• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

Robust dialogue

Posted on May 12, 2016 by wtdavid

Meeting with leaders this week, I have been struck by the capacity of our leaders to engage in ‘robust dialogue’. Robust dialogue is where people discuss or debate a topic in a very open and honest way that allows for better decisions to be made.  Robust dialogue though can be uncomfortable at times because pushback may be strong and ideas or supporting arguments are not readily accepted.  However, it is rich, wild, tense and exhilarating.robust dialogue

Robust dialogue is not yelling at one another.  One writer described robust dialogue this way: “It is the ability to address any issue in the team or organization as long as there are not hidden agendas or personal attacks.” So a team has to have an ethos or a ministry framework that allows this kind of dialogue, conversation and hearty discussion to occur.

Robust dialogue will only happen, though, when two elements are in place.  First, a strong hold on one’s personal value in Christ. The deep assurance of Christ’s love and righteousness drive out our natural tendency ‘to seek to be right’ in all our conversations and discussions.  It’s the ‘expulsive power of a new affection’ that restructures the way we talk to and discuss with others. Second, a willingness to listen well.  James exhorts us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger (James 1:19).  Most of us are more ‘quick to speak and slow to listen’.  Our hearts need to be re-trained to count it as more important to hear a person out, seeking to understand their point and argument first.  We can learn so much from others and engage them well when our hearts are settled in Christ and our ears are open to listening to others well.

Pray for us as we continue in robust dialogue this week!

Filed under: Communication, Gospel, Listening, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Why is it so hard?

Posted on April 29, 2016 by wtdavid

Have you ever said that to yourself?  I’m guessing that at some point, most of us have. worth

Work life, in general, has its ups and downs.  There are relational issues, company policy miscommunication, and work scheduling struggles.  However, cross cultural ministry adds a whole other element.  We are called to navigate work life, ministry life in another context and culture than our own home context and culture.  It’s not that we just double the difficulties.  We exponentially increase the struggles we face in trying to make ourselves (heart and mind) understood among another people group that holds a different worldview than we do.

Along with that exponential increase of struggles comes the strong temptation to question one’s calling.  Statements pop into our mind like: “What am I really doing here?  Am I actually having any impact?  Is it all worth it?”  Sometimes that questioning comes in the form of anger, frustration, or simple criticism of all that we see and experience around us.  It can even issue in the strong desire to just ‘go home’.

These are the times when my heart (our hearts) needs to here two truths, and probably my heart needs to hear them numerous times.

First truth: We love because He first loved us.  The verse in 1 John 4:7 which talks about loving one another begins with that simple word: “Beloved”.  We cannot love others if we don’t first know and daily appropriate for ourselves that we are loved, that I am loved by God.  That truth has to go ‘downtown’ to my heart and displace those feelings of inadequacy and self-pride.

Second truth: This is not my final home, nor is my home culture my final home.  It’s not a ‘way up there in the sky’ kind of philosophy, but God has reserved a ‘home’ for me, for each of His children, with Him.  My heart, our hearts will not find their ultimate rest until we find it in Him.

It is hard!  So, let’s drive those truths into our hearts; let’s drive those truths into one another’s hearts when we are with one another.

Filed under: Crossing cultures, Gospel | 2 Comments »

More than the strict minimum

Posted on April 26, 2016 by wtdavid

Tim Keller in a recent message, “The Centrality of the Gospel”, made the statement that the Gospel is not just the strict minimum we need to believe in order to be saved; that it is not “simply the minimum Christian doctrine required to believe in order to go to heaven when you die.”

The Gospel changes your life now: thoroughly, radically, and completely.  And it does so now. It becomes the all that directs our lives as believers.

This statement once again caught me off guard. We are so used to talking about the Gospel,self-confidence summarizing it in a few short declaratory truths, that we can forget it has far reaching power and influence in our lives.  Our capacity to forget the message of the Gospel provides fertile soil for the ‘weeds’ of selfishness and pride whose roots run deep.

“That’s not me!” you might say.  You could think this kind of selfishness and pride is not running rampant in your life.  Take a step back for a moment and do a quick check:

Does my anger and frustration come more quickly to the surface these days?

Am I overly concerned with what other people think about me?

Am I pushy about my agenda and what I think we should be doing?

Am I quick to criticize rather than build up others?

Do I complain constantly about what I don’t have?

Now I’m not saying these are key indicators, but the answers to these questions would certainly be a starting point to assess how deep pride is running in one’s life.

The Gospel is not simply the minimum Christian doctrine required to believe in order to go to heaven when you die.  The Gospel is the power (Romans 1) to radically and thoroughly change our lives now; to address the deep rooted pride in our hearts and draw us back to Jesus.

