• 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!

Just Listening More

Posted on October 23, 2010 by wtdavid

A few quotes from the day’s sessions to consider and reflect upon:

“”Walk in love” (Ephesians 5:2ff).  Notice how Paul immediately contrasts sacrificial love with its counterfeit in this text.  This is costly love.  And yet sacrifice seems to be the last word in our vocabulary these days.”   Calisto Odede

“Jesus Christ spent more time talking about the idolatries of the people of God than He did talking about how bad the world is.”  Chris Wright

“Whatever the cost may be, your cross will be my strength.”  Words from a song written by a member of the Micah Network specifically for this plenary session theme

”Whole Church taking the whole Gospel to the whole world.”  Theme of video clip about eradicating “Bible poverty”

“There is no biblical mission without biblical living.”  Chris Wright

Filed under: Cape Town 2010, Gospel, Mission | Leave a comment »

God Love Motivation

Posted on October 21, 2010 by wtdavid

You’re probably wondering about that title of the blog post.  Hopefully, it will start to make sense as you read on.

Today was our “day off” from the Lausanne Conference.  However, the conference organizers had offered a number of ministry site visits in the area. I chose to take in a visit to “The Warehouse”, a ministry that seeks to train churches to address the needs of poverty and injustice in the larger Cape Town area.  Currently, they work with more than 75 churches.

Part of the site visit included having lunch in a shantytown village called “SweetHome Farm”, which is actually home to 17,000 people.  We ate in a room that served as a restaurant, run by a young woman who is slowly but surely re-building her life, and impacting the life of others.  She now employs a 2nd person to assist her. 

Staff from The Warehouse shared how many had been helped to see how they should be involving in helping others, poor as they might be.  They shared with these people that God’s love pushes one, moves one to want to meet the needs others, and trust that He will provide for one’s own needs as well.  There it was, simply put, God love motivation.  Here, in this little restaurant, was a dynamic and active demonstration of the Gospel going so deep into the hearts and lives of people, and the practical, community oriented fruit that arose from a heart mastered by this Gospel.

Do you see the reason for my title?   I figured if I wrote: “Gospel Motivation” at the start of this post, you (like I) might have overlooked the supernatural, transforming power of God’s love in moving hearts to bring hope in spiritual as well as tangible ways to others.  God love motivation is so different from a “have to do” or “must do” type of motivation.  Today was a powerful reminder of that truth, from people who may have so much less economically than I do, and yet are having great kingdom impact.

Filed under: Cape Town 2010, Gospel, Mission | 1 Comment »

God Is On The Move

Posted on October 18, 2010 by wtdavid

I actually had another post ready, but tonight’s session made me change my plans.  As we entered the auditorium, up on the screen were written the words: “God Is On The Move”.  The particular focus was on how God was at work in the region of Asia.  Different testimonies were shared of what God is doing in this part of the world.  Then a young girl came on stage to share her story.  What we heard truly made one recognize that “God is on the move.” 

Her father was a close advisor to one of the leaders of a highly repressive regime in Asia.  He and his family were forced to flee the country when he was politically denounced. In the country where they found asylum, they were hosted by relatives who lead them to church.  There her parents gave their life to Christ.  Her mother passed away a few years later, leaving her father and her.  But her father now had one objective, to return to his country and share Christ.  Leaving his daughter with a pastor’s family, he returned to his homeland.  Imprisoned after just a few months, he spent several years in jail.  After he was released, he was reunited with his daughter.  However, rather than weaken his faith, his time in prison had solidified and grown his faith.  His heart broke for his people and he chose to go back once again to his homeland to share Christ. 

His daughter has not heard from him since, knowing that he has probably been publically shot for his faith.  Several weeks later, she, now alone in her adopted country, saw Jesus in a dream, walking towards her and asking her: “Why have you kept me waiting?  Walk with me.”  When she woke, she knew she had seen Jesus, and gave her life to Christ.

But that isn’t the end of the story, for with tears in her eyes, she shared how she, like her father, wanted to glorify her heavenly Father by working to share the love of Christ with her people, in her homeland.  “Pray for my people,” she said, “pray that my people would know the love of Christ.” 

In a sign of unified agreement and commitment to pray, the entire assembly rose to their feet.

God is on the move.

 

Filed under: Cape Town 2010, Gospel, Mission | 3 Comments »

God Is Up To Something

Posted on October 15, 2010 by wtdavid

We apostolic workers can forget sometimes what it means, what it feels like to cross into another culture.  We can so adapt ourselves to the cultures where we currently minister that we become “one culture” focused again, acting out of that cultural mindset. Having ministered in a European context for the past twenty years, I know that I, like others, have become guarded or cautious about effusive expressions of graciousness or kindness from others, like many Europeans.  That was quickly dispelled by a few “divine encounters” here in Cape Town. 

