Tag Archives: mission

Wise stewardship of wealth

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“While the third of the world that are reached, the Christians, receive 97% of the resources, the third of the word that’s ‘least reached’, receive less than 1%. This is a great injustice.”

So says Mike Frost in the second of these videos (see below) from Global Interaction. But, what should our response be?

On a Facebook discussion the initial reaction to the statement seemed to be, “Yes, but it’s not that simple”, followed by a slightly heated tangential conversation about how do you determine whether money is being spent by the wealthy western church on itself, or whether it’s giving it away sacrificially.

I acknowledge that there is a slightly messy patch in the middle about where the money goes and what it’s used for. Money that goes to the church probably pays upkeep for a building, which may be used for worship services, but may also be used for community services which could also be seen as mission.

But, I think this discussion is a good way for us to give our excuses and to avoid making tough decisions. The west is wealthy enough to worry about having buildings in which to put on events… others don’t even have clean water… how much do we care?

One commentator suggested that 95% of the church’s budget should be given away and that the community should learn to live on the 5% that’s left over. Could we? What would church look like if that were the case in reality? Or what about 50/50. Could we at least do that?

The Tuesday (but should have been Monday) update

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Some quick reflections on things from this weekend.

In a post, A Minor Miracle, from Bible Translator Foibles, the anonymous author writes…

Gradually it sunk into my thick skull that being at church is a statement of solidarity with the community of believers. You would think that would be a given for a missionary translator who studied theology. Even if I get nothing out of the church service, I contribute by my presence.

Speaking of miracles. Friends of ours are experiencing their own miracle as Jessica, their seven month old baby, makes it through another heart operation. Maybe best described in their own words…

Our beautiful daughter Jessica was born in September 2011 with a severe heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome.  This was diagnosed at her 20 week scan and we were initially told that she was unlikely to be suitable for surgery.  However, a pioneering in-utero operation at 28 weeks to enlarge a hole in her atrial septum was carried out and she was able to make it to term and get through her first open-heart surgery at just eight hours old.  Since birth, she has had three operations and will need more as she gets bigger.

You can read about Jessica’s story at jessica-thejourney.blogspot.co.uk. and the latest updates as she comes out of yet another operation.

On a completely different topic. The Sentralized blog has published a top 40 Missional Reading List. HT: to both Mike Frost and Tim Davey for pointing to it on Facebook. Although, Mike gets more out of it having authored, or co-authored, four of the books on the list.

And finally…

Taking some exercise this weekend, I was catching up on the series of sermons from Mosaic in LA called Artisan – yes, I run and listen to Bible talks, maybe not so rock and roll! Anyway, I was struck by the observation by Erwin McManus, that Mary only makes one commandment in the whole of the Bible, John 2:5,

His mother told the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”

Wise words!

Festivals present Christianity as belonging to the white, western and wealthy

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Every year I receive a pile of invitations (usually phrased as ‘offers’ or ‘opportunities’) to take a stand to a Christian event to tell people about Wycliffe Bible Translators and what we do around the world. To decide whether it’s worth going or not I’ll look at the programme to see what’s happening as part of the main event and see how geared it is towards mission.

So, I’ve just done a very quick survey of the speakers booked for some of the bigger Christian festivals due to take place in 2012. Here’s what I found out from their websites.

  • New Word Alive – six main speakers over one week. All white, mostly male, from either the UK or US.
  • Spring Harvest – Four speakers, all from churches in England.
  • Keswick Convention – One main speaker for each of the three weeks. All male, from Australia, England and Scotland. Although, listed under ‘Other Speakers’ is Calisto Odede from Kenya.

I tried to find out about Soul Survivor, but they haven’t released their 2012 programme and I couldn’t easily find anything from 2011.

Maybe I could make a special mention of Greenbelt. Whose lineup at least includes a smattering of people from ethnic minorities and non western educated. But then, artists are better at not conforming.

After looking at the list of speakers I did a quick search for the part that world mission plays in these events.

New Word Alive

Their vision and values statement says…

With a huge variety of gifts from preaching to personal relationships, or childrens work to world mission, we will open up possibilities, provide examples and encouragement and seek to motivate and equip Gods people to serve him and his world.

