Engage Magazine - Issue No. 110 of The Nazarene Mission International of The Global Church of the Nazarene of Lenexa, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 30 March 2016
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Wednesday, March 30, 2016 Issue #110
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RECENT ARTICLES:
"A true, jagged love" by Brandon Sipes
Hassan's family pooled all their money to send him ahead to Europe in hope that they will be able to join him after he establishes a new, safer life. At 18, if he cannot succeed, his family will very likely die.
Read More
I recently went to Slavonski Brod, Croatia, and then to Sid, Serbia, where our church is working at transit stations for refugees. My friend Jon, who works as a videographer, and I were there to gather stories of volunteers, staff and refugees. I work for the Nazarene denomination, with our Nazarene Compassionate Ministries staff. We have truly wonderful people across the Middle East and Europe who have been working with refugees for many years, and I feel proud to have joined that team of people in this work.
In Slavonski Brod, about 2,000 to 3,000 people were arriving on trains, registering with the Croatian Red Cross, receiving food and clothing and medical attention, and then re-boarding the train to head to Slovenia, then Austria, and on to Germany. While here, they also have access to private spaces for nursing mothers, prayer spaces, and counseling and psychosocial support, and they can also look at photos posted to find lost or disconnected family members.
Here, many refugees stopped me to say that this is the best camp they have experienced. It felt good to be even the smallest part of that, and I felt proud of the staff and volunteers who are placed here to serve through the Nazarene response team. They are doing the work of the Kingdom among those searching for something, and someone, good.
The Long Boat Ride
Almost every single one of the tens of thousands of refugees who have come through the stations where we were has made the treacherous boat trip from Turkey to Greece and then made their way north to Croatia or Serbia. We met a man who wanted to share his story.
“Look, look!” he said, holding up his phone to show us a video. The footage showed part of his six-mile boat ride from Turkey to Greece.
“I was the captain,” he said proudly.
On the video, we could see more than 30 people wearing orange life vests, all crammed onto a small rubber boat designed for about half as many people. Smugglers charge about $1,000 U.S. per person, so it’s in their interest to push the boat beyond a safe capacity, even if it’s not in the interest of the passengers. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have taken similar rides, but not all make it. Thousands of refugees, many of them children, have drowned trying to get to safety.
Resilience, Gratitude, and Hope
The work at the transit stations is hard. The volunteers are in shifts around the clock, meeting trains at sometimes unexpected times, waiting for refugees to flow off the trains and through the camps. They welcome the refugees, hand them new shoes if people need them, pass out clothing, ensure any medical needs are met, direct them to food packages, and provide information on what comes next on their journey.
They also blow bubbles for the kids, hand out trays of tea for cold and weary travelers, and embrace the broken in a way that expresses admiration for their courage rather than pity for their situation. I marvel at our staff’s strength and poise, but I’m left in wonder at the demeanor of the refugees.
At one point, a mother, father, grandmother, a young girl, and a younger boy came through the area where the Nazarene response team was working. The little girl, who is 7 years old, was the only family member who speaks English. “My grandma needs a coat,” she said. “My brother really, really needs shoes. Please!” After fulfilling her requests, the team noticed that the little girl’s shoes were in pieces. They looked for shoes in her size but couldn’t find any. “That’s OK,” she said while local police were pushing for her family and others to leave. One of the team members ran quickly to a storage tent, found shoes that fit her, and got them to her right as the girl was boarding the train. She seemed grateful, but the fact that she was concerned only about her family members did not escape us.
What I saw in every person I met was resilience, gratitude, and hope. I am almost certain I could not express this same strength and dignity under the same circumstances, and it humbles me to my core.
Holding Onto Hope
I have for some time made the argument that hope is only hope when it is really difficult. Sometimes we say “we hope… ,” and I think what we really mean is, “It would be nice if… .” I hope you have a good day. I hope your interview goes well. I hope you find your phone. That’s not hope, though — it’s just a kind gesture. Hope is hope when it seems impossible, when it takes a bit of faith to believe it’s possible. I hope the cancer doesn’t take me. I hope you forgive me. I hope they find your son.
I hope we make it out of Syria. I hope we make it to Germany. I hope we don’t drown in the sea.
In Sid, Serbia, I met Hassan (not his real name), an 18-year-old refugee from Northern Iraq. From the moment he approached us until after we finished talking with him, he trembled. At first I thought he was nervous but soon realized he was traumatized.
Hassan’s family is part of a religious minority being targeted and killed by militant extremists in Iraq. His family pooled all their money to send him ahead to Europe in hope that they will be able to join him after he establishes a new, safer life. At 18, he bears the responsibility for his family’s future. If he cannot succeed, his family will very likely die.
We asked where he was going. “Germany,” he said. But he did not know which town or what he would do when he got there.
We asked if he knew when he would see his family again. “No,” he answered.
Hope is almost all that Hassan has to hold onto.
Love With Substance
I’m beginning to think that, like hope, all virtues are true virtues only when they are really difficult. Hospitality is only truly hospitality when it’s inconvenient. Courage is only courage when there is real fear involved. And love is truly love when it’s hard.
The love I am seeing in the camps has substance to it. It is hard for refugees to walk off a train, dragging the only things they own, and move through a camp where precious few in charge speak their language. It is hard for volunteers and staff to work hour after hour, communicating as much as possible to ensure needs are met. It is hard to meet with families missing brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and children. It is hard to walk alongside a sick mother holding a sick child. It is hard to watch a child take responsibility for her extended family because she speaks the best English.
And yet, from refugee to worker, and worker to refugee, there is love present. A hard love, a jagged love, one that shows its wear. It’s why the embraces are so powerful and the tears so heavy. The chests heave with emotion, and the arms hold tighter than you would expect from a stranger.
Hospitality. Courage. Love.
They’ve been hard fought for here. And I’m understanding them better because of it.[Brandon Sipes works with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, Inc. One of his roles is helping to coordinate the church’s response to the refugee crisis. This story was reprinted from NCM's blog with permission. Photos courtesy Jon Morton. To read more updates, visit blog.ncm.org.]
"Following Jesus into the margins" By Leody Eschavez
When my church sent me to work with families displaced by violence in the Philippines, I had no idea how God would transform me through ministry to the least of these.
Read MoreIn May 2014, I moved to Zamboanga City, a 12-hour bus ride from my hometown in the Philippines. I had just graduated from university. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but my church had asked me to go and I said yes.
Eight months earlier, Zamboanga had experienced a 20-day battle between the Philippine military and a separatist organization that had left more than 60,000 people displaced. I was sent to work in the Mampang transitory site where 10,000 people had been relocated.
