how He wants us to live. Then, it says that the world listens to these spirits and it buys in to these messages. Since people who do not know God are from the world and belong to the world, they listen to the voices that follow the viewpoint of the world. They are not from God and do not belong to God and therefore do not listen to God's words or viewpoint or to His people. Whenever we speak from God's perspective, those who are from the world will not listen to us because it comes into conflict with the world's perspective, the view that they belong to. So, we really are talking about a form of spiritual warfare here.

No matter how much we try to appeal to the world, the only way that the world will listen to us (in the natural) is when we begin to speak from their viewpoint - according to the wisdom of the world. Unfortunately, many Christians care more about drawing a crowd than they do about true life transformation in Christ and they are ignorant of what it means to operate in the spiritual power that only comes from God. Because they think that they are called to be successful (the world's view), they partake in the ways of the world to appeal to the people of the world. They speak the world's language and take on the ways of the world so that they can draw adherents to their cause. Then, they call it Christianity when it is actually just a baptized form of the world with some Jesus sprinkled in. Most don't see the problem because they are so focused on numbers and size as a sign of God's blessing. If people are coming, then it must be pleasing to God.

This has nothing to do with styles of dress, music, church forms, etc. I am not saying that. I am saying that there is a way that seems right to the world, and you can find it in our most traditional churches as well as in contemporary churches. It is not about forms and styles. It is about dependence upon God and an understanding that He must work in our lives for us to be born again. We must see life transformation. We cannot just reform the flesh and try and live a better life. We must come to know God. This requires the work of God in our life through the drawing and regeneration of the Spirit that accompanies the preaching of the gospel. Our response must be faith in Christ and repentance from trusting in our own way to make a life for ourselves. We must trust in God. 

Only when we look to God first do we have a real message for the world. Many in the world will reject us. There will be conflict. But, when the gospel is spoken and lived with love and power, God will use that to draw many people to Himself.

Seeing God Work in India

The last few days have been a whirlwind. We have been in villages, meeting with ministry leaders, and have taught in a holistic ministry conference. We have been sick and have been very tired. But, God has moved. My previous nervousness in sharing the gospel on the train did serve as motivation for me to not miss anymore opportunities and I have seen God work and answer my prayers for boldness. Thank you for praying if you happened to see the last post. God works through weak vessels, of which I am one.

The needs here are so great. Children are everywhere. The ministries are trying to care for and teach as many as they can, but they are limited by a lack of funds. That is why we try to raise money for the work here. Children, children, children. There is such an opportunity to invest in the future of India and to see lives transformed. Why do we in America sit on so much wealth while thousands of children could be helped and exposed to God's love here in India?

Today, I heard a man's testimony about how he came to Christ. He is a doctor and was an unbeliever. A man brought his wife to him for him to help her. She was basically dead with very little pulse. The doctor tried to help her and he could not and had to tell the woman's husband that he could do nothing for her. She was going to die. The husband was very upset and asked again if anything could be done. At that point, the doctor remembered that he had heard about the power of God and how Jesus raised the dead. So, he cried out to a God that he didn't know and asked Him to heal this woman. Within two hours, the woman recovered and was better. The doctor then rejoiced in the Lord and gave His life to Jesus. I heard this story just today. What a powerful God we serve!

I will be teaching in the conference again tomorrow and we will meet with ministry leaders tomorrow night. Then, we return home via Delhi and a very long train ride on Friday and Saturday. Thank you for your prayers. They have been very much needed.

