Instant communication

Over the past few days we have had direct (skype) conversations with people in such far-flung and separate places as Croatia and Singapore. We get regular Facebook news from our friends in France (our FB friends list is purposely very limited – we don’t have the time to handle more!!). When we had urgent need of a document a couple of days ago, we emailed someone several hundred miles away and the document arrived in our in-box within 10 minutes. There was a similar contact this week with a local pastor in West Africa. We are negotiating for the purchase of a home half-way across the country and are getting continuous feed-back by email and phone, eliminating the need to be on-site and in someone’s office. Yesterday we needed a series of pictures from a mission partner in Europe and the pictures arrived on our computer within half an hour. Just 15 years ago any one of these communications would have required at least a two-week turn-around time to be completed. My! How times have changed!

Sometimes all this instant access can feel rather frantic. Whatever is needed must arrive NOW. If the requested information doesn’t arrive within three hours, we call to find out what is wrong! Our level of expectation (and impatience?) has been raised dramatically. We must be vigilant that such speed does not lead to superficial thinking and reacting. Having time to “mull things over” does have its advantages.

But, in my opinion, these new communication possibilities are among the most exciting things that have ever happened in missions. The cyber café phenomenon has meant that nearly everyone on the globe can communicate with everyone else, even from remote places. There is no longer an excuse for not knowing. If we want to, we can get in touch with our Christian brothers and sisters in Zambia or Bulgaria or Thailand at almost any time. We are no longer dependent only on official media to inform us of what is happening on the ground elsewhere. We can now weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice almost as though we were there, even when we are not. Being part of the worldwide Christian family no longer has to just be a theoretical theological theory. We have the possibility of living out Kingdom participation, our most essential loyalty, in very practical ways.

How exciting! I’m thrilled to be able to be around while this is happening.

Thoughts after 6 months of missions projects – (2) Influence

There are great debates taking place right now in the US concerning the influence of the church in and on society. To what extent does the church (all Christians, in a collective sense) have political clout and how fervently should it be involved in social activism? To what point should it exercise such muscle, or even have it?

In most of the places that we have visited over the last six months, that question is not even being asked. It couldn’t be asked because Bible-believing Christians are a minority of a minority in those places. Other religious systems dominate the culture and are intertwined with those in power so much that these Christians are nearly invisible within their own countries. Their political weight is close to nil.

Do they suffer from being in this powerless position? Sometimes they do. In one country we visited Christians are trying to get a local government to agree to let them acquire land for a burial ground. Even such a “normal” request is being met with resistance. Their small numbers also mean that they usually do not have a voice that can be heard in denouncing problems such as corruption, human trafficking, or religious prejudice. Sometimes, they are even in a position where they don’t want to become more visible as this could lead to more negative attention and reaction by the majority movements.

But on the whole, it seems like the question of political and social influence and the lack of it doesn’t affect them because it has hardly crossed their minds. They are too busy bringing people to know the Lord, serving the weak and defenseless around them, and building the church to even bother with such a useless distraction. Their energy is focused on proclamation and service. Period.

We did see one striking example of a church located in a country which has complete religious freedom that was using its influence wisely. Instead of promoting itself or a narrow range of hot-button issues, it works humbly as an advocate for those in the country who the powers-that-are were overlooking, particularly handicapped people and immigrants. Because of this, the church is listened to and respected. I saw the same “service ethic” carried out by the church I visited in Zambia last year.

The subject of influence seems to only be one that is a concern for wealthy, majority Christian movements. History shows that such concern rarely leads to positive spiritual results and may even hurt God’s mission in that society. So much time, as well as mental and spiritual energy, is expended on something that often seems to actually move even the way Christians think further and further away from the goals that the Bible describes for the people of God: that of building a just Kingdom that spans all eras and cultures, and that is characterized by faithfulness and humble service to others. It seems flagrantly evident from my observations that the individual members of those minority churches we observed are closer to expressing these goals than are so many people in our established Western-culture churches. Yes, they struggle. But they have a focus and intensity – maybe even purity, in the sense of simplicity – in how they understand salvation and its consequences that are hard to find in the Western world.

