No.8 Wire

Welcome Home

2011-07-31T16:21:00.000-07:00

"Welcome Home..see I made a space for you now."
May this be our response to those who have come to belong in our land.
May we also be prepared to be the stranger going to other shores, seeking the hospitality of others that we might share the love of Christ from the botton of our hearts, from a place of humility and weakness not of coersion and strength

see real hospitality: their place not ours Steve Taylor

key documents to go deeper:
Position Paper on Migration (NZ Christian Network)
Christian Witness in a multi-religious world (WEA/WCC/PCID)

The Vanishing Middle

2011-04-26T01:52:00.001-07:00

How does the vanishing middle affect missions, churches and other non-profits? Watch and listen

The Vanishing Middle

View more webinars from mark sayers.

Mashup

2010-12-19T15:46:00.000-08:00

What is a mashup?

In developing the Wii, Miyamoto “had ‘mashed up’ two seemingly unrelated things…to create something new. And in our revolutionary age, the mashup is a sign of a different landscape of power… …mashup logic demands that we look at the world as multiple objects mixed in multiple—unpredictable—ways to create totally new objects or situations.” (126) “…mashups have the weird effect of making the unimaginable not only possible but inevitable. Mash up authoritarian rule and capitalism, previously thought to be incompatible, and you get China.” We must learn to understand and use mashup energy. “Our policies, dreams, and ideas can be combined to release new and unexpected power.” (128-29)

See David Mays Book notes on JC Rambo, The Age of the Unthinkable

So what could a missions mashup look like?

Tranzsend partnering with 9 other agencies in MISSIONWORLD to inspire, resource and mobilize NZ Baptists in mission
Justice as an integrator of what we do (breaking down that false dichotomy of spiritual/social gospel)

What kind of a missions mashup would you like to see?

The Call - teaser

2010-07-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

Turning Japanese

2010-05-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

100 years ago, the leaders of every major mission agency gathered in Edinburgh to ask “What is it going to take to complete world evangelization in our generation?” In 1980, the Vapours had a hit song called Turning Japanese. In May 2010, I had the privilege of participating in the “From Edinburgh 1910 to Tokyo 2010 Global Mission Consultation”, held in Tokyo.

In the last hundred years God has done amazing things with the percentage of people groups without an indigenous church reducing from 90% to less than 25%. Here are some other interesting statistics:

This huge growth of the church in the Majority world has also led to a change in the missionary sending demographic. In 1910, the evangelical church was sending out around 25,000 cross-cultural missionaries, 99% of which were from the Western world. Today, the evangelical church sends out over 220,000 cross-cultural missionaries, 78% of which are from the Majority world. But we’re not done yet. Our family is not yet complete. There are still 3,700 unreached peoples with no known missionary activity. Our missionary God is still calling New Zealanders alongside missionaries from all nations to continue to take the good news to places where it has yet to be heard. Not only that, there is a boomerang challenge for nations such as ours to give a Macedonian call to our fellow workers from the Majority world to “come over and help us” recontextualize the gospel for our current generation who are largely immunized to modern Christendom.

Here are some random comments from the conference that I hope will spark our thinking as we continue to be involved in what God is doing around the world:

• How should we respond to the fact that God is moving : live, love, lead.
• Is the internet the roman road of our day? - Steve Douglass
• We serve a tenure and there is the limitedness of our lives and times. Who are you raising to replace you? A living dog is better than a dead lion - Gbile Akanni
• The Kingdom of God spreads in and through social networks. It is like yeast in the dough. As such we can and should expect that in many situations, men & women & families & friends will come into the Kingdom together, as "pre-existing webs of relationships" - Kevin Higgins
• We have to stop making decisions about who is open & who is not open to the gospel… There is no secret outside being friends and caring - Paul Eshlemann
• Innovative church: church on a bus, church on the ocean, church in a chinese restaurant…
• Every human being has a “filter” in his or her mind. This filter distills the knowledge and the message, so that he or she can accept it or refuse it. Every Muslim has a filter working, like a water filter. To communicate the gospel effectively, we have to consider the Muslim’s filter. - Hisham Kamel
• God still needs workers: willing to obey and risk all. Now at the 11th hour we need not be concerned about who is first or last but be sure that the Lord will pay all of us the same way: we need to work together and be boarderless, using new models of training, finances, evangelization, partnership. – Obed Alvarez

Also see these posts:
Discipling in an M Context
Making Disciples
Diaspora Missiology

Lord Jesus, help us to recognize you in the face of the stranger and welcome your presence among us. You have graced us with the gifts of many cultures and nations. Free us from the fear of those from other lands. Teach us to share our gifts with newcomers in return, so that you may say, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Come now...

When I left for Japan, one of my sons asked me to bring him back a samurai sword and a life-sized statue of Hiro Nakamura, a character in Heroes. Unfortunately I didn’t meet Hiro or the Vapors in Tokyo, but I still have that silly song running around in my brain as well as the heartbeat for participating in God’s mission beating stronger for having seeing a glimpse of what God is doing beyond the boarders of our tiny nation.

For more information see: Tokyo2010

tokyo 2010 from U.S. Center for World Mission on Vimeo.

Find video of conference sessions here

Diaspora missiology

2010-05-13T23:20:00.000-07:00

Do you remember that old sesame st song: " Who are the people in your neighborhood"?