How To Have a Real #GCR

So, what about the local church? The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force has given us recommendations for how we are to live Christlike lives and for how some of our entities can be restructured to increased efficiency, but we have not heard very much about what the local church can do to bring about a GCR. Southern Baptists say a lot about how the local church is at the center of God's activity in the world and how the SBC exists to assist the local church in their mission, but we don't see a lot of that. Instead, we see cooperation defined as the local church sending money and people up the line to the state conventions and national entities, effectively farming out to parachurch organizations the mission that God primarily gave to the local church. No wonder we have lost our vision! We are not working according to the design that God intiated. But, what if we did? Here are some concrete proposals that the GCRTF could put forward that would encourage us all and could possibly lead to a real Great Commission Resurgence:

1. Start their thinking with the local church in mind. The GCRTF started with a top-down approach. They got things backwards. If they had started with the local church and worked their way up, they would be in a much better spot right now. But, they went the way that the SBC has been going for the last 60 years and they took a top-down approach.
2. Through state conventions and local associations, identify churches that are already carrying out the axioms for a Great Commission Resurgence found HERE.  Who is already doing the work correctly? Where is God moving? What examples can we hold up to the rest of the SBC locally and nationally? I asked a DOM friend of mine about this and he said that he could think of 10-12 churches in his association that were doing really well in this regard. Let them lead us. Instead of trying to get something going from scratch, we accurately recognize that God is at work in a powerful way in many SBC churches across America. Why can't they lead the denomination?
3. Encourage those churches to partner with a couple of other churches that might be struggling, but who are willing. Again, the state conventions and local assocations are critical in identifying these churches and pastors and in helping to facilitate the connections. Have pastoral and lay leadership meet together in prayer and mutual submission and ask what they could do together locally and globally to impact lostness. How could they help one another? How could they pray for each other? What encouragement could the thriving church share with the churches that are struggling and vice versa?
4. In these clusters of 3-5 churches, introduce the concepts of partnering for global missions involvement. Bring in someone from the IMB that would meet with them and help facilitate engagement with an area overseas that could use their prayer and support. Plan a joint mission trip and connect them with a missionary overseas.
5. Also, introduce the concept of church planting. Have someone from the state convention or NAMB talk with them about helping to support a church plant in an area of need. Prayer, finances, people, and support could be brought out to engage in this work.  Perhaps several clusters could work together. NAMB, state convention personnel, and church planter strategists could help facilitate this, but you still have primary local church involvement.
6. In these clusters of churches, introduce the concept of local community transformation. The state convention and primarily the local association can play a vital role in this. What if 3-5 local churches addressed areas of a community that were struggling? What if they identified the darkest problems in their community and they let their light shine tangibly in some kind of way? I know that God would lead them.
7. As these clusters of 3-5 local churches work together on global missions in some way, domestic church planting, and community transformation, they will have to be praying and seeking God. They will have to be thinking about others.  This will bring renewal to the local congregation as they personally engage in the mission that God has called them to. Pastors will be encouraging other pastors. Lay people will be meeting together to plan, work, and encourage one another. Churches will not compete with one another, but rather, they will truly cooperate. Call in the state conventions, local association, and NAMB and the IMB to help resource all of this. Then, you truly have SBC entities resourcing the local church.
8. Use the best aspects of SBC initiatives like the Acts 1:8 Challenge and GPS in these clusters of churches for training and goal setting. The IMB has some really good initiatives for local church involvement that are not widely known. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. The SBC has been tinkering with these ideas for many years now. Let's bring them out convention-wide and really apply them to local church life.
9. As these clusters become effective in engaging in God's mission both locally and globally, begin to bring more churches into new clusters. As churches that were once struggling begin to strengthen, bring in other churches that are willing to engage. Keep starting the process over again. Create church partnership clusters in pioneer regions on the West Coast and in the Northeast and connect them with clusters in the Southeast. Work to get every missionary adopted by a cluster. Identify 100 target areas for church planting and get clusters to partner with church planter strategists in those areas to fund church plants. Connect with our seminaries to train church planters that are ready to partner with a cluster to plant a church in the target area. Keep encouraging the spread of this like a virus until every SBC church that is willing to engage in this does.
10. Call on our seminaries and Lifeway to project theological education by extension into local associtation and cluster groups all over the U.S. via the internet. Decentralize seminary training so that it is more effectively serving the misson of the local church as they engage in this mission.

