Category: Uncategorized

"Every Good Endeavor"

“Christians’ disengagement from popular culture usually carries over into dualism at work. “Dualism” is a term used to describe a separating wall between the sacred and the secular. it is a direct result of a thin view of sin, common grace, and God’s providential purposes.

“Dualism leads some to think that if their work is to please Christ, it must be done overtly in his name. They feel they have to write and perform art that explicitly mentions Jesus, or teach religious subjects in a Christian school; or that they must work in an organization in which all people are professing Christians. Or they must let everyone know that they lead Bible studies in the office in the morning before work hours. This kind of dualism comes both from a failure to see the panoramic scope of common grace and the subtle depths of human sin.  People with this view cannot see that work done by non-Christians always contains some degree of God’s common grace as well as the distortions of sin. And they cannot see that work done by Christians, even if it overtly names the name of Jesus, is also significantly distorted by sin.

“The opposite dualistic approach, however, is even more prevalent — and based on our experience, even more difficult to dismantle. In this approach, Christians think of themselves as Christians only within church activity. Their Christian life is what they do on Sundays and weeknights, when they engage in spiritual activities The rest of the week they have no ability to think circumspectly about the underlying values they are consuming and living out. In their life and work “out in the world,” they uncritically accept and reenact all of their culture’s underlying values and idolatries of self, surface appearances, technique, personal freedom, materialism, and other features of expressive individualism. While the first form of dualism fails to grasp the importance of what we have in common with the world, this form fails to grasp the importance of what is distinctive about the Christian worldview — namely, that the gospel reframes all things, not just religious things.

“The integration of faith and work is the opposite of dualism. We should be willing to be very engaged with the cultural and vocational worlds of non-Christians. Our thick view of sin will remind us that even explicitly Christian work and culture will always have some idolatrous discourse within it. Our thick view of common grace will remind us that even explicitly non-Christian work and culture will always have some witness to God’s truth in it. Because Christians are never as good as their right beliefs should make them, we will adopt a stance of critical enjoyment of human culture and its expressions in every field of work. We will learn to recognize the half-truths and resist the idols; and we will learn to recognize and celebrate the glimpses of justice, wisdom, truth, and beauty we find around us in all aspects of life. Ultimately, a grasp of the gospel and of biblical teaching on cultural engagement should lead Christians to be the most appreciative of the hand of God behind the work of our colleagues and neighbors.”

"Every Good Endeavor"

“Christians’ disengagement from popular culture usually carries over into dualism at work. “Dualism” is a term used to describe a separating wall between the sacred and the secular. it is a direct result of a thin view of sin, common grace, and God’s providential purposes.

“Dualism leads some to think that if their work is to please Christ, it must be done overtly in his name. They feel they have to write and perform art that explicitly mentions Jesus, or teach religious subjects in a Christian school; or that they must work in an organization in which all people are professing Christians. Or they must let everyone know that they lead Bible studies in the office in the morning before work hours. This kind of dualism comes both from a failure to see the panoramic scope of common grace and the subtle depths of human sin.  People with this view cannot see that work done by non-Christians always contains some degree of God’s common grace as well as the distortions of sin. And they cannot see that work done by Christians, even if it overtly names the name of Jesus, is also significantly distorted by sin.

“The opposite dualistic approach, however, is even more prevalent — and based on our experience, even more difficult to dismantle. In this approach, Christians think of themselves as Christians only within church activity. Their Christian life is what they do on Sundays and weeknights, when they engage in spiritual activities The rest of the week they have no ability to think circumspectly about the underlying values they are consuming and living out. In their life and work “out in the world,” they uncritically accept and reenact all of their culture’s underlying values and idolatries of self, surface appearances, technique, personal freedom, materialism, and other features of expressive individualism. While the first form of dualism fails to grasp the importance of what we have in common with the world, this form fails to grasp the importance of what is distinctive about the Christian worldview — namely, that the gospel reframes all things, not just religious things.

“The integration of faith and work is the opposite of dualism. We should be willing to be very engaged with the cultural and vocational worlds of non-Christians. Our thick view of sin will remind us that even explicitly Christian work and culture will always have some idolatrous discourse within it. Our thick view of common grace will remind us that even explicitly non-Christian work and culture will always have some witness to God’s truth in it. Because Christians are never as good as their right beliefs should make them, we will adopt a stance of critical enjoyment of human culture and its expressions in every field of work. We will learn to recognize the half-truths and resist the idols; and we will learn to recognize and celebrate the glimpses of justice, wisdom, truth, and beauty we find around us in all aspects of life. Ultimately, a grasp of the gospel and of biblical teaching on cultural engagement should lead Christians to be the most appreciative of the hand of God behind the work of our colleagues and neighbors.”

How should we do justice?

I’ve mentioned Tim Keller’s “Generous Justice” before. Today I’d like to underline a practical and theological issue about “how.”  Keller tells us about Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch theologian and statesman who ‘remade the churches into voluntary institutions’ in Holland over a century ago.  According to Kuyper, the church was both and organism and an institution (See Kuyper’s work “Rooted and Grounded — the church as organism and institution.)  God has designed the church to be like a body (organic, rooted) and house (institutional, grounded on a foundation).  It needs solid outer shape but it must have inner life.  The church not only grows, but it is also built with structure.