Most of the people I work with are from the Badjao tribe, an ethnic group who live in the seaside areas of the city. They’re sometimes called “sea gypsies” or “sea dwellers.” They are peace-loving people yet are considered the lowest and most outcast in the Philippine context.
My job is to organize and lead a temporary learning space in one section of the site where a few volunteers and I teach math, basic writing, proper hygiene, and personal values. In general, about 70 to 80 children—mostly Badjao—attend if they’re in the mood. Sometimes they aren’t in the mood, and only 20 to 30 children attend. Education is generally not considered a priority, and some parents do not even allow their children to attend, preferring they go to work fishing or go begging in the streets instead.
A mix of heartache and hope
After almost two years working here, I can describe life in the transitory site in one word: hard. Finding a stable source of income is very hard, and finding daily food for survival is like climbing a mountain with no trails. The temperature is hot, and there are no trees for shade.
Almost 10 trucks of water are delivered to the site each day, but still it is not enough to meet the needs of almost 10,000 individuals. Water is precious, like money. For this reason, whenever a strong rain comes, people stock barrels of water. The water is not safe, though, and there is a lot of diarrheal disease.
Even though education is difficult in this context, many children have shown a lot of determination. There is a girl named Rita* who has consistently attended our activities. She is quiet and shy, but what strikes me most is her dedication to learning. Although she is 14 years old, she was never taught how to write. But given a little education, she has already learned so much, including how to write her name and other basic literacy skills. There are many kids here like Rita.
The girls are very vulnerable. Here in Zamboanga, there are men paying girls 20 pesos (42 cents USD) for sex. Children are being exploited. Girls tell us that many men are coming to the transitory site. Because of their extreme poverty, these girls are coerced and forced to engage in this kind of activity.
In spite of the heartache, there are hopeful moments, too. The most rewarding aspect is personal interactions. Badjao people are often misunderstood and looked down on, but our team has the privilege to talk to children and their parents and to really know their stories.
There are many people who have said to us, “You’ve changed our lives and helped us,” but I tell them, “You’ve changed our lives. Look how resilient and strong you are!”
Transforming lives
God is using our presence here. Many organizations offer assistance, but they don’t necessarily offer love. People ask us, “Why are you different? Why do you talk to us? Why do you hug us? Why do you eat with us?” We tell them, “We love you because God loves you—Jesus loves you.”
God has worked in my life here, too. When I was a student, I was happy-go-lucky. I didn’t care about what was happening around me. I didn’t care about social issues or about people in need. When I was a kid, I saw people begging, and I didn’t care about them. Now, I understand their situation and their pain, and I cannot neglect them. I speak to them on Jesus’ behalf and advocate on their behalf. Some friends tease me and ask me why I speak up for those considered outcasts, but the Lord has given me this burden.
God has transformed me and molded me through this ministry in the margins.
*Children’s names are changed for their protection.[Leody Eschavez lives in Zamboanga City, Philippines, where he serves as the field team leader for the Nazarene church’s disaster response team.]
"Q&A: Missionary talks visit to Greek refugee camp" by Gina Grate Pottenger"There are little bright spots, though. Kids are kids no matter where you're at. They were making balls out of anything they had to play with. Some of [the people] came up and took pictures with us with their cameras, documenting their own journey."
Read More
The first week of March, Joshua and Shannon Herndon, missionaries to Spain, visited Greece, where they will be relocating to start the Church of the Nazarene this summer (read more). They met with evangelical leaders who are already at work there, and have offered to help the family make connections and get to know potential partners.
They met with Michael Long, a Free Methodist Missionary. He has been visiting refugee camps in different areas of Greece to help assess the needs. On March 4, he took the Herndons, as well as Bruce McKellips, who leads the Western Mediterranean Field, which includes Greece, to the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greek side of the border with Macedonia.
Shannon shared what she saw and heard at Idomeni, and how it might affect their plans for future ministry there. (Read more about how the denomination is responding to the refugee situation throughout the Eurasia Region.)
What did you experience when you visited the Idomeni refugee camp?
Web Site Tip
Follow us on Facebook to see our stories as they are posted in your newsfeed. Visit www.facebook.com/engagemissions.
RECENT ARTICLES:
"A true, jagged love" by Brandon Sipes
Hassan's family pooled all their money to send him ahead to Europe in hope that they will be able to join him after he establishes a new, safer life. At 18, if he cannot succeed, his family will very likely die.
Read More
I recently went to Slavonski Brod, Croatia, and then to Sid, Serbia, where our church is working at transit stations for refugees. My friend Jon, who works as a videographer, and I were there to gather stories of volunteers, staff and refugees. I work for the Nazarene denomination, with our Nazarene Compassionate Ministries staff. We have truly wonderful people across the Middle East and Europe who have been working with refugees for many years, and I feel proud to have joined that team of people in this work.
In Slavonski Brod, about 2,000 to 3,000 people were arriving on trains, registering with the Croatian Red Cross, receiving food and clothing and medical attention, and then re-boarding the train to head to Slovenia, then Austria, and on to Germany. While here, they also have access to private spaces for nursing mothers, prayer spaces, and counseling and psychosocial support, and they can also look at photos posted to find lost or disconnected family members.
Here, many refugees stopped me to say that this is the best camp they have experienced. It felt good to be even the smallest part of that, and I felt proud of the staff and volunteers who are placed here to serve through the Nazarene response team. They are doing the work of the Kingdom among those searching for something, and someone, good.
The Long Boat Ride
Almost every single one of the tens of thousands of refugees who have come through the stations where we were has made the treacherous boat trip from Turkey to Greece and then made their way north to Croatia or Serbia. We met a man who wanted to share his story.
“Look, look!” he said, holding up his phone to show us a video. The footage showed part of his six-mile boat ride from Turkey to Greece.
“I was the captain,” he said proudly.
On the video, we could see more than 30 people wearing orange life vests, all crammed onto a small rubber boat designed for about half as many people. Smugglers charge about $1,000 U.S. per person, so it’s in their interest to push the boat beyond a safe capacity, even if it’s not in the interest of the passengers. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have taken similar rides, but not all make it. Thousands of refugees, many of them children, have drowned trying to get to safety.
Resilience, Gratitude, and Hope
The work at the transit stations is hard. The volunteers are in shifts around the clock, meeting trains at sometimes unexpected times, waiting for refugees to flow off the trains and through the camps. They welcome the refugees, hand them new shoes if people need them, pass out clothing, ensure any medical needs are met, direct them to food packages, and provide information on what comes next on their journey.
