• 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!

Ever learning more

Posted on August 31, 2012 by wtdavid

The “rentrée” is just about upon us.  The “rentrée” is the French equivalent of the start up of the new academic or business year.  I realize that this is a predominantly northern hemisphere phenomenon, but bear with me as there are principles all of us can take away.  The “rentrée” is that time when everyone looks back on the past few months and then begins to anticipate what is ahead.

In most people’s minds, they savor all that they were able to do, but look forward (both excitedly and nervously) to all there is still to learn and experience.

We as workers need to step back and once again prepare our “rentrée”, whether that occurs for you in September or in February.  Sometimes we get so stuck in always looking back, living on what we have learned and experienced already, that we never take the time to assess and anticipate what we ought to learn in the days, weeks and months ahead.

My challenge to each of us is this:

  • Choose one growth area, one area for improvement in your personal, family, spiritual or ministry life;
  • Write a description of the end result you will strive towards and specific activities that will move you towards that end result;
  • Ask someone to be a growth coach or partner with you, praying and encouraging you in this growth area.

The reason we should still learn more is so that “whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we do all to the glory of God.”  (1 Corinthians 10:31)

 

 

Filed under: Assessment, Lifelong learning | 2 Comments »

Learning from the ‘old’ guys

Posted on August 30, 2012 by wtdavid

J.I. Packer, in his book, A Quest for Godliness, quotes a well known Puritan writer (17th century): “And he that doth not feed on and thrive in the digestion of the food which he  provides for others will scarce make it savoury unto them; yea, he know not but that the food he hath provided may be poison, unless he have really tasted of it himself. If the word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us.”  A fitting word for us today.

The hardest part of any day is setting aside time to dig into the Word of God for ourselves, to mine its truths and to dialogue with God about what we are learning and how it all applies to us.  The excuses are multiple: I just don’t have time; or doesn’t Bible study preparation count; or there’s no ‘system’ that seems to work for me.

Two small steps might be a beginning towards getting us back into ‘savouring’ the truths of the Word. First, ask someone to pray over the coming week(s) for you to have a desire to be with the Father.  Second, start sharing what you are learning with others, not in a teaching sense, but just sharing how something from the Bible is impacting you and how you desire to work it into your heart.  It sounds so straightforward, but the act of sharing or giving to others in this way creates a thirst for more, more time in His Word.

This is exactly what we want to see in our disciples as well, isn’t it?  To have a thirst and hunger for God’s Word and share it with others?

 

Filed under: Development, Lifelong learning, Prayer, Priorities | Leave a comment »

Join Us

Posted on May 3, 2012 by wtdavid

Join us each Monday for the next few months as we read and discuss together Tim Keller’s book, King’s Cross.

Each week a different member of the WT community will be writing a post about a chapter. A question will be included to help us interact further throughout the week.

Join us this coming Monday, May 7th, when we will be looking at chapter 1: “The Dance” (pages 3-13 in my copy). 

Let forward to you talking with you!

Filed under: Lifelong learning, Reflection | Leave a comment »

Rescued people are dependent people

Posted on January 11, 2012 by wtdavid

Rescued people learn to become dependent people.  It is not a onetime event, but a process over a lifetime. 

How does one know if he/she is growing in dependence or is simply remaining in his/her sinful independence?  Darrin Patrick writes: “We often do not know whether we are living in dependence upon God because we are disengaged from our hearts.”   So, we must engage with our hearts, discerning its movements and motivations.  Patrick provides us with some questions that might help us in this process:

1)      Which do I want more: to know God or to achieve for God?  [Some verses to meditate on: Philippians 3:10; Exodus 33:13; 1 Timothy 4:6-10]

2)      When was the last time I experienced a prompting of the Holy Spirit?  [Some verses to meditate on: John 4:7-19; Acts 16:6-10]

3)      Am I consistently being convicted of sin in my life?  [Some verses to meditate on: Hebrews 12:5-11; John 16:7-8; 1 John 3:9]

4)      Am I consistently accepting my acceptance by God through Christ? [Some verses to meditate on: 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21]

5)      Where do my thoughts go when I am not forced to think about anything?  [Some verses to meditate on: Psalm 63:1-4]

I was greatly ‘exercised’ by this list; discouraged might be another way of putting it.  Then I realized the problem.  I was responding to a series of questions about being dependent by trying to just exercise my own independent will.

Rescued people learn to become dependent people by choosing to go God for the power to change; for the ability and strength to engage one’s heart and learn what it means to depend on God the Father more and more.

Filed under: Godly living, Gospel, Lifelong learning | 4 Comments »

How Much Do You Know?

Posted on October 4, 2010 by wtdavid

I read the following piece in The Economist this week, and it caused me to reflect about an aspect of lifelong learning:

“A survey from the Pew Research Centre that tested Americans’ knowledge of world religions found that atheists and agnostics were better informed about religious teachings and religious leaders than were Protestants and Catholics.  Evangelicals scored better on questions solely related to Christianity and the Bible.”

I realize that this study was limited to the American population, and that I don’t have statistics for Canadians, Australians or people from other countries.  Nevertheless, the research does seem to beg the question as to whether Evangelicals in general have a rather limited understanding of what others believe. 

Our calling as cross cultural workers necessitates that we have a deep understanding of what others believe, what is their worldview, in order to “contextualize” the message of the Gospel and “know how we should respond to each person.” (Colossians 4:6)  However, that is not a one off event, but requires a lifelong learning stance to continue to grow in our knowledge of what others believe, how they think and what they value.

With our world becoming more and more globalized, the above article caused me to wonder if my familiarity with other religions might be similarly limited.  And that maybe I needed to set a new learning outcome.

Engaging people from other faiths is one of the issues that will be raised at Cape Town 2010.  You might want to read one of the Advance papers entitled: “Bearing Witness to the Love of Christ with People of Other Faiths.”  You can find this and other papers at: http://conversation.lausanne.org/en.

Filed under: Lifelong learning, Sharing the Gospel story | 1 Comment »

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