Bob Roberts 2 and Discussion

Bob Roberts: Glocally

They challenge their churches to plant a church within the first year.

They want their churches to adopt nations. The harder the better. We’re going to Mexico to teach them about the Middle East to launch them in the Middle East.

Leighton Ford did an evangelism conference. It was a conference on global missions.

What if the church were the missionary? The Great Commission was given to the whole church.

Kingdom In/Kingdom Out: When the kingdom is at work in our lives we become kingdom minded.

1. The church is going to have to focus on one spot.

2. Instead of religious work, people are going to have to do their jobs overseas.

Bob asked how many of you (in his church) were called to be missionary. 30% responded.

Bob talked about many other things. We pick up the discussion here:

How do you disciple pastors?

It’s very hard. It’s hard to get them into the mind of a Hindu or Communist or Muslim. They tend to be a security risk.

Eric: Bob mentioned that war or disaster is an invitation for the church to get involved. The Rise of Christianity describes how the church past acted counter to others to bless their culture and converts resulted.

Jerry: Where to we go to find indigenous nation builders?

Jerry: We passed out care boxes to hospitals. It engaged people who were members but who had stopped coming to church. But because they led with service and partnered with a secular organization. During SARS they had 10,000 conversions. People were quarantined and needed something to occupy their minds. They provided spiritual materials and were allowed to because of the trust that had been established.

Bob: A doctor from their church is establishing a partnership with a medical school in Puebla.

Eric: The new apologetic is not explaining evil but responding to it with compassion. “I don’t know why the Tsunami happened, but I do know how Jesus would want me to respond.” This is not a strategy but the essence of the Christian life.

Jerry: 2006 will be the year of Charity. We need people to help.

Layo: In El Salvador there is a large evangelical population and people are evangelized out. Service is the way to connect with people. In San Salvador, the second most numerous complaints for disturbing the peace are loudspeakers of Christian churches evangelizing.

Eric: The church must ask everyday, what kind of day is today. We are in a liminal existence, between two states. Most pastors don’t know what God is doing, because times have changed. What seems to be the future: good deeds lead to good will and good news.

Chip: A columnist in Atlanta observed that the only ones who seem to care about the needs of society are the evangelicals and the liberals.

Dan: Unity in John 17, Jesus gives his glory. Unity in the body opens people’s eye’s to the presence of the King.

Eric: We saw some Amish honeymooners.

Henry: My daughter wrote this after a week of mercy ministry.

June 6, 2005
Dear Friends,

As I write this to you, I find myself sitting in the thick of a Monday night, less than a foot away from a rotating fan that is conveniently blowing a mixture of humid wind and cool relief my way. The summer is in full swing here in my city of springs, and it seems the hot rains have quickly washed away not only the Yellow River dust in the air but the entire month of May!

The change in weather seems to have also brought along change in perspective for me. If I had to pick out a standout moment from the past month or so, I would say it was the time I understood loving like God. And here's what I mean by that.

Mercy Min
Here in East Asia, people look to the first week of May like college students in America dream about freedom-filled Spring break. Called the Labour Workers Holiday, most students get over a week off of school to celebrate with their friends, go home to their families, and rest from the grind of constant study. Most foreign students use the vacation to travel around the country, drinking in the culture, and sampling the local delicacies. But we decided to spend the whole vacation time in our own city, working together as a family, to serve the needs of the needy.

The gospels often describe a Jesus that hung out with the down-and-out of
society: prostitutes that no one respected, cheating tax-collectors that everyone scorned, even blind and crippled beings that people ignored. I thought this week of mercy ministry would help me practice a kind of love that Jesus had, a love that wasn't based on what kind of welcome he would receive, what kind of return-favour he could store for future use, or even what these people could do for him at the time. Jesus just loved people because they were.