They also blow bubbles for the kids, hand out trays of tea for cold and weary travelers, and embrace the broken in a way that expresses admiration for their courage rather than pity for their situation. I marvel at our staff’s strength and poise, but I’m left in wonder at the demeanor of the refugees.
At one point, a mother, father, grandmother, a young girl, and a younger boy came through the area where the Nazarene response team was working. The little girl, who is 7 years old, was the only family member who speaks English. “My grandma needs a coat,” she said. “My brother really, really needs shoes. Please!” After fulfilling her requests, the team noticed that the little girl’s shoes were in pieces. They looked for shoes in her size but couldn’t find any. “That’s OK,” she said while local police were pushing for her family and others to leave. One of the team members ran quickly to a storage tent, found shoes that fit her, and got them to her right as the girl was boarding the train. She seemed grateful, but the fact that she was concerned only about her family members did not escape us.
What I saw in every person I met was resilience, gratitude, and hope. I am almost certain I could not express this same strength and dignity under the same circumstances, and it humbles me to my core.
Holding Onto Hope
I have for some time made the argument that hope is only hope when it is really difficult. Sometimes we say “we hope… ,” and I think what we really mean is, “It would be nice if… .” I hope you have a good day. I hope your interview goes well. I hope you find your phone. That’s not hope, though — it’s just a kind gesture. Hope is hope when it seems impossible, when it takes a bit of faith to believe it’s possible. I hope the cancer doesn’t take me. I hope you forgive me. I hope they find your son.
I hope we make it out of Syria. I hope we make it to Germany. I hope we don’t drown in the sea.
In Sid, Serbia, I met Hassan (not his real name), an 18-year-old refugee from Northern Iraq. From the moment he approached us until after we finished talking with him, he trembled. At first I thought he was nervous but soon realized he was traumatized.
Hassan’s family is part of a religious minority being targeted and killed by militant extremists in Iraq. His family pooled all their money to send him ahead to Europe in hope that they will be able to join him after he establishes a new, safer life. At 18, he bears the responsibility for his family’s future. If he cannot succeed, his family will very likely die.
We asked where he was going. “Germany,” he said. But he did not know which town or what he would do when he got there.
We asked if he knew when he would see his family again. “No,” he answered.
Hope is almost all that Hassan has to hold onto.
Love With Substance
I’m beginning to think that, like hope, all virtues are true virtues only when they are really difficult. Hospitality is only truly hospitality when it’s inconvenient. Courage is only courage when there is real fear involved. And love is truly love when it’s hard.
The love I am seeing in the camps has substance to it. It is hard for refugees to walk off a train, dragging the only things they own, and move through a camp where precious few in charge speak their language. It is hard for volunteers and staff to work hour after hour, communicating as much as possible to ensure needs are met. It is hard to meet with families missing brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and children. It is hard to walk alongside a sick mother holding a sick child. It is hard to watch a child take responsibility for her extended family because she speaks the best English.
And yet, from refugee to worker, and worker to refugee, there is love present. A hard love, a jagged love, one that shows its wear. It’s why the embraces are so powerful and the tears so heavy. The chests heave with emotion, and the arms hold tighter than you would expect from a stranger.
Hospitality. Courage. Love.
They’ve been hard fought for here. And I’m understanding them better because of it.[Brandon Sipes works with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, Inc. One of his roles is helping to coordinate the church’s response to the refugee crisis. This story was reprinted from NCM's blog with permission. Photos courtesy Jon Morton. To read more updates, visit blog.ncm.org.]
"Following Jesus into the margins" By Leody Eschavez
When my church sent me to work with families displaced by violence in the Philippines, I had no idea how God would transform me through ministry to the least of these.
Read MoreIn May 2014, I moved to Zamboanga City, a 12-hour bus ride from my hometown in the Philippines. I had just graduated from university. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but my church had asked me to go and I said yes.
Eight months earlier, Zamboanga had experienced a 20-day battle between the Philippine military and a separatist organization that had left more than 60,000 people displaced. I was sent to work in the Mampang transitory site where 10,000 people had been relocated.
Most of the people I work with are from the Badjao tribe, an ethnic group who live in the seaside areas of the city. They’re sometimes called “sea gypsies” or “sea dwellers.” They are peace-loving people yet are considered the lowest and most outcast in the Philippine context.
My job is to organize and lead a temporary learning space in one section of the site where a few volunteers and I teach math, basic writing, proper hygiene, and personal values. In general, about 70 to 80 children—mostly Badjao—attend if they’re in the mood. Sometimes they aren’t in the mood, and only 20 to 30 children attend. Education is generally not considered a priority, and some parents do not even allow their children to attend, preferring they go to work fishing or go begging in the streets instead.
A mix of heartache and hope
After almost two years working here, I can describe life in the transitory site in one word: hard. Finding a stable source of income is very hard, and finding daily food for survival is like climbing a mountain with no trails. The temperature is hot, and there are no trees for shade.
Almost 10 trucks of water are delivered to the site each day, but still it is not enough to meet the needs of almost 10,000 individuals. Water is precious, like money. For this reason, whenever a strong rain comes, people stock barrels of water. The water is not safe, though, and there is a lot of diarrheal disease.
Even though education is difficult in this context, many children have shown a lot of determination. There is a girl named Rita* who has consistently attended our activities. She is quiet and shy, but what strikes me most is her dedication to learning. Although she is 14 years old, she was never taught how to write. But given a little education, she has already learned so much, including how to write her name and other basic literacy skills. There are many kids here like Rita.
The girls are very vulnerable. Here in Zamboanga, there are men paying girls 20 pesos (42 cents USD) for sex. Children are being exploited. Girls tell us that many men are coming to the transitory site. Because of their extreme poverty, these girls are coerced and forced to engage in this kind of activity.
In spite of the heartache, there are hopeful moments, too. The most rewarding aspect is personal interactions. Badjao people are often misunderstood and looked down on, but our team has the privilege to talk to children and their parents and to really know their stories.
There are many people who have said to us, “You’ve changed our lives and helped us,” but I tell them, “You’ve changed our lives. Look how resilient and strong you are!”
Transforming lives
God is using our presence here. Many organizations offer assistance, but they don’t necessarily offer love. People ask us, “Why are you different? Why do you talk to us? Why do you hug us? Why do you eat with us?” We tell them, “We love you because God loves you—Jesus loves you.”
