VISION OF THE POSSIBLE – CHAPTER 12

OVERVIEW

This chapter covers CPM’s in highly resistant cultures and give some anecdotal evidence of what is happening in resistant areas around the world.

COMMENTS

He spoke about some of the political and cultural changes we have seen in areas of the world that have created openings to more openly share.  I think, at least in our area, we have seen a cultural change with the immigration issue opening doors for the gospel.  I can only personally speak of our area but we know of many local believers who accepted Christ in the states and have come back and are now making inroads amongst their own people.  Also, because so many people in our villages have been to the states, we see an openness for them to approach us and befriend us which leads to sharing opportunities.  Let me know what some of you have seen in your areas.

I was glad to see he was very much against the model of church planters living in other areas(often at a good standard of living) and coming in and out of the villages to try to plant churches.  He preached incarnational living with the target people group which is definitely not easy but necessary. 

  

VISION OF THE POSSIBLE CHAPTER 11

OVERVIEW

This chapter covers the role of the church planter in church planting.  We know we are there to plant churches but how much do we get involved and when do we start backing out.

COMMENTS

After a long delay, we are now back into our review of the book and this chapter provides some good food for thought on our work, especially those totally starting from scratch.  I liked his analogy of scaffolding and this will stick with me.  Scaffolding is not the building but a temporary need for the building to be built well.  Then it is taken down and used for another new building.  I think this is a good way to look at our work and obviously our scaffolding will be needed for different time periods depending on the church plant. 

He mentioned variables that will affect our church planting and said that he has seen some church planters, in order to remain 100% indigenous, not meet or have any influence with a body of new believers in order not to taint their indigenous forms of body life.  I cannot see how this would work where we are and in most places.  I think new believers must have some guidance on a biblical church albeit with as little as our Western influence as possible.  He did not subscribe to this method but I found it interesting. He went on later to say that concerns over foreign influence are important but secondary, by comparison, to laying solid biblical and spiritual foundations.

One other point mentioned is that it is vital that we pour out our lives among the believers and nurture them with motherly love and care.   This requires a time investment as well as living around them and them being in our home and vice versa.  This is draining at times for us but I see the invaluable need to be with them in their villages.  We know of two other missionary families who live in a larger city and drive into the villages.  They are making friends and connecting but no where near to the extent that we are because we are right there.  We are woven into their lives and problems.  We are the ones they call for help when the husband is out drinking and they need help because we live with them and we have their trust.  Just a plug for our strategy of living amongst the people although I know it is not easy but I guess we were not called to do an easy job.

Why do we test stories?

Why do we test stories? We test stories to make sure the message that we communicate is the message that is heard and understood. We test to limit the possibility of syncretism. Here is the text of a children’s Bible story that obviously had no testing.

Children’s Bible in a Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing
but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, ‘The Lord thy God is
one,’ but I think He must be a lot older than that. Anyway, God said,
‘Give me a light!’ and someone did. Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they
weren’t embarrassed because mirrors hadn’t been invented yet. Adam and
Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the
Garden of Eden. Not sure what they were driven in though, because they
didn’t have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was
Abel. Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for
Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.
One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy,
but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put
his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join
him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous
than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in
exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a
really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton
Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil
Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh’s people. These plagues
included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable. God fed the Israel
Lights every day with manicotti Then He gave them His Top Ten
Commandments. These include don’t lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet
your neighbor’s stuff. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy
father and thy mother.

One of Moses’ best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to
use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over
on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant
with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and
500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn’t sound
very wise to me. After Solomon there were a bunch of major league
prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and
then barfed up on the shore. There were also some minor league prophets,
but I guess we don’t have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of
the New Testament. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had
been born in a barn, too, because my mom is always saying to me, ‘Close
the door! Were you born in a barn?’ It would be nice to say, ‘As a
matter of fact, I was.’) During His life, Jesus had many arguments with
sinners like the Pharisees and the Republicans. Jesus also had twelve
opossums. The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they
named a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to
some Germans on the Mount. But the Republicans and all those guys put
Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn’t stick up for
Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

Anyway’s, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again.
He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His
return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

Vision of the Possible- Chapter 10

Overview

Team leadership.  The responsibility and role of leading a team.

Comments

Although this content of this chapter may not directly apply to many of us in regards to leading a team of American missionaries, I think we can apply some of the information if we are in a “leadership” role of nationals.  Obviously, we would not have a superior/subordinate role with a national but we can still motivate,support and encourage that national in our church planting objectives.

I agree with what he mentions regarding spiritual health.  When I have many tasks to do, it is easy to let quiet times slide but how can I expect God to use me if my spiritual health is not solid.  My spiritual health must be a priority if God is going to accomplish his goals.

The other point mentioned was that church planting is often unrewarding. It’s hard and not immediately satisfying.  For men, this can be hard because we are usually task oriented and we want to see results.  We have to be focused and hang in there even when discouragement comes which it will.

Vision of the Possible- Chapter 9

Overview

This chapter covers discipleship and how important it is if we desire to see church multiplication.  New christians need to be discipled and future leaders developed.