Well most of the world;'s people can no longer be defined geographically (R. Winter). They are in our neighborhood. This is mission at our doorstep. The key, as always, is relationship, not a packaged programme. If God sent these people to our neighborhood then what are we doing to be hospitable to them and showing them the hospitality of God?

Making Disciples

2010-05-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

Skip thru 1st 7 minutes. Gbile Akanni is best speaker so far. A couple of notable quotes:

"Who are you raising to replace you? A living dog is better than a dead lion."

"don't let your omission become the mission of another person"

Discipling in a M context

2010-05-12T02:40:00.000-07:00

(Could be relevant to any context really)

- church is not equipped to accomodate & disciple MMBs

- key is 1-1: both outreach & discipleship

- start with one person and disciple well, then use them to reach others, teaching them to disciple in the way that you have them

- can use online 1-1 discipleship but face-face better

- don't make a celebrity out of new believers: disciple them

- love is an action - they will learn from your lifestyle and want to see if you believe what you are teaching

- disciple as part of your evangelization - need to know why we believe what we believe and articulate it to family members

New Renewal Missionary Movement

2010-05-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

Dr Obed R Alvarez

Love the Latino attitude:)
Obed applied parable of the labourers of the vineyard (Mt20:1-16) to
history of renewal missionary movements.:
6am: Jesus' disciples and early church
9am: western missionary movement
12pm: brittish missionary movement
3pm: Nth American missionary movement
5pm: now: global south

Despite the oversimplification of the history of missions and
interesting hermeneutic he made some good points:

1/ God still needs workers: willing to obey and risk all
2/ now at the 11th hour we need not be concerned about who is first or last but be sure that the Lord will pay all of us the same way

ie we need to work together and be boarderless and use new models of training, finances, evangelization, partnership.

DNA of the missionary task

2010-05-11T17:54:00.000-07:00

Kingdom Mission: DNA of the missionary task.
Dr David J Cho - pre-WWII missionary!

Despite overgeneralizing the history of mission from an anti-colonialist perspective, Dr Cho made a positive challenge for partnership and new mission forces from and to both East & West. He first made this challenge at Lausanne 1974. Interestingly enough we are only seeing this emerge in SIM in the last 5 years. There is much work to be done in NZ to open our eyes to see the need for non-western missionaries in NZ as well as NZers overseas in truly multi-cultural teams.

He also made the following comment: Jesus is knocking on the door from outside the church. What could that mean?

What do you see as the DNA of the missionary task of the future?

The Key to the Missionary problem

2010-02-21T19:25:00.000-08:00

The Key to the Missionary problem was written by Andrew Murray just after the Edinburgh 1910 conference. He concludes that the number of missionaries is so small because of lack of heart on the part of church members, so little enthusiasm for the King. He asks how the Church can be aroused to the work God has destined for her. Read a fuller summary in David May's Book notes

It seems that we are preaching the same things today:

how to kindle missionary passion
the Church exists only for extending the kingdom,every member must be trained to take part in it in the power of the spirit
Seek the deepening of the spiritual life and missionary consecration will follow
Our only hope is to apply ourselves to prayer.

Has anything changed in 100 years? To what extent are these issues still relevant? What are current obstacles for involvement in world mission?

Dispersed Community

2009-11-11T13:50:00.000-08:00

I was reading a blog post the other day called Dispersed for the Shalom-Work of Mission and came across this phrase:

“a dispersed community of people
who want to live out a mission life where they are”

I love that. It captures the heart of who we are as the SIM worldwide community.

Last week our LT met to do some big picture thinking about strategy for SIM NZ into the future. This is part of a process that will culminate in a Board retreat early next year. One of the areas we talked about as important was how we as SIM NZ can embody the who we are statement that says

SIM is a community of God's people who delight to worship him and are passionate about the Gospel, seeking to fulfill the mission of Jesus Christ in the world.

How we live out our sense of belonging together as a community despite our physical dispersion as mission partners overseas, office team in various locations, supporters, advocates, alumni & retirees, board members, partner churches really is, I believe, a key to moving into the future with both diversity & cohesion. It is interesting to note that dispersion is not only a fact for our community, but also part of God’s plan for his people. We are people chosen by God, we are strangers in this world , we are to be scattered throughout the world so that others may hear of his wonderful love and become recipients of his amazing grace. (see 1 Peter 1: 1-2)
Our core values include two that speak directly to the sort of community we want to be:

A Christlike Community
We desire to be a transforming community dedicated to becoming like Christ in love, servanthood, holiness, and obedience to the Father. We believe that following Christ's example means sacrifice, sometimes hardship, and perhaps even death.

A Learning, Growing Community
We believe in the worth and giftedness of each person in SIM and of those we seek to serve. We practise the giving and receiving of discipleship, life-long learning, consultative leadership, mutual development, and training as enduring disciplines.

I am excited to see some of the thinking that is developing around the People Development strategy, called Thrive. This month the team is meeting in Singapore. Please pray for them as they go about this project to help us build a unified core.

I would appreciate your ideas about how we can grow together as a dispersed community. Please post your thoughts as a comment on this blogpost.

One of the ways we look to develop a sense of community is through our 29:11 weekends for people coming & going from NZ with SIM. If you have been to one of these you will know the value of talking about culture, reentry, and the even greater value of hanging out with people who understand your vision, your issues, your experiences. Our next 29:11 is planned for 25-27 February at Piha. If you are back in NZ or not yet left, please make it a priority. Think also of what others can learn from your experience as we look to be a learning, growing community.

