• 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!

An old word, but a vitally important one

Posted on January 10, 2023 by wtdavid

We are a movement. 

We are a group of committed believers who focus on advancing and facilitating a multiplying expression of disciples and communities of believers.

Being part of a movement implies that the work (the ministry) of the movement is done collaboratively, collectively, and not individually. Resources (people, prayer, finances, gifts, etc.) are leveraged together for the growth and development of the movement. Its energy and activity is focused on the ministry that the group has been called of God to accomplish.

We who participate in this movement seek to live out the truth that every member is important. In fact, we believe that we need one another in order to accomplish the task; that every member brings knowledge and experience to the community, to the movement.

However, the key is that ownership by all movement members, of this way of working, is based on trust and understanding.

It’s an old word, but a vitally important one in the current context in which we live and work.  Spread out across several continents, with meetings often held via Zoom, it’s easy for trust to be undermined or simply not granted to others within the network.

Core behaviours need to be fueling and nurturing trust on a regular basis.

I often fail in this task. As I’m sure many others do as well.  However, here are a few ways we can seek to fuel and nurture trust among us in this New Year 2023:

  • Seek to over-communicate with others in the movement.  Think about what would be helpful for you to know about what is going on, and then work to share what is happening in your part of the world with others for their input and help (a tangible way of demonstrating that we need one another in order to accomplish the task).
  • Ask more questions rather than answer questions.  This means putting others first in any given conversation, to better understand their perspective and ideas.
  • Reflect with others on the text in 1 Corinthians 13:7. How might this biblical text work out in practical ways in our relationships with others in the movement?

Working together to envision tomorrow.  That’s our objective for the Global 3C Conference this coming July.  To get there, we will need to fuel and nurture trust and understanding over the coming seven (7) months.

Filed under: 3C Global Conference, Movement, Trust | Leave a comment »

“The mess we are in”

Posted on August 21, 2018 by wtdavid

A couple of weeks ago, I read this story sent by a good friend who served with World Team for many years.  The honesty with which he shared spoke to my heart and reminded me that God does use all things for our good and for His glory.  Here’s the story:

I learned yesterday of the passing of my uncle, Milton, 98 years of age, herald of the Gospel for 2 decades in India and another 2 in Surinam.

The last time I talked to him was probably 20 years ago.  We were sitting in the shade on a pile of rocks and I was complaining to him that I had been given a job that was beyond me, nothing was working out like I had hoped, and I couldn’t see what good it all would do in the end. 

“Let me tell you a story,” he said.  “During much of my life in India I felt just like you do now.  But last year, this time, my kids arranged a return trip to visit the village where we had worked and God let me see what he had been up to.

“You know I grew up as a dry-land wheat farmer in Saskatchewan, but from my youth I felt that God had set me aside as one of those who were to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  I signed up as a missionary, and I was sent to a completely unreached village in India.  My mission leadership decided that the best way to use my skills to make contact and to establish trust in the village was to establish a sustainable agricultural project.  So there I was, teaching Indian farmers how to grow wheat.  That’s NOT what I had signed up for!  I wanted to be an evangelist. 

“During our second term, our mission decided that we needed to start a clinic and a school for orphans.  Since I was the only member of our team who knew which end of a hammer to hold, I was put in charge of construction, overseeing a crew of Indian builders.  AGAIN, not what I had signed up for.  I wanted to be an evangelist.

“Our third term, it was decided that my wife and I should be dorm parents to the boy students at the school.  So there we were, cooking, housekeeping, doing laundry for 20 boys.  We poured our hearts into them, but what I really wanted was to be an evangelist.  So I requested a transfer and they sent me to Surinam where I was put in charge of rebuilding a tumbled-down Bible camp. 

“Now, 20 years later, thanks to my kids, I got to go back for a visit and I understand what was going on.  There is drought in the area where we worked, but, thanks to the dry-land farming methods I taught them, our village farmers know how to deal with it – so they have food to eat and surplus to sell.  Plentiful food and basic medical care bring crowds of people from other towns to our town every day.  Our village is known as a Christian village, and those farmers and builders I worked with are the heart of the Christian community.  And the orphan boys?  They have grown up to be leaders of that community and they’re out evangelizing in the market place every day.  The whole time I was there fretting and complaining, I never saw it coming!”

And then Uncle Milton laid this piece of unfathomable wisdom on me.  “Duane,” he said, “Take it from me: You have no idea what God is planning to accomplish through the mess that you’re in now.”  He was right, you know. 

mess_banner

God is planning to accomplish something for His glory, through whatever “mess” we may find ourselves in right now.

Filed under: Sovereignty, Trust | Leave a comment »

A word for the year

Posted on January 18, 2018 by wtdavid

My word for this year would be: “Fear not”. fear not

Now, I’m not one to try and come up with a catchy phrase for each year, but this one has been laid on my heart since re-visiting the story of the shepherds and the announcement of the angel to them in Luke 2.

It’s amazing how many times this statement, “fear not“, appears in the Scriptures.  Here, in this text, it has the sense of ‘don’t be afraid, trust Me’.  The appearance of an angel of the Lord was often associated with judgment, but here it is an announcement of redemption, of joy, of life.  You could translate it: ‘don’t be afraid, come and see what the Lord has done.’