Of course, you start with the willing and those who are already working effectively. The GCRTF will say that they cannot mandate anything to the local church. That is true. But, NAMB is autonomous as well, and that hasn't stopped them from completely reorganizing NAMB in their recommendations. If the GCRTF used their SBC-given platform to put forward a plan like this, many local associations and state conventions would pick it up and begin to do it. If you had even 100 clusters of 3-5 churches form and carryout this plan together, that is 300-500 SBC church engaging in this local and global mission in an exponential way because they would be working together and sharing resources. You don't destroy the current structure of the SBC, but rather, you use it help initiate a movement of churches engaging in the Mission of God. As more and more churches engage in this, the things that do not facilitate the movement begin to lose importance and also lose funding. Churches continue to give to the CP because money is needed for church planters and consultants from the state conventions, local associations, NAMB, and the IMB, along with the missionaries/church planters needed to carry out the plans directly. So, you are not destroying the structure, but rather, you are repositioning it and maximizing its effectiveness by creating exponential engagement.

The argument will be that churches won't do this. I think that mine would. I could probably come up with a list of large and small churches in Alabama who would do something like this. What if cooperation actually meant more than sending a check to the CP, but we really did cooperate on a church-to-church basis? What if the church acted as the missionary and initated global and local work in cooperation with a few other churches doing the same thing? Does anyone think that excitement, spiritual life and passion, and the power of God would not spread? Does anyone think that the nations would not be impacted?

The problem in the SBC is not primarily a funding crisis. It is a vision crisis. Every local church has to go it alone. What if we partnered and networked a bit? What if the entities of the SBC lined up BEHIND the local church and helped us? What if the church really did become the frontlines of SBC mission work and every member of every SBC church was considered a missionary because they were directly engaging in the mission of God? What if we flipped everything around?

We might end up with a real GCR afterall. 

Still Grieving Over Haiti - What Do We Do Now?

Someone asked me today if I had recovered from my trip to Haiti yet. I told them that I had recovered physically, but emotionally and spiritually, I was still very affected. I cannot get the vision of the Haitian people out of my minds. The children, the men and women, the injured, the sick, the hungry, the scared. So many have lost family members and loved ones. Homes destroyed. Futures wrecked. They were a poor people to begin with, but they are a beautiful people. The worth of a person or a nation is not found in how much money they have, but rather in what God thinks of them. God loves them, I know that to be true. Do we love them, or have we moved on?

I am trying to figure out what I am supposed to do next. What are any of us supposed to do? The big organizations and the media tell us to give money. But, then you find out that what has been given has not made it to Haiti yet. It is on its way, but there is so much that has to be done to move the massive amounts of supplies that are needed in an organized way. There are so many obstacles in the way. I get that. But, it does not change the fact that people are suffering right now. Rainy season starts in March. Do you realize how many people are sleeping outside? How many children? No, just giving more money is not the answer. That is the easy thing to do. Cut a check for $100 and send it to one of the big disaster relief organizations and then go on with your life. That soothes the conscience, but the reality is that it is not filling the bellies of the children who are going to bed hungry again tonight - a bed that consists of some blankets piled on concrete in the open, or maybe under a sheet that is stretched out like a tent. The truth is that we do need to give money - but we also need teams of people to go and distribute the food and medicine and help with providing supplies to put up some temporary structures to keep people out of the rain and sun. We can't just feel good about giving some money. We also need people to go in teams and do the work of helping people and proclaiming Jesus.

I got to be on a team like that at the end of last month when I went to Haiti. They are Helping Hands Foreign Missions. They are not very large, but they are being the hands and feet of Jesus. They are bringing the Kingdom of God and Jesus said that the Kingdom was like a mustard seed, or yeast, or a treasure hidden in a field. Little children find it. I am finding that bigger is not always better in this type of thing. We just need to help people. Helping Hands is doing exactly that. If you want to invest in an organization that is truly impacting people in Haiti right now, I highly encourage you to support what they are doing. They are going back on March 8 and need people to join them either then or in the subsequent weeks. If you can go to Haiti, you should, and you should do it through this group.

