missions: two by two

I wrote a little the other day about short-term missions and mentioned I intended to write more on the subject soon.  I even made an outline.  But then that outline got really long, and I became overwhelmed.  So I’ve decided instead to do something even longer!  I’m going to use some space up on the blog writing about missions in general — and eventually I’ll get back to the specific topic of short-term missions (though I think each of these general missions posts will help to inform our study of short-term missions).  So here goes part one (or two?) of what will surely be a meandering study of missions (that really ought not be numbered).  Let’s look some at how Jesus sent (short-term) missionaries out.

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Jesus sent missionaries out two by two (Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1).  Why was that important?*

missionary stress and 95º living rooms

I’m a relatively laid back person.  I don’t generally have high stress levels.  I think I adapt easily and quickly to any number of factors that may change in either my surroundings or my responsibilities.  

But it’s been a rough couple of days.

contextualization and paul in athens

Are we under-contextualizing the gospel?  Or are we over-contextualizing it?

The second half of Acts 17 is a beautiful picture of Paul presenting the good news in a meeting of the Areopagus in Athens.  It is contextualization at its best.  But what is contextualization, some might ask?  

unqualified and powerless for mission

When talk turns to evangelism and disciple-making, we sometimes hear statements like these:

• I just don’t know if I can do it.
• It’s not really my gift; evangelism is not one of my abilities.
• That’s not something I can accomplish.
• I don’t have the proper authority, do I?

I won’t argue with those who make these statements; I agree with them.  I think that’s probably why Jesus couches The Great Commission in the words he does (in bold):

Then Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus makes it very clear that our participation in mission is only possible because of our participation in him.

Making disciples is the work of Christ.  And success will only be by his authority, with his power, and because of his abilities.  You and I both are wholly unqualified to be missionaries and bringers of good news — except through our relationship with Christ.  

All authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus Christ, and it is by this authority that disciples are made.  It is also by this authority that Jesus has commissioned us to be workers and harvesters in his kingdom.

And perhaps some of the best news of all is that Jesus will be with us forever.  Mission will never be our endeavor.

We’ve done a great disservice to mission work everywhere by reading The Great Commission with Jesus’ opening and closing statements edited away.  Much harm has been done to Christianity because of this (false) belief that successful evangelism is somehow a result of the evangelist’s abilities.

I pray we can be unqualified and powerless, so Christ can accomplish his mission through us.

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[This post is the second in a little series on The Great Commission.  The first post is here: worship (even when in doubt).]

 

culture stress (or i don’t want to be a missionary anymore)

Lest you believe I’m some sort of missionary superhero (not that there’s really any danger of this), I’d like to share with you confess to you that I have my bad days.  Days when I don’t want to be a missionary anymore. Days when I want to fly back to the United States, enjoy air conditioning, wait at traffic lights, and eat at McDonald’s.  Days like Friday.

I was just sitting down to the computer when the electricity went out.*  I started the generator for the first time since Sunday — the most recent of its breakdowns (I’d only got it running again Thursday) — and returned to the computer.  15 minutes later the generator was wheezing and coughing.  Another couple of minutes passed, and she quit.  And she wasn’t planning to start again.

That’s when, like a no-name Chinese generator, I broke down. Not in tears, mind you.  But still, I was broken down.  Angry, frustrated, and tired — and I wanted to shut my eyes and wake up in Dothan, Alabama… at the National Peanut Festival.  [There's no place like home.  (Repeat x 3)]

Great!  Just what I needed… my generator to break.  Again.  One more thing to go on my list. [If you don't like to hear venting, complaining, and whining, you probably should skip to the bottom; I feel that I rarely complain, but today there will be whining.]