Our daily prayer should simply be: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!”  (Psalm 139:23-24)

Filed under: Godly living, Gospel, Repentance & faith | Leave a comment »

Everyone needs …

Posted on March 23, 2016 by wtdavid

Someone passed along an article to me last week titled: “7 Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Started Ministry”.  Some of the seven things listed by the writer were self-evident, but one stood out for me from the rest.  It simply read: Mentors aren’t optional.mentoring

Here’s what the author wrote: “There has always been something in me that says “you can figure this out by yourself”. I wish I had fought that voice earlier.  Ministry (and life) are complex enough that I wish someone had told me that mentors aren’t optional. I am fortunate to have more than a few great mentors in my life these days. I just wish I had started earlier.”

Mentoring can mean many things to different people. However, mentoring is at the very least about asking someone with solid character and competency to guide you in your own personal growth steps. One’s mentor may have expertise in the area where you need growth the most. Or they may simply be a good listener who has a heart to keep you accountable for where you believe God is asking you to grow.  The overall objective of a mentor is to journey with you in your growth in Christ.

I can honestly say that have profited in many ways from mentors over the past number of years. Yet, the author’s comments at the very end remain a challenge to all of us: “I just wish I had started earlier.”  I wish someone had challenged me earlier in my Christian walk about the need for mentors. None of us likes to ask for help. Mentoring will drive us deeper in Gospel humility and enlarge our view of how God uses others to grow us up more in Him.

Each of us needs a mentor. Each of us ‘needs to take the plunge’ and ask someone to mentor us for a specified time frame and towards a concrete objective. The first step would be to prayerfully seek out a mentor and ask them to help you with growth steps in one area of your life and ministry.

If you would like more help on what mentoring might look like, drop me a note (international.director@worldteam.org) and I will send you some brief notes from Steve Moore about mentoring.

Filed under: Gospel, Humility, Mentoring | 4 Comments »

Do you ever feel like throwing in the towel?

Posted on March 7, 2016 by wtdavid

It’s an idiomatic expression that gets translated in different ways in different languages. In French we say, “Throwing (in) the sponge” Why a sponge?  Taken from the world of boxing, throwing the sponge into the ring was a signal that the boxer from that corner was giving up and giving the win to the other fighter.towel

In cross cultural living and ministry, such ‘sponges’ can be thrown quite often.  Sometimes, it comes about because we don’t have the energy to try and navigate the administrative hurdles of living in a particular region of the world. Sometimes, it happens when one more person asks that question that we dislike: “You must not be from here. Your accent gives you away.  Where do you come from?”  Or sometimes, it comes from the lack of observable fruit in the ministry in which we have been engaged for a good deal of time.

Granted, we can talk ourselves out of truly ‘throwing in the towel’, but before we know it the feeling can return because of another event or misplaced word.

‘Throwing in the sponge’ is an indicator that our hold on God, our calling, and our friends is at best weak.  Three steps we might think about. First, fix in your mind the journey that led you to put your faith and trust in God.  Remember how He opened your heart to hear His voice, and the effort He went to in bringing you to Himself. Second, speak back to yourself those words that marked the beginning of your ‘call’ by God to serve Him.  This is not our work or just our adventure. This is first God’s work. Reminding ourselves of how He brought us here, gives us renewed confidence to move out again into our world.   Third, make it a habit to call a friend and check in with another as to how you are doing.  It’s the words of a friend that are a blessing to the soul, and can be used by God to direct our ways.

Rather than ‘throwing in the towel’, it would be better to throw up (or lift) our hands to God.

Filed under: Community, Gospel, Perseverance | 2 Comments »

Going all the way down

Posted on January 25, 2016 by wtdavid

In Saving Grace, a series of daily devotionals, C. John (Jack) Miller writes:

“Jesus emptied himself – made himself nothing. He took the form of a servant, and he was made in human likeness – a great step down from being equal with the Father. He took a second step down by humbling himself and becoming obedient to the point of death. Then he took a third step down by dying the death of the criminal and the sinner on the cross. He goes all the way down and down and down to redeem you and me. 

God proves that he really loves you by the gift of his Son. He’s telling you this to melt your heart. He wants you to see that you don’t need to be ruled by fear because he controls everything. God’s great work of redemption is at the center of history, which is moving toward a great destination.  That destination is the glory of the Father in Jesus Christ in which we’ll all be enjoying one another and enjoying God throughout eternity.  If you’re a part of that plan, it can make you so excited that you might even forget to worry for awhile.”

This is one way of talking about the Gospel, our main guiding principle as a World Team community.Worry_Ruminition_repetitive_thinking

This is one way of talking about the Gospel and showing its practical impact on our day to day lives: “If you’re part of that plan, it can make you so excited that you might even forget to worry for awhile.”  The Gospel displaces worry when our heart finds its joy and contentment in Christ rather than in all the things we do or accomplish.

“What? Me worry?” you might say.  Yet, worry is often part of a cross cultural worker’s daily grind.  The Gospel, speaking the Gospel again to oneself and to one another, pushes worry to the side.

Filed under: Gospel, Guiding Principles, Worry | Leave a comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 205 other subscribers

  • Categories

  • Recent Comments

  • Archives

  • Goodreads