Running “into”

I recently read this short meditation in a study of Proverbs by Tim & Kathy Keller.

It was based on the verses from Proverbs 18:10-11: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.”

Here is what the Kellers wrote: “But the wise person runs into the name of the Lord. In the Bible, God’s name is a way of speaking of his nature and attributes. To run into God’s name is to deliberately rehearse and tell yourself who he is. Jesus asked his fearful disciples in the storm, “Where is your faith?” He chastised them for failing to remember all that they had seen him do (Luke 8:25). If you panic, you are failing to remember (to “run into”) his power, his wisdom, his love for you. Self-control in any situation is the critical ability to both recognize and choose the important thing over the urgent thing. To honor, trust in, and please God is always the most important thing.  What are you facing right now that is difficult? What attribute of God might you be forgetting – and might help greatly if you remembered it?”

So, what are you facing right now that is difficult?  And what attribute of God might you be forgetting – and might help greatly if you remembered it?

Three things

A shout out to Craig for his reminder a week ago at the WT Spain retreat that the Gospel calls us to remember three theological truths: justification, redemption, and propitiation.

Justification. God chooses, based on the work of Jesus Christ, to declare us not guilty; to credit the righteousness of Christ to our account in exchange for Christ taking on our sins upon Himself.  To put it another way, He restores honour to the creature who had shamed the Creator.  And for the purpose of God being glorified for His work on behalf of His people.

Redemption.  As one writer put it: “The language of redemption is the language of purchase and more specifically of ransomed.”  Sin had enslaved us in spiritual bondage. Jesus went down into the marketplace of sin (see Hosea 3) and bought us back, securing for us liberty and freedom from the power of sin in our lives.

Propitiation.  “Propitiation presupposes the wrath and displeasure of God, and the purpose of propitiation is the removal of this displeasure.”  Jesus Christ became the perfect sacrifice needed, so that when God turns His face from all His creative work in the world and sets His gaze upon us, He sees Christ.

What Craig did in several short teaching sessions was to focus our hearts and minds on the depth of the Gospel.  He pushed us to consider the amazing grace of the Gospel. And to take time to plunge ourselves further into understanding the Gospel and considering the application of the Gospel to what happens in our lives and ministries.

Feeling more the weight of our sin in light of God’s holiness; the damage of the shame we bring to Him by our actions, heightens our appreciation of the wonder of His love toward us (Romans 1-8).

Thanks Craig!  But more importantly, thank you God for your steadfast love and mercy shown to thousands; and for that love and mercy which continues to reach across time from generation to generation to generation!

You are not alone

One of the daily phrases that we heard at the Global 3C conference was: “You are not alone”!

That statement Alissa shared at the conference can be pulled from numerous texts in the Bible:

Deuteronomy 31:8 – “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Joshua 1:5 – “Just as with Moses, so I will be with you.  I will not leave you or forsake you.”

Matthew 28:20 – “Teaching them observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

John 14:18 – “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

Hebrews 13:5 – “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””

This truth certainly “warms” our hearts and comforts us in times of difficulties and struggles.

However, the more important question we need to ask ourselves is: How does this truth work itself more deeply into our hearts?  How does it help us in some small way sense that “peace that passes all understanding” and that guards our hearts and minds in Christ?

Possible answers to that question are not so simple. It would be much easier if one knew that by repeating this truth to oneself or by memorizing Deuteronomy 31:8, things would go much better and one wouldn’t be so anxious at times.

One place to begin is by asking trusted colleagues what it might look like to remember that “I am not alone”; that God goes with me into whatever day or situation I might find myself.

Or you might choose to read one chapter out of Gentle & Lowly by Dane Ortlund and share what you learn with another brother or sister.

Or you might challenge yourself to memorize with a small group the 1^st question of the Heidelberg Catechism.  And then share with each other once a week what you learned from just thinking about the first phrase or the second phrase of the answer to question #1.

Or you might seek to develop the reflex that when a struggle or difficulty arises, and you feel alone that you call another believer and share with them that you are “feeling alone” and need the reminder of His presence.

None of these answers is a “cure all” but they might bring other ideas to mind that would help you to drive this truth more deeply into your heart that: “You are not alone!”

What are you learning?

We have often said to participants in the Leader cohort or Leader intensive trainings that most cross-cultural workers stop learning at age 40.  J. Robert Clinton insisted in his work on leadership that most leaders, from age 40 on, rely on what they have learned up to that point in their life and ministry.