God has worked in my life here, too. When I was a student, I was happy-go-lucky. I didn’t care about what was happening around me. I didn’t care about social issues or about people in need. When I was a kid, I saw people begging, and I didn’t care about them. Now, I understand their situation and their pain, and I cannot neglect them. I speak to them on Jesus’ behalf and advocate on their behalf. Some friends tease me and ask me why I speak up for those considered outcasts, but the Lord has given me this burden.
God has transformed me and molded me through this ministry in the margins.
*Children’s names are changed for their protection.[Leody Eschavez lives in Zamboanga City, Philippines, where he serves as the field team leader for the Nazarene church’s disaster response team.]
"Q&A: Missionary talks visit to Greek refugee camp" by Gina Grate Pottenger"There are little bright spots, though. Kids are kids no matter where you're at. They were making balls out of anything they had to play with. Some of [the people] came up and took pictures with us with their cameras, documenting their own journey."
Read More
The first week of March, Joshua and Shannon Herndon, missionaries to Spain, visited Greece, where they will be relocating to start the Church of the Nazarene this summer (read more). They met with evangelical leaders who are already at work there, and have offered to help the family make connections and get to know potential partners.
They met with Michael Long, a Free Methodist Missionary. He has been visiting refugee camps in different areas of Greece to help assess the needs. On March 4, he took the Herndons, as well as Bruce McKellips, who leads the Western Mediterranean Field, which includes Greece, to the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greek side of the border with Macedonia.
Shannon shared what she saw and heard at Idomeni, and how it might affect their plans for future ministry there. (Read more about how the denomination is responding to the refugee situation throughout the Eurasia Region.)
What did you experience when you visited the Idomeni refugee camp?
We went not knowing what we were going to see or do. When we got there, it was amazing: You see it on the news, the thousands of people that are there. Just the week before, [Michael Long] had been to that same camp and there had been a few hundred. So he was blown away that there were thousands of people.
Before we went, we had bought some food, and brought clothes that Michael gathered. We distributed clothes, fresh fruit, cookies. We just went around and talked with people, saw the different nonprofit organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders. In Greece, the government has basically decided they want to be hands off. They don’t have resources to deal with the influx of people. So the real help that is happening within the refugee community comes from Christian organizations, not-for-profits, individuals that come. It’s not government driven.
There were 3-hour-long lines for food. Hundreds of people in line. It was a rainy day, the kids – you just see the need for shoes. I saw children barefooted, running around in the mud. Multiple children just have one shoe on; that’s the only shoe they own, maybe they’re sharing the other shoe with a sibling or lost it along the way.
How did what you saw in Greece square with the news this week in which four countries north of Greece closed their borders to refugees?
Everybody is stuck there now. There’s this huge backup. In Greece they are building hot spots [retention centers where refugees will live until they’re processed and allowed to continue on or sent to Turkey] that are going to hold up to 50,000 people. You are talking entire cities of refugees. They expect them to be full. On average, 3,000 people arrive per day to Greece and they don’t have the infrastructure to deal with that number of people since all the borders are closed.
We met with Syrians; we came across multiple Iraqis, Afghanis. The Afghanis had documents to cross borders legally, but they’re not allowing Afghanis whether they have documents or not. That is what the border police are telling us. If they’re not letting anybody in, they’re just not letting anybody in.
There were young men talking about their entire villages – the men were being killed. The option was to join [extremist groups] or be killed or run, so they chose to leave. We heard that story echoed many times.
There were many, many children. That’s heartbreaking to see. The majority you see were sick, whether it was cold or coughs, because they’re in the cold and the wet. They don’t have good food to eat, not healthy things that keep your immune systems up and going. You don’t sleep well when you’re in a tent with large numbers of people. The kids, you see them suffering.
Before we went, we had bought some food, and brought clothes that Michael gathered. We distributed clothes, fresh fruit, cookies. We just went around and talked with people, saw the different nonprofit organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders. In Greece, the government has basically decided they want to be hands off. They don’t have resources to deal with the influx of people. So the real help that is happening within the refugee community comes from Christian organizations, not-for-profits, individuals that come. It’s not government driven.
There were 3-hour-long lines for food. Hundreds of people in line. It was a rainy day, the kids – you just see the need for shoes. I saw children barefooted, running around in the mud. Multiple children just have one shoe on; that’s the only shoe they own, maybe they’re sharing the other shoe with a sibling or lost it along the way.
How did what you saw in Greece square with the news this week in which four countries north of Greece closed their borders to refugees?
Everybody is stuck there now. There’s this huge backup. In Greece they are building hot spots [retention centers where refugees will live until they’re processed and allowed to continue on or sent to Turkey] that are going to hold up to 50,000 people. You are talking entire cities of refugees. They expect them to be full. On average, 3,000 people arrive per day to Greece and they don’t have the infrastructure to deal with that number of people since all the borders are closed.
We met with Syrians; we came across multiple Iraqis, Afghanis. The Afghanis had documents to cross borders legally, but they’re not allowing Afghanis whether they have documents or not. That is what the border police are telling us. If they’re not letting anybody in, they’re just not letting anybody in.
There were young men talking about their entire villages – the men were being killed. The option was to join [extremist groups] or be killed or run, so they chose to leave. We heard that story echoed many times.
There were many, many children. That’s heartbreaking to see. The majority you see were sick, whether it was cold or coughs, because they’re in the cold and the wet. They don’t have good food to eat, not healthy things that keep your immune systems up and going. You don’t sleep well when you’re in a tent with large numbers of people. The kids, you see them suffering.
There are little bright spots, though. You see the joy on the kids’ faces. The parents are stressed and exhausted, but kids are kids no matter where you’re at. They were making balls out of anything they had to play with. Groups of kids came up calling Josh ‘Spikey,’ because Josh’s hair – it’s spikey on top.
Some of [the people] came up and took pictures with us with their cameras, documenting their own journey for themselves. We weren’t the only ones who were wanting to see and document things.
What kind of stories or comments did you hear from the people?
They talked about the experience of being stuck. So many people said they had been already a few months in Greece. Once you get from Turkey to the islands you have to figure out then how to get from the island you landed on to mainland Greece. That’s another ferry; another expense; another journey. A lot of them get stuck on the island for months before they have the finances and ability to move on to mainland Greece.
Once they land they have to get from Athens in the south and make their way somehow, whether it’s cars, trucks, buses or walking. It’s a five-hour drive from Athens to Thessaloniki. I don’t know what a bus trip would be. They make their journey to the north and now the borders are closed at Macedonia. There’s a fence with razor wire at the Macedonia and Greece border that wasn’t there before. Mike, who has been going the past few months, he said it’s new.
