Christian community

when the charity case was me

One of the best things that has happened to me since embarking on my kingdom journey is encountering a severely limited independence.

No matter what I do, the truth is I’ll never have the level of independence here that I have at home. There are logistical reasons for this, social reasons, environmental reasons and more. As a result, I cannot escape needing people. And I don’t mean needing others as in “gee it would be nice if I had some help with this.” No. I mean needing people in the sense that if someone doesn’t help me, this will not happen. 

It’s been a long long time since I’ve been in that position. But that’s where I am now. And God is totally stretching me.

He’s also showing me the greatest level of provision through community that I could never imagine. There are so many people here who care about me, about each other, and about others – they are hard working missionaries after all. We worship together, pray together, eat, laugh, shop, and entertain together. And we give and receive together. And I don’t know why I’m so surprised about it, but I am. It surprises me to be shown time after time how much they care and how giving they are. I’m not used to it. I feel like I’ve gone back in time to the early church.

The Believers Form a Community

42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper[a]), and to prayer.

43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity[b]— 47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

It’s has been incredibly rewarding to find myself in a position of need and have so many people willing to help meet those needs. It’s breaking down walls for me. I’m experiencing people in a richer and more positive way. This situation is surely increasing my faith in God’s provision.

That said, my fears associated with receiving have not vanished overnight, nor am I completely free from my desire to operate independently. For example, I can’t just jump in my car and go wherever I want to go in a decently ordered manner. Whenever I leave on my scooter – not car – I have to battle for my life on the truly mean streets of b’lore and If I need to travel beyond 5 km, I need help.  I’ll never love that.

However, I’ve recently noticed that I am more inclined to reach out for help with something, even if it may be possible for me to do it alone. By reaching out to others I’ve found I’m less overwhelmed and I’m more energized for the things I do need take on solo. Not necessarily because I saved energy by working together, but because when God shows His faithful provision, it’s energizing and motivating.

I pray that this is not a lesson I quickly forget when I return to the States.

Why I left the World Race

There’s absolutely no drama here. If you’re looking for me to say I discovered it was really Hogwart’s school of sorcery, you wont find it. That’s only partially true. (I kid…) I have zero regrets for going. I’m still all about kingdom journeys and my WR experience was a great step in the right direction.

If you haven’t read part 1 – “Why I joined World Race” you might want to refer briefly to that. In summary, I joined WR largely in part for logistics and Christian community, the most important of those being Christian community.

First, how might I describe a Christian community? One way would be as Christ-centered, Spirit-lead community that draws its strength to love God and people from a foundation based in Truth. I find it difficult to believe this can be had apart from Bible-centeredness. By Bible-centeredness, I mean strengthening our foundation of truth by consistently pouring over, discovering, and understanding the word.

The Bible is clear about the value of God’s word and its essence as truth. Scripture says, “The sum of your word is truth…” (Psalm 119:160) The Psalmist knows he can make no moves without this truth saying in all earnest, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) He cries to the Lord, “Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me.” (Psalm 43:3a)

And as if to answer this plea with the ultimate guidance and essence of word and truth, “… the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) In His own words, Christ says to us, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)

And as we proclaim to be followers of Christ, Christ-centered, and working on His behalf, everything we do should be rooted in truth, in the word, in Christ.

Prayer – The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. (Psalm 145:18)

Worship – God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)

Loving and Serving – Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth. (1 John 3:18)

The lives and love we pour into others will ultimately be a reflection of that which we fill up on through our Spirit-lead discovery of God’s word. I don’t mean to say that apart from being a theologian with degrees in exegetical studies one cannot properly love; however, our affinity for the word should be like the great Psalmist who proclaimed, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” For without such an affinity, our capacity to love cannot begin to breech its truest potential.