• We haven’t had water from the city since July. For a week’s worth of water, I have to borrow Carson’s truck and tank, fill the tank in town, and pump the water up to our holding tank… twice (about 4ish hours of work, depending on the line at the well and whether there’s electricity or not).  Or I can pay 20 times what we’ve got in our budget for water and have it delivered by a truck from town.
• The water we do have is frustratingly difficult to use because our taps and faucets are full of red dirt and sand and don’t allow water to pass.  Seriously, we have three sinks in our house in which we can’t wash our hands.  I can fix them, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.  There are also leaks in the pipes in two of our walls.  Concrete walls.  Behind tiles.
• Our electric oven doesn’t work. Not because it’s broken but because there’s something wrong with the wiring that causes the breaker to trip every time we turn it on.
• We’re $20,800 in debt and struggling to pay for our furlough plane tickets. This isn’t quite as bad as it sounds in that $17,500  of this money came in the form of a bridge loan.  A very kind and anonymous donor loaned us the cash so we could buy a new truck.  We’re to return the money when we sell our old truck, which hasn’t happened yet and is proving somewhat difficult because of the rising dollar (or the falling shilling).  The other $3,300 is extra port fees charged us by the government of Tanzania.  If you’re thinking this means the government makes us pay for “storing” our truck in their port while we waited for them to allow us to have it, you’re right.  The slower they do their jobs, the more cash they get. We paid $3000 already, but were informed of this other $3,300 the day we picked the truck up.
• Speaking of the truck, our brand new Toyota LandCruiser doesn’t have 4WD high. This is because the 4WD toggle switch was stolen at Toyota of Tanzania before I’d ever even seen the car.  Those buttons resale at well over $100 USD, but I can’t find one anywhere — and Toyota won’t take responsibility for what one of their employees did.  When I picked the truck up from them, they told me the empty space was there for a placeholder button, and that it did nothing.  My 4WD low works fine, but it’s not suitable for getting to some of the villages we visit.  So we haven’t been to a single village since we got the new truck.
• We’ve been in Tanzania two years now — and we’re technically on-schedule.  But I can’t help but feel like we never get any work done, because we’re always fetching water, repairing plumbing, sitting in the dark, or just trying to live.  It just takes so much time to live here.
• I didn’t tell you what happened just before the electricity went out on Friday.  Christie called from outside, and I opened the backdoor to find the puppies playing tug-of-war with our bed sheets, which they’d pulled from the clothesline. Our high-thread-count, nicer-than-we-can-afford, we-received-them-as-a-wedding-gift and only-have-two-sets bed sheets.  My wife was slightly troubled.  [It didn't help that when the generator quit working an hour later, all the clothes in the washing machine were trapped inside, obviously wet.  Aah... the joys of an electric washing machine in a land of electricity rationing.]

When the generator quit — and I wanted to lie face down in the red dirt (where we’ve not yet planted grass) and beat my feet and fists in the mud while sobbing something about “my mommy”….  When the generator quit, these were all the things going through my mind.  I didn’t understand my feelings; I wasn’t sure if I was angry or sad, frustrated or afraid.

I called Carson and asked if I could charge my computer on his battery back-up system so I could do a little work.  Mostly I wanted to be able to say I accomplished at least one thing on Friday.  I packed the computer up and started walking to Carson’s house.  On the way I passed a young boy who asked if I would give him a ball.  I wanted to scream, “Does it look like I have a ball, you begging idiot?!”

Instead I told him politely that I didn’t have a ball.  He then pointed at the bottle of Coke Light in my bag and countered, “Well, then can I have a soda?  I see you have one of those.”

I told him I only had the one — and that it was for me to drink while I did some work on my computer.

As I walked away I realized it.  That I was experiencing culture stress.**  Under other circumstances I would have taken the bottle out of my bag, opened it for the boy, and given it to him.  But I was angry; the last thing I wanted was for one more person to ask me for a soccer ball or a soda, or for money or a job.  I wanted to leave Geita. Or at least lock myself in the (dark) house and refuse to answer the gate.

But I didn’t leave Geita.  And I didn’t lock myself in the house.  I went on to Carson’s house and told him I was having my first (and only, that I remember) culture stress event since moving to Tanzania.  Then I sat down at my computer (plugged in and charging) and got some work done.  I prayed while I worked, naming each and every one of these stresses and handing them over to God.***

After only a couple of hours, I felt fine.  And you’ll be happy to know I went on to accomplish as much on Friday afternoon as on any of my most productive days in Geita.

* Common occurrence as of late.  Electricity is being rationed.  For a couple of months it was as bad as 72 hours of electricity a week.  But lately it’s been much better — we’ve probably had closer to 100 hours per week, maybe more.  [To keep you from having to do the math yourself, there are 168 hours in a week.]

