The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Year: 2012 Page 2 of 4

Critical Issues for the Cross-Cultural Church Planter

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On August 30, 2012

In Church Planting, Islam, Book Reviews, Covenant Community, Evangelism

This summer I read The Messenger, The Message and the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural Church Planter by Roland Muller.  It was a read that was long overdue.  You see, the author is a friend of mine, and I have followed his ministry closely for about 25 years. About 14 years ago, as the first edition of some parts of this book was being written, Roland Muller asked me to read it and give some feedback.  To my regret, and with some degree of embarrassment now, I admit that I did not finish reading the manuscript, although I did give some thoughts on the part of the book that I did read.   As a result, the author used some of my graduate study research to support one of his arguments and somewhat undeservedly, included my name in the acknowledgments.

About seven years later, Roland combined three books he had written into this current book.   The three sections of The Messenger, the Message and the Community are taken from these three prior works: Tools for Muslim Evangelism (published in 2000), Honor and Shame, Unlocking the Door (2000) and Creating Christian Community (2005).   A couple of years ago, Roland Muller published a second edition, seeking to broaden the audience to include those who do not serve primarily among Muslim peoples.

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Train Yourself for Godliness

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On August 10, 2012

In Spiritual Formation, Training

If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. – 1 Timothy 4:6–8

The desired outcome: to become a good servant of Christ Jesus

We all want to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant” from our Lord. But what does that mean for each of us? What do we need to be doing that will make it possible for us to hear those words?

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Training for “bush” Alaska

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On July 6, 2012

In Lifelong Learning, New Missionaries

Flying through mountains in Alaska

During the month of June, this blogger was focused on other things than blogging, and I apologize.   We flew back to North America from Ukraine at the end of May, and spent basically the whole month of June living out of suitcases, travelling throughout Alaska and British Columbia.  Hence, I had little time to sit down and think through what I wanted to blog about.

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Top 10 Definitions of Missionary Success Revisited

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On May 24, 2012

In Success in ministry, Finishing Well

This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Success for missionaries

The seventh post in a series on defining success for a missionary. Part 1 demonstrated that we, like Paul, can be confident in our ministry, despite all our detractors and critics. In Part 2, we saw in 2 Corinthians that Paul repeats the phrase “commend ourselves,” to identify key criteria that he uses to demonstrate that his ministry is credible and successful. In the third, fourth and fifth posts, we looked more closely at Paul’s criteria of successful ministry, that of clearly proclaiming the Gospel, seeing lives changed by God’s power through our ministry, and joyfully enduring hardships in ministry.  In the sixth post, we looked at some typical, yet flawed definition of success.

Last week, I suggested that we as missionaries are pretty adept at coming up with ways of determining whether we have been “good missionaries.”   I gave my top 10, many of them coming from my own experience.   Any one want to add to this list?   No need to stop at ten!

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Top 10 Inadequate Definitions of Success

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On May 17, 2012

In Finishing Well, Success in ministry

This entry is part 6 of 7 in the series Success for missionaries

The sixth post in a series on defining success for a missionary. Part 1 demonstrated that we, like Paul, can be confident in our ministry, despite all our detractors and critics. In Part 2, we saw in 2 Corinthians that Paul repeats the phrase “commend ourselves,” to identify key criteria that he uses to demonstrate that his ministry is credible and successful. In the third, fourth and fifth posts, we looked more closely at Paul’s criteria of successful ministry, that of clearly proclaiming the Gospel, seeing lives changed by God’s power through our ministry, and joyfully enduring hardships in ministry.

Who gets to hear “Well done”? We all want Christ to say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” when we stand before him. But few of us spend much time thinking deeply about what “well done” actually means for us as missionaries. What do we need to be doing in order to receive Christ’s commendation? Some might protest that the question about “doing” clashes with the concept of grace. But Paul says in 2 Cor 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” There will be a judgment of works for believers, and according to 1 Cor 3:12-15, the quality of our participation (or lack of participation) in the building of Christ’s church is definitely subject to this judgment. So if we don’t take the time to think what Christ might be expecting of us, how else do we determine whether we are a “good missionary”? What are some of the definitions of success that we live by?  Maybe recognizing some of these inadequate definitions will be just as helpful as studying the Pauline definitions of his success as a missionary.

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