Here is their blog from the weeks that they spent in Haiti. Read about how they ministered Christ and stepped into places of suffering. The blog is really full of some incredible stories of God working by putting this team exactly where they needed to be to minister to and feed and care for hundreds and hundreds of people. Watch this video that aired on CBS News in Atlanta about the work of Helping Hands in Haiti. Pray about what you can do and be the hands and feet of Jesus in a country that is suffering greatly.

  

Miracles in Haiti: Multiplying Food and Supplies Among Baptist Medical Teams

The following story from Baptist Press perfectly illustrates the point that I was making in my post earlier today. If we follow the Lord into hard places and show up, we can trust Him to multiply our provision and do miracles that astound us. If we try to work everything out in our own strength ahead of time, then we only have our own strength to depend on. We need to depend on God way more in the area of disaster relief. There is a way of Jesus here. Read my post from this morning and then read this report of God's miracle working power among a Baptist medical team that arrived a week after the earthquake:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)--Six state Southern Baptist Disaster Relief medical teams are among the first Baptists to minister in Haiti since the deadly 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12.

SBDR medical volunteers from Arkansas and North Carolina have already come and gone, and Kentucky and Mississippi teams arrived on Monday, Feb. 1. Florida and South Carolina medical volunteers are due to arrive in Port-Au-Prince on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

The Mississippi and Kentucky teams wasted no time after arriving on Monday, turning a small library into a pharmacy and treating 550 patients. The Mississippi team is operating a small hospital out of a Haitian Baptist church located on the edge of one of Port-Au-Prince's larger tent cities directly across from the national capitol building. The Kentucky team is working at a clinic near the presidential palace.

North American Mission Board disaster relief consultant Terry Henderson and a team of six will leave Atlanta on Thursday, Feb. 4, to serve as an incident command team in Haiti. They will link up with Fritz Wilson and Dennis Wilbanks of the Florida Baptist Convention, who are on the ground in Haiti for the second time since the earthquake.

Henderson and his team will be busy planning logistics, lodging, transportation, feeding and communications for SBDR's eventual "D Day" -- the day dozens of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams from the state conventions begin to be deployed to Haiti, a process that will extend over many months.

The Arkansas medical team was the first to land in Point-Au-Prince, ministering from Jan. 19-22.

Veteran disaster relief workers Tamara Gore and Jerry Gay were two of the 10 members of the Arkansas unit. Nothing prepared them for their first drive through downtown Port-Au-Prince, they reported. The unmistakable smell of death was pungent and everywhere.

Haiti was in only its seventh day following the devastating earthquake. More than 100,000 bodies had already been recovered, and most had been buried in mass graves to stave off disease. The temperature was in the mid-80s.

"I was in the first car," said Gore, a law enforcement chaplain from Benton, Ark. "You could see the bodies. We would pass a collapsed building and you would smell the bodies. Everybody knew what it was without talking about it."

Gay, associate missionary for the North Pulaski Baptist Association in Sherwood, Ark., thought he had seen it all after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"I've never seen anything even close to this disaster, even Katrina," Gay said. "My wife and I both worked after Katrina. It was bad but this was a different kind of bad. This was sudden with no warning. At least there was some warning for Katrina."

Gay said his worst memory came while riding in downtown Port-Au-Prince one afternoon. Spotting the rubble of a flattened building and trying to stomach the accompanying stench, Gay asked his driver what the structure had been. The driver told him the building had been a school.

"Immediately, I thought of my little granddaughter back in Arkansas," Gay recounted. "I thought I was ready for what I would see, but my mind raced to my granddaughter.... That's the kind of thing people who come down here need to be prepared for."

As the additional SBDR teams arrive in the Haitian capital in the days and weeks to come, Gay advises them to know why they're going before they get there.

"The mission ought to be clear," Gay said. "Folks need to be mentally, emotionally and spiritually prepared."

Gore said it another way: "I would tell disaster relief people that they need to be prayed up before they get there, because they don't know what they're going into and what they're going to be dealing with," said the 51-year-old chaplain with 28 years of experience.