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** Lots of people and books speak of culture shock — with no mention of culture stress.  I’m firmly in the camp, though, that we ought to see the pressures of living in another culture (and the effects of those pressures), as being on a continuum.  And so, we all experience culture stress.  But we reserve the term ‘culture shock’ for more extreme cases, and not these singular and shorter-term bouts with second cultures.

I suppose I am blessed to not have too many of these culture stress days.  In fact I don’t remember feeling quite like this any other time in my life except the one day in China when I punched a bus that had brushed my shoulder in an attempt to convince me to cross the street faster.  The echo of my fist against the hollow metal of the bus was deafening.  And it caused a horrible scene, as the bus driver stopped in the middle of a very busy road and got off the bus in order to yell at me for hitting his bus with my hand.  I was the only white person around, two heads taller than anyone else.  And they were all staring at me.  I swore I’d never act out in anger at a cultural situation again.

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*** In light of recent discussions on prayer, I’ll be posting a very useful and practical prayer exercise a little later in the week.  For those of you who carry a great deal of stress with you, I think it will prove very helpful.

assessment of our work in geita

My two most recent posts have been a summary of our time in Tanzania and the timeline for our mission here in Geita.  Today, I’m posting an assessment (of sorts) of where we are currently in our mission.  But first, a preface:

Our goal was to have accomplished, before April 1, 2011, each item under “Years 1 and 2” in our timeline.  We believe we have for the most part already been successful in doing so.  However, we are not completely happy with where we are currently.  During our furlough later this year we intend to provide you with a full assessment and accounting of our first 2 1/2 years in Tanzania.  In this report, though, we’d like to briefly cover those areas in which we are dissatisfied.

[Please do keep in mind that, overall, we are pleased with where we are and what we’ve accomplished this far in our work and preparations.  We’re not listing our “shortcomings” because we fear we’ve failed.  Rather we are merely focusing our attention on what we ought to be working to accomplish between now and our furlough in August.]

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Establish a permanent residence.

We do reside in a rental home for which we have a 5-year contract.  We have also been accepted as participants and contributors in our neighborhood and community of Geita.  Our house, though, still lacks much in being finished.  Time, money, and satisfactory/trustworthy workers have been the limiting factors in this.

Acquire a reliable vehicle.

We were blessed to have raised the funds to order a new truck which will serve us well for our remaining years in Tanzania.  The truck we are currently driving has been a real time- and money-suck.  Our new truck is currently in port at Dar es Salaam, and we are waiting for the government to clear it for importation registration.  We don’t expect to have said truck until at least late February.  We took a bridge loan from an anonymous donor, whom we will repay after selling the truck we have now.  All of this truck business will likely take 2-3 full weeks of Brett’s time in February or March.

Become proficient in Swahili language.

We do consider ourselves to be proficient in Swahili.  Brett can preach, Christie can teach English, and both of us can carry out all of our daily activities in our new language.  However, neither of us are completely happy with our current Swahili usage.  We would like to have been completely fluent by now and instead find ourselves at highly functional.  We may have had unrealistic goals to begin with — and continued study and practice should get us where we want to be — but all the same, we’re not yet quite satisfied.

This could affect our ability to learn our second African language, Sukuma.  We originally intended to begin Sukuma language study at the two-year mark, but it now looks like Brett will be a month or two behind, and Christie will be waiting until after furlough to begin.

Possibly begin a Discovery Bible Study (or more than one).

This has been a subject of great struggle for us in our time here.  There have been many individuals to show interest in studying the Bible with us, and Brett has a very good relationship with a few of these men.  But the one Bible Study we did begin is no longer meeting.  We have wondered at times if it was too soon for us to attempt training facilitators for these studies, yet we don’t blame this one study’s failure on our timing alone.  At this point, we plan to wait at least a few months more before beginning another study.

Brett wants to be in a better position to devote more time to mentoring future leaders and preparing the Bible studies themselves.  He intends to write (in Swahili) a basic curriculum on discipleship to be used in these mentoring relationships.  This curriculum is as much to encourage Brett’s comfort in Swahili as it is for practical use.