What does all this mean for the Greek people?
Some of [the people] came up and took pictures with us with their cameras, documenting their own journey for themselves. We weren’t the only ones who were wanting to see and document things.
What kind of stories or comments did you hear from the people?
They talked about the experience of being stuck. So many people said they had been already a few months in Greece. Once you get from Turkey to the islands you have to figure out then how to get from the island you landed on to mainland Greece. That’s another ferry; another expense; another journey. A lot of them get stuck on the island for months before they have the finances and ability to move on to mainland Greece.
Once they land they have to get from Athens in the south and make their way somehow, whether it’s cars, trucks, buses or walking. It’s a five-hour drive from Athens to Thessaloniki. I don’t know what a bus trip would be. They make their journey to the north and now the borders are closed at Macedonia. There’s a fence with razor wire at the Macedonia and Greece border that wasn’t there before. Mike, who has been going the past few months, he said it’s new.
What does all this mean for the Greek people?
You can see on the other side of the fence there’s a small village there in Macedonia. What must those people have been experiencing to suddenly have a fence and wire? They could have walked across the fields to Greece; nobody cared. There was no control. Maybe those villagers are related to or have friends across the border. You think about the Greeks and Macedonians and how their lives have changed in kind of an instant. That was kind of an interesting thought as well: It’s not just the refugees whose lives are being changed and altered. It’s the Greeks and Macedonians as well. Their lives are being changed.
One of the pastors from Australia is a psychologist, his name is Harry. Harry was saying he was meeting with a social worker, a Greek woman, and her job works with the refugees because they’re in such psychological stress. She’s providing counseling services through the government, which is providing medical services. She said she finds herself in conflict, because she’s providing these services to refugees when she says her own people are in such need. She feels conflicted that she should be helping her own people rather than people that are passing through.
There’s a struggle for the Greek people to know what to do in this situation. They are in desperate need for food and electricity and clothing, and now we have these thousands of people coming through and they also need all these things and how do we provide that? The Greek people just don’t have that.
You’re moving to Greece this summer. When you developed the plan for launching Nazarene ministry in Greece, the refugee situation wasn’t even happening in Greece. Does this new reality alter what you’re planning to go there and do?
We’re still really actively praying about what our part will be. In going, we have to do language study since we’re brand new and there’s no Nazarene presence in Greece. It’s not the same as coming to a country that has a need where the church is already established.
That being said, there’s obviously a need and Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) is obviously involved in the refugee situation; all the work [NCM has] been doing is north of the Macedonia and Greece border. We would be capable of facilitating work on the Greek side. We have been talking about facilitating Work & Witness teams wanting to come and help with the refugee crisis and partnering with people already there. It may not be our focus, but we see ourselves playing a part in partnering with people who are already there and being active. There are good organizations already in place and they definitely need support and supplies and anything that could be provided. We might be at this point better served in partnering rather than creating something new.
Once you get eyes on the situation and you see the magnitude of the situation you can’t step back and say, “I’m not interested.” We really feel like our call in pioneering the work in Greece – in partnering with Greek people – our hope is with reaching out and partnering with other ministries, we will come across Greeks who are interested in volunteering to help or possibly are in real need.
In coming across all these refugees in need, you come across nationals in need. Maybe we would be able to reach out to the communities around refugee camps as well – to minister to the Greek people while also reaching out to the refugee community.
In Greece the evangelical church is very small. This will be positive to partner with others. If we want to be a long-term presence, we need to build strong relationships with the people that are already there. That would be another really positive outcome of working with refugees. With the partnerships and relationships we can build with the evangelical community a foundation for ministry in Greece.
"Idaho church uses Sunday morning Skype call to connect to Nazarene refugee ministry in Jordan" by Gina Grate Pottenger
An Idaho congregation recently learned about Nazarenes' ministry to Syrian refugees in Jordan through a live video call with the Amman pastors on Sunday morning.
Read MoreOn a recent Sunday morning, the congregation of First Church of the Nazarene, in Moscow, Idaho, U.S., was treated to an unusual service: a Skype video interview with Khalil and Randa Halaseh, pastor couple for the Al-ashrafieh Church of the Nazarene in Amman, Jordan.
The live interaction with the couple, who live and work nearly 11,000 km (6,700 miles) and nine time zones away from Moscow, led to a deeper understanding of what the church only hears in the news regarding the Syrian refugee crisis. They also learned how Nazarenes in the Middle East are supporting the refugees who have moved into their communities.
Afterward, the church gave an offering of more than $7,500 toward the Amman church’s refugee ministry.
“The refugee situation and Europe’s problems with dealing with it is big news here, so most people in our church were interested in the refugee situation,” said John Merrick, a member of the Moscow church’s Nazarene Missions International (NMI) council. “Jordan is about half the size of our State of Idaho here in the USA, and I thought about what it would be like if suddenly 1.5 million people suddenly came into our state who did not have any means of support or place to live. I knew there were Nazarene churches in Jordan, and wondered if our congregation could be involved in supporting any effort those churches were doing in supporting the refugees.”
Merrick presented the idea of inviting the Halasehs to share with the church over Skype during an upcoming Sunday morning service. The church’s leadership team agreed.
Jordan, which has a population of 9.5 million, has received up to 1 million Iraqi refugees in the past decade, and currently hosts more than half a million Syrian refugees, shouldering more than 60 percent of the costs for caring for them. The country has struggled with the finances and infrastructure to support the refugees, most of whom are in desperate need, as they left behind healthy businesses, resources, homes and families to flee for their lives.
One of the pastors from Australia is a psychologist, his name is Harry. Harry was saying he was meeting with a social worker, a Greek woman, and her job works with the refugees because they’re in such psychological stress. She’s providing counseling services through the government, which is providing medical services. She said she finds herself in conflict, because she’s providing these services to refugees when she says her own people are in such need. She feels conflicted that she should be helping her own people rather than people that are passing through.
There’s a struggle for the Greek people to know what to do in this situation. They are in desperate need for food and electricity and clothing, and now we have these thousands of people coming through and they also need all these things and how do we provide that? The Greek people just don’t have that.
You’re moving to Greece this summer. When you developed the plan for launching Nazarene ministry in Greece, the refugee situation wasn’t even happening in Greece. Does this new reality alter what you’re planning to go there and do?
We’re still really actively praying about what our part will be. In going, we have to do language study since we’re brand new and there’s no Nazarene presence in Greece. It’s not the same as coming to a country that has a need where the church is already established.
