I understand that I need to look for “POPs” or Persons of Peace / Prepared Open People, but how do I find them? How would I recognize them?
In our previous blog post, “Persons of Peace: 1. What are they?“, we discovered what Persons of Peace are. We learned why they were part of Jesus’ strategy for spreading the good news of the kingdom. We saw from biblical examples and modern stories that they can be unbelievers, pre-believers, new believers or established believers. They are local, well-networked people. God has prepared people of peace in very different ways – through sickness and a sense of need, through a sense of inadequacy or maybe through the change in their own lives. They reduce exponentially the amount of time it takes to penetrate a new area. This is because they… Read the whole post
Category: Gospel Page 1 of 6
When we enter a new area, we often wonder, “Where do I start? I don’t know anyone here, and who am I to come into their world and start teaching them?”
Jesus prepared his disciples for this by giving them a strategy
When Jesus was sending out His 12 disciples on a missionary training trip in Matthew 10, and when He was sending out 72 of His followers on evangelism training in Luke 10, he gave them each some special instructions. This command was to be part of their strategy for reaching those areas. Jesus told them to find a “person of peace” (CSB) or “someone who promotes peace” (NIV).1 See Luke 10:5,6. In Matthew, Jesus calls them “worthy” people. Jesus told them they were to look for these kinds of people who would help them reach the… Read the whole post
Many of our readers know that my wife and I were missionaries based in Ukraine until shortly before the war broke out in that country. In another post, I have written about how I realized that we were in fact refugees. Since then, I have been praying daily for the war to end and for the restoration of peace in this country. Although a few expatriate missionaries remain in the country, most like us, have returned to their home countries or relocated to another country, often to work with Ukrainian refugees.
We think it would be better for the work of missions if the country was free from the suffering, destruction and loss of life that war brings. If the war would only end, we could once more focus on the work of the kingdom. Before the war, my mission organization focused on equipping and sending Ukrainians out as cross-cultural workers. That work has now been put on hold. Some say it will take 10 years to recapture lost momentum.
But recently as I was reading the Gospel of Mark, I noticed what surrounds that great promise that Jesus gives to his disciples in Mark 13.
Why are some people more open to the truth?
As missionaries, we want people to change their minds about God and their relationship to him. We frequently are dismayed at how unwilling people are to change their thinking. They resist beliefs that are at odds with those of their parents and culture. But thankfully, sometimes we encounter people who are amazingly willing to reconsider their beliefs and look seriously at the truth claims of Scripture. We rejoice at what God has done to prepare them for the Gospel. We may find out that there are circumstances and past events in their lives that have made them more open than their neighbours. But how do we describe this openness and how do we cultivate this openness in others and in ourselves? I believe we can find some answers in Julia Galef’s book, The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly… Read the whole post
Moravian Seal, or Agnus Dei, stained glass window in the Rights Chapel at Trinity Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, NC
A few months ago, I saw the news that one of my professors in graduate school, Dr. Gordon Fee, died at the age of 88. Dr. Fee taught with fervor and intensity, often slipping unconsciously into passionate preaching in the middle of a lecture. He was also an excellent biblical scholar. For many years, he served as the general editor for the acclaimed New International Commentary series. I am very grateful that I had the privilege to learn from him.
The absolutely crucial term for understanding Jesus
My favourite course with Fee was on the life and teachings of Jesus. I sat spellbound in one of the front rows of the lecture hall as he unpacked the message of Jesus from the four Gospels. When Dr. Fee came to Lecture #13, “The Proclamation of the Kingdom”, he announced that this was the most important lecture of the course. For Fee, the kingdom of God was “the absolutely crucial term for understanding Jesus.”
You cannot know anything about Jesus, anything, if you miss the kingdom of God. . . . You are zero on Jesus if you don’t understand this term. I’m sorry to say it that strongly, but this is the great failure of evangelical Christianity. We have had Jesus without the kingdom of God, and therefore have literally done Jesus in.
Gordon Fee, “Jesus: Early Ministry/ Kingdom of God,” Lecture (1993), Regent College, Tape Series 2235E, Pt 1, Regent College, Vancouver, BC, Canada.