1) Last week I received an email from Selinda requesting prayer for Doc and Pat Taylor. Friday the 16th two men broke in and burglarised the place while they were there. Selinda has posted the prayer request on her blog.Yesterday I received an email from the Taylors also explaining what happened and requesting pray.
2) Japan was chosen as "country of the month" because Robin White was scheduled to share at my home church this past Sunday, which he did. Earlier this month he posted a book review on Will Ferguson’s Hitching Rides with Buddha. I loved the section about language issues:
"…like many Westerners, I also get confused by "human" (ningen) and "carrot"(ninjin), which once caused a lot of puzzled looks during a speech I gave in Tokyo on the merits of internationalization, when I passionately declared that "I am carrot. You are a carrot. We are all carrots. As long as we always remember our common carrotness, we will be fine." On another occasion I scared a little girl by telling her that my favourite nighttime snack was raw humans and dip."
3) The JW’s got it right! Well, maybe not everything right but they do seem to have some things about missions right. Over the past year I’ve enjoyed getting to know Andrea’s Adventures through her blog. Last week I read her post on Jehovah Witnesses in Japan. If the facts are true, should Christians (and GP, my denominations missions department) be more focused on Japan? Or is there another solution? After hearing how the budget for a missionary to Japan one of the church members asked me "wouldn’t it be better just to send Japanese churches the money?" What do you think?
3 comments:
I whole-heartedly agree! Just because missions is a slow process in Japan does not mean that God is working... it just means we need to be persistant and patient. AND send more people, yes!
PS - I forgot to comment on the money part. The average Christian church in Japan has about 30-40 people; that probably doesn't equal tonnes of money. Also, I don't know how other missions organizations are doing it, but at GP we partner with Japanese churches in a way that we are a help to them and not a burden. AND... in my case, the church I'll be working with in Nagoya is helping me out by providing housing, but there are many other costs involved.
the carrot! I laughed so hard I almost woke up Hana! not a good thing, but very very funny!
as for the money/missionary, i'm a little torn. I guess it would depend on what the churches would do with the money. Church planting is the most effective form of evangelism (or so the department of evangelism and church growth keeps telling us) and so if thats what its for, then sure, sounds good. On the other hand, if there aren't local people able to plant then by all means of course send a missionary! I guess whatever it is that gets more people knowing Jesus.
Post a Comment