Begin planning and preparing strategies for development.

When we first arrived in Tanzania, we felt we knew what it was we’d be doing as far as development and service to the community went.  We’ve found, though, that it’s not so simple now that we’re here and a part of this community.  Christie has already begun teaching one English class, and will likely open another class in the next two months — although teaching English was not part of our original plan.

Brett wanted to devote the bulk of his time to evangelism, discipleship, and church planting, and then to assist other teammates in their development work in the areas of agriculture and appropriate technology.  Since that time, though, one of those teammates and his wife have decided to remain in the states at least for a time, leaving much work to be done in the area of agriculture, if it is to be done.

Also, we’ve found that we don’t feel qualified to assist in/with some of the most pressing of Geita’s needs.  One of the greatest problems, for instance, is a general lack of water.  Christie and I have a city water line to our house, yet have not received water from the city since July of last year.  And it’s worse for many others.  Another area in which we feel underprepared is health; several times per month I have people coming to me with serious medical conditions and asking for help.  Their assumption is two-fold: because I’m white, 1) I have money for their medical costs, and 2) I have some expertise in medicine.

We would like to be better suited for physically helping the people of Geita, and intend (on furlough) to gain at least some education that will help in these areas.  Also, we’d love to recruit other teammates to help us in the work.

 

mission timeline: harrisons in geita

Yesterday I posted a summary of our time in Tanzania thus far.  Today I’m publishing the timeline for the Harrison family in Geita.

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Years 1 and 2

• Establish a permanent residence
• Acquire a reliable vehicle
• Become proficient in Swahili language
• Familiarize ourselves with Tanzanian culture
• Build relationships with residents of Geita
• Be open to potential mentoring opportunities in relationships
• Possibly begin (a) Discovery Bible Study group(s)
• Assess and understand better the needs of the local people
• Begin planning and preparing strategies for development
• Possibly begin development project(s)
• Form relationships in existing churches (begun through Mwanza work)
• Begin some teaching in these churches

Year 3

• Continue in study of Swahili language and Tanzanian culture
• Further develop relationships with the people of Geita
• Increase time in villages surrounding Geita
• Begin deeper study of village culture (Sukuma people group)
• Begin studying Sukuma language
• Develop mentoring relationships
• Begin Discovery Bible Study groups (for non-Christians)
• Write Swahili curriculum for Christians on:
  • Who is a Disciple of Jesus Christ?
  • How Can Our Church Promote True Discipleship?
  • How Do We Make Disciples?
• Host/teach seminars using above materials
• Begin development projects in English and agriculture  (and possibly health and economics)
• Furlough
  • visit family and sponsoring churches
  • continued education in missions, health, and agriculture
  • raise funds if needed

Years 4 and 5

• Reach full fluency in Swahili
• Continue in study of Sukuma language and village culture
• “Supervise” multiplication of Discovery Bible Studies and churches
• Continue in mentoring relationships with church leaders
• Write Sukuma curriculum for Christians (same as above)
• Mentor some church leaders in teaching “discipleship” seminars
• Mentor leaders in development programs
• Evaluate and assess work up until this point
• Commit to an additional 3-5 years of work in Geita area
• Furlough
  • visit family and sponsoring churches
  • continued education in missions
  • raise funds if needed

Years 6 and Beyond

• details yet to be determined, but plan to remain in Geita

nearly two years in tanzania — an update

You guys know that every month or so I write a work report of sorts to those who’ve subscribed to our email list.  And I usually post a watered down version here on aliens and strangers.  At the end of March, we will have been in Tanzania for two years and — seeing that February and March are going to be extremely busy months for us — I’ve written our “two-year work report” ahead of time.  The next several posts here will be concerning where we are in our work up to this point.  We’d appreciate it a great deal if you’d pray as you read through these posts.

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This post will give a summary of what what we’ve done thus far in our time in country.