I was also thinking that it is hard to be a Christlike community if we aren’t regularly immersed in the words and actions of Jesus. So I have a Lukan advent challenge for us all: to read the book of Luke between now and Christmas. Let me know if you are up for the challenge. Join me in asking questions and sharing insights on the following Facebook group:
Lukan Advent Challenge

Everyday Justice

2009-11-05T03:27:00.000-08:00

See the book on Amazon

Dispersed for the Shalom-Work of Mission

2009-10-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

a dispersed community of people who want to live out a mission life where they are
- I love that phrase. It captures the heart of who we are as the SIM worldwide community.

It comes from Johnny Baker of CMS. Read more at Prodigal Kiwi(s) blog

Who can be a missionary?

2009-08-09T15:48:00.000-07:00

Missionaries from Maxime Soumagnas on Vimeo.

Missionaries are not super-heroes just servant leaders – mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries (1 Co.4:1). More on what is kiwi ingenuity serving in mission

A thousand Questions: must see vodeo

2009-07-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

Youth and Technology

2009-06-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

By Sean.

Consider this quote I recently came across in a magazine in New Zealand

“Recently, practitioners and researchers have recognised spirituality as an important aspect in youth development. But rather than being purely seen as a connection to religion, these people have redefined spirituality as a sense of purpose in life and a sense of connection to one’s world. Given this definition we could argue that currently, especially for young people, Information Communication Technology (ICT) use is deeply spiritual as it enables young people to establish a purpose to their lives and a sense of connection both to their friends and the larger world.”

The reality is that in the wider world technology is changing people’s lives and the way they communicate but these impacts are more extreme in the youth culture. For many people it may seem that technology is changing practical aspects of young people’s lives but I think it is more than this. Besides the fact that technology and media is giving young people more knowledge, freedom and access to new ideas I believe it is also impacting their understanding of relationships, sense of community and connectedness but also maybe their view of self worth and spiritual beliefs.

Anyone working with young people must take seriously the role that ICT is having on them. Whether it is mobile phones, internet, social network sites, blogging or emails young people’s lives are starting to be transformed by these new forms of communicating and of being. The next page has some quotes and facts that might help you think about how ICT is impacting young people.

This can have its plusses and minuses. On the plus side, ICTs can enable a young person a space to dream the impossible and expand their vision and connection. On the minus side, if we don’t support young people then a very real possibility exists that the young person may make troubling connections, may fracture ‘real world’ connections with families and friends, and may rupture any positive sense of purpose.
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The first has to do with the young person’s social existence in his/her group of friends. To socially exist in this network, it is necessary, above all, to be together, be called. Calls received are not attributed a functional value (‘I communicate a lot’) but, above all, a symbolic or existential value (‘I receive calls, therefore I exist’). On this same level, the mobile embodies or personifies a major financial response to the difficulty of existing in the network. Moreover, like in the case of voice calls, the number of messages received constitutes an interesting barometer of the adolescent’s social importance.
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I think it really becomes a part of you because it’s with you more than anything else in the world, like I feel naked without my phone. (Female, 16)
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In fact, the cell phone has had a dramatic impact globally. Why? Cell phones don’t need wires to connect to another phone. Essentially, what this means is that the small device we often take for granted can be used in the majority world (in places like Africa, the Pacific, and Asia) to assist in addressing issues such as poverty, human rights and sustainability. Although recent developments in computer technology are seeing advancements in wireless computer technology, the cell phone continues to lead in programmes for development. In fact, did you know, in 2007 there were more cell phones in the majority world than what there were in the minority world?
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Once social network sites were the place where you could read about someone else’s cat. Now, it’s the first place you go to when there’s breaking news. Sites like Twitter and Facebook can leave a huge impact on the real world; lives are changed, important questions are asked (and answered) there.
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Spam and cybercrime are out of control, and a quarter of South Korea's teenagers are classed as "internet addicts", many with serious behavioural problems. Peer-to-peer networking is booming, challenging copyright laws and conventions.
—————
Blogs are taking off across Africa as a new tech-savvy generation takes advantage of growing internet access. The African blogosphere was, until recently, filled by the African diaspora and westerners living in Africa. But native African voices are now being heard.

For many years culture, values, ways of functioning and community were set by the standards and structures of the community. Now those standards and structures are being disassembled and put back together in new ways. Modern forms of communication are changing the way young people see and understand themselves and how groups and communities function. This also includes their Christian faith and view of church. What does this look like where you live or work? How has technology changed youth culture? What are the new rules?

Also see www.youthmesh.org

Video: Bishop Zac Niringiye's Message to the SIM Community

2009-05-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

Bishop D. Zac Niringiye message to the SIM community from SIM International on Vimeo.

Bishop David Zac Niringiye from Uganda believes that true Christian community and true Christian mission always progress through partnership, or what he calls a "working out of diversity." He recently taught on this subject during SIM's Global Leaders Gathering where 160 leaders, representing over 40 countries, came together to worship, seek God's face, and commit to continue on the journey ... moving forward together in God's mission.

Bishop Niringiye shared words of encouragement and challenge to everyone in the SIM community. This video is an excerpt from a longer interview conducted at the end of the SIM Global Leaders Gathering, which was held at Brackenhurst Conference Center outside of Nairobi, Kenya, in March 2009.

