Three Thoughts and an Introduction

Intentions and reality are two different things; this blog is a prime example. My good intentions were to blog twice a week all month or at least weekly. Hell should be well paved…if the saying is true. Next month I’ll be more bloggernessee.

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?

Another New Feature

And to the Ends of the Earth has a guest author. Once a month (when it fits his schedule) Dr. Peed, professor of global ministry at Bethany Bible College has offered to write something ministry related. Below is his first article.

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Memories of Zambia, advertised as "the warm heart of Africa," come back to me every time about this time of year. Instead of snow, ice, and strong winds, this beautiful country is experiencing almost daily rains and temperatures in the 20s and 30s (C). While missionaries there my wife Marilee and I soon discovered that it was "tough" being a missionary, but, somebody had to do it!! There we were, "suffering for Jesus," in one of the most beautiful spots on the planet while our friends back home shovelled away. And not only was the weather different but, more related to the reason we were there in the first place, there was plenty of religious, cultural, and social diversity surrounding us.

Most of us who are passionate about global ministries say we value diversity. After all, none of us want to be called intolerant or arrogant or narrow-minded. These are especially cancerous in the life of the cross-cultural worker. Yep, we talk about being diverse, but how intentional are we about developing this trait in our lives? For example, how often do we take opportunities to "stretch yourself" culturally by seeking out and developing satisfying relationships with people who are ethnically different from us? Do we stay up on international news? Do we go to ethnic eating establishments? The list goes on.

Early on in our ministry in Zambia my wife and I had to decide either to embrace diversity and push ourselves out of our ethnocentrism or withdraw into our own worlds and become ineffective in our ministry. As best we could we opted for the former. Intentionally we tried to be people of diversity. I encourage you to make this choice also.

For Christ and His Kingdom,
Dr. Bill