March – December 2009

• arrived in Tanzania at the end of March 2009
• spent several weeks with the long-established Mwanza mission team (who also work with the Sukuma people — and whom we love dearly)
• discovered Christie was pregnant in April
• visited a few other mission projects in East Africa to better understand existing works
• bought a used truck to get us by until purchasing a new truck was possible
• began Swahili language school in May
• gained Tanzanian residency in May
• ended Swahili language school in August
• attended a Church Planting Movements seminar in Rwanda in August
• moved to Geita in September
• lived with the McNeals and Groens in a (small) rented house until November
• spent November in Dar es Salaam, (anxiously) anticipating Baylor’s arrival
• Baylor was born on December 4, 2009
• remained in Dar all of December because of
  • Christie’s post-birth complications
  • and the obtaining of Baylor’s birth certificate and passport

January – March 2010

Family and Life

• We returned to Geita with Baylor in January, and lived in the Kroppach and McNeal houses for 5-6 weeks.  We moved into our (unfinished) house on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.  Brett left for the East Africa Men’s Missionary Retreat in Kenya the very next day (which was also the first day we had running water in our house).
• Christie’s parents, along with her sister, arrived in late February to meet their granddaughter.  Brett’s mother and aunt did the same in early March.  It was great to have our families here with us, so they could both meet Baylor and see where and how we live in Tanzania (admittedly, though, we were only figuring out how to live in Geita at this point).
• Christie and Baylor went to the East Africa Women’s Missionary Retreat in Kenya and, shortly after, Baylor became a legal resident of Tanzania (after two attempts and a short wait).

Evangelism and Discipleship

• Brett attempted to preach his first Swahili sermon (ie he was put on the spot and asked to preach) in a village outside of Mwanza.  His lesson was less than 10 minutes long, and he struggled through it, but you have to start somewhere.
• The Geita team was asked by the Mwanza team to consider “adopting” three of their church plants which are in closer proximity to us than them.  Brett visited one of those churches (Mwakiwasha) for the first time in March.  He shared a couple of meals and worshiped together with them.  He also preached his second “sermon,” keeping his comments shorter than in his first attempt (and therefore his Swahili slightly better).

Finances

• In January, we finally completed the task of raising moneys to match our proposed budget for living in Tanzania.  This was quite a relief.

April – June 2010

Family and Life

• Much work was put into making our house more livable.  Among other things:
  • washing machine
  • deep freezer
  • began using our milk pasteurizer
  • bought and installed a gas-powered generator
  • built a dog kennel
• We first began having Tanzanians into our home (hospitality is extremely important in Tanzanian culture), and even hosted a couple of parties for large groups.

Evangelism and Discipleship

• Our first “Discovery Bible Study” began in Nyamarembo, and went very well (in the beginning).  Edward was our facilitator, and we quickly began averaging 12 adults and a lot of kids.  Brett mentored Edward weekly in how to facilitate the Discovery Bible Study, and the group continued to grow and mesh for a few months.  However, Edward’s work schedule began to interfere with his ability to facilitate.  So we added a second facilitator, who was called away for work not more than 3 weeks later.  The group, though, was beneficial and encouraging to all involved.  We even considered dividing into two smaller Bible studies when numbers remained consistently above 15 for several weeks.

Development and Service

• Brett began doing initial research (having conversations with local farmers) concerning the state of farming in/around Geita.  He was also invited to meet with a couple of local NGOs in Kahama and was able to visit a grassroots chicken project in Kakola.  These relationships will likely be of great benefit a little later, and may even serve as models for similar works and projects.
• We slaughtered and processed our first pig, which made us wonder about the feasibility of raising hogs on the demonstration farm.  Brett began asking around about the possibility of renting or purchasing lands for that farm.  He also began introducing himself to some of the local government officials (probably a little late, but no one seemed to be offended).
• Christie began her first English class with 8 students.

Finances

• We began raising funds to purchase and have a new vehicle delivered.

July – September 2010

Family and Life

• We continued work on the house about one day of every week.
  • added kitchen shelves
  • repaired a few machines and appliances
  • made and installed curtain rods
  • leveled the backyard
• July was the last month (to date) that we received water from the city.  Still, no one can determine what the problem is and why water is unavailable to our house.  [This has been a huge headache and frustration even until now.  At least 4-6 hours of my work time every week is spent fetching (or arranging to have delivered) water.]
• Christie and I celebrated our 6th anniversary with our first dinner without Baylor.
• We were invited to join the “golf club” at Geita Gold Mine, which allows our family to eat at a western-style restaurant, play golf, and go swimming on weekends.  This is really a treat for us, and makes living in Geita much more enjoyable.
• During this time, we first began to consider ourselves to be proficient at living in Geita.

