Re-thinking a ‘worldviews’ approach to evangelism
Thank God he uses us in our ignorance. I’ve been thinking about worldview and I now consider my former approach to betray a cultural arrogance. Read more
Posts from the ‘Ministry & mission’ Category
Apr 10
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Dec 21
On gospel strategy
We started a discussion here about how we talk about the professions and ‘full time vocational ministry’. It seems that a great deal of the motivation behind the push for people to go into full time vocational ministry is that we are living in the last days. This is the age of proclamation, so that ought to be our priority.
My question is one of strategy. Read more
Humility isn’t that much fun!
As we think about going to Tanzania, one of of our big prayer points is for humility. There’s an arrogance that comes with being western and theologically educated that is counter-productive to learning from Tanzanians. I’ve been learning that already as we meet different people doing church visits.
At supper after we’d spoken at one church I was approached by an ex-missionary who wanted to give me some advice. In impressing upon me the importance of a vital prayer life for a missionary she told me:
- that I was too cerebral and that I didn’t feel my faith enough.
- that she felt I didn’t pray enough. (She believed an inadequate prayer life is the number one reason missionaries return to Australia.)
- that I was naive about evil and the spirit world.
These conclusions she’d come to without having a conversation with me. Read more
Signing up as missionaries: building partnership
When I began this series in 2010, we were part way through the CMS Australia application process. Now we’re nearing the end of the final stage, the five-month intercultural training course.
For the past few years, however, we’ve been working on partnerships. One dimension of this is the online tools we’ve been using, from the most distant level of communication to the most intimate…
What does friendship feel like to you? How do you build rapport with other people? Read more
Revisiting weakness
A few years ago, I wrote a series for this blog on weakness. I was coming at it from feeling reasonably competent in the tasks given to me and trying to work out if that was OK. My question wasn’t about whether I was competent enough to do what God had asked but about whether I was weak enough to bring God glory.
Now, nine months away from heading to another country and whole other culture, my issues are completely different. Because pretty much all my competencies are called into question by this new context. Read more
Experiencing partnership
Earlier this week, Arthur and I had coffee and dessert with a couple who have been instrumental in our ministry formation. We were honored just by their willingness to catch up with us. Even more affirming was how the evening unfolded.
On paper, this couple are entirely superior to us. They have higher qualifications, far greater ministry experience, well respected pastoral insights, and superior church position and status. Just in the course of the conversation, I could identify several ways in which their ministry has shaped me. Yet, there was nothing about them that was condescending. Read more
