Half Listening Christians

"There is a kind of listening with half an ear that presumes already to know what the other person has to say. It is an impatient, inattentive listening, that despises the brother and is only waiting for a chance to speak and thus get rid of the other person. This is no fulfillment of our obligation, and it is certain that here too our attitude toward our brother only reflects our relationship to God. it is little wonder that we are no longer capable of the greatest service of listening that God has committed to us, that of hearing our brother's confession, if we refuse to give ear to our brother on lesser subjects. Secular education today is aware that often a person can be helped merely by having someone who will listen to him seriously, and upon this insight it has constructed its own soul therapy, which has attracted great numbers of people, including Christians. But Christians have forgotten that the ministry of listening has been committed to them by Him who is Himself the great listener and whose work they should share. We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God " (Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community.)

Changing Centuries Old Habits is The Real Key in Community Development

We humanitarians, NGO's and mission workers often forget. The "amazing" technology is not the main thing, the main help. It's life change, people willing to modify decade, even century old habits, attitudes, and mentalities. These are the real start of community development. The things we bring accomplish nothing without it. In fact, this is the real work. Anyone can plunk down some project that involves setting up some extremely helpful new technology, and then go home in two weeks and feel good about yourself.  But most of it fails (unless you want to keep returning all the time and dump money in it year after year) because we have not even acknowledged the hang ups of the people, and e all have them.

"In the village the saddest and finally the most infuriating expression to the average Peace Corps Volunteer, if my own experience is any guide, was that, frightened sentence they pulled out of their hats when you were talking about change or when you were trying to push some slightly new idea. I was eating dinner one night with Alexandro, and he used the expression four times within a half an hour. What he said four times was: "The people aren't accustomed to doing it that way." Each time it was a little more irritating, especially, I think, because finally it was even irritating to Alexandre. The last time he said it he even blushed a little. The conversation offers some insights into both the problems of a poor town and the problems of a Volunteer working to change things in a poor town."
(Living Poor. A Peace Corps Chronicle. Moritz Thomsen. Pg 55-56)

Preconceived Ideas About Poverty

"This kind of experience was jolting. Our preconceived ideas about the meaning of words like poor, uneducated, poverty-stricken, underprivileged, or disadvantaged were being destroyed. You didn't need a sociological study to see that our neighbors were all of these things. But these adjectives were only the backdrop for the human beings with whom we were now face to face. How can you change people if you can't accept them as they are?"

(Barrios of Manta. Rhoda Smith Brooks. Pg 84)

Community Development Work Realities

Speaking about development work in Ecuador...... "And the basic problem still remains: if it is too dry in the dry season and too wet in the wet season, just how and when does one make a garden?" (Living Poor: Peace Corps Chronicle. Moritz Thomsen. Pg 103. Rio Verde, Ecuador)

The Life Bush Life of Rural International Workers

"We were poling our way through the outpost country, a country of lonely, isolated farms, of messages that never arrive or arrive too late, of sudden sickness and inexplicable fevers and death, of snakes and bugs and downpours of rain, of loneliness, of women living and working alone all day in hacked-out jungle clearings, hauling water in gourds, pounding clothes on rocks, caring for sickly children, worrying. It was a country of distances, separations, longing, of deferred dreams, of small rewards; of muddy trails, stumbling horses, plants that grow two feet a day and choke the crops, armies of ants, blood-sucking lice on the bodies and in the eyes of the livestock. It is heroic country, too.

But when you ask yourself why anyone would live here, completely cut off from the world of comfort and security, there is no easy answer. Perhaps it is man's deepest wish to struggle against great odds, or perhaps the answer lies in that little band of grandchildren swarming around Don Julio. Maybe it is all for them."
(Living Poor: Peace Corps Chronicle. Moritz Thomsen. Pg 107. Rio Verde, Ecuador)

Jesus Is Moving Among Muslims

"The work God is doing today among Muslims is so historic and
unprecedented that I wonder if any of us can truly comprehend it. Never
before in the 1,400 years since the death of Muhammad have we seen so many Muslims coming to faith in Jesus as their Savior and Lord. And these are not just isolated individuals but whole families and communities. In our lead article for this issue, Dr. David Garrison reports on an unprecedented number of movements to Christ developing among Muslim communities all over the world.

As Garrison reports, in the first 1,300 years since Muhammad, there was only one voluntary movement to Christ among Muslims of 1,000 or more believers. In the last 20 years of the 20th Century, there were eight. In just the first 12 years of the 21st Century there have been 64. That is not a misprint. As of 2012 there were at least 64 documented movements to Christ taking place among Muslims, each with over 1,000 baptized believers and 100 worshiping fellowships. And the number of these movements is growing." (Mission Frontiers Journal. august 2013)

The Heritage Of Sharing With The Poor

"Although by our standards these were among the poorest people in the world, each of them would give free fish to those families most in need. Many centuries ago these people learned to share in both good and bad times; it is now their heritage." (The Barrios of Manta. Rhoda Brooks. Pg 83. Ecuador)

Less Church Structure & More Church Substance!

So far I've planted nine simple, economical, low budget churches, with no outside funding, that are lead by unpaid staff, both in Canada and Africa.