Evangelism and Discipleship

• Attendance at the Nyamarembo Bible study began to decline, mostly because of work schedules and travel.  Facilitators were inconsistent for the same reasons, and we began meeting (what seemed like) bi-weekly for lack of leadership and/or commitment.  Brett continued mentoring Edward, but no longer weekly.
• Three of Mwanza’s Harding University interns spent a week with us in July, which was a great opportunity for us to invest in possible future missionaries and to think about our team’s future plans for hosting internships and apprenticeships in Geita.

Development and Service

• Christie’s English class continued to be successful.
• Brett continued the search for land for a demonstration farm — without success.  We discovered, in talks with government officials, that the lands we had considered prime area for this farm are not zoned for development work and/or projects.  The properties that are available to us are either in poor locations or way out of our price range.

Finances

• In July we ordered a new truck (currently still in port on 25 Jan) with funds raised primarily in June.

October – December 2010

Family and Life

• Still doing work on the house:
  • shelves in our bedroom closet
  • finally unpacked all of our boxes
  • installed two ceiling fans
  • added more kitchen shelves
  • started having furniture built and moved into rooms
• In October, we met with Fielden and Janet Allison in Dar es Salaam for our yearly marriage/family counseling and missionary mentorship.  We also enjoyed a week of vacation while there in Dar.  We ended up remaining in Dar for an additional five days to have Christie’s staph infection treated.
• Baylor turned one-year old in December.
• We consider ourselves to be functionally or highly proficient in Swahili, but not fluent.  We attempted during these months to put greater emphasis on Swahili language learning.

Evangelism and Discipleship

• The Nyamarembo Bible Study stopped meeting.  Work schedules and inconsistent leadership were a constant struggle during our time together and, in the end, did the group in.  I realized at one point that, if it were to continue functioning, it would be me holding it all together — and so I made sure the leadership knew I would be present and involved at any study they arranged, but that they were responsible for the group meeting or not.  Not was the result.
• Brett went to Bulyahilu village for his first extended stay and Bible “seminar” in a village church.  He accompanied Jason Miller (of the Mwanza team) and did no teaching himself, but participated in the activities and studies with those present.  [I learned a great deal about village culture and life, and am looking forward to doing much more of this in 2011.]
• Harding University’s study-abroad in Zambia program came through Tanzania in November with the goal of spending time with mission teams who are functioning in the local language.  Dividing their group between Mwanza and Geita, our team ended up with 11 students and one teacher.  We were greatly encouraged by this group (it’s nice to worship in English with more than our three families), and we hope their time with us was beneficial as well.

Development and Service

• Christie’s English class is continuing to go well, and she has plans to begin a second class at some point in the next few months.
• It looks as if the demonstration farm will be on Neema House property (the orphanage the Groen family is working to begin), though that land is not actually in hand.  This means it will be next December before we “unveil” that area as an educational farm.

Finances

• Because we’d been settled in our house for over a half-year at this point, Christie and I made a full revision of our budget in order to more accurately reflect our needs and expenses.  We also prepared our 2011 budget which our sponsoring churches have now received.

* Next post: Current Mission Timeline — Harrisons in Geita

man’s traditions over God’s commands

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’”

– Matthew 15:1-9

A few thoughts:

• It is entirely possible — and all too common — for us to say the right words without any involvement from our hearts.
  
• I should honor my mother and father.
• I should never put man’s traditions ahead of God’s commands.
• I should never be willing to disappoint God in order to please man.
• I should study carefully to distinguish between that which is of God and that which is of man.
• In missions, we should imbed early in Bible study groups a desire to look to the Bible to know why or how to do anything — not to our denomination’s traditions or commentaries and the like.
• We tend to offer – unknowingly even – our own (cultural and church) traditions when involved in evangelism.  We should strive to 1) know when that is what we’re doing and 2) make efforts not to.
• Doing so will make Christianity “lighter.”  What we are now trying to pass on to seekers is incredibly laden with denominational baggage and cultural traditions.  It’s difficult for them to receive and even more difficult for them to pass on to others.  [Not to mention that we're blurring the lines of what is from God and what is from us, all the while making it difficult for them to be obedient to God.]
• A form of evangelism which offers the Word of God with little other baggage and tradition will be more easily accepted and more quickly reproduced.