I question whether I have what it takes to run 42 km again (see: “Gifting a Challenge”).  I’m ‘fearing‘ about running that distance again.  However, I’m going to take on the challenge because I want to make a memory with our kids.

You may be questioning why you should give any more effort to the task.  I’m inviting you to make a memory with me; a memory of two people groups significantly impacted, indigenous leaders raised up and working with us and teaching one another.

It’s going to be a lot of work, but when we cross that line together, we will say that it was all worth the effort.  “Fear not!  Trust God!”

Save the date.  Tuesday, November 27th (#givethanksTuesday).  On that day, come and see not just what the Lord has done, but what the Lord will do through us and in us.

Filed under: Challenge, Trust | Leave a comment »

Why is it so hard?

Posted on February 27, 2017 by wtdavid

Call it what you want: support raising, partnership development, or cross cultural worker funds.  For most of us, the task of ‘raising our own support’ was not, and is not, something that we looked forward to doing.  Yet, the Lord was faithful and here we are serving Him cross culturally.fund raising

Jehovah Jireth, the God who provides, met our need through those whose hearts He touched to engage in God’s mission.

However, in recent days, I have heard ‘older’ and ‘younger’ workers state how hard it is to do and continue to do partnership development.  I won’t use the word ‘complain’; maybe more like ‘tiresome-ness’.  Many are looking at other ways to self-fund or to reduce the amount of support they need to raise. Many are asking the question as to the viability of the partnership development process.

It’s not my intent to argue one way or the other.  However, let’s not deprive people around us of ‘the God ask’; that is, giving them an opportunity to get involved in what God is doing in His mission around the world through sharing their resources (see Philippians 4:15-17).

Let’s not deprive ourselves, either, of the opportunity to learn, and learn again that God does provide for our needs. He will provide through the partnership of others, through a work opportunity, or through a multitude of other ways. Yet, this is His work, not our work.

When we worry, complain, or grow just plain tired of raising up and developing partners in the ministry, we are in a sense conveying that cross cultural missions is about us.  We know that God called us into this work.  We know that we must raise up partners and funding.  However, we can trust He will meet our needs and teach us through this process.

Filed under: Partnership development, Trust | Leave a comment »

You skaking?

Posted on February 10, 2017 by wtdavid

Just reading the news, as we know, can get one discouraged.  Here in Europe, the talk is of the exponential rise in migration, Brexit, and the internal strife in numerous countries.  There is a ‘shaking’ going on, and it can cause us to ‘shake’; to wonder what is really going on.

The daily grind of our lives as cross cultural workers can also cause us to despair, to ‘shake’, wondering what all this disruption has to do with life and ministry.

unshakeableI read this statement today which put order back into my heart and thinking: “This is why it is important to believe with an unshakeable trust that we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken.”

God builds the house (Psalm 127). God is building His Church (Matthew 16:18).  One day, God will right everything in this world (Revelation 21:4).  His kingdom is unshakeable (Hebrews 12:28).

At the end of another week, you may feel disrupted.  You may be ‘shaking in your boots’ because language learning is going badly or the person you’ve been spending time with in spiritual conversation dropped off the radar screen or family issues are causing sleep to be disturbed.

Then reach out in faith and repentance and grab hold of His hand.  Let Him overwhelm your ‘shaking’ heart with His assurance, with His ‘unshakableness’.

Not feeling like you can do that?  Then tell another, you’re having trouble even reaching out your hand.  Let them take your hand into His.

Filed under: Crossing cultures, Sovereignty, Trust | 4 Comments »

I don’t trust the plan

Posted on August 19, 2016 by wtdavid

I have been reading the book, Nothing is Impossible: Reflections on Weakness, Faith, and Power, by Rose Marie Miller, with several colleagues.  It is the story of Rose Marie’s lifelong journey to see the Gospel worked out in very tangible ways in her everyday life and character.  Her honesty is disarming, but also strikes to the core of what plagues us the most: self.

At one point, she makes this short but telling statement: “She needs faith that God has a good, the plansovereign, wise plan for her son and the rest of the family.  Our basic problem is this: We don’t trust the plan.  We are taught by our flesh, by Satan, by our culture, even by other Christians, that we must do everything we can to avoid suffering.”

We delight in ‘being the masters of our fate’ and grate when the Lord uses situations to remind us us of how much we trust in the flesh.  We don’t like it when God uses others to re-align our plans with His.  We struggle to follow a decision our team has made or to respond graciously to a request from leadership for needed information or statistics.

Now I’m not denying the fact that some of the life situations we face, or the decisions and requests made might be worth challenging.  However, our normal reaction to these events is to question the heart intent of those involved in causing those events or making those decisions.  We reason that we would have made a better (read: ‘much wiser and smarter’) choice.

Many of us can probably remember a time when a leadership team or colleagues made a decision that we needed to get additional experience and training before moving into a new job or ministry that had been proposed to us.  We probably chafed at the ‘lack of understanding’ of these people.  However, if we look back now on that life event, we realize we struggled to ‘trust the plan’. In the long run, I’m sure that decision actually had nothing but major beneficial impact on our life and future.

In ourselves, we don’t know what is always best. However, God has given us His Spirit and He has placed you and I in a community where we can learn to discover His will for each moment and boldly walk in it.

Filed under: Accountability, Community, Trust | 2 Comments »

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