Wait

2009-05-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

"Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” Isaiah 40:31 KKJV

Have you ever prayed for something you really care about only to sense God saying wait? It is probably easier to hear no than wait as we can then get over our disappointment and get on with life.

On Sunday of the GLG we heard from Pastor Janet of Nairobi chapel about how to navigate such times in our lives when God tells us to wait. She used the acronym WAIT :

Worship the giver, not the gift

Acknowledge your life is more than this one thing

Intended for good

Trust God

Wow, what a great perspective that gives to our waiting.

Recently in our Team devotions we heard from a Word For Today article (March 31). The author says that the Hebrew word “wait” also pictures the making of a rope. Each time you wait on God you add another thread to the rope and you get a little stronger. Does this refer only to sitting in God’s presence or does it also apply when God asks us to wait? Probably depends on our attitude in the waiting time.

“If you’re at the end of your rope today, grab hold of [this promise]: Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord (Ps 27:14 NKJV)”

A world redolent with spirituality

2009-05-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

I was recently reading a quote by Eugene Petersen, in Underneath the Predictable Planet , who writes of how the Russian novelist, Fydor Dostoevesky challenged him.

He (Dostoevsky) refused to take the evidence that the people presented of themselves as truth; he dove beneath the surface of their lives and discovered in the depths, fire and passion and God. He trained my antennae to pick up the suppressed signals of spirituality in conversations, discovering tragic plots and comic episodes, works in progress all around me. I was living in a world redolent (fragrant) with spirituality. There were no ordinary people!

It is my prayer that this would be the attitude of all us as we minister in many parts of the world that God has created, that we may join God in what he is doing in the lives of those around us, open for Him to work in & through us.

Money for Missions: The Big and the Small of it

2009-05-18T13:58:00.000-07:00

Psalm 16:5-6

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Read more of this excellent post @ Tall Skinny Kiwi

Ecuadorian house churches support own missionary

2009-04-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

At the conference in Nairobi, we continued to explore how best to continue our new initiatives in missions and send people from countries we once only sent to. Great to read this article today about one of our brothers from the House Church Movement in Ecuador:

His first day as a new believer, Chillambo traveled with a pastor to remote mountain villages to find people who had never heard about Christ. That day, he was called to missions.

“What struck me was in the city there are many, many Christians crawling all over each other,” Chillambo says. “No one wanted to go out to the extreme edges, the countryside. I was really touched because no one was willing to go. My passion is not to travel to another country but to go where people have never heard the Gospel.”

Read More

SIM Sudan Needs YOU

2009-03-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

Can you teach English, Maths, how to repair an engine, agriculture, almost anything? Can you hack the heat, are you a team player, love to converse, can you work alongside nationals? Do you love Jesus? SIM Sudan works to help rebuild the church and nation of Sudan. We already have a few NZers there. Could you be the next? More.

Multicultural

2009-03-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

SIM Sudan truly reflects our core value of being Strengthened Through

Diversity: … We believe we will be more effective in ministry as we incorporate the richness of cultural diversity in SIM and celebrate our oneness in Christ.

The team is made up with partners from Canada, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Asia, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Switzerland, UK & USA. As we met at the office to pray for each of the bases in Sudan I was encouraged by the equality and contribution of all and the grace shown one to another. “...that is where the Lord has decreed a blessing will be available – eternal life” Psalm 133:3b

Indeed their guiding principles are to be emulated by us all:

1. Multicultural

2. A Body of Christ

3. Puts Sudanese First

4. Listens and Learns

5. Is Alongside, Not Alone

6. Is Innovative and Flexible

7. Is Focused on Member care

8. Plans and Evaluates

9. Is Team-Based

10. Operates By Prayer

Malakal

2009-03-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

Our mission partner Andrew works in this isolated town. We didn’t make it there due to grounded flights but we had a great talk on mobile phone and the SIM Sudan leader raved about this rugged NZer living in a hard place and thriving. Andrew is currently using his kiwi ingenuity to build a shelter structure for tents so that partners can stay comfortably(?) in the 40deg+ heat. An important part of his ministry is getting to know people in the town and he is enjoying studying the Bible with local Sudanese. Pray for him as he starts a daily devotional with the men working on the construction, reading the Bible to them in their mother tongue.

Separate Me, Initiate Me, Make Me

2009-01-14T23:48:00.000-08:00

I searched SIM in godtube.com and the first link was this great rap, that says:

SIM". "Separate Me, Initiate Me, Make Me"

Choice Anxiety

2008-11-07T22:55:00.000-08:00

I always remember that one of the difficult things coming back to NZ is facing the choice in the bread isle at the supermarket.

Mark Sayers has a fantastic podcast on what he calls choice anxiety in western culture. Very insightful.

Break My Heart

2008-07-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

It would seem that the majority of churches in New Zealand have their favourite worship songs which they sing on a regular basis. The church we attend in Auckland is no different. One of the current favs is “Hosanna” by Hillsong United. I have to admit to a slight cringe whenever it appears on screen but of late there has been a line in it that has been challenging me.
“Break my heart for what breaks Yours, Everything I am for your kingdom’s cause...”

Like many of you, I too have been impacted by the horrific images of the devastating hurricane in Myanmar and the earthquake in China. Daily we are confronted with stories and pictures of people suffering in the world and of those who find life difficult right here in NZ. The continually rising cost of living, the uncertainty of the upcoming national elections, the acquittal of high profile murder trial accused and the impact of the recent budget seem to be on everyone’s minds.

