A Challenge from the Third World

Yesterday’s post stressed that we Westerners should not abandon our involvement in cross-cultural missions. Yes the “Third World” is more and more doing a fantastic job in spreading the Gospel of Christ.

Today I thought we could ponder the fact that the “Third World” should challenge us in the West. We are so comfortable and so blessed monetarily, that we easily become complacent.

Recently I came across an excerpt from a book by K.P. Yohannan of Gospel for Asia. The book is The Road to Reality, and the excerpt was entitled “K.P. Yohannan on Shallow Commitment vs. Biblical Christianity”. It will be fitting for us to meditate on these words from a native Indian who is transforming India through indigenous missions.

All too often, we are willing to be “students of Christianity”, rather than disciples of Christ. The fact is that most are substituting “learning” and “information” for practical obedience. Never in history has there been a society with so much “information” about God, but so little real knowledge of the Holy One. Right doctrine without right living is worthless in the sight of God.

Obviously, the gap between Biblical Christianity and the way we live today is a very big one. The amount of time the average believer spends before a television, reading worldly novels, and in recreation, is amazing.

We don’t accept “the nail” because it would mean death to our “self.” We demand instead the pleasure our desires for self gratification. And we have found “shepherds” and Bible teachers who will give us a “feel good theology” to match and justify our lives of sinful rebellion. Much of this “Santa Claus religion” is centered around a horrible distortion of Bible doctrine. It denies the demands of the Gospel and says, “You can have the good life NOW, and heaven besides!” It tickles our ears to hear this religion taught. It promises us the services of a god who exists to solve all our problems; making us happy, healthy, popular, successful and rich. This sounds like the false promises of Baal or the idol gods of paganism.

It is obvious that Jesus will have no one among His followers who is wanting to put comfort, family ties or security in this world, ahead of His kingdom. Jesus is saying in effect, “I offer you what I have; hardship, hunger; labor, loneliness rejection, sweat, tears and death. I’m a stranger and pilgrim in this world, and if you follow Me you will have to break away from the clinging attachments of this present life.” There is no place in His band for those who are not willing to accept inconvenience, sufferings, and uncertainty. This is still the price of following Christ today, just as it was then.

How many of us need to confess our adulterous love affair with the world? I fear for the nation and people whose Christian churches have forsaken holiness, and separation from sin and the world. The “spiritual thermometer” of most churches is so low, that a new believer has to become a backslider to feel at home. When the Lord calls you away from this mess of lukewarm, half hearted, plastic Christianity, you can be sure that many will say you are an idiot.

“Dear Lord, we acknowledge that our commitment to You is so shallow. We say we love You, but our actions betray us. Open our eyes so that we see time and eternity as You see them. Forgive us for forgetting we are only strangers and pilgrims on this earth. How foolish we are, O Lord, to store up treasures on this earth and fight to save our lives and preserve them, when You tell us we will lose our lives if we try to do that. We ask You, dear Lord, to forgive us and help us to walk in Your footsteps; forsaking all, denying ourselves, carrying our crosses daily and loving You supremely so Your causes might be furthered in this dark and dying world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

A final note: you can request a free book: Revolution in World Missions from GFA’s website. The book will challenge you anew in regards to missions, and it reveals Yohannan’s passion to equip the Indian church to reach the many unreached groups within India itself.

~~posted by Bob

Meditations for Our Mission 1: Spurgeon on Ease

“Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here?”- Num. 32:6

Family brings its obligations. The people of Reuben and the people of Gad would have been unbrotherly if they had claimed the land that had been conquered, and had left the rest of the people to fight for their portions alone. We have received great benefits as a result of the efforts and sufferings of the saints in years gone by, and if we do not make some return to the Church of Christ by giving her our best energies, we are unworthy to be enrolled in her ranks. Others are bravely combating the errors of the age or excavating the dying from amid the ruins of the Fall, and if we fold our hands in idleness we put ourselves in danger. The Master of the vineyard inquires, “Why do ye stand here all day doing nothing?” What is the lazy man’s excuse? Serving Jesus becomes the duty of all because it is cheerfully and generously rendered by some. The toils of devoted missionaries and fervent ministers shame us if we continue to sit in laziness. It is the residents of “easy street” who are tempted to run from trials: They would like to escape the cross but still wear the crown; to them the question for this evening’s meditation is very relevant. If the most precious are tested in the fire, are we to escape the crucible? If the diamond must be cut and fashioned on the wheel, are we to be made perfect without suffering? Who has commanded the wind to stop blowing because our ship is on the ocean? Why should we be treated better than our Lord? The firstborn endured suffering, so why not His younger brothers? It is a cowardly pride that would choose a soft pillow and a silk couch for a soldier of the cross. Far wiser is the one who first resigns himself to God’s will and then as he grows in grace learns to delight in it. So he picks berries on the path of duty, gathers lilies at the foot of the cross, and like Samson discovers honey in the lion.