If you type ‘mission’ into the search box the top 13 results are a product from their shop, then there’s a link to their vision and values before giving a link to how an organisation can exhibit.

Spring Harvest

SH state in the header to their Beliefs page,

Within our stated aim to ‘equip the church for action’ we seek to encourage Christians to think about their faith, to be transformed through the renewing of our minds and to engage in the mission of God in the world.

Their website shows that they give money to support good causes. With the exception of Bible translation that was supported as part of Biblefresh in 2011, there’s nothing that has a primary aim of sharing the gospel.

Mission is mentioned, intertwined with the theme of ‘the Church‘ for 2012. There’s also the prospect of something multicultural on the last day.

Day 5 – God’s brilliant idea: ‘Make them one!’

The church the New Testament foresees is multicultural, multi-national and multi-lingual. The name given to this people in the Bible is the Bride of Christ – beautiful, sparkling and deeply loved by God. We will explore the joy of our diversity; embracing the call of God to reach every tribe and culture and escaping cultural captivity to express love for the ‘other’.

But, I wonder how that gets dealt with when there’s only speakers from the UK.

Keswick Convention

It was less easy to find out about Keswick’s approach to mission because their website isn’t as searchable as the others. I know that they have a fund to support those involved in mission who want to come along to Keswick, but like most other events, the main place for a mission profile is in the exhibition space.

Conclusions

Maybe I’m being overly simplistic, but I do believe that actions speak as loudly as words (even if we aren’t as conscious of the message when it’s delivered in non-verbal ways). So, I could read into these events that…

  • Senior Christian figures are usually white, male and from the west.
  • Music and sung worship is the most important part of your faith after the main speakers – just have a look and see how important ‘worship leaders’ are to selling events.
  • Mission is about improving the physical condition of those living in poverty or those that are abused and is mostly supported by giving money.
  • Mission exists in the exhibition space, where organisations pay a great deal of money for a small plot, travel to and from the event and accommodation for one or two staff. It does not play a part in the main event.

Cynical?

What me? Maybe… but honestly, I’m more than a little tired of being told about a ‘great opportunity’ from the organisers of one event or another, who want mission agencies to come along and exhibit so that they can tick a box and say they’ve ‘done mission’. If world mission was important it would get more than a drafty tent hidden somewhere in the vicinity of the main hall.

Look, I am aware that these events do a lot of good. There are great speakers and leaders who are white and male and deserve to have a platform. I know how great it is to sing praise songs with a good band who’ve prepared in advance and can stay in tune. I also believe that it’s important for Christians and the church to lead the way in bringing people out of poverty and give them hope. And, believe it or not, I understand business well enough to know that great events cost money and you have to bow (just a little) to public pressure and give the audience a bit of what they want to get bums on seats.

However, I think there’s a danger that events like these can become so focussed on breaking even that doing what’s right comes further down the agenda. We feed people what they want to hear, rather than the truth and we allow people to consume what’s safe and fun. Maybe that’s also symptomatic of western Christianity… and maybe that rant is best left for another blog post.

Also…

Simon Cozens has also written on a similar vein on his blog (HT Kouya)

Global Connections: 2020 Vision

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What part do you think Christians in the UK will be playing in mission in 10 years? Just think, another 10 years and it’s going to be 2022! – maybe we will all be travelling in spaceships.

The Global Connections conference that I’ve just come back from was thinking about mission and the future, what it’s going to be like, how the church in the Global South is going to have way more impact on us in the West, what’s happened to our old models of mission, what part the Church in the UK is going to play.

I think I have been mostly impacted by the question of the role of the Church. Mission agencies simply don’t exist without the Church, but how do we connect and work together rather than in isolation?

So, the question I’m asking you:

  • How can mission agencies help your church with local and world mission?
  • How can your church get involved in God’s mission in the UK and overseas?

I’d be interested to hear your comments.

Chris Wrights new book – The Mission of God’s People

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HT Kouya

Chris Wright’s new book, ‘The Mission of God’s People’ is due out this summer. First release is today, on Kindle, then the paperback appears 1st September.

