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3 Secret Fears of a Missionary

December 9, 2011

I know, you never have days like this.

Even as a missionary, when something does not go your way, the emotions and doubts come. Those secret fears we have buried deep inside of us raise their head and whisper their lies.

Here are three lies that we deal with as a family on the missions field.

1. Can this be our home?
We came home the other day to a “For Sale” sign on our home that we rent. We knew it was coming. Yet there it was, screaming loudly, “You have no home.”

My son saw it as he came home from school and immediately began weeping for twenty minutes. We moved to South Africa when he was one, and into our current home when he was two. This is all he knows. All his memories are attached to this structure of concrete and brick. Read more... (710 words, 2 images, estimated 2:50 mins reading time)

Facing the Judge: Galatians 2:15-21

December 6, 2011

Often, it seems our Christian lives are consumed with attempts at pleasing God. Sunday school sayings of “read your Bible, pray every day, and you’ll grow, grow, grow” echo through our minds.

How do we know we are pleasing to God?

In my travels and ministry, I meet very few people who can confidently say God is pleased with them. Many avoid saying it for fear of sounding arrogant or self-centered.

The doctrine of justification tells us we are pleasing to God.

This is the teaching that Paul is expressing to the Galatian believers who are being told to add works to their faith. Read the following passage to see.

Galatians 2:15-21(link – click on this and read the passage. Yes, this is included in the 7 minutes!)

Paul affirms that by their faith, they have received the gift of justification. It was not by adding circumcision or any other work. Read more... (578 words, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

3 Deadly mistakes in missions (and life)

December 1, 2011

“Poor people are lazy.”
“You must eat snakes and play with lions(if you live in Africa).”
“Americans are fat.”

People are famous for making assumptions and stereotypes. Often they are extremely painful.

We recently had a time on our missions campus of sharing different perspectives from various cultures. We laughed, we cried, and we felt each other’s pain.

I’m reminded of three things that I know to be true. It is also these three things that I need to be challenged to regularly apply in my life in missions.

1. Avoid Assumption
I know plenty of lazy rich people and even a few thin Americans!

No one enjoyes being boxed in by assumptions. When they happen in a cross cultural setting, it is easy to become isolated and critical. Victory comes when we don’t see each other by our nationality, skin color, or economic status; but rather as people. Read more... (675 words, 1 image, estimated 2:42 mins reading time)

Is it Style, Culture, or Law? : Galatians 2:1-14

November 28, 2011

What cultural things to we impose on other believers as law?

As a missionary working in Africa, I am constantly faced with things people believe the Bible says. They tell me things are this way and it is the truth. Only, they are not in the Bible.

Missionaries, TV preachers, and the internet have promoted certain cultural viewpoints or personal convictions as doctrine in an attempt to disciple people.

This is what Paul is combating in Galatians. The early church was struggling to define Christianity. What activities were required? Did people have to become Jewish in order to be a first century believer?

Galatians 2:1-14(link – click on this and read the passage.) Read more... (480 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

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3 Secret Fears of a Missionary

Facing the Judge: Galatians 2:15-21

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3 Deadly mistakes in missions (and life)

Is it Style, Culture, or Law? : Galatians 2:1-14

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