My thoughts on this subject are obviously colored by the fact that I lived and served in France for so many years. France’s Christian history spans 12 centuries, but the Christian church in all of its forms is in the process of being totally sidelined by the culture. This has happened in spite of the fact that at one point in history, it was THE influence in French culture, controlling nearly every aspect of life and death for the ordinary citizen. But that total, overall influence only led to corruption and deep resentment, and when the people attained freedom, they spat the Church out like polluted water. Maybe they did “throw the baby out with the bathwater”, but today they make it clear that they will never, never go there again.

Actually attaining the position and influence that we think will help our cause can end up being the thing that hurts it the most. Success often has unintended consequences. Trajectories such as those of the State Churches in Europe should be a cautionary signal for us. They started with the desire to have all of society benefit from the enlightened principles of biblical living, but the influence they gained has actually made such a result all but impossible.

Individual Christians may be called to defend certain causes or promote certain ideas. But, as groups of believers, what are we called to defend or to promote? Who sets the agenda? How should we be serving the Lord until He returns? Personally, I prefer the enthusiasm and hard-working zeal of those Christians we’ve met over the past six months, serving and actually being able to influence people’s lives in spite of facing numerous limitations and constraints, to the ease that allows us to argue with each other and spend our energy on secondary pursuits.

I guess it really is true that travel expands one’s horizons! :-)

travel and housing

Well, I've been on the road again this week. I flew to Chicago on Tuesday to start looking for housing in the area. After all, I hadn't flown for over a month, so it was about time!! :-)

My search was successful and we will be moving to the western suburbs of Chicago, 30 miles west of the lakefront, sometime in July. After having all our household goods packed in boxes for nearly 2 years, it will be somewhat of an adventure to unpack and "rediscover" what we had actually decided to bring back with us!

Guests

What fun to be able to repay just a tiny bit of the hospitality that we experienced in Southeast Asia.

This weekend some of the people we met at the Autism Centre in Singapore were here in the US, visiting care centers for ideas. They were staying quite near us. So we showed them around the area all day Saturday and took them to one of our supporting churches in NJ on Sunday. During the coffee hour after the worship service they gave a very interesting presentation on the social services organized by the Anglican Church in Singapore, and especially the Autism Centre.

But, we learned that you always seem to end up on the receiving end when these people are around. Before leaving they gave us a beautifully embroidered Chinese hanging representing dozens and dozens of children, so that we could remember them and their work.

How could we ever possibly forget!

And many happy new years to you!

One of the interesting phenomenon of our multicultural time-travel over the past few months was having experienced "the new year" four times. No, no -- we were not in some fantastic time machine. We just learned by experience that different places celebrate their "new year" at different times than the generally-recognized civil new year.

Last December when we were in West Africa we were present for the Muslim new year. Then we were back in the USA for the civil new year, officially turning the calendar to 2011. After that we managed to arrive in Singapore in February to participate in the last week of celebrations for the Chinese new year (having the same yummy "good luck" salad night after night!). Then, we ended up leaving Phnom Penh just as preparations were getting under way for the Cambodian new year.

I must admit that I was not aware of the number of the year being ushered in in each of the three new cultures, but the sense of celebration was evident.

So, wherever you are, "happy new year"!

Thoughts after 6 months of missions projects – (1) Infrastructure

Over the past 6 months, Bill has set foot in 15 different countries and ministered in 8 of them. I myself have been in 7 countries. We have seen a lot and learned more than we sometimes think we can process. But, I do want to share some of the observations and reflections we have gleaned over these past months.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The infrastructure of a country, which depends mainly on government action, makes a huge difference in how people live, how they overcome difficulties, and what their hopes are for themselves and their children. We experienced various levels of infrastructure development and saw the difference that it makes. Electricity and roads are the big ones that seem to influence all the others.

A West-African church leader told us that having dependable electricity would make an enormous difference for them. This is essential for the economic development of the population. Presently, it is difficult for small businesses to develop or even function because they never know when the electricity is going to be cut off. We drove around in the capital with him one day for half an hour looking for a neighborhood where the electricity was on so we could use Internet in a cyber café. In most places where we stopped, the employees were sitting in their dark offices behind dark computer screens just waiting for the electricity to come back on. They can’t all afford generators. They had paid for the office space and the equipment, but had no income that day.

