geita summer internship 2013

The Geita team desires to train others for mission.  We recognize we have a responsibility to disciple others who would be involved in foreign mission work and/or cross cultural ministry.  For this reason, each summer we invite college students to Geita for a missions internship.

During summer 2013 Christie and I will be the only Geita team family here, and so we are hosting the interns on our own.  We have two spots remaining for male interns.  Are you interested in spending your summer in small-town Tanzania?  Or do you know someone who is?

Internship Overview

The Geita internship is an 8-week program in which the college student’s primary roles are observing and learning.  The goal is for the intern to experience and understand cross-cultural ministry and everything it entails.

june-november work report

Here are some of the highlights of our last six months in Tanzania.  We’ll also mention a few day-to-day activities which serve as representations of our fuller lives.

Family and Life

• Baylor will be three years old next month (that’s when the “terrible twos” end, right?), and Harper is now crawling like crazy, her knees and shins constantly stained red from our impossible-to-completely-clean concrete floors.
• Christie is applying to graduate schools which have extension/online degrees in ESL/TESOL.  This degree will go a long way in enhancing Christie’s ability to work in international missions both here in Tanzania and any other place we may find ourselves in the future. 

the key to evangelism: hospitality?

Steve Childers of Reformed Theological Seminary stated recently that the key to evangelism in the 21st century will be hospitality.

I can’t help but think one thing….

Hospitality has always has been the key to evangelism.  But not in the way one might assume.

While talk of hospitality in evangelism brings to mind Christians having non-Christians into our homes, inviting pagans to dinner is not exactly what I read in the New Testament.  Don’t get me wrong; I’m not at all arguing against being kind to strangers.  Inviting the neighborhood over for a barbecue is a great way to build relationships.  So is hosting the little league end-of-the-year party.

But my understanding of hospitality’s primary role in evangelism is exactly the opposite.

a report on cpm training

Last week, I spent three nights and parts of four days in Mwakiwasha village, teaching a seminar on CPM.  [To read more on what I taught and the nature of that seminar, see cpm training: a turning point in my ministry.]  This is an initial report on how I believe that seminar went — both the good and the bad.

There were 15-20 people in attendance at each of the sessions, representing three churches.  The group was about half men and half women, with the Mwakiwasha church (the host church) represented far better than the others — as was expected.  We spent roughly 20 hours in class and also ate most of our meals together, sometimes discussing further what we’d studied that day.

cpm training: a turning point in my ministry

Tomorrow I’m going to Mwakiwasha village to teach the Discovery Bible Study process and Church Planting Movements.  I’m posting today, partly to (as per usual) let you guys know what we’re up to in Geita, but mostly to ask you to pray over the seminar.

[If you don't care to read about my plans for evangelism in the villages surrounding Geita, I understand -- this is a long post.  But please skip to the end and pray over the requests I've listed.  I very much would appreciate that.]

There will be representatives present from four or five churches in the area, totaling 12-20 people.  We will begin the seminar with worship on Sunday evening and then three days of classes, likely four classes per day with a time of worship each evening.

The first things I’ll teach (and briefly) are:

• Why group Bible study is important (vs. a lone teacher)
• Why obedience-based Bible study is important (vs. knowledge-based)
• How to do an oral inductive Bible study (a sort of 3-column Bible study)

The reason I’m wanting to teach the above subjects quickly is that once we’ve worked through the above material, the remainder of the seminar’s studies will be done in small groups using the inductive Bible study method.  I will very much limit my actual teaching beyond initially touching on these three subjects.

the rocket stove: a very appropriate technology

With the help of our summer interns, we built our first rocket stove for use in the village a little over a month ago.  A rocket stove is a more efficient way of cooking with fire.  It uses smaller diameter wood — and less of it — but still cooks faster than a traditional open fire.

A rocket stove is incredibly easy to construct, and it can be made entirely out of materials already present in rural areas.

bugakara village: a short video

We recently sent a short video to one of our sponsoring churches, in order for them to show it during their VBS, the theme of which was missions.  Filming was both short and hurried as it was raining, but, still, this ought to give you guys an idea of what we’re doing and where we’re working:

So… that’s Bugakara village.

missions: appointing and going

After this the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. – Luke 10:1

“…the Lord appointed 72 others…”

I’ve heard this text used to support missionaries choosing those locals with whom they work — or rather to argue against a form of self-selection by local people for service in evangelism. After all, there are a lot of locals out there who see working with a missionary (and evangelism in general) as a means to financial gain and social power.*

work report: feb – may 2012

As is usually the case, I’m not including our full work report here at aliens and strangers because 1) it’s a little long and 2) I’d rather have a little more narrative (or rambling) on the blog.  So the blog work report and the email work report are always just a little bit different, folks.  [If you want to subscribe to the full version of our work report, let me know in the comments; I'll send it to you by email.]

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?*