That being said, there’s obviously a need and Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) is obviously involved in the refugee situation; all the work [NCM has] been doing is north of the Macedonia and Greece border. We would be capable of facilitating work on the Greek side. We have been talking about facilitating Work & Witness teams wanting to come and help with the refugee crisis and partnering with people already there. It may not be our focus, but we see ourselves playing a part in partnering with people who are already there and being active. There are good organizations already in place and they definitely need support and supplies and anything that could be provided. We might be at this point better served in partnering rather than creating something new.
Once you get eyes on the situation and you see the magnitude of the situation you can’t step back and say, “I’m not interested.” We really feel like our call in pioneering the work in Greece – in partnering with Greek people – our hope is with reaching out and partnering with other ministries, we will come across Greeks who are interested in volunteering to help or possibly are in real need.
In coming across all these refugees in need, you come across nationals in need. Maybe we would be able to reach out to the communities around refugee camps as well – to minister to the Greek people while also reaching out to the refugee community.
In Greece the evangelical church is very small. This will be positive to partner with others. If we want to be a long-term presence, we need to build strong relationships with the people that are already there. That would be another really positive outcome of working with refugees. With the partnerships and relationships we can build with the evangelical community a foundation for ministry in Greece.
"Idaho church uses Sunday morning Skype call to connect to Nazarene refugee ministry in Jordan" by Gina Grate Pottenger
An Idaho congregation recently learned about Nazarenes' ministry to Syrian refugees in Jordan through a live video call with the Amman pastors on Sunday morning.
Read MoreOn a recent Sunday morning, the congregation of First Church of the Nazarene, in Moscow, Idaho, U.S., was treated to an unusual service: a Skype video interview with Khalil and Randa Halaseh, pastor couple for the Al-ashrafieh Church of the Nazarene in Amman, Jordan.
The live interaction with the couple, who live and work nearly 11,000 km (6,700 miles) and nine time zones away from Moscow, led to a deeper understanding of what the church only hears in the news regarding the Syrian refugee crisis. They also learned how Nazarenes in the Middle East are supporting the refugees who have moved into their communities.
Afterward, the church gave an offering of more than $7,500 toward the Amman church’s refugee ministry.
“The refugee situation and Europe’s problems with dealing with it is big news here, so most people in our church were interested in the refugee situation,” said John Merrick, a member of the Moscow church’s Nazarene Missions International (NMI) council. “Jordan is about half the size of our State of Idaho here in the USA, and I thought about what it would be like if suddenly 1.5 million people suddenly came into our state who did not have any means of support or place to live. I knew there were Nazarene churches in Jordan, and wondered if our congregation could be involved in supporting any effort those churches were doing in supporting the refugees.”
Merrick presented the idea of inviting the Halasehs to share with the church over Skype during an upcoming Sunday morning service. The church’s leadership team agreed.
Jordan, which has a population of 9.5 million, has received up to 1 million Iraqi refugees in the past decade, and currently hosts more than half a million Syrian refugees, shouldering more than 60 percent of the costs for caring for them. The country has struggled with the finances and infrastructure to support the refugees, most of whom are in desperate need, as they left behind healthy businesses, resources, homes and families to flee for their lives.
Before meeting the Halasehs, the congregation watched a recorded news interview of Jordan’s reigning Prince Hassan describing the challenges the country is facing as it tries to provide for the refugees.
Then, Khalil and Randa Halaseh appeared on the large projector screen, live from their home in Amman. They shared their personal testimonies, as well as how their congregation has overcome its own fears in reaching out to the Syrians in their community.
For the first three years that Syrians moved into their economically depressed neighborhood, Pastor Khalil said he and his church went on with life usual, which included ministering to the needs of the nominal Christians living nearby.
“Some people, they love their own life, or [think], ‘This is my pew, this is my church, this is my food.’ There is no vision for mission,” he said. “Now I feel our church has gone out of our walls. We start to serve this community. I start to be different and even my people start to act in a different way.”
God awakened many in the church to the opportunity He placed on their doorstep: Syrian refugees who would be open to the love of the church.
Khalil explained that now his church has a team of 13 part-time and full-time refugee workers, plus 17 volunteers. The congregation is ministering to 600 families, spending a total of $7,000 every month to give the families about $35, plus meat and other material assistance. The church also hosts women’s meetings and a kids’ club.
The Moscow church took a risk in trying its first ever international Skype call in their Sunday morning service. At one point, the call was disconnected, but they were able to quickly reconnect and continue the interview.
"It brought the refugee crisis into better focus," said Randy Craker, superintendent of the Northwest District of the United States. "The news reports share snippets of the greater, overwhelming story of tens of thousands of displaced people. Then, on this Sunday morning we were able to hear a simple and beautiful story of how a single Nazarene congregation was opening their hands and hearts through loving service to their 'new neighbors.'"
“For a lot of people, hearing [about the refugees] from a source on location had a lot more credibility than what you hear in the news. Actually, hearing from a Nazarene pastor,” said Pastor Ed Eby. “Here’s a pastor, he’s sharing his heart with our congregation halfway across the world. It was definitely a very blessed time. The Holy Spirit was there ministering to our hearts. That was obvious by their response in the offering.”
Craker said that he's told other pastors on his district that they might consider using Skype to help their congregations connect more deeply and personally with God's work around the world.
"The eye can be a path to the heart, and as I witnessed in Moscow, when the people were able to see in a firsthand way how a frontline church was responding, they too wanted to share in the ministry."
"Doctor on a mission team averts possible medical tragedy" by Keith Cox and Kelly Williams
During a mission team's evening devotions, the missionary burst in carrying his unresponsive daughter. A doctor on the team sprang into action.
Read MoreIt was the end of Nall Avenue Church of the Nazarene's mission trip, and the team was in the city of Quito. During the evening group devotions, Dr. Lisa’s thoughts were thousands of miles away, back in Kansas City, U.S. She was thinking of her daughter and how she would like to be at her volleyball game tomorrow to cheer her on. Being home for her daughter’s big game seemed more important to her than the sightseeing the group was planning to do the following day. Dr. Lisa (photo left) had tried to arrange her return flight so she could make it, but it hadn't worked out.
Her thoughts were also mingled with the many faces of kids and adults the team had treated during the past week. She remembered their cheeks, chapped from the cold mountain air; their overall poor health due to the subsistence living conditions; and she remembered all the stories that went along with the smiling faces of the children for whom they had given physicals for their school.