Gore said the Arkansas medical team -- two medical doctors, four nurses, a nurse practitioner, a physical therapist, an emergency medical technician, a crisis counselor and Gay, the unit's communications expert -- flew directly into Port-Au-Prince via Mission Flights International (MFI) on Jan. 19. They set up a clinic at El Shaddai Baptist Church on the northern outskirts of Port-Au-Prince, near the airport and across from the U.N. compound.

During their four-day stint, the team saw around 70 patients a day at the makeshift clinic, including children from the El Shaddai Orphanage where they stayed at night.

The two physicians -- one a pediatrician, the other a surgeon and pediatric urologist –- treated patients for broken bones, cuts, abrasions, depression and stress-induced gastro-intestinal problems. They also saw patients who had to be transported to other medical sites because of the more serious nature of their injuries.

The clinic had no electricity. Team members slept on air mattresses on the floor. Gore said sleep was difficult at best because of the tropical heat and the nightly crowing roosters and bleating goats and sheep. Gay had the only cell phone that worked. Otherwise, communications was possible only by satellite phones.

Until the Arkansas team departed Haiti on Jan. 23, its biggest concern was running out of the precious antibiotics, pain medicines, bandages, snacks and other supplies they needed to treat the Haitians. Because of weight restrictions on the MFI plane, the team had brought only two large black bags of medical supplies.

But here's where both Gore and Gay tell a remarkably consistent story -- the story of just one of the miracles in Haiti so far.

"The first night there, we were afraid of running out of supplies," Gore recounted. "So when I gave the devotional that night, I talked about the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with the loaves and fishes. I talked about how we needed to pray for God to bless what we had, show us how to distribute what we had, and that God would give us what we needed."

Unbeknownst to the rest of the team, the two physicians and the physical therapist circled the two medical bags of supplies that same night and also prayed that the supplies would be sufficient, Gay said.

After two days and seeing 180 Haitian patients, Gore and Gay both insist that the two bags -- neither of them cram-packed even upon arrival -– were still full at the end of the second day. They said the same was true of a large sack of peanuts, cheese snacks and pretzels donated to the team by Southwest Airlines. Two days later, the bag had more snacks than they started with.

"People can draw their own conclusions," Gay said. "We're not crazy people, we're professional people. We carried in two bags of supplies. The bags were full but not bulging. When we got ready to leave, it was all a couple of us men could do to zip up the bags. Nobody came in and gave us any additional supplies or snacks. We left two full bags for the next medical team coming in.

"All we could do is look at each other and laugh -- knowing that it had to have been God who had multiplied that stuff," Gay said.

Gay and Gore both said they are already making plans to return to Haiti. In addition to the two men, the other eight members of the Arkansas medical team were Deborah Quade, Angela Titus, Emily Magnusson, Rebecca Brown, Carl Garvin, Larry Gore, John Redman and Katherine Durham.
--30--
Mickey Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board.

What if we had had 60 teams in Haiti within the first 3 weeks instead of 6? What if we were feeding people who are starving?  Could God protect and supply those teams as well? I don't want to presume upon God or tempt Him. We need to make sure that we are being led by the Holy Spirit. But, sometimes I think that we don't hear from God because we think that we already know what we can and can't do and we make decisions based off of our ability instead of God's supernatural power. I am so thankful for the team from Arkansas and I praise God for the miracle of multiplication that He provided.

Haitian Orphans and UNICEF's War Against International Adoption

On Wednesday of last week, I found myself traveling through the rubble strewn streets of Port-au-Prince on my way to the US Embassy. We went there to inquire about bringing 50 Haitian orphans to the United States. A ministry that I am familiar with called Bridges of Faith in Alabama has the facilities and the desire to take care of up to 50 Haitian orphans on something that the State Department calls a Humanitarian Waiver. When we got to the embassy we were told that the Haitian government was allowing orphans to leave the country last week. But, then things changed. Inexplicably, they changed direction and now no orphans were leaving Haiti. The 10 Americans who are now being detained in Haiti got caught up in this confusion, it appears. Some reports state that they had permission but they needed one more piece of paperwork to leave the country. What they did was not wise, but the rules have kept changing in Haiti regarding the orphan situation. Apparently, UNICEF (United Nations Childrens Fund) is playing a huge role here.