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We know not all traditions of man are bad, so here are a few helpful questions* we should ask of each one we encounter.  They may help us determine whether to continue in that practice or not:

1. Is this tradition against God’s commands in the Bible?
2. Will this tradition be a barrier to the gospel’s advance in the culture in which I’m living?
3. Does this tradition water down or dilute the understanding of other Biblical practices?

I’ll try to go a little deeper into these questions in upcoming posts.  What are your thoughts?

 

* I found these questions in a notebook as if I’d written them (as an “I will” statement) following a Bible study on this text.  But I honestly don’t know that I’m smart enough to come up with these questions — so this asterisk and comment are here just to state that there may be credit due another individual for these questions, but if so I’ve got no idea who.  If it’s you, let me know…

oaks of righteousness

In the mornings I can often be found on one of the trails in our nearby national forest.  I like combining my exercise and quiet time by praying while I run (or bike).  And the Geita Forest Reserve is just the place to do that.  There aren’t many people around, and little more can be heard than the sounds which nature provides — the singing of birds and the rustling of leaves in the wind.  I frequently spot monkeys and baboons, and even the occasional gazelle.  But it’s the trees I enjoy the most.  The trees are amazing.  I have to cover a lot of ground before I can run under a beautiful, green canopy of trees; but it’s well worth my time and energy.

The portion of the national forest closest to Geita has been destroyed in order to provide firewood and charcoal for nearby citizens.  I’m not one to value nature over human life, and I don’t know if there exists some better solution for cooking fuel — so I’m not placing judgment.  It’s a tough thing when nature and humanity stand at odds with one another.  Many westerners complain that “dumb Africans” don’t know any better than to drink water that’s not been purified.  But those same westerners complain when those same “dumb Africans” cut down the surrounding trees in order to boil their water.  I don’t think there’s an easy answer — and name-calling certainly doesn’t help.

But I digress.  While I’m not placing judgment one way or the other (instead I’m thinking through possible solutions to said problems), I do enjoy a great deal running under the big, beautiful trees that stand deep in our forest reserve.  Trees that have been around much longer than any of us living in Geita.  Trees that once were food for giraffes and shade for lions — animals both long gone from this forest.  Trees that have withstood the winds and storms of more than a hundred Tanzanian rainy seasons. Trees that are a testament both to God’s power and to his love of beauty.

Isaiah (and later Jesus) speaks of an anointing the Lord has placed on him — an anointing to preach good news to the poor and to proclaim freedom for the captives.  Those who mourn will be comforted.  And they will be crowned with beauty instead of ashes, and the oil of gladness instead of mourning.  They will be clothed with garments of praise instead of spirits of despair.  And in Isaiah 61:3, we learn this about those who will be comforted by God:

“They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”

A few thoughts:

• The captives will be set free and the mourners comforted; and that’s great news to them.  But ultimately this is for the display of God’s splendor, and not for their own good pleasure.
• Any joy, beauty, and gladness in my life was planted there by my God.
• Any joy, beauty, and gladness in my life is a testimony to others of my God’s glory.
• Missions and evangelism are most effective when others see the freedom and joy I’ve been given by God.
• I believe this is indeed God’s plan for mission: For those of us who have experienced changed lives to stand together as a magnificent forest, a tall and mighty witness of God’s power and love for humanity.
• I will go so far as to say that any system, program, or methodology designed for mission — which is not dependent on changed lives and observable righteousness, freedom, and joy — is not a strategy in keeping with God’s plans.

Father God, make us oaks of righteousness.  Show your splendor and glory to the world through our lives.  Set us free from that which holds us captive.  Comfort us when we mourn.  Plant in us joy, gladness, and beauty.  May you be praised in our lives, and also in the lives of those who look upon us.  Amen.