Dr. Lisa’s thoughts were interrupted when Cole Williams banged on the door of the Work & Witness Center yelling, “Where is Jon Fischer? My daughter is having a seizure and we need a ride to the hospital!”
Cole and Kelly Williams were missionaries with an organization called Extreme Nazarene. They lived on the same grounds as the Work & Witness Center in Ecuador at the time and they have two children, Ted and Reese, who was then 3 years old. Cole was holding tightly to his daughter, whose body was unresponsive but wrenched by a glitch-like continual jerk.
“Jon is here and we have a doctor with us,” a team member replied.
Dr. Lisa stepped forward to evaluate the situation. Although the team had brought several boxes of medicine from the U.S., she knew that none of it was designed to treat seizures. She also knew that “time was of the essence” and there would be no pharmacies close enough to get what she needed, quickly.
But, as she was assessing the problem, God reminded her of one of the team members who was also her patient back in the U.S. She remembered a prescription she had written for that team member before the trip had similar properties to other medicines that are used to treat seizures. She asked that team member to retrieve the pills she had prescribed her.
Then, Khalil and Randa Halaseh appeared on the large projector screen, live from their home in Amman. They shared their personal testimonies, as well as how their congregation has overcome its own fears in reaching out to the Syrians in their community.
For the first three years that Syrians moved into their economically depressed neighborhood, Pastor Khalil said he and his church went on with life usual, which included ministering to the needs of the nominal Christians living nearby.
“Some people, they love their own life, or [think], ‘This is my pew, this is my church, this is my food.’ There is no vision for mission,” he said. “Now I feel our church has gone out of our walls. We start to serve this community. I start to be different and even my people start to act in a different way.”
God awakened many in the church to the opportunity He placed on their doorstep: Syrian refugees who would be open to the love of the church.
Khalil explained that now his church has a team of 13 part-time and full-time refugee workers, plus 17 volunteers. The congregation is ministering to 600 families, spending a total of $7,000 every month to give the families about $35, plus meat and other material assistance. The church also hosts women’s meetings and a kids’ club.
The Moscow church took a risk in trying its first ever international Skype call in their Sunday morning service. At one point, the call was disconnected, but they were able to quickly reconnect and continue the interview.
"It brought the refugee crisis into better focus," said Randy Craker, superintendent of the Northwest District of the United States. "The news reports share snippets of the greater, overwhelming story of tens of thousands of displaced people. Then, on this Sunday morning we were able to hear a simple and beautiful story of how a single Nazarene congregation was opening their hands and hearts through loving service to their 'new neighbors.'"
“For a lot of people, hearing [about the refugees] from a source on location had a lot more credibility than what you hear in the news. Actually, hearing from a Nazarene pastor,” said Pastor Ed Eby. “Here’s a pastor, he’s sharing his heart with our congregation halfway across the world. It was definitely a very blessed time. The Holy Spirit was there ministering to our hearts. That was obvious by their response in the offering.”
Craker said that he's told other pastors on his district that they might consider using Skype to help their congregations connect more deeply and personally with God's work around the world.
"The eye can be a path to the heart, and as I witnessed in Moscow, when the people were able to see in a firsthand way how a frontline church was responding, they too wanted to share in the ministry."
"Doctor on a mission team averts possible medical tragedy" by Keith Cox and Kelly Williams
During a mission team's evening devotions, the missionary burst in carrying his unresponsive daughter. A doctor on the team sprang into action.
Read MoreIt was the end of Nall Avenue Church of the Nazarene's mission trip, and the team was in the city of Quito. During the evening group devotions, Dr. Lisa’s thoughts were thousands of miles away, back in Kansas City, U.S. She was thinking of her daughter and how she would like to be at her volleyball game tomorrow to cheer her on. Being home for her daughter’s big game seemed more important to her than the sightseeing the group was planning to do the following day. Dr. Lisa (photo left) had tried to arrange her return flight so she could make it, but it hadn't worked out.
Her thoughts were also mingled with the many faces of kids and adults the team had treated during the past week. She remembered their cheeks, chapped from the cold mountain air; their overall poor health due to the subsistence living conditions; and she remembered all the stories that went along with the smiling faces of the children for whom they had given physicals for their school.
Dr. Lisa’s thoughts were interrupted when Cole Williams banged on the door of the Work & Witness Center yelling, “Where is Jon Fischer? My daughter is having a seizure and we need a ride to the hospital!”
Cole and Kelly Williams were missionaries with an organization called Extreme Nazarene. They lived on the same grounds as the Work & Witness Center in Ecuador at the time and they have two children, Ted and Reese, who was then 3 years old. Cole was holding tightly to his daughter, whose body was unresponsive but wrenched by a glitch-like continual jerk.
“Jon is here and we have a doctor with us,” a team member replied.
Dr. Lisa stepped forward to evaluate the situation. Although the team had brought several boxes of medicine from the U.S., she knew that none of it was designed to treat seizures. She also knew that “time was of the essence” and there would be no pharmacies close enough to get what she needed, quickly.
But, as she was assessing the problem, God reminded her of one of the team members who was also her patient back in the U.S. She remembered a prescription she had written for that team member before the trip had similar properties to other medicines that are used to treat seizures. She asked that team member to retrieve the pills she had prescribed her.
Within a minute, Dr. Lisa took one of those pills, broke it in half to account for the small size of the little girl, and held it in the side of the girl’s mouth while it dissolved. She hoped the pill would quickly stop the seizure and prevent any long-term damage that can be caused by an extended seizure, then watched as the parents loaded their girl into the truck for the 30-minute drive across Quito to the medical clinic.
Kelly Williams remembers the drive and the silence and tears, praying that God would be glorified in her little girl's life. Over and over, praying that they would have the courage needed to walk whatever path was opening up before them, Kelly repeated in prayer, "Please use this little girl's life for your glory, God, please use her for your glory."
After they left, Dr. Lisa became very emotional and shaken as she suddenly realized why none of the flights worked out for her to return home early to see her daughter’s game. God had obviously needed to use her for one more day in Ecuador to save the life of a little girl. Without such quick action, the little girl could have experienced permanent damage from the seizure.
Reese was in the hospital for several days under observation. Doctors had no answers as to why she that day she experienced a “grand mal” seizure – characterized by lasting more than 30 minutes without interruption. Reese had no prior history with seizures.
Kelly Williams remembers the drive and the silence and tears, praying that God would be glorified in her little girl's life. Over and over, praying that they would have the courage needed to walk whatever path was opening up before them, Kelly repeated in prayer, "Please use this little girl's life for your glory, God, please use her for your glory."