If it’s anywhere near as good as his previous book ‘The Mission of God’ it’s going to be extremely good indeed.

Order it through Amazon

Flying for Life – the new magazine from MAF

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MAF News - the old magazine and prayer diary

One of the organisations Wycliffe Bible Translators works most closely with is MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship). MAF provide planes and pilots to take people in and out of remote communities, transporting valuable supplies and ensuring that people can reach important medical facilities in times of emergency.

They share the news of what they do through their website and through a quarterly magazine and prayer bulletin.

Now, to be honest, their magazine hasn’t been doing their mission justice (see the top picture). The stories it told were fantastic, but the overall appearance was tired looking and cheap. Plus, there was no way to tell that the prayer booklet belonged to the same organisation as the magazine.

Compare this to the new publication (bottom picture), which looks and feels loads better. Why…

1 – The colour scheme runs through both publications. You can tell, without reading anything, that the magazine and prayer diary have come from the same organisation.

2 – The paper is heavier. It’s amazing how printing on heavier paper can make a real difference in the feeling of quality. OK, it pushes the costs up a bit, but it does convey a message about your organisation. Heavier paper people will associate with quality.

Flying for Life - MAF's new magazine and prayer diary

3 – Loads of white space. MAF have always shared really good photographs of what they do and they’ve never been scared of using half a page for a picture, but in the old publication any space not being used for an image was used for text. The new publication still has the great photography, but doesn’t have so much text, as a result it’s easier to read and is more inviting to the reader. There are still some great stories to read, but maybe in this case less really is more.

What I’d still want to change

The magazine and prayer diary look great, but I’d want to do more to strengthen the MAF brand. Their website could look more like the publications just by changing some of the colours to match what they are putting out in print.

That could be a quick win as changing colours doesn’t take an awful lot of technical know-how.

Of course, if there was money to spend I’d like to see the swoosh on the web too, but that can come later.

Now I’ll just be interested to see them at a future event to find out if this change has made it across all their literature and onto some of their display stands too.

For now I’ll just say, great job guys… keep up the good work and thanks for all the flying.

Changing global mission culture in the UK church

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I suggest that many local congregations have not been of great assistance to world mission. Such advances have not taken place because of, or at the instigation of, the local congregation. The support for world mission has come from individual Christians from within the churches, rather than from the churches themselves.

That’s a direct quote from Changing Global Mission Culture in the UK Church which is published by Global Connections in a collection of papers called Churches and Agencies in Partnership. I can’t seem to find a free copy online  so I’m going to do some grovelling and see if I can get a copy to send out with my next newsletter because it really is worth reading.

Since joining Wycliffe Bible Translators I’ve discovered that I now spend a lot more time thinking about mission than I ever did when I was part of a church – but that shouldn’t have been the case! If mission is supposed to be a core activity of a Christian community and a key element in every Christian’s life, regardless of the context they are living in, why did I have to join a mission agency before I had the opportunity to think seriously about many of the issues involved.

Why is a mission agency asking more questions about connecting in the local context than the local church that’s already there?

This paper, Changing Global Mission Culture in the UK Church, should probably be essential reading for all church leaders. Even if they disagree with the conclusions they would, at least, have to think through some of the issues that it throws up.

Quick Summary

The paper lists the present situation in many churches as

  • World mission is a marginalised interest for most and a fervent commitment for a few. Many church members are glad that their church has a world mission programme, but don’t want to have much to do with it themselves. ‘Missionary’ events are poorly supported.
  • The world mission mandate is connected to the Great Commission. The unspoken logic is that ‘We do it as a church because Jesus told us to.’
  • World mission involvement is limited to what comes from ‘missionary’ people or societies and is disconnected from what comes via the TV screen, from world news or news documentaries.
  • World sport, world music, fair trade concerns, environmental calamities, political issues, international business travel and tourist travel are not promoted in church as issues that interest God or impact on our faith.
  • Younger church members take little interest in the church’s world mission culture.
  • On a weekly basis, world mission is represented by a world map with a few pins stuck in it and a small pile of ‘missionary’ magazines, untouched and rather out of date.
  • Even when young people have been on short-term programmes and their involvement has energised and interested other young people, it often has done little to change the culture of the church as a whole in relation to world mission.