In the beginning of our Mercy Min week, I tried to think about how Jesus loved other people. I tried to feel for the grey-haired woman who sits on the street corner across from school, a tin cup in front of her and her face turned to the ground. I thought of how I could drop a few coins in her pan so that she could hear them clink into her cup. I thought of maybe buying her a bottle of cold water and a chicken sandwich for lunch. And I thought that I wasn¹t very creative and Jesus must have felt something much deeper, on the soul level, for this woman, but I couldn¹t figure out what it was.

Mid week I found myself at a website detailing the life of Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who dedicated her life to living and loving the poor and helpless in the slums of Calcutta. I figured that a decision to live such a life must have come from a deep understanding of God¹s mercy and Christ¹s love. Something she said really stood out to me:

"What the poor need, even more than food or clothes, is to be wanted."

I realized that my mercy ministry outlook had become almost formulaic in execution. I wanted to show God¹s love but I could only think of filling the most obvious need.

That week, I went out and bought a chicken sandwich and some water for the man who plays a traditional East Asian instrument for the people walking to my university. He thanked me for the sandwich and politely refused the water. Something compelled me to stay for just a little bit longer and he stopped playing long enough to ask me what I was doing. I told him it makes me happy to hear him play and wouldn¹t he like to have a bite for lunch. He smiled again and showed me some bread he had received from previous passersby. I wondered how I naively thought my chicken sandwich was going to fill a need, and already satisfied at that, as he started to play again.

And then something clicked in my head.

I started to ask him about his instrument and how he learned how to play it.
I asked him about his family and what events transpired to get him to where he was, a street musician in an unfamiliar city. He played songs and asked me to guess them, which turned out to be a great fun for him. And he even let me play the instrument, prompting various people to come up to us and tell me how I was holding things wrong or making bad sounds. He also thought this was great fun. I sat with him for almost an hour and learned about his grandchildren, the ulcer in his stomach, his home town, and when I got up to leave, he asked me to call him Uncle and to stop by again if I had the time.

I thought about it some more later that day, and decided that the poor and the needy don't need the coins I can drop or the food I can buy, as much as their souls need moments of feeling loved, appreciated and wanted. I thought about God and how his mercy sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins, in my place. And how very special that God let me understand a little bit more about His love for people and how very much He wants to know even me.

I pray that you might experience his mercy in a deep and experiential way in the weeks to come. And that you might be a part of helping others know his
mercy and love in a personal way as well. J So that compassion and mercy
become our lives instead of a week in them. And that we might experience a deeper intimacy with the one who offers these to us.

I can feel both myself and my ministry being blessed by your prayers. Thank you for interceding on my behalf.

Please pray:
* For my new street musician "Uncle." I have not seen him for the past few weeks and wonder if he¹s moved to a different part of the city. Please pray for his health as his stomach ulcer is giving him problems. And please pray that God would bring people into his life that would let him know how much he is worth.
* For good ministry closure on campus. Our ministry officially closes down in about three weeks. Please pray for the students at ZY, that the seeds that have been planted in their hearts will take root and grow. If not now, then in the months and years to come. Please continue to pray for Tanya Mouskewitz, Breathless, Earnest, and a new girl Deb. The gospel sparkled in their eyes the first time they heard it. Please pray that they will grow to be women of deep faith and compassion.
* For all the ensuing goodbyes. We actually have our debriefing time tomorrow. And we have already begun closure evaluations and reviews with our family. Please pray that we will enjoy one another and continue to spur one another on even though the time is getting shorter and shorter.
* For my continued relationship with Barry. That we will continue to grow more into the people we were always meant to be and that he would align both our hearts to His (especially regarding our life-direction once we return home).
* For God's continuing guidance and direction and my submission and trust in Him with my future. I will be returning home to San Diego and will not pursue a further internship with CCC in San Francisco. I am not sure what I will do when I go home, so please pray that God will make it clear soon!

So It's hard to believe that I've been here for almost a year now. Thank you for your encouraging emails and your prayers every step of the way. You have helped me breathe.

As always, please let me know how I can be more closely journeying with you.

With big love,
jennilyn

Eric: Mother Theresa wrote that there would be no Hindu’s if Christians in India would just live what they believe.

What if we did these things in our cities? What would it look like?