Electricity also affects how food is used in a country. We were in a village that depended on fishing and had a small business for freezing and exporting fish. But, they regularly lost their production when the electricity was cut off for extended periods. There are some food sources, like dairy products (an important source of calcium) that just cannot exist without dependable electricity for constant cooling, from the production site to the level of the consumer. Electricity also contributes to the availability of clean water in keeping pumps and filtering systems working. Western cultures continue to develop exponentially, in part thanks to dependable energy sources.

Overall urban planning, such as for water and electricity sources, is lacking in many developing countries. The challenge of installing such systems in cities that already have populations of several million people is daunting. Where do you start?

We did see the difference that intentional development can make in the city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with a population of over 1 million. The government (surely with significant outside aid) has transformed the city over the last eight years. The main source of electricity is from a neighboring country and depends somewhat on seasonal factors. But, during the beginning of the dry season when we were there, the electricity only blinked off and back on again a very few times. We also had an excellent Internet connection, even better than what we had in the center of Germany! This gives a big boost to development on an individual level. And, there was no problem with having water in the faucets in Phnom Penh – which is not the case in the large cities we visited elsewhere.

The next challenge is getting this development out of the big cities into the countryside. Governments must be very intentional in this area. Rural development takes coordination and resources. Good roads are a key. This allows communication and transportation of both people and products that are necessary to development. In underdeveloped countries the rural populations are trapped in their local situation and very vulnerable to changing local conditions. If one food source disappears due to climatic conditions or disease, there is nothing for them to fall back on. As you saw in the video of Bill’s ride to a mountain church in Nepal, church development as well as economic and social development is handicapped by the lack of means of transportation.

Government choice is required for building roads, canals, rail lines and other transportation infrastructure. In one country where we worked, the government was “punishing” one region for having voted for the opponent by letting the roads degrade. The population was being intentionally cut off. In another country, no stable government has been in place for years, so no infrastructure development was being done at all. We saw positive results of government choice in Cambodia. Ten years ago the streets of Phnom Penh were dirt paths full of holes. During our visit, we did not see unpaved streets. This development is being extended outside of the capital. Missionaries in the country recently mentioned that the village they worked in was so inaccessible that they called it “the end of the world”. This year the land in front of the mission property is being leveled for a paved highway, with plans for an export-based manufacturing facility to be built in the town! It will also facilitate the mission’s outreach. From the time of the Roman Empire, the extension of roads has led to a rapid spread of the Gospel.

The key word for infrastructure is “dependable”. You can’t make plans if you can’t count on the availability of the tools necessary for carrying them out. Christians in these different countries rejoice in infrastructure improvements. It supports the health and economic status of the people in their churches. It removes seemingly insurmountable pressures on daily living. Their approach to these questions is very wholistic. They know by experience that the less time and energy you have to spend on just surviving, the more time and energy you can devote to serving.

Getting to church

Going to church seems like such a routine thing to most of us. We hop in the car, drive to the church, park in the parking lot, and we're there.

That process is not so easy in some parts of the world. When Bill was in Nepal, he was invited to speak in a village church in the mountains. Getting there proved to be a challenge. Normally it would have been a 2-hour walk up the mountain. Because he was there for such a short time, someone arranged for a 4x4 vehicle to take him up the road as far as it could go. That meant there was only about a 20-minute climb from where the vehicle had to stop.

He filmed part of the ride to give you an idea of what it was like. The movement of the camera reflects the movement of the car.





Once the group arrived, the church service was held in a hut-like thatched building. Around 50 people, including children, sat on the floor. At 6-feet tall, Bill's head was touching the ceiling as he stood to preach from Luke 15, translated into Nepali by one of the men accompanying him.

After the service, he was invited to a church member's hut for tea, before beginning the journey back down the mountain.

Ministering under such circumstances is not a matter of convenience. The pastors and lay workers overseeing these rapidly-expanding churches expend real time and effort. And, the church is growing!