From a mission agency point-of-view, the opinion is,

Agencies know that most of the resources of people, prayer and finance that they need come from committed individuals in churches rather than from the church as a whole.

That’s a statement that’s easy to agree with, because, even if we don’t like it we need to acknowledge that it’s true.

The paper, rather than just criticising the current stage of affairs, does gives a few suggestions as to how our thinking and practices should be adjusted

1. Relate to the world biblically (not just Great Commissionally)

To  break the unhelpful church culture, we need to take a step back and stop talking about world mission… Instead, we need to help people relate biblically to the world.

2. Break down the home/field barrier

The church needs to recapture its global characteristics. Mission starts at the end of the pew and extends to the ends of the earth.

3. Restructure the local church

Close down anything that marginalises world mission and gives it a specialist only label.

4. Maximise globalisation

In many churches, the only things that relate personal faith to the world have a ‘missionary’ label. That’s the culture that we must change.

Thoughts

I feel awkward with the notion that people in full time Christian work are somehow more special than anyone else. I also feel pretty uncomfortable with the notion that people working overseas require more special attention than those who go to school, or the office or look after the home. I fully appreciate that there are significant challenges for people working in an alien culture, but their work and the importance of their relationships shouldn’t be any more valuable than those who are doing their best to obey God where they are right now.

I believe that the church in the UK has to do some significant thinking when it comes to their values associated with mission, but then so do many mission agencies – the one I work with included. Maybe this paper would be a good starting point.

Changing views

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Photograph from Ruth Hubbard's blog http://ruthhubbard.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/gloria-a-dios/

Ruth Hubbard is Vice-President of Communications for Wycliffe Bible Translators in the US. Recently she was in Guatemala, where Cameron Townsend – the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators – first recognised the need for Bible translation.

In a recent blog post Ruth reflected on how things have changed.

  • When Cameron Townsend started work he thought that there were about 1,000 languages in the world. It turns out that there are around 7,000.
  • In Guatemala it’s possible to see the results of the early days of Bible translation. Not only are there Christians as a result of the Bibles that were produced in the minority languages, but, these Christians are involved in leadership within the church.

Uncle Cam (that’s what some call him) had a vision that was both expansive and limited. He saw a day when people from every language community would have access to God’s Word and therefore could decide for themselves whether to enter into a relationship with Him or reject that invitation. That vision is in the process of being fulfilled. Today there are just over 2,000 language communities with no access to Scripture who need it, and around 2,000 with a translation in progress.

You can read the whole piece on Ruth’s blog Hubbard’s Cupboard

It just got me wondering, what do we take for granted today that within 80 years will have changed completely?

Learning, growing and sharing: The use of Media in Mission

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It’s taken ages to get this sorted, but, finally, this is the presentation I gave at GO2010.

It’ll take a few moments for the audio to download, but the whole presentation is below.

Learning, growing and sharing: The use of Media in Mission

View more webinars from Phil Prior.

We’ve never done it that way before

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My job has an interesting element to it, the ability to predict the future.

Now before you get excited and start e-mailing for predictions for this year’s Derby winner (Kentucky Derby, Melbourne Cup, Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, or any other horse race) I should be quite honest and let you know that I can’t.

What I do know is that the following statements are completely true:

  • Being successful last year doesn’t mean that repeating the same thing guarantees success.
  • Being unsuccessful doesn’t mean that it was a bad idea that can’t work in the future.

Mark wrote an interesting blog post this week about getting comfortable. He pointed out that it’s easy to look for the safe ground and never try anything new. Only repeating stuff means that you’re likely to miss out on the new and the exciting. For some it’ll be that they miss out on great food, others it’ll be seeing new things, for some it’ll mean that they’ll miss Jesus.

One great line his post though was…

But – we’ve never done it that way before, these 7 words would have to be the most inspiring words you are likely to ever hear???

Exciting isn’t it. Doing something new.

So share, what have you tried to do that’s turned to success or failure?