Category: Narratives
Damaging Detachment
What does it look like to co-create New Creation? It does not look like clinically undermining a suffering part of the global Church from a detached distance that’s for sure. This post argues that healthy contextualisation and intercultural intelligence is required to co-create New Creation.
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Nil By Force
This post tackles a tendency for some to get aggressive in our evangelism and missions approach. A triumphalist mindset remains prevalent in global missions circles but the posture encouraged in Scripture is that of quiet humility, gentleness, and honouring others’ dignity.
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Whose Side Are You On?
In a world marked by conflicts, it is appropriate to ask “whose side are you on?” as we start a new year. The question arises from Joshua 5 and this post is a prelude to a longer 2023 Leader’s Missions Forecast essay distributed to the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission network.
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Antichrist
Death is associated with separation, so too the antichrist/s. Anger is associated with separation which can lead to death if it is not well processed. It is transformational if it is well processed. Protest can be a legitimate expression of anger, but ultimately our aim should always be to process toward reconciliation.
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Toxic Goodness
In a world being ripped apart before our very eyes we could all use a bit of love, faith, and peace right now. But there’s a reason for the dysfunction we see around us and it is called Sin. That’s not a popular opinion these days, but what if Sin was simply the imposition of good upon others? This post explores that very question.
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Unbroken Weave
When Jesus prayed “that they all be one” (John 17) we interpret that one-ness in all manner of ways that fail to match our lived reality. But if we understanding it to mean an inseparable family bonded in/by the blood of Jesus (via faith in/allegiance to Him) our reality matches perfectly: warts and all. The challenge then remains: how to align.
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Generating New Energy
We do not like to talk about it, but we cannot keep our head in the sand. The energy required for church and missions in the West to flourish is depleting, but there is good news: it is thriving elsewhere! This post reflects on these hard facts and concludes that Western Christians still have much to contribute alongside the global Church.
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The Wellbeing Imperative
Until very recently it seems, Western Christianity has been solely focused on ‘the dark side of the moon’-a pathological perspective of humanity. We should have no illusions about sin’s devastating effects, but neither should we lose sight of our inherent goodness. Missions needs a shift in perspective towards wellbeing.
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Step By Step
You’ve got to start somewhere and little steps can achieve great things. But can we achieve God’s mission? Is it a project we are ‘tasked’ to finish? What if God’s mission was eternal? How would that alter our perspective? Step by step we are called to obey and follow, but not necessarily to accomplish God’s mission.
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Knowledge & Soul
It can be easy to use slick ‘visionary’ hype to motivate people and resources toward achieving a goal. Often a well defined method accompanies the emotional appeal as the means to achieve the goal. Proverbs 19:2 warns that zeal without accompanying knowledge, applying a method without understanding, can lead to sin.
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Diminishing Returns
Some traditional missions concepts, methods or strategies are requiring increasing resources but their impact is decreasing or even harmful. The turn of the year is an ideal time for considering what former things to discard so that we can embrace the new things God is doing… if we can perceive them (Isaiah 43:18-19).
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Half The Sky
Missions is replete with women following their vocation in service of the purposes of God. Sad stories of mistreatment abound and this should not be. The dignity and power of women in general is worthy of great respect. For the sake of God’s mission in a hurting world, women must be released to their full potential.
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