I just do not require all the gimmicks and "Stuff" many Christians have come to expect today.
What I need are people genuinely interested in my spiritual welfare, and I in theirs.
Learning, correcting, encouraging and living the word of God together on mission to the place we live. I don't need a building, a PHD teacher, PowerPoint, and live entertainment, to keep me interested. Where there is genuine relationship over mutual growth, there is no lack of interest on my part. I could assemble in a living room, under a mango tree, at a park, and my "church" could include a BBQ as well as communion and that would notch the interest level way up for me.

"The Roman Catholic Church went on to canonize the system. Luther reformed the theology surrounding the gospel, but left the outer forms of “church” remarkably untouched. The Free Churches freed the system from the state, the Baptists then baptized it, the Quakers dry-cleaned it, the Salvation Army put it in uniform, the Pentecostals anointed it, and the charismatics renewed it, but until today nobody has really changed the system. The time to do that has now arrived."

(The House Church Book. Wolfgang Simson. Barna, 2009, pg xiv)

A Life Not Guided By Fear and Pressure.

"I knew what I wanted in theory: to live a personally fulfilling, deliberate life dictated by principle and passion, as opposed to fear, and guided by an internal compass, not external pressures."
(Peace Corps worker Michael Buckler. From Microsoft To Malawi.)

When People Die Young......

"How can a country thrive when
the average person is frequently under the weather and ultimately expires at the
age of forty, barely reaching the zenith of his potential as a parent, village elder
or worker?

(Michael Buckler. From Microsoft To Malawi. Pg 73)

Problems Will Remain In Africa

"Yes," I nod, desperately wanting to believe his words. "These are old problems," he explains, pointing to our surroundings, "They existed before you came, and most of them will remain after you leave." (Old man in Malawi said thus to Peace Corps worker Michael Buckler: From Microsoft To Malawi. Pg 75)

Relationships Save Us......?

"Much of history has been determined by personal relationships, especially the "personal" in relationships. Why did USAmerica drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima and not Kyoto? Because Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson had a personal relationship with the city of Kyoto. He spent his honeymoon there in 1926 and loved the Japanese art and culture. Although Kyoto was at first designated as the target for the atomic blast, Stimson intervened with President Truman and Kyoto was spared. If you give it some thought, you'll see how your own life has been spared from destruction by personal relationships."

(Leonard Sweet. What Matters Most. Pg 13)

Why I don't Work in East or South Africa...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/08/world-map-all-religions-1.png

Great Story From Mali

Monique and the Mango Rains is a non-fiction book written by Kris Holloway. Kris was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali between 1989 and 1991. The Peace Corps program in Mali commenced in 1971 and since then over 2600 volunteers have been involved. Unfortunately, due to the issues facing Mali in 2012 the program was suspended in April 2012 and at this stage it has yet to be recommenced.

Challenges Church Faces In Post- Christian Culture. People Don't Trust Churches!

People don't trust Christianity anymore..  The church is not seen as a positive thing in the culture. So how do we minister to a people who view us with such suspicion? And, hat does this tell us about the effectiveness of the "Attractional" models.

"Ten years ago, together with my wife, Rae Ann, I set out to plant Life on the Vine Christian Community in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. We had ten people join us in the effort. Shortly after, Geoff and his wife, Cyd, came along. We joined together to figure out how to be a church amid these challenges. We had no idea of the difficulties we faced.
In a few years, we had thirty people and decided we needed to reach out to the community. We tried everything. We tried doing a daily vacation Bible school in order to attract busy neighbors who, you would think, would be happy to send their children to a recreational venue in the neighborhood.
As it turned out, only Christians came. We tried providing a date night, offering baby-sitting services for families in the neighborhood who couldn't afford it. Again, only Christians came. Someone proposed we do a fair on the grounds we had been given to start this church. The costs were prohibitive. The chances of competing with the local school district or mega-church in offering these kinds of services were just about nil. Back then, these ideas were what was called outreach.
What we learned quickly was that non- Christian people in our neighborhoods would not come to an event or service held at or associated with a Christian church. Even non-Christians with friends who are Christians will resist. The question, then, was why would we even try these events. In a culture that distrusts Christianity, a society that no longer sees the church as positive, why do we seek to attract people to come to us? Why not instead use this time and energy to be in our neighborhoods, at our local park district gymnasiums and fairs, donating our time, getting involved, knowing the people, and bringing the gospel there? We were living in a culture that no longer wanted to do the things churches do, yet we were doing them anyway."
(Prodigal Christianity)

Preaching Is Not A Good Teaching Model

As a minister for years doing exegetical speaking I know this. People say they, "don't know anything" after 20 years of solid biblical sermons. They are not lying, it's the truth. Why? Read on....

10 Reasons to Stop Preaching
Kathleen Ward.

"The “sermon” is the epicenter of most Sunday morning church services. In seminaries around the world, pastors are taught how to construct and deliver a weekly monologue. It is often the only tool they are given to help God’s people learn, change and grow.

