Follow-Up to Don Grigorenko’s Presentation: More on Short Term Mission

Don Grigorenko presented “Challenges and Movement in Missions Today.”  He gave us much to think about, and time constraints kept him from answering many of your questions.  He did not have time to share his perspective on positive short-term mission experiences after his raising questions about much that goes on in the larger short term  context.  I asked him if I could share his material on five characteristics to look for in considering involvement in a short term project.  Below are those characteristics, with some slight commentary on each.

  1.  Missiological Preparation.  Teams need to be prepared well for their visits.  In addition to any actual ministry activity being requested,  there are missiological issues to be discussed.  These would include cultural issues (religious, political, economic, social), understanding the history and context of the work to be visited, instruction in what role is to be played by the short-termer, and other issues necessary to understand what is going to be experienced.

2.  Partnership with local churches.  Be a part of their agenda. Function under their authority.

3.  Short-termers should see themselves trainees. They are not missionaries or even helpers yet.  Come as learners

4.  Connect with the local community. Get to know and possibly live with local church families.

5.  Simplicity in living.  Live as close to the culture being visited as is possible.

Based on Don’s notes,  presentation, and further conversation we had, I would add these to his list:

6. Longer rather than shorter.  Don’s notes that 72% of trips are less than 2 weeks, and very short trips do not allow for an accurate picture of a culture or what life within that culture is like. 

7. Debriefing afterwards.  There is a need to help short-termers be able to discuss what they have experienced, and to know how to interpret what happened.  This is best done by missionaries well familiar with the work.

Resources to follow up ChurchLIFE 101: A Culture of Transformation

For anyone wanting to review the sermon (there was a LOT of content), you can find the podcast on GBC’s website–click here and then on the podcast link, or go to the link for sermon outlines.

So many things had to be left out, and so I would recommend for your own further study and consideration looking up the scripture references given and considering what they say about transformation.

I also found this very inspiring site containing testimonies of various individuals about how the gospel has transformed their lives.  The “I am Second” campaign has produced these videos, and they are excellent.

Individual and corporate transformation will not be easily established and maintained.  But it begins with each of us praying and asking, “What is one thing that is not right about my spiritual life that needs to change, and what can I do-beginning NOW-to change it?”

  I hope to share with you some of my personal answers as they become clearer in my mind.  Keep watching.

Resources to follow up ChurchLIFE 101: A Culture of Repentance and Worship

After finishing my message on Sunday, I knew I had some work online ahead of me, to follow through on providing the resources I alluded to in the message.

First, the outline for the original sermon on the subject “When the Church Needs to Repent, delivered in January, 2006, can be found in the sermon outline archive at www.gracecedarville.org. 

Second, I recommended a great book by John Piper, entitled When I Don’t Desire God; How to Fight for Joy.  That book is available through Desiring God Ministries and is available for download here.

I also suggested that repentance and faith need to be seen as an inseparable pair when it comes to our salvation:  repentance being the sorrow for and turning from sin, and faith being the trust placed in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross.  The following is meant to help you clearly see the tie between the two:

Passages where repentance and faith occur in the same context:

• Mark 1:15–”Repent and believe the gospel” (Jesus speaking).
• Acts 20:21–Paul testifies “of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Hebrews 6:1–a foundation of “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.”

Repentance in a context of leading to salvation:  Matthew 3:2, 11, 4:17; Mark 1:4, 6:12; Luke 3:3, 13:3, 5, 15:7, 10, 24:47; Acts 2:38, 3:19, 5:31, 8:22, 11:18, 17:30, 26:20, Romans 2:4, 2 Timothy 2:25, 2 Peter 3:9

Faith/Belief in a context of leading to salvation (partial list):  John 33:15, 16, 18, 36, 5:24, 6:40, 47, 11:25-26, 20:31; Acts 10:43, 13:39, 15:11, 16:31, 26:18; Romans 1:16-17, 3:22, 25-28, 4:5, 9, 11-13, 16, 22, 5:1-2, 9:30-32, 10:6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 1:21; Galatians 2:16, 3:7-9, 11, 24-26, 5:6; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 3:9; 1 Peter 1:9

From these lists I  (and lots of others) draw the conclusion that repentance and faith are both present in biblical salvation, sometimes referred to together, sometimes referred to in terms of the beginning of the process (repentance) and sometimes in reference to the completion of the process (faith/belief).  I use the terms “beginning” and “completion” advisedly, since these two occur together and there is not a real separation in their actions.