Comments

This discussion is so important as I think we often focus all of our attention on evangelism and new believers but we leave the topic of discipleship behind.  I am not saying we don’t discuss its importance but we often assume it will take care of itself.  We are currently in the discipleship phase with  new believers and it is not easy.  I find myself wanting to push hard and fast but I need to understand they have lived under a STRONG Catholic influence for 30-40 years and I can’t expect them to understand this new life quickly and leave behind all their past non-biblical customs at the drop of a hat.  It has been a learning experience for me and I see myself praying for patience and wisdom.  As Sinclair said, Jesus spent lots of time with the disciples and they still did not get it all right even after a few years with Jesus. 

As a discipler, we are stretched by the faith of our new believers.  One family has so little and are constantly scraping for money(the spouse left for the U.S. six years and provides no support) but they trust in God and know they will get by.  I would be a headcase if I were in their financial situation with my American mindset but in their culture they have ways to get by.

He pointed out that as new believers you may need to advise them to hang low for a little while and not run around telling everyone of their new faith until they have some discipleship growth.  We have not told the new believers in our area to stay silent but I do feel as though they need some good discipleship and growth so they can better explain the “new life in Christ” they now have.

Bible vs. Mammon

Vision of the Possible- Chapter 8

Overview

This chapter covers the subject of evangelism.  How important it is and different strategies and ways we can use evangelism to get us to our ultimate goal of church planting.

Comments

There is so much in this chapter that could be commented on but I will narrow it down to a few things.  Most importatantly, evangelism is so key and at the same time we can easily get distracted by doing “other good things” and not focus on sharing the good news of Christ.

With the few people we have seen come to Christ, I consistenly try to share with them that it is all of our jobs to share the news of Christ, to share his love to allow people to see Christ in us or a difference in us that people will desire.  As Sinclair points out, sooner or later they are going to be more effective witnesses then us. 

I liked the idea of using broadcast evangelism with followup to reach a “wider net” of people.  I have not figured out how to do this yet but a local guy in our village has started a radio station here and we constantly hear people listening to it.  One of the people helping me with my one story translations mentioned we should talk to the owner to see if we could play a story a week on the station and have a discussion afterwards.  This person is an unbeliever and believes that this would be received well by the people here.  I still have a way to go on the project but who knows God may have plans for something like this.  We will see. 

How we need to support our fellow missionaries, as mentioned in the chapter, that labor for many years without seeing any fruit.  God is planting seeds and he sees this labor as important and what an act of obedience to the Lord’s call that we can all learn from.

Sinclair mentions 17 evangelism points and I am going to mention a few that stuck out to me:

1. Prayer- I need to be praying more consistently and specifically for people who God has placed in our paths.  It is the key to everything.

2.Be Bold- There have been times, because of where we are, that I have backed off from sharing Christ more boldly.  I have been timid to not raise alarms and I felt afterwards that I should have been more bold.

3. Don’t limit myself relationally-  Don’t be content with the 3-4 familes that we are good friends with but instead constantly be trying to meet new people.  Don’t put all my eggs in a few baskets.

4.Pray for the sick in Jesus’ name- We have lots of opportunities to do this here and we have not taken advantage of it much.  We often say we will pray for them and do but I need to take the opportunity to pray with them in person and see God work. 

Self-Control vs. Self-Indulgence

VISION OF THE POSSIBLE, CHAPTER 7

Overview

This chapter covers our role and residency in our culture in which we work. How do we fit in in our culture and how does the public view us?

Comments

While we do not encounter major visa obstacles like many of our coworkers in Asia and the Middle East, I think this chapter is very relevant in discussing our role in the culture in which we live. We definately need to address how the people perceive us and what do they think we are doing in their villages when absolutely no one ever from the U.S. has expressed interest living in their village. Most, if not all of us, on our team have had the ability to enter our villages without a platform or “tentmaking” job. I think in some instances it may enhance or help our cause although the locals are always going to be skeptical as to why we left the U.S. to come to a dirty village and teach english or sell chickens. These platforms can also eat away at a lot of our time.

All of what he covers on p.110(middle of page-down) is very relevent and needs to be discussed thoroughly before we hit our locations. Having a good answer when people ask what you are doing there is vital. Even if it is not specific, you do not want to fumble through this answer and create more skepticism. I am not talking of being deceitful but having an answer that applies to what you are doing that you can say every time you are asked which will be often. This answer needs to be honest and thought out and we need to be comfortable with it.

He mentions the problem of the man basing his work out of his house. I have had a problem with this as I don’t leave my house to go to a work site. I leave my house to do language learning, record stories or do storying sessions but I don’t have a work location that the people see me going to. I have even been asked if we are on vacation here!!! As my storying project has evolved, I do tell some people now that I work out of my house on this project so they see me as having a worksite. As men living in the villages, I think we will always be fighting against this perception. It has helped me to have contacts in other villages that are helping us in our ministry or storying project. This way the people do see me and know that I am leaving to go somewhere to work.

Faith vs. Fear