According to reports, UNICEF has a standing policy against international adoption (see HERE).  According to missionaries in Haiti and other reports from those trying to adopt, UNICEF has pressured the Haitian government to adhere to their policies on international adoption and cease releasing children to adoptive parents that have already been approved. The U.S. government is trying to get the children released and a stalemate has ensued. This is what we were caught up in at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince and it is why the policies changed. The UNICEF perspective is that children in poverty-stricken condiitions are better off if they stay in orphanages in their native culture than if they leave their native culture and go to families in other countries. You can debate this all you want, but that is what is behind the fact that Haitan orphans are not being allowed to leave right now. UNICEF saw an opportunity to spread their philosophy to Haiti and they have a lot of money that the Haitian government needs. At least that is the story that is being reported by people in Haiti who are in the know.

As for the 10 missionaries from Idaho, the media is presenting this like they are bunch of sex traffickers that got caught. Did they make a mistake? Yes. Were they foolish and ill-informed? It appears that they were. However, it is easy to speculate that an example is being made of them to send a message that children are staying put, despite the best intentions. One report stated that they had full approval from the orphanage and the parents of the children that they were taking. 21 of the 33 children had parents and those parents actually put them on the bus to get them out of Haiti and to the Dominican Republic. I don't know the full story. It is doubtful that anyone does at this point. I fully understand the need to have things documented and for the proper paper work to be done. Actually, I fiercely support things being done the right way when it comes to children. There are many ill-intentioned people out there that would take advantage of a situation like this and it is possibly that the group from Idaho was in that number. But, when international power plays begin to get involved in things like this, then the story is not always as it appears. 

The role of the church is to be an advocate for justice and righteousness all over the world. The Haitian children should be protected from predators that would seek to exploit them in this time of disaster. At the same time, children that can be taken care of and provided for in these types of situations should be. If they cannot leave Haiti, then we should go to them and help care for them there. The 11 year old orphaned girl that we rescued from sex slavery last week is burned into my mind. Fortunately, she is in an orphanage that we are working with and is not being prostituted on the streets of Port-au-Prince. But, how many more are suffering? What else can we do?

My heart aches. 

Hinduism, India, Jesus, and Thanksgiving Prayers

The Hindus just began a sacrifice of 250,000 animals in Nepal.  As you know, there are about 1 BILLION or so Hindus in India, the country where our church does the majority of its mission work. They are sacrificinng animals for a Hindu festival honoring the goddess Gadhimai.

The world's biggest animal sacrifice began in Nepal today with the killing of the first of more than 250,000 animals as part of a Hindu festival in the village of Bariyapur, near the border with India.

The event, which happens every five years, began with the decapitation of thousands of buffalo, killed in honour of Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power.

With up to a million worshippers on the roads near the festival grounds, this year's fair seems more popular than ever, despite vocal protests from animals rights groups who have called for it to be banned. "It is the traditional way, " explained 45-year old Manoj Shah, a Nepali driver who has been attending the event since he was six, "If we want anything, and we come here with an offering to the goddess, within five years all our dreams will be fulfilled."

Crowds thronged the roads and camped out in the open, wrapped in blankets against the cool mist. The festivities included a ferris wheel, fortune-telling robots and stalls broadcasting music and offering tea and sugary snacks.

As dawn broke, the fair officially opened with the sacrifice of two rats, two pigeons, a pig, a lamb and a rooster in the main temple, to cheers of "Long live Gadhimai" from spectators pushing against each other for a better view.

The article goes on to say,

Chandan Dev Chaudhary, a Hindu priest, said he was pleased with the festival's high turnout and insisted tradition had to be kept. "The goddess needs blood," he said. "Then that person can make his wishes come true."

Every time we visit, we go to the Hindu holy city of Rishikesh on the Ganges River. This city is full of temples, idols, holy men, ashrams, yoga centers, and pilgrimage sites. It reeks with incense and sacrificial prayers. Bells are constantly ringing to awaken the deities from their slumber in the thirteen story high Kailashananda Ashram on the banks of the Ganges. Westerners flock to this place to study yoga and fulfill their search for enlightenment. But, darkness is all they find.

