April 24, 2024

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Self-Feeding

Who spurs on the missionary to love and good deeds?
Disciple-making, Lifelong Learning, Training, Learning Attitude, Self-Feeding

Who spurs on the missionary to love and good deeds?

Over the last year or so, I have been thinking about what it means for missionaries to be both disciples and disciple-makers. I recognized that we can easily make the mistake of assuming that at some point in our Christian life, we graduate from being disciples to become disciple-makers. But through an in-depth study of the Gospel of Matthew, it became clear to me that we never stop being a disciple of Jesus. We never graduate from his school of discipleship. Just as we need to keep learning how to be better disciple-makers, we also need to continue learning to be better disciples. Disciples in Disciple-making In his book, The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard said First of all, it is clear that, if we would make disciples, we should be disciples. … To plan on making disciples, we need to know what one is and how people become disciples. We… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Spiritual Formation, Self-Feeding, Spiritual Disciplines

Puritan Meditation: The Centerpiece of Spiritual Formation

In our pre-field training and on-field coaching of missionaries, we emphasize the critical importance of feeding yourself spiritually, or in other words, taking the initiative to regularly nurture your soul in a context where the busyness of ministry and stress of cross-cultural living can make it difficult to keep our hearts and minds set on things above (Col 3:1-2).   Feedback from our missionaries in training suggests that this emphasis is greatly appreciated and desperately needed.    One of those ways that we can feed ourselves spiritually is by learning the spiritual discipline of meditation.   In this area, we have few better teachers than the Puritans.… Read the whole post
Gary Ridley1 min read
Spiritual Formation, Training, Self-Feeding

How Do You Train Others to Feed Themselves?

This blog series has been sidelined as we have been out of town for most of the past 4 weeks. But I do not want to leave this topic of self-feeding without addressing the question of how we can equip others to become self-feeders. In my first post on this topic, I asked the question, “Who feeds the missionaries spiritually?” Despite the value of various member care initiatives, we cannot avoid the simple conclusion that our missionaries must learn to feed themselves. The second post looked at Biblical examples and Biblical support for the concept of self-feeding. It is not just an outgrowth of Western individualism. In the third post, we clarified what self-feeding actually entails, and talked about taking responsibility for one’s own spiritual nourishment, planning ahead and developing rhythms. Now as a missionary trainer, I realize that just writing about these concepts or even explaining them clearly in… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
Spiritual Formation, Self-Feeding

What Does It Mean to Feed Yourself Spiritually?

What Does Self-Feeding Involve? In my first post on this topic, I asked the question, “Who feeds the missionaries spiritually?” My simple answer to that question:  “We expect our missionaries to feed themselves!”   Then in my second post, I looked at what the Bible has to say about self-feeding. We saw that there was all kinds of Biblical examples and Biblical support for individual believers taking the initiative to nourish their soul outside of what happens in the church meetings. Now I would like to define more clearly what I mean by self-feeding.   I think there are at least five critical elements: 1. Taking Responsibility. Self-feeding means we take personal responsibility for making sure we are regularly nourished on the Word.   If we feel spiritually under-nourished, we don’t assign primary blame to the church we are attending, but to ourselves.  Responsible people are self-disciplined. Paul reminds Titus that those who… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Spiritual Formation, Self-Feeding

What Does the Bible Say About Self-Feeding?

In my last post, I asked the question, “Who feeds the missionaries spiritually?”  My simple answer to that question:  We expect our missionaries to feed themselves!” But can self-feeding be biblically supported?  Some have questioned this concept.   After all Jesus told Peter to “feed my sheep”, not “teach my sheep to feed themselves.”   There are several direct references to self-feeding which are decidedly negative (see Ezekiel 34:2, 8, 10 and Jude 1:12 which all refer to shepherds who feed themselves, preying on the flock to enrich themselves).  Isn’t the concept of self-feeding just following the individualistic worldview and culture so prevalent in the West?  Isn’t the spiritual development of every believer dependent on the Body life of the church (Eph 4:16)?… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
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