While reflecting on the words from this song I realised that my job and the experiences I have had in the SIM world grant me a unique opportunity to know many stories of events around the world that surely break God’s heart when He looks down upon them. With that realisation comes a responsibility; the responsibility to act on behalf of those who can’t do it for themselves. As much as I would love to jump on a plane and rescue all who suffer, the reality is I just can’t do that. My role is to pray, to intercede on their behalf, to share their stories with the world so that injustice can be challenged, change can be effected and God’s plan of salvation can be offered to all. It is always a thrill for us to see people responding to God’s call on their lives to serve in missions. We love to help find the best place for them in the world. It is always exciting to wave people off at the airport and then to welcome them home again and hear of all that the Lord has done in their lives and the lives of those they have worked with. I couldn’t ask for a better job than that!

Riche

Staying in it

2008-06-19T16:27:00.001-07:00

Great post from Tash

Parachurch (What’s in a word?)

2008-05-08T19:45:00.000-07:00

In recent conversations I have become increasingly uncomfortable with the use of the word parachurch in relation to mission agencies and other Christian ministry groups that are interdenominational.

What does para mean? Apparently para comes from the Greek meaning "from, beside, around, near". Here are some possibilities: alongside the church (to help?), beyond / more than the church, abnormal church, partly/ not fully church, coming from the church. To be honest I don’t like any of these as they either imply the Church is just the sum of all the local congregations in the world or that we are better/ worse than them. I believe SIM is part of the Church (just read our purpose statement), yet more like Paul’s missionary band than a New Testament house church.

I appreciate the Church in the many forms I have experienced it: the organic nature of house churches (like our network in Guayaquil), the worship celebration of a large mega-church, the colours of a Hausa church, the heavenly music of a Samoan church, the liturgy of an Anglican church, the community caring and evangelism focus of a Salvation Army Corps, the fervor and unity of a Youth for Christ Y-One team, the attempts of the missional church to be relevant in post-modern western society. We are all the Church and I think it is unhealthy for one pattern/ part of church to point to another and say “I don’t need you” or to claim “we are church” you are (just?) parachurch. My goal is to partner with other parts of the Church here and overseas to see God’s way of doing things come in its fullness on earth.

Having said that I quite like the wikipeadia definition: “Parachurch organizations are vehicles by which Christians work collaboratively both outside of and across their denominations to engage with the world in social welfare and evangelism. These bodies can be businesses, non-profit corporations, or private associations. They generally operate without sponsorship of any particular church or association of churches, while attempting to avoid encroaching on roles traditionally belonging to [local]churches alone. They offer centralized efficiency of mission and operation to accomplish specialized ministry tasks that independent churches without denominational or associational strength are not able to accomplish on a larger national or international scale…They are a sodality instead of a modality.”

These last words I heard (understood?) for the first time at a gathering called New Zealand & Beyond. Modality is what many of us think of as church. It is a local community of everyone and anyone who believes. Sodalities are apostolic teams like the Apostle Paul’s. People join these communities by making a significant “second decision” to be on mission. At the NZ & Beyond conference, I was encouraged to hear speakers talking of partnership between agencies and local churches. The church-to-church model from an envisioned local church works well in some situations, but I think that multiplicity of model is something to be celebrated; the mission agency as sodality is not yet past its use-by date. Having said that we do need to adapt to a changing world reality, and have a lot to learn from the experience of others also.
Ralph D. Winter in The Two Structures of God’s Redemptive Mission (pdf) shows that both modality and sodality structures have developed throughout the history of God’s people and that both are legitimate and necessary. The NT house churches (ecclesia) were patterned on the synagogue. Paul’s missionary band was not just the “Antioch Church Abroad”, but a team following the pattern of Jewish proselytizers. Later contextualizations of church showed these 2 functions in creative tension. The Roman church had both the parish church and the monastic tradition . In the 19th Century missionary societies “[used] means for the conversion of the heathen” (Carey) mostly outside the structures of the protestant denominations. In fact the vehicle for the amazing growth of local evangelical congregations world-wide “was the structural development of the mission society, which harvested the vital ‘voluntarism’ latent in Protestantism.” (see Under the Iceberg)

One of my greatest joys over recent years is to see SIM encouraging the local churches we have planted around the world to find appropriate ways to be involved in cross-cultural missions themselves. The Church in many of the countries we traditionally worked in is now stronger than in our own sending countries, such that the sending/ field dichotomy is also no longer relevant.

Let’s just drop the para and celebrate our partnership as different messianic communities. Or maybe we should just throw away both para and church and just call ourselves followers of Jesus regardless of the form of the community of God’s people in which we find ourselves. (also see the conversation on Into The Mystic).

What do you think?

So just what IS kiwi ingenuity Serving in Mission?

2008-02-19T19:45:00.000-08:00

In the New Zealand Herald last year, it was reported that a $10 kitchen wok from the Warehouse was converted in to a transmitter for a new TV station in North Otago. They said this was a “classic case of Kiwi ingenuity.” I have been mulling over just what it means to export kiwi ingenuity in the form of missionaries to our teams around the world. For me the graphic above which shows some No.8 wire, sums up what makes NZers a valuable part of any missionary team.