How does this relate to my experience with WR community? First of all, the WR is not anti-Bible. People are kind-hearted and love God. I even experienced people who are passionate about the Word and thirst to enrich their relationship with God through this. However (my experience) the greater community culture lacked urgency for incorporating deep discovery of the Word into our God experience. A Christ-centered community must value studying and sharpening each other in God’s Word as much as do-gooding, spectacular views, smiling children and great cappuccino. (All of which I thoroughly enjoyed FTR!) If we believe that God’s Word is Living Word, we should feel it, experience it, and approach it with the same awe and wonder as the other amazing gifts God has given us in His creation.

That’s the kind of community I thought I was joining; a balanced group who understood the value of experience, and love and everything being rooted and grounded in the Truth of God’s Word.

Fortunately, the Kingdom Journey continues!

(BTW, I started this as a 2-part, but it might become more of a mini series. There’s a lot. No drama; just … a lot…like disease and pestilence and stuff)

Why I Joined Adventures in Missions World Race (Part 1 of 2)

This is a two-part blog. Part 1 is on the reason I joined AIM WR. Part 2 is why I changed to a different mission.

Part 1 – Why I joined Adventures in Missions World Race.

I’ll start with why I decided to take a break from my job and go on an international mission.

  • I believe in Kingdom Journeys. So does Seth Barnes, the creator and visionary behind the WR. It would take a while to describe, but if you’re really interested, the book is available. And I like it. A lot.
  • I wanted to spend a period of time devoted to serving God, studying Word, and growing in my faith away from my usual distractions and competing priorities. No work obligations. No typical social obligations. Only one thing – discovering how I’m going to use my gifts and talents to serve God, bring Him glory and love what I do for the rest of my life.

For now, I don’t think international missions are something I would do long term. For long term, I actually believe in KP Yohanan’s “Revolution in World Missions” approach. I just think Kingdom Journeys can be a great way to get a vision and get preparation for your long-term work. Not necessarily “mission” work or even NPO. Just whatever that long-term vision turns out to be. Some people find it worthless waste, but I’ll leave that debate for some other time.

Why the WR in particular? Two things were top of my list for choosing WR – logistics and community.

  • Logistics. I’ve traveled the world extensively, but not so much for missions. The only missions I’ve gone on were with AIM. They were ok – 50% pass marks. To me, organization means organized logistics. This organization already had it all. Transportation, food, lodging, local contacts, everything. Meaning, I wouldn’t have to worry about logistics for ~1 year long journey. No booking tickets, to finding housing, no foraging for food (except for “fun”) no searching for ministry contacts, etc. No worries about safety, other than the usual situational awareness and common sense stuff. I could just go.
  • It offered a pre-packaged Community. I don’t have a lot of close Christian friends. I don’t have a close-knit Christian community. I have a church home, but I don’t live or study or work or socialize or go to church among a peer group of Christians. Church community post-college, pre-marriage has been like a black hole for me. We have those preaching to the youth. Then when you return post-college, the preaching seems to always be geared toward parents, couples and older generations. I’ve struggled to find a community of post-college folks who are trying to navigate careers, before marriage or parenthood. I feel like I’m a part of a forgotten group, and I wont be able to join or relate until I get married and/or have a child. But there’s a lot that comes before marriage and children, like having a spouse. And how do you find a like-minded spouse unless you are in a community of like-minded people? See what I mean? So I’m forced to socialize in a community of co-workers or something and try to my best to make good life decisions. But it’s only after I’ve decided that the church becomes ready for me. Not in that crucial time period when I’m trying to navigate these social circles. So, back to WR, I thought I’d start by seeking out a community of like-minded people so that at least I have the right type of support system. Psalms begins with wisdom, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked…” Thus it makes no sense for me to seek counsel from ungodly people (or books, blogs, or magazines, or TV, etc.) I rationalized that with my pre-packaged Christian community of mission loving people, that I would be immersed with folks hungry for the Word, pouring over it and running into the world filled up on Truth to live out. Quixotic. Just can’t help it.

Later, part 2 on why I broke camp.