  • Sitting on the flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town, I had pulled my Bible out to do some reading when a guy going by me, taps me on the shoulder and says, “Great book you’re reading.”  I was actually reading Psalm 98 which is an interesting read in light of the Lausanne Conference.
  • As I passed through customs and out the exit, I was greeted by a number of people in yellow Cape Town 2010 tee shirts.  “Where are you from?” they asked, “May the Lord bless your time here.”  It felt sincere, it felt good, and it felt like a blessing.
  • As about 100 of us lined up to take one of the many shuttles to the International Conference Center of Cape Town, we were “welcomed” by a South African singing & dance troupe like none I have ever seen in Europe.  Their joy was explosive and contagious, and they didn’t stop until the shuttle bus started to pull away.  

I was crossing again into another culture (into numerous cultures when one thinks about the overall conference) and the anticipation, the uncertainty and the thrill of the experience was coming back.  You remember what it was like.  And you remember that though you thought it was really about you and what you were going to do, God showed you that it was really about Him and what He was going to teach you through the experience as well as what He could do through you.

God is up to something here at Cape Town.  I trust He is “up to something” where you are as well.

Filed under: Cape Town 2010, Crossing cultures, Gospel | 2 Comments »

Ours Should Be “A Praying Life”

Posted on October 13, 2010 by wtdavid

Watching one of the 33 Chilean miners emerge from “rescue capsule” and fall to his knees in prayer to thank “el Señor”, reminded me of the unbelievable “rescue” achieved for us in Jesus.  It was a simple yet profound image of what our constant reflex should be, that is, to “fall to our knees” in prayer and thank our Father for His work in rescuing and adopting us.  Ours should be a praying life.

David Powlison introduces the book, A Praying Life, with this thought: “A praying life is an oddly normal way to live.  The best our world has to offer is to teach you how to talk to yourself.  Change what you tell yourself, and your feelings about yourself will change.  Change your self-talk, and how you feel about yourself with change.  Talk yourself out of getting upset about what you can’t change.  Do something constructive about what you can change.  Those are the world’s best efforts.  It’s a familiar but abnormal way to live.  But Jesus lives and teaches something different.  What he does – and helps you do – is unfamiliar but normal.  It’s human and it’s humane: how life’s meant to be.  He teaches you how to stop talking to yourself.  He shows how to stop making prayer into a production.  Jesus teaches you to start talking with your father – to “my Father and your Father”.”

It is that life of talking with our Father that we want to encourage one another in as we read this book together.  I have talked to many who have already begun to read the book and are finding benefit in it. 

Beginning November 1st, I and others will share questions, insights and thoughts about each chapter or section of the book that we hope will encourage dialogue between us.

Filed under: Gospel, Prayer | 2 Comments »

Global Gospel, Global Era

Posted on October 9, 2010 by wtdavid

As you know from a previous post, I have the privilege of attending Cape Town 2010, a significant event which is part of the Lausanne Movement.  Over 4,000 Christian leaders from over 200 countries will gather to address issues of paramount importance to global evangelization and missions in the 21st century.

If you have not already had the opportunity to watch the short video on the history of the Lausanne movement.

In an effort to make you aware of and engage the World Team community in reflecting on some of the issues which will be addressed at the Cape Town 2010 conference, I have attached one of the Advance Papers which I feel is critical for us to consider.

The authors, Os Guinness and David Wells, write the following in introducing the topic of the impact of globalization on our work today:

“The first task is to discern, and so to make an accurate description of the realities of the world in which we find ourselves. The second task is to assess, and so to evaluate the pros and cons, the benefits and costs, of the world as a whole as well as of individual items and aspects of that world all assessed within the framework of the biblical worldview. The third task is to engage, and so to enter the world as disciples of Jesus called to be salt and light, gratefully using the best of the world as gifts of God and vigilantly avoiding the worst of the world. Or as the early church expressed it, we are to “plunder the Egyptian gold,” as the Lord told Israel to do, but we are never to set up “a golden calf,” as Israel was later judged for doing. Easy to say, these basic Christian tasks are harder than ever to do because of globalization. History is always more complex than we can understand, and it proceeds not by the simple influence of certain factors but by their complicated interplay and through the ironies of their unintended consequences. Globalization only compounds our difficulty in understanding, for by its very nature, globalization means that we who are finite now have to deal with the whole world; in other words, a world that is always far beyond our full comprehension. And we are dealing with the world when the world is communicating and changing at an unprecedented speed; in other words, when the world may have changed even before we have finished describing it.”

I would encourage you to share your thoughts and interact with this paper on the TATJ blog.

Filed under: Contextualization, Gospel, Mission | 3 Comments »

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