As a people connected to the land and with an affinity to nature we are often found in very practical development roles. Our egalitarianism and lack of history as colonizers means that we happily work alongside or under the national church. Kiwi ingenuity doesn’t mean an “I can do it” arrogance, but coupled with a reliance on prayer and upon the Lord, our God-given innovation and “we’ll give it a go” mentality gives kiwis a MacGyver-like ability to solve many problems, often using unconventional means or whatever happens to be lying around.

Neither does it mean that we are all rugged pioneers and individualists. I have been told that a fence of No.8 wire is best put up 3 strands at a time to make it stronger and minimize breakage. We NZers work especially well in small multi-cultural teams that give people a chance to contribute according to their giftings.

Not that we always are easy to get on with: some find it hard to see how “DC”s (derogatory comments) are terms of endearment and at times our egalitarianism causes us to challenge all authority and forget that there is such a thing as servant followership as well as servant leadership.

Nevertheless, as Kiwis, I believe that we have a unique role to play in God’s mission to the world alongside missionaries from many nations. Whether in the hard places of the world or in multi-cultural teams our kiwi ingenuity (the No.8 wire mentality) is a strength that will help the Kingdom advance. You our missionaries are not super-heroes just servant leaders – mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries (1 Co.4:1). Please know that we pray for you all. We see our role as mentoring others into missions and standing by you all as you are enabled by God to do all that he has called you to do together.

My vision is to see many NZers mobilized to go into the hard places of the world to reach the unreached with the transforming message of Jesus. We are challenged to send out and stand alongside you. Know your God, be bold and do great exploits in his power and love (Daniel 11:32b).

Missions: transporting or identifying?

2008-02-14T00:44:00.000-08:00

Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis (pp87f) says

"Missions then is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of a God who is already there. It is almost as if being a good missionary means having really good eyesight. Or maybe it means teaching people to use their eyes to see things that have always been there; they just don't realize it. You see God where others don't. And then you point him out."

This concept really reasonates with me. It's similar to what I was trying to say in Where is God and What is He Doing? If I go somewhere expecting to just take God, I will probably export as much of my own culture as I do of the reality of God. If I go expecting God to already be there, I can join God and others in what he is doing to restore his kingdom of Shalom in that part of the world. And I'll probably be a bit more humble too and enter into a conversation rather than a monologue that others are probably not even listening to.

What do you think? (I don't want this site just to be a boring monologue:-)

Looking for Dialogue

2008-01-23T00:24:00.000-08:00

Hi there.
As a community of believers scattered across the world, this blog and the facebook group are chances for us to dialogue on issues that related to our lives & ministries.

I have just created this blog and added some back articles from my personal blog, most of which were sent out last year in the e-mail/print versions of No.8 wire. If any of these have made you think then add a comment. They are not the last word, just openings to join the conversation. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Incarnation & Re-entry

2008-01-22T18:04:00.000-08:00

A belated Happy Christmas to you all.

Christmas got me thinking about the incarnation and all that Jesus gave up to reconcile us to God. Philippians 2:7 says he “… made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Verse 8 continues “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” This is called kenosis – a voluntary self-limitation. As we follow Jesus into incarnational ministry, we also give things up: our homeland, our culture, there is a limitation of our lifestyle, our way of doing things, perhaps our dreams & ambitions. It also involves a costly obedience as we seek to live out our faith in a different context. Yet we are just humble servants of our master who did this on a much grander scale – even giving up his life for us.

Oddly enough the question that got me thinking most was “how did Jesus go with his re-entry into heaven?” Paul says (v9) “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place”. Jesus was God self-emptied, but also became God “re-filled. But was that transition back to heaven easy for him?

We’ve been back in NZ over a year now and even though we have turned the corner, we are still adjusting. It’s the little things like you can’t buy 5 nails from the hardware store, only 500. We seem to spend so much money on just living here in NZ when in Ecuador many people lived on US$1 a day. There is still dissonance between what we experienced and became overseas and what life is like back “home”. In fact it has taken me a year and 2 international trips to actually come back to NZ calling Auckland home.

What was it like for Jesus to go back home to the Father having experienced the best and the worst of humanity and life on earth: now truly God but also truly man? And that’s the point isn’t it. Life in service overseas changes us to the core. We begin to value relationships over arriving at an appointment on time; begin to believe that the right side of the road really is the RIGHT side to drive on (until we meet a bus coming the other way:-)

Whilst not expecting the worst we should be aware that reverse culture stress is a very real phenomenon. Re-entry involves changes in all areas of life: professional, material, cultural, social, linguistical, political, educational, spiritual, & familial. To enable us to integrate healthily we need to be sure that our support team back home is ready for our return to help overcome alienation, condemnation, reversion or escape. And as families we need to allow one another to process the stress of change in different ways, whilst looking out for each other. As Psalm 46:1 attests “God is a refuge in strength, a very present help in trouble.” Often his presence is made through friends that care and carry us through periods of turmoil. We also need good opportunities to tell all that the Lord has done and re-integrate back into a caring community. One book I’ve found really helpful for churches is The Reentry Team. There is also a really good CD called: Exit Right - Enter Right. It helps people leave well on a R.A.F.T. of Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewells (even to the cat) and Thinking Destination. I encourage you to borrow it from your field office a few months before returning. If you can’t locate it try this website: http://www.interactionintl.org . Or ask your personnel worker to rustle up a copy. Richelle gives a great summary of it on her blog.