After they left, Dr. Lisa became very emotional and shaken as she suddenly realized why none of the flights worked out for her to return home early to see her daughter’s game. God had obviously needed to use her for one more day in Ecuador to save the life of a little girl. Without such quick action, the little girl could have experienced permanent damage from the seizure.
Reese was in the hospital for several days under observation. Doctors had no answers as to why she that day she experienced a “grand mal” seizure – characterized by lasting more than 30 minutes without interruption. Reese had no prior history with seizures.
“We should have been in Ibarra, Ecuador by that time,” recalls Kelly Williams. “But housing problems continuously prevented us from [being] ... there. If Reese had had the seizure in Ibarra, we would have had almost no chance of getting to a hospital in a decent amount of time, since taxis don't run as late in the smaller town, and if there were some out, they would be scarce. In addition, there was not a pediatric neurologist there at all that would have been able to treat her. The only thing for us to say about any of it is that God is sovereign in all things. I am so thankful He holds us always.”
Cole and Kelly and their family (photo right) now live in California, near medical attention for their daughter. Reese has not had any additional seizures over the last couple of years and is no longer taking daily medicine. She is a bright and energetic 6-year-old.
Cole and Kelly and their family (photo right) now live in California, near medical attention for their daughter. Reese has not had any additional seizures over the last couple of years and is no longer taking daily medicine. She is a bright and energetic 6-year-old.
Swiftly treating Reese for her sudden seizure was just one of the ways that God worked through the Nall Avenue team during their Christmas break trip to Ecuador three years ago. They conducted medical physicals for 200 children in the new Compassion International program high in the mountains of Chillanes, Ecuador. They also saw many other patients and prayed with those who needed the touch of God.
One couple the team met accepted Christ after the wife had tried to commit suicide. The team also did construction and evangelized to children. District Superintendent Mario Paredes and his family joined the team and helped the team to understand how they were a light to this community of darkness that faces so many hard things, such as mental illness, fear, death of children, and problems of families living together.
Today, the seeds that the Williams and their team planted in that village have matured into a healthy, organized Nazarene church called Iglesia La Puerta Abierta (The Ibarra Open Door Church). The congregation, which numbers about 80 people on a typical Sunday, with more than 100 members, holds two services every Sunday and have purchased land, with plans to start building in an ideal area by the municipal park. The Work & Witness team was an instrumental part of starting this church plant.
"Reflecting Christ: He lived among us" by Howard Culbertson
In this day of instant communication, airplane travel, and Google Translate, rookie missionaries can be tempted to try shortcuts around language learning and cultural acquisition. But Jesus didn't take shortcuts when He lived among us.
Read MoreIn the opening words of his gospel, the Apostle John declared that Jesus the Messiah had lived “among us.” The Message colorfully renders John 1:14 as “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood” while the Common English Biblesays “he made his home among us.”
These various expressions all recall the fact that Jesus clearly lived as a First Century Jew. He spoke the mother tongue of the people. He ate at their tables. He celebrated holidays with them. He traveled around with them. He interacted with their children. Jesus was truly at home in First Century Jewish culture.
One couple the team met accepted Christ after the wife had tried to commit suicide. The team also did construction and evangelized to children. District Superintendent Mario Paredes and his family joined the team and helped the team to understand how they were a light to this community of darkness that faces so many hard things, such as mental illness, fear, death of children, and problems of families living together.
Today, the seeds that the Williams and their team planted in that village have matured into a healthy, organized Nazarene church called Iglesia La Puerta Abierta (The Ibarra Open Door Church). The congregation, which numbers about 80 people on a typical Sunday, with more than 100 members, holds two services every Sunday and have purchased land, with plans to start building in an ideal area by the municipal park. The Work & Witness team was an instrumental part of starting this church plant.
"Reflecting Christ: He lived among us" by Howard Culbertson
In this day of instant communication, airplane travel, and Google Translate, rookie missionaries can be tempted to try shortcuts around language learning and cultural acquisition. But Jesus didn't take shortcuts when He lived among us.
Read MoreIn the opening words of his gospel, the Apostle John declared that Jesus the Messiah had lived “among us.” The Message colorfully renders John 1:14 as “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood” while the Common English Biblesays “he made his home among us.”
These various expressions all recall the fact that Jesus clearly lived as a First Century Jew. He spoke the mother tongue of the people. He ate at their tables. He celebrated holidays with them. He traveled around with them. He interacted with their children. Jesus was truly at home in First Century Jewish culture.
In this day of instant communication, airplane travel, and Google Translate, rookie missionaries can be tempted to try shortcuts or even opt to bypass the hard work of language learning and cultural acquisition. That might seem like a strategic move allowing them to immediately launch into ministry. However, omitting language and cultural acquisition would be a short-sighted decision for new missionaries. Effective missionaries never see following Jesus’ example of “moving into the neighborhood” as a waste of time. Like Jesus, perceptive missionaries learn the language of a people group. They adapt to unfamiliar customs. They embrace a culture not their own and come to feel at home in it. There are no painless shortcuts on that road.
Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 18:2-4 about becoming “like little children”? To be sure, Jesus used those words in a different line of thinking than that of going as a cross-cultural missionary. Nonetheless, that idea of becoming like a little child does speak to the subject of assimilating into the culture of the people to whom we want to minister. We do need to become like little children as we enter an unfamiliar culture. We need to go in with our eyes wide open, trying to learn everything we possibly can. Sure, it will take time, and missionaries will make mistakes along the way, but the process will increase their long-term productiveness as Christ’s ambassadors.
If we’re going to minister in the way Jesus did, we must “pitch our tent among them” (as some scholars say the Greek verb John 1:14 could be rendered). Will “living among them” be hard and sometimes seem sacrificial? Yes. But we must do it if we are going to truly follow the example of our Lord.
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Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 18:2-4 about becoming “like little children”? To be sure, Jesus used those words in a different line of thinking than that of going as a cross-cultural missionary. Nonetheless, that idea of becoming like a little child does speak to the subject of assimilating into the culture of the people to whom we want to minister. We do need to become like little children as we enter an unfamiliar culture. We need to go in with our eyes wide open, trying to learn everything we possibly can. Sure, it will take time, and missionaries will make mistakes along the way, but the process will increase their long-term productiveness as Christ’s ambassadors.
If we’re going to minister in the way Jesus did, we must “pitch our tent among them” (as some scholars say the Greek verb John 1:14 could be rendered). Will “living among them” be hard and sometimes seem sacrificial? Yes. But we must do it if we are going to truly follow the example of our Lord.
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