A few years ago, we came across a learning tool which (in our opinion) does away with the need for sermons. It’s called “Simply the Story,“ ( http://simplythestory.org )  and it was designed as a way to help nonliterate cultures dig deep into God’s story and discover spiritual truths for themselves. Unlike sermons, everyone is involved. Everyone gets a chance to listen to the story, retell the story, explore the story and apply it to their own lives and context.

Here are 10 reasons we believe churches should stop using sermons and start using a technique like “Simply the Story” …

1. People aren’t good at listening. Research shows that people’s attention ebbs and flows during a sermon or lecture. At best, they have 10-15 minutes of sustained concentration for passive listening. Most sermons go well beyond this.

2. People learn more when they talk. People remember far more from a conversation they were involved in than a monologue they listened to. Dialogue “chunks” information into smaller segments and allows people time to process, think and ask questions when needed—helping them concentrate and stay engaged for longer.

3. People remember more. You start by listening to the story, then retelling it in your own words, then exploring it as a group, then applying it to your circumstances. This lays down a very strong memory of the story for years to come—something that rarely happens in a sermon.

4. People are more likely to pass it on. Exploring God’s story in this way empowers people to pass it on to their children, their neighbors and friends. They realize they don’t need a theological degree to understand and communicate God’s story to others.

5. Less preparation time than a sermon. The facilitator needs to take some time to memorize the Scripture passage and to study the context and background—but that is all they need to do. No hours of preparing, writing and rehearsing a well-polished speech. No need for dynamic public speaking skills and years of training.

6. More insights than a sermon. Everyone gets to share their “aha moments” and their perspective—not just one person. People get to discover spiritual truths by themselves, which has a greater impact than being “spoon fed” somebody else’s conclusions.

7. More relevance than a sermon. When a pastor prepares a sermon for a diverse congregation, he has to speak generically, not specifically to each person’s needs and context. When we come to God’s story together, we can apply the truths and principles directly to our own circumstances, both as individuals and as a community.

8. More authority than a sermon. A sermon is always about the pastor’s opinion and interpretation—the pastor is positioned as the “authority.” It is better for the combined community to go straight to the source, positioning God’s Word as the authority.

9. Less emphasis on the pastor. The system we use for church elevates the pastor above the rest of God’s people, and unintentionally sets him or her up as a mediator between God and His people. It is more powerful to give everyone the opportunity to access God’s Word directly, rather than just the “professionals.”

10. More room for the Holy Spirit to speak. Something special happens when God’s people gather together to seek His voice, His message, His will for the community. God often lays the same message on the hearts of a number of people, and a central theme becomes apparent throughout the meeting. Time and time again, we’ve seen the Holy Spirit speak through the most unlikely of people—which simply isn’t possible in the structure of a typical church service, where only one person is given a voice.

I’m not saying we have to do away with sermons altogether—but I am saying it might be nice to have more than one tool in the toolbox"

(http://www.churchleaders.com/mobile/pastors/preaching-teaching/168945-kathleen-ward-reasons-to-stop-preaching.html)

People Want It.....But......

"There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier
generations of Christians called holiness."  (Eugene Peterson)

Kissing Africa.... It Can Be Done!

Commenting on a huge fire in Nairobi, in August, 07, 2013....This precious story of a personal, overwhelming encounter with "Africa" was shared by a friend. And many of us just so understand.

"In 2006 I made my first journey to the African continent, I landed at this airport in Nairobi. When I climbed out of the airplane and my feet touched the pavement I was so overcome with joy that I bent down and kissed the ground. Romantic at the time, a little gross when I think about it in retrospect............"
(Catherine Robar)

Cultural Lies

Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses. (Plato)

Language Learning And The Desire To Do Something

"At times like this, after listening for hours to a language which is badly understood, the brain goes into a paralysis; it closes the doors and shuts up shop. I would sit there trying to look reasonably intelligent but feeling completely useless, my eyes glazed, my mouth hanging open, slowly drowning in a flood of strange, soft sounds. Of course, what was happening and what I didn't realize at the time was that I was getting some additional basic training. The first few months he is in a new country the Volunteer's biggest problem is simply communication, and especially on the technical level where he hopes to work. But after the months of training we are too impatient. The days go rushing by; we want to do something."(Living Poor. A Peace Corps Chronicle. Moritz Thomsen. Pg 26)

Working the edges of Faith!

"Work around the edges of your religious group (denomination, association, or network) because innovation has less resistance there. You will never find the status quo at the edge, nor will you hear "we've never done it that way before." Maximize your edges by reading in areas outside of your discipline, attending events not put on by your denomination, networking with pastors in other traditions, talking with your kids, visiting new web sites, or going places you would not normally go. Challenge your leaders beyond what they think they are capable of achieving. Innovation is often the result of an over-sized vision or goal. Another way to think of this is to think, "The only place to find God working is among the impossible." ~ Bill Easum

Where Is The Christianity Of Hard Places?

"Where is the Christianity that journeys into the difficult places, the places where the Christian language is not yet spoken, where the witness to God's Kingdom in Christ has not yet reached the edges of humanity, the places where brute force often has the last word?"
(Prodigal Christianity. David Fitch Geoff Holsclaw. Location 476)