I’m still mulling over that question: how easy was Jesus’ transition back to heaven? In becoming man did Jesus return to the full expression of his divinity changed and with a fuller understanding of the human journey, or did he know always know? What are your thoughts?

Missions & Other Religions

2007-10-25T00:08:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I shared at the Manurewa Baptist Church. For the second time this year I held an open conversation in the youth service based around some thought provoking videos about poverty & afluenza, advocacy, and one called What in the world.

Twice now a question has come up from a young person about why and how we reach people of other religions with the message of Jesus Christ. In both cases I gave a brief answer to this complex question, but here I would like to explore with you some ideas that may be helpful in the context of a post-modern pluralistic society where most people "believe in believing in everyone's belief to believe in whatever they want to believe in." and don't relate to answers such as "I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by me" or by heaps of other scripture illustrating the uniqueness of Jesus.

A few ideas:

1/ Jesus as fulfilment: Jesus is the fulfilment of the desire we all have for ultimate reality or to find God. People look for him in various religions and see patches of who God is because God is working to reveal himself to all people. But just as the Bible talks of Jesus fulfilling the law of Judaism, so Jesus also fully reveals Allah (as a Palestinian Christian told me, this word for the one true God is not solely the domain of Isl*m and in fact predates it). Just as some reform movements in H*nduism believe in one God (eg Arya Samaj) and others become devotees of one incarnation, so those who devote themselves exclusively to Jesus ( Yeshu Bhakti) find the ultimate reality they have been searching for. Many nominal Roman Catholics in South America want to know the freedom that Christ brings to their lives and are just waiting to be told. So we don't go to them to criticize their way of life but to introduce them to Jesus, the one who will fully reveal God to them and the one whom they have been seeking all along.

2/ Jesus changes lives: We all have the tendency to both run towards God and run away (or hide) from him. In religion we see an effort to deal with this rebellion or self-reliance through ceremony or ritual. But only a relationship with Jesus enables us to truly make peace with God because Jesus is both God & Man, he lived an exemplary life and his death & resurrection deals with this tension. If we truly believe it, we want to share it with everyone. I have seen examples of peoples lives radically changed eg. from drunkard to wise counselor. Jesus doesn't just deal with all this in a meta-physical way but actually changes lives.

3/ The dark-side: Religions also have a dark side as well as extremist groups: caste, jihad, prosperity doctrine in the church all produce inequality and injustice. The good news of Jesus speaks out against injustice and urges us to work for reconciliation, equality, justice and peace in a world that is hurting because we messed it up. And we largely messed it up because of #2, but we also shouldn't ignore the role of the "dark side of the force" working through human culture & religion (see book review of God’s Rivals: Why has God Allowed Different Religions? by Gerald R. McDermott which points to principalities & powers). You will see that I include the church in those with a dark-side. That doesn't mean we give up on the church, but we aim to plant organic churches that are salt and light in the world and show the Kingdom of God. This includes word, deed & sign: I remember growing up in Fiji as a teenager that many people adherents of other religions turned to Jesus through the church being church: helping out people after hurricanes, openly telling the good news and praying for the sick who were healed. That is just what Jesus did and that is what we are really called to do both @home and overseas.

4/ From experience: Living in Fiji as a teenager where one friend was M*slim another H*ndu, another Catholic/Spiritualist, and I had a teacher who believed we were the science experiment of alien life-forms, I had to face the issue of the uniqueness of Christ. I wondered how come we had a corner on the truth, and came to a point of saying "If there is a God, who are you, because I am confused." I wondered if I only believed in Jesus because my parents had rammed it down my throat from childhood. Those were dark weeks, but I am glad I went through them because Jesus met me in my questions & answered them and now 20 years later I can still say I know (Spanish conocer) Jesus not just know & believe stuff about him (Spanish saber). Sure, my experience is subjective, you can say Jesus is truth for me; but you can't deny my experience and the experience that many people have had. He is not an ideology but a person who entered history. I know he rose from the dead because I was talking with Him just now.

5/ Conversation and journey: In terms of the how to reach people of other religions, I think it is a matter of listening to them, conversing with them and jouneying with them as they discover Jesus. This is why Alpha is so successful in many western countries. Just like Abraham in OT, they develop a better understanding of God as their faith develops; it is a priviledge to journey with them.

6/ Not extraction evangelism: There is much debate about how far is too far in contextualisation, but it is clear to me that wherever possible we need to help people follow Jesus without extracting them from their society. There is always the possibilty of rejection by family & network but our methods shouldn't make this a certainty. That's why for me forming simple communities of believers in their own cultural context is ideal.

7/ Some Bible (for those who need it).
Malachi 1:11 Try reading it in different versions. Does it suggest that worship of other religions is pleaseing and acceptable to God? Christopher J.H. Wright in The Christian & other religions: the biblical evidence (pdf) suggests not. The best reading (eg NIV) is looking to the future when God's name WILL be great among the nations and worship brought to his name. Paul uses a similar argument in his conversation with the people of Athens.

8/ People are lost without Christ - I wish the Bible would let me be a universalist, but it doesn't. I don't know if sincere followers of other religions will be judged on the light they have received, but I do know that those who have devoted their lives to Jesus are saved.

Wow, that's a lot of heavy stuff. Do you agree / disagree on any points? Which point is most helpful for young people in our post-modern society? What other ideas could be added?