"The goddess needs blood."  This is true about every religion. Blood, sacrifice, and our offerings are required to awakent the gods and goddesses to our plight and give us good fortune. Religion tells us that we can get to God through what we do. This is the spell that the Hindus are under. But, the Bible declares this perspective to be patently false. We can never get to God, no matter what we do.  Yes, blood is required because our sins are great and they require punishment. But, we are incapable of paying the punishment of our sins. A sacrifice is needed, but the blood of bulls and goats is not sufficient. We need a Perfect Sacrifice. This is who Jesus is. He was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. The full wrath of God was satisfied by the punishment that was laid upon Christ. We do not have to continue to offer sacrifices for our sins to to gain good fortune. We must only look to Christ in faith in what He did for us. His death and resurrection is sufficient.

Hebrews 9:11-15 says,

¹¹When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. ¹²He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

 ¹⁵For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Religion tells us how we can climb to God. True Christianity tells us that God has come to us to rescue us and make things right. We must only respond to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ in faith and repentance. We must look to Jesus. Hinduism only keeps people in perpetual bondage. Christianity sets people free. People who say that all religions are basically the same know nothing of what world religions teach. They are as fundamentally different as night is from day. As Christians, we no longer have to make sacrifices or perform rituals for salvation, but rather, we must only believe in Jesus Christ, the One that God has sent.

And for that I am truly thankful.

 

 

Coming Shakeup at NAMB and What It Says About the Future of the SBC

The Associated Baptist Press is reporting that the president of Southern Baptist's North American Mission Board (NAMB), Geoffery Hammond, appears to be on the way out over leadership issues and conflict.  Hammond replaced Bob Reccord in 2007 who was removed for mismanaging the agency. What exactly is NAMB doing? Why does it exist? What is its role? How is it to interact with state conventions? How does it serve the local church? I don't really know if anyone knows the answer to those questions. I really don't know if anyone is even asking the right questions. I do know that we keep seeing failure across the board and we keep looking for scapegoats. Maybe Hammond is horrible as a leader and there are better leaders available. Maybe he isn't and the culture is just broken and no one knows why they exist. I don't know. But, this makes two presidents in a row that have been removed (if it does happen) and that points to some larger problems, I would think.

I write this post because reading the article made me think of the seminar yesterday at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit with Gary Hamel.   I put my notes up in a post yesterday (follow the preceding link) and I want to say that Hamel has gotten me thinking about developing bottom up, organic, leadership structures for the 21st century. Marty Duren and I have been working on a concept called "ChurchAsMissionary" where we are saying that the local church is to function as the missionary. Our new collaborative website (along with Todd and Paul Littleton, Art Rogers, and David Phillips) is called missioscapes.com. We will be exploring how churches can reposition themselves for mission in a rapidly changing world as they launch out from older structures. I don't know what kind of future denominational bureaucracies like NAMB have in this world where the only constant is change, but I do know that they ought to talk with Gary Hamel and see what he thinks about which way they should go. That guy is brilliant. Of course, he must be, because he is saying the same stuff that I've been saying since about 2003 about network theory!  :-)  Um, plus he teaches for the London School of Business or something and has written books and speaks all over and stuff. In other words, he's really smart. And right.  Southern Baptists ought to start paying attention to what is actually happening in our world instead of continuing to lead organizations as though we are living in the Industrial Age.

Marty Duren on the GCR: If We Were the GCR Task Force

A new series begins today at http://missioscapes.com entitled, "If We Were the GCR Task Force." Marty Duren writes the first of seven scheduled posts by the editors during the month of August addressing the GCR and offering our thoughts on what we would do if we were them. It should be a profitable discussion and I hope that you take a look at it. Leave a comment and give us your thoughts. By the way, I'll be writing quite a few posts like this announcing new articles for missioscapes.com since it is a new site and we are trying to let people know about it.