An encouragement as GraceKids Wednesdays begins

I spoke at C.U. chapel last week on the importance of doctrine, and mentioned that into the 19th century, Baptists used catechisms to train their children–books with doctrinal questions and answers to memorize, along with scripture proofs.  The first was by Baptist pastor Benjamin Keach in 1677. Charles Spurgeon developed one that was very popular in the mid 1800s. It stemmed from the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689.

This concern that children know what they believe continues to shape us at Grace. It is why GraceKids is such an important part of our ministry. It is why we use a strong, doctrinally driven curriculum for our children’s classes on Sundays, and why we have invested heavily in the new Awana materials for GraceKids Wednesday programs.

These efforts, however, will only bear fruit if they are taken as tools by parents. Using time at home to review and discuss these materials is essential if your children are to gain the necessary foundations upon which to build an adult understanding of their faith. At Grace, our GraceKids staff is doing their part–we count on parents and others involved in children’s lives to do theirs, too!

And if you would like to go further with your children, I commend to you John Piper’s revision of Keach’s Catechism, available here. It can be purchased in print form from Desiring God Ministries’ website.

What Baptists Can Learn From Calvin | Christian History

Follow the link below for an excellent summary of the major points of agreement between Baptist thinking at that of the great theologian/reformer.

What Baptists Can Learn From Calvin | Christian History

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Finishing Mark

Wow, I just gave my outline for the final message to Jeff Brock and Heather Flippin for the ABF leaders meeting and the children’s bulletin production, respectively.  It’s hard to believe we are done, and it is going to take some getting used to for me as I prepare the next series.  This has been such a rich experience for me, and one that has stretched and grown my own understanding of Jesus.  I hope the same is true for all of you.

I look forward to preaching the message Sunday–and I’m sure the outline will be tweaked a few times between now and then, but hopefully not enough to mess up everyone else’s preparation!

Choosing the Wrong Jesus

Recently in my prep for one of these last messages in Mark, I was struck with the amazing “coincidence.”   Barabbas, the terrible murderer/insurrectionist who was put forward by the chief priests as an alternative to Jesus in Pilate’s “prisoner release” scheme, wasn’t just Barabbas.  That is the equivalent of a surname, meaning “son of the father” or “son of the teacher”–depending on how you translate the last part.  Either he is just like his father in some way, or he is a disciple of a well established teacher–perhaps some rabbi who promoted the ideas of the Zealots, who used violence to upset Roman rule and punish possible collaborators.  To choose Barabbas is to choose the way of violence, of power, of using “whatever means necessary” to get what you believe in.

More interesting to me was that his first name was also Jesus (meaning salvation).  So, Pilate unwittingly offered the people a choice between two men and two very different ways of “salvation.”  The crowd chose the wrong Jesus as their own.  They have tended to continue that wrong choice ever since.

But God had made a choice, too.  He chose to send his Jesus to die, and through that death to save–not from political oppression, but from the penalty of sin.  Thankfully God’s chosen One still saves those who have made all the wrong choices up until now.  Faith in Jesus the son of God still is the right choice.

Don’t follow the historical path of the crowd when faced with this choice–don’t choose the wrong Jesus.

You asked (well, some of you did), so I’ll answer!

That’s right, this Sunday evening we’ll have another of the famous, or near-famous, or infamous Q & A times with Pastor Craig. Already, a couple of really good questions have come in. Here are three I’m working on:

1. Did Jesus go to Hell after he died? The Apostle’s Creed says it, and doesn’t the Bible say he preached to people there?

2. We are supposed to love our neighbor, turn the other cheek, seek peace and pursue it. If this is the case, why are evangelical Christians in America so pro-military and pro-war?

3. The Jewish people are God’s chosen people. But does that mean we should always be pro-Israel, especially if Israel does things to Arab inhabitants of land it controls that we would consider evil? A good number of those Arabs are Christians, including evangelicals, who are our brothers in Christ. Should we support a government that persecutes Christians, if that government is Israel’s?

Those are pretty deep questions, and each has important practical ramifications.

Oh, and we also will do a short report on our most recent Israel trip, and let you know about the next opportunity we will offer.

The Sorrows of Fathers and Sons :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library

The following article by John Piper was so stirring, especially as a a father, it moved me to post this at every place I make comment.
The Sorrows of Fathers and Sons :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library

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Advance 2009 Media and Photos

This link takes you to all the media available from the conference I attended last week, including all the general sessions. Enjoy!

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