Shift Happens

2007-10-11T00:07:00.000-07:00

Let this wee vid blow your mind

What is the Greatest Threat?

2007-07-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

Glenn Penner of VOM recently posted an interesting article on dependency. He says:

I do not believe that persecution is the greatest threat to the continuing spread of the gospel. I am much more concerned about something that, at first glace, seems benign and even helpful but which I contend is far more insidious. I am referring to the dependency creating practices that ministries are increasingly promoting in the name of "partnership."

Read more

In Guayaquil we worked with volunteers (like these heroes)and shied away from paying people to plant churches. I think we were wise as it is more sustainable in the long run. What do you think?

Also see
other blog reactions

Rocks, Sand & Water

2007-06-26T00:04:00.000-07:00

These last few months have definitely been a steep learning curve and to be honest the magnitude of the work of director in the midst of major life change has at times been overwhelming. As I looked to gain a good perspective on things, a friend of mine shared with me the analogy of rocks, sand and water and it has really helped. Water represents all those urgent things that always come your way as leader and tend to fill your days if you let them: like e-mails and more e-mails. Sand are those necessary things like facilitating the work of others, building good relationships with key people, helping out missios with their current needs, etc. Rocks are the real important priorities. If you fill your jar with water there is no room for the sand and rocks. If you start with the rocks there is still room for the sand and the water. (So if I take a while in answering an e-mail it may be because I haven’t opened them till after lunch :-)
After that conversation I sat down and prayerfully considered what is most important for me right now. I find if I can make progress on one of the rocks each day I feel like I have had a successful day. I try to dedicate my most productive time of day to these things.

The above picture is one we took at the Moeraki Boulders many years ago. They represent my rocks for this year – things I want to spend more time and energy on: helping our family integrate back into life here in NZ, facilitating a process of vision and implementing good systems for our organisation, celebrating 100 years of the foundation of the work in Latin America (Bolivian Indian Mission), and networking with key people.

So what are your rocks this year? Drop me a comment.

Stir your world

2007-06-14T00:16:00.000-07:00

A powerful viral video from World Vision Stir (Ozzie Youth initiative). Watch it.

IYKDWYBDYKGWYBG

2007-05-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hi there.
Next month we will participate along with other missions and churches in the MI7 conference called Remodelling Mission. As we look to how we do mission in the future may this article from the M Blog (Read it Here) by Guy Muse (our IMB partner in Guayaquil, Ecuador) encourage us to be prepared to make changes to adapt to a quickly changing world. Quoting Curtis Sergeant he says:

If You Keep Doing What You’ve Been Doing,
You’ll Keep Getting What You’ve Been Getting.

Never be satisfied with the status quo. Always seek to improve...
We need to constantly evaluate and measure what is working and make the needed changes.

At times these changes need to be radical; at times it is just a matter of kaizen (Japanese word for making tiny little improvements each and every day.) What changes do you need to make where God has placed you?

Kiwi Ingenuity Serving in Mission

2007-03-03T23:54:00.000-08:00

Here is a clip of about the vision. I shared it at our recent commissioning.

Where is God & What is He Doing?

2007-02-11T23:58:00.000-08:00

When we arrived in Guayaquil in 1998 I asked myself the question “Where is God?” in the midst of the busy, noisy, dangerous city. I found him in worship with other believers (although I didn’t understand much Spanish at that point), in smooth sailing through government bureaucracy, in the few silences that a busy city affords, in the Word, in good music. But where was he when some kid bit Isaac on his arm at the church crèche our first Sunday out?

More than anything I found God in the grace and kindness shown to us by others: missos who shared their house with us for 3 months, hugs from my kids, a drunk who put his own life in danger to stop the traffic when the buggy Caleb was in fell apart in mid street, the woman who translated for us at the kindergarten, offers of hospitality. These acts of kindness are just that – human. Yet they speak of a designer who is supremely kind. They are also incongruous with an age and city that is dehumanizing, violent, selfish – tainted by sin & depravity. Why do people choose to be kind when they can be selfish? It is God’s image in them, whether they choose to believe in him or not it is undeniably his trademark.
Where is God in the place that you are ministering? I encourage you to look for him today.

After a while I began to ask another question. “What is God doing?” You see, mission is firstly God’s mission, Missio Dei, in which he invites us to participate. I began to see God working in people’s lives as they shared their journey with me. This gave me opportunities to join God in what he was doing in them and in the wider community. I was challenged to move beyond my comfort zone and not just “do my job”, but to truly be a co-worker with Christ
(1 Thes.3:2) to minister to those around me.

Henry Blackaby & Claude King in their excellent study-book Experiencing God put it this way:

1. God is always working around you
2. God seeks a continual love relationship with you that is real & personal
3. God invites you to join him in his work
4. God speaks by his Holy Spirit, the bible, prayer, circumstances & the church to reveal himself, his purpose & his ways
5. God’s invitation to join him in his work always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires confidence & action
6. You have to make major adjustments in your life to join God in what he is doing.
7. You get to know God by experience when you obey him & he does his work through you.

The challenge of that famous verse John 3:16 is that God is already working in the world. As we allow him to open our eyes to what he is doing & our ears to hear his voice, our obedience will lead us into exciting experiences of him as he works in us and in those around us.
What is God doing in your location today? I would love to hear from you if these thoughts cause you to ponder. We are on a journey together & I would love to learn from your experiences.