One part of our plan is to journal each week and answer two questions. What‘s the most important thing I learned this week? How will this make me more effective in Zambia?
Question one: when I look at the plan it doesn’t look like all that much but combine it with everything else in life and it becomes a lot. Learning to prioritize and plan. Having to say no to some things and remain focused on others. One thing to focus on is this Acts course I’m going through. Be willing to except that I’m not all that smart academically and that’s okay, but to get everything you can out of it and if that’s only 50% that’s better than nothing. That is a hard thing for me to accept, I know but I have to get out of it what God wants to teach me.
I’ve also been reading Steve Saint’s book The Great Omission. As I have been reading I’ve been jotting a few notes on what has been sticking out to me, here it is:
One thought I’ve had that just become clear to me is that if, or when, God calls me/us out of the IBC/Zambia He will have already chosen and raised someone else up to take my place. If the past is any indicator of the future, this is but another step. I must be diligent in my training and teaching and aware of the Spirit’s leading in this area.
Another thing that is going to be difficult is seeing something that needs to be done, having the means, the knowhow, the desire… and knowing that I shouldn’t-knowing that the nationals are the ones to do it. There’s a balance of that. There are probably going to be some things that will have to get done. But they may not get done to my standards. You don’t want dependency-you want interdependency.
Uneducated is not the same as ignorant.
Romans 12:3-5 (NIV) For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
As missionaries our purpose is NOT to change someone’s culture, but to offer people an opportunity to adopt a new life with new values and new attitudes. We all/should change when we become followers of Christ.
Zookeeper Approach-keep outsiders and natives as they are
Cloner’s Approach-if they want to do the things we do, then they will have to be like us.
The technology must be appropriate for the people who are going to use it.
Simpler is better (usable and maintainable, and AFFORDABLE to the nationals)
The Great Commission is not a spectator sport, there or here. It is more a relay race.
Safety is not the ultimate objective as Christians or living a long life. Our objective is to obey God and to fulfill His plan for us.
John 14:15 (NIV) "If you love me, you will obey what I command".
I’ll be learning as much as I’ll be teaching.
The next part of the book is about money and $ issues.
Questions to ask yourself: “Do you work to live or do you live to work” there’s a BIG difference. “How much is enough” is your mindset: that “too little” is what I make, “enough” is more than I make. And “too much” never happens. Money is like medicine—it becomes a poison if it is received in excess.
What can often be a difficult thought: You cannot allow good endeavors {humanitarian efforts} to get in the way of spreading the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is believe, repent, and be saved. {John 3:16} These other things can and one could argue should be done along side of the Great Commission. But it should never take its place. Meeting people’s felt needs {hunger} is an effective way of opening doors to the Gospel, but don’t forget the Gospel.
There are three primary areas that a new body of believers has to develop before they can be weaned from the supporting “milk” provided by outsiders. At the point of weaning they should be able:
1) Lead others to Christ {self-propagating} the nationals in Zambia are very good at this.
2) Organize and police their own affairs {self-governing} the need training in this area, I believe this is where discipleship training would greatly help.
3) Support their own ministry {self-supporting} this is the area that is the most difficult, understandably when you’re dealing with a nation where unemployment is from 70 -80%. People feel they don’t have anything ($) to give (tithe), when all they have to do is get more creative.
Questions to periodically ask yourself in missions:
1) Is my mission method working as well as it should?
2) Do I have the right approach?
3) Am I even on the right road?
We must not forget to do God’s will- we must do it His way (follow His pattern).
God has laid out a pattern in the gospel of Acts for us to follow. The forms may vary but the functions should remain the same.
The first and most important (and where everything with God should begin) is PRAYER! Seeking Him in all things and listening and being obedient to the Holy Spirit leading.
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