In the global WT community, we talk a good deal about lifelong learning. However, I would guess that most of us are “sporadic” lifelong learners at best. We lack consistency and direction.

To get us started again towards consistent and regular growth, might I suggest the following ideas?

1. List 1-3 books, articles, podcasts, or training videos you would like to read, listen to or do in the coming month. Ask some trusted friends for their advice. Then prioritize your list.
2. Make a plan. Many of us resist this part, yet we do this most days of our lives. We make a plan for how to visit our supporters and supporting churches. We make a plan for our outreach events this coming year. We make a plan for going away on vacation. We should be able to the same with our lifelong learning.
3. Share with another an insight you gain from any of the materials you read or listen to.  Tell the person what you learned and how you see it applying to your life or ministry. This is an under-rated part of the learning process.  Capturing in your own words what you have learned from a book or a podcast will reinforce the principle or insight you gained.
4. If the book, article, podcast or training video caused you to grow, share it with another person and tell them why you think it would be helpful to them and their lifelong learning and growth.

If you are looking for an example of how this might look, drop me a note and I’ll share a recent personal example from my read of the book, Insight, by Tasha Eurich.

If you have other thoughts or ideas, feel free to share them by commenting on this post.

Nothing all that new

I recently read an article that appeared on the Missio Nexus website (in 2021) with the title: “Deconstructing the Great Commission”.   

“Today there is an almost constant call for a re-envisioning of missions. Authors like  … have written books critical of contemporary mission. These three books critique missionary agencies, missionary structure and the use of the term “mission” in any way. One author called for a reframing of how we understand the message of Christ and how we share it both locally and globally.”

This same call for ‘deconstruction’ had occurred in the 1930s in North America when the Hocking Report was published. This report actually called for a moratorium on missions and on sending cross cultural workers. An insightful rebuttal to this report was written by Hendrik Kraemer in his book, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World.

There is nothing wrong with rightfully questioning the “way” we carry out mission in the world in which we live.  However, it should never come at the expense of putting into question the central message of the Bible and of our faith, nor of our calling to share that message with those around us. This was the thrust of Kramer’s argument in 1938.

Jesus Christ gave Himself to redeem us, to grant us the honour of being part of His family, and to put the Holy Spirit in our hearts who seeks to testify to the person and work of our Saviour.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Looking deeper

Sometimes when we look at an issue or a problem, a lot of creative ideas come quickly to mind. And certainly, a number of those are good solutions to that issue that we should consider implementing. 

However, that “quick response” reflex can sometimes keep us from looking deeper; from searching out other sources of that issue or problem.

In recent times, we have heard quite a bit about the decline of candidates from North America (and other places in the Western world); a decline in those who are considering serving in cross cultural church planting.  A number of reasons are put forth: an antipathy toward raising funds; the unknown of what is church planting; the feeling that one can do ministry right here in North America where the world is coming to us; or the desire to find a job overseas (rather than raise funds) and simply help a church plant get started somewhere in the world.

In light o those concerns, we create viable solutions to address them: creative funding solutions; marketplace ministry; diaspora outreach; or front loading more and more CP training.

Please hear me well: all of these are worthwhile endeavors that we should pursue.

However, I would encourage us to look more deeply at these issues in missions today in light of a few thoughts I have recently read:

• In Mobilizing Gen Z, Jolene Erlacher and Katy White quote the Future of Missions study from Barna: “Only 35 percent of engaged Christian parents of young adults say they would definitely encourage their child to serve in missions, while 25 percent are not open to the idea at all.”
• “In the West, we have multiple churches in any given community, yet more than half of the world’s population has little or no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
• A friend wrote recently: “The sacrifice of missions is real, it’s deep, it’s enduring.”

Maybe we should give time and energy to better understanding the hesitations of Christian parents, and how we might challenge them to pray for the future of their children from God’s perspective.  Perhaps, we might re-build the vision of the incredible ride and journey cross cultural church planting is.  And maybe, we just need to rehearse again and again Jesus’ call to disciple the nations – some of whom may not land on our shores.

Michael Griffiths wrote a short book many years ago called: Give Up Your Small Ambitions.  Maybe that’s a word for us today: how do we share the wonder, joy, and sacrifice that is cross cultural church planting with those around us?   What are your thoughts?