Keller says that Kuyper distinguishes the congregation meeting under its leaders as the institutional church, and “all Christians, functioning in the world as individuals and through various agencies and voluntary organizations,” as the organic church (“Generous Justice,” page 145).

Keller continues, “As we have said, churches under their leaders should definitely carry out ministries of relief and some development among their own members and in their neighborhoods and cities, as the natural and crucial way to show the world God’s character, and to love the people they are evangelizing and discipling. But if we apply Kuyper’s view, then when we get to the more ambitious work of social reform and the addressing of social structure, believers should work through associations and organizations rather than through the local church.  While the institutional church should do relief inside and around its community, the ‘organic’ church should be doing development and social reform.”

He goes on to say that many of the churches that practice this sort of model of ministry (of the sort championed by John Perkins) form community development organizations, distinct from their congregations, to operate programs in their community. Otherwise the work of community renew and social justice can easily overwhelm the work of building up the church by evangelism and discipleship.

Mission organizations plant churches and disciple individuals and can be well suited to do ‘organic’ type ministries of justice and social transformation. However, mission organizations are specialized in seed sowing and building foundations, not in the ongoing work of the ministry — which must increasingly fit the local context with local leadership.  So just as we plant churches in various places, we have a vision to plant local mission organizations that can glorify Christ and address issues of justice and social needs.

Would you be happy to join with a view to this sort of gospel-centered mission to serve in the area of justice and social transformation?

How can local believers show compassion through healthcare ministries?

As we communicate the love of Christ in another culture, it is easy to think that the ministry revolves around our activities. In fact, the key word in Christ’s “Great Commission” is to make disciples.  That means enabling others to learn from Christ. It also implies that we ourselves learn in the process. Here is a learning activity.

“What are some ways that local believers can show Christ’s compassion through health ministries?”  

Take a few minutes with your team to explore this question. It may be the first time for some of us to ask the question.  There is no one correct answer.  But the Spirit of God does give creativity; as we follow Christ, He can lead us to meet physical, spiritual and emotional needs that could not be met by foreigners alone.

Here is a start; I’m sure there are many others.  Would you be willing to share some with me?

  • prayer for the sick
  • home-based health education
  • integrating a Biblical view of health and sickness into teaching the Bible (many Bible lessons help us integrate the spiritual, physical and relational aspects of health)
  • meet some physical needs of orphans or widows — who do not have the means to help themselves (see James 1:27)
  • do good for someone who is not ordinarily a friend
  • begin a palliative care ministry for those who are dying
  • help train other local believers to do this
  • help handicapped people
  • discuss with local medical professionals how to enable others who don’t have the technical medical background (healthcare is not just a professional domain)
  • write a short story about health in the community
  • put on a health play
  • find out more about CHE, or Community Health Education/Evangelism
  • find out the needs of the poor and how to meet them closer to their home
  • befriend someone in need
  • ask God to show you how to show compassion
  • don’t despise small beginnings; you cant change it all at once
  • ask your local doctors and nurses for their own perspective
  • pray with others

What are your ideas?

Paul

Myths of medical missions

1 Timothy 4.7

Medical mission work must have an vision, a framework for understanding how it fits into the work of God in the world. This framework must come out of our understanding of Scripture. Many times however we can operate on faulty frameworks, wrong assumptions about God, the world, healing and redemption. Here are a few “myths” of medical missions. I think there are many more. Can you identify any and respond?

  • “I can dispense healing”
  • “Healing is from medicine, surgery and scientific advances, and doesn’t have much to do with relationships.”
  • “What ‘I’ do is the key to success.”
  • “‘I’ am the answer for ‘them.'”
  • “I must be in control.”
  • “I am not broken.” (or my brokenness does not interfere at all with my medical work)
  • “If others knew my own brokenness it would discourage them.” (and so I must hide it)
  • “I am defined by my medical training.”

Underlying these assumptions – and others — are two foundational myths:

  1. A distorted view of God
  2. A distorted view of self

What myths can you identify?  I look forward to hearing from you!

Paul

Healer of soul and body

Luke 6

I have treated patients in Ethiopia, Asia and North America, and know something of the troubles that patients bring to doctors. Here we read that Jesus also attracted many people who sought Him out for healing.  Since He is the Son of God, He had the power to heal them — and He did so. But he didn’t treat them without understanding their context.  Some were hated, excluded; some wept; many were hungry; others were rich, full and popular. He spoke to them as the Master Physician, not only healing their physical bodies but caring for their souls. He taught them that to enter the kingdom of God they must be empty of their own self-righteousness and self-importance. The basic A,B,C of entering God’s kingdom is recognizing our own spiritual poverty.

“And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Luke 6:17-20

Do we recognize our own spiritual poverty and trust Jesus?  As healers, do we speak to the context of our patients, or only attempt to deal with anatomy and physiology? How do we connect with patients on a soul level?