From Charles Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening (revised and updated by Alistair Begg), the August 5th, Evening selection.

~~posted by Zioneer

Ponder the Pashtun

• Twice the population of Australia; more people than Argentina, or Canada, or Spain
• With population estimate of 40-45 million, the patriarchal Pashtun people of Afghanistan and Pakistan constitute the largest segmentary tribal society in the world
• Almost evenly distributed between southeast Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan, the Pashtun are largest people group in Afghanistan (‘Afghan’ being a Persian term for ‘Pashtun’), and the second largest among the 386 people groups of Pakistan
• Main ethnicity of which the Taliban is comprised; Taliban ‘fiqh’ (jurisprudence) deriving from ‘Pashtunwali’ (pre-Islamic Pashtun tribal code of ethics) as much as from medieval applications of ‘sharia’ (Islamic law). [The Taliban came into existence in the mid-90’s as a reformist reaction to the immoral and corrupt post-Soviet warlords; they enjoyed initial popularity with the majority of the Afghan population as well as surprising military success; the Taliban national stronghold was toppled in 2001 by Coalition forces following 9/11, yet they remain a strident and noteworthy revolutionary force in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan]
• Sunni Muslims, adamantly and violently opposed to any other religious expression
• July 2007 est. of 100-200 mostly ‘secret’ believers among all 40-45 million Pashtun
• No known indigenous fellowship (church) of Pashtun believers exists in all the world
• Only a handful of church planting efforts exist among the Pashtun; more churches and ministers and Gospel resources exist in northeast Ohio (where I live) than in all of Afghanistan and Pakistan combined (200 million people/400+ distinct people groups)
• Despite intense political and geographical isolation, there remain ample opportunities and platforms for outreach among the Pashtun: both in Afghanistan and in Pakistan (various kinds of relief work and infrastructure development: well digging, water management, solar energy, computer training, road construction, English education, agricultural and livestock development, medical, dental, physical therapy, etc.; business enterprises: micro-loan management, economics training, transportation, mountain climbing, photography/journalism, tourism; etc., etc.)
• Like usual, the problem isn’t any lack of opportunity or ‘open door’; the problem is our tunnel vision, our ignorance, our apathy, and our enslavement to comfort
• May God help us and move us and cause us to love the Pashtun! And He will…

(Resources: Wikipedia, Joshua Project, and the Pashtun Advocacy Network. Photo borrowed from this article.)

~~posted by Jack

Take a Moment

We’ve been blogging for 4 weeks now.  I thought this would be a good time to point out a few things.

First of all, we are thankful for all the readers we’ve had, and for the few who have linked to us.  If you like what you’re reading, please consider linking to us from your blog, or subscribing to our feed (you can even get it via email, see sidebar for details).  We pray our focus on world missions can gain a larger audience, not for pride’s sake, but for the sake of the kingdom.  At the very least all of us Christian bloggers should be thinking about the great worldwide need for the Gospel in all the blogging we do.

Secondly, please consider using this blog as a stopping point.  What I mean is when you come here, stop and pray for the unreached people group of the day (located on your right).  Perhaps you could even ponder over the weekly missions verse, as well.

Third, we would love more interaction in the comments.  Was a post helpful?  Did it raise questions?  Or do you know of other missions resources we could be mentioning, or linking to?  Please let us know, and drop us a comment.

Finally, today consider praying again for the people in Minneapolis.  Many, many people are shaken by the tragic bridge collapse, and are thus in a perfect state for reflecting on spiritual things.  Pray for the ministry of area churches and for the Holy Spirit to do a great work in many lives.  Pray also for the lives of those most directly touched by the tragedy.

~~posted by Bob

25 for 25 Million!

Twenty-five for 25 million!  Among the 25 million Kurds in Central Asia, there are only 25 known mission workers of any evangelical denomination or nationality.  (If you think I’m exaggerating, then read it for yourself on IMB’s stellar website.)

How many individuals are on staff at your church? How many Gospel-preaching pastors and laypersons are there in your particular community?  Surely, the ratio is better than 1:1,000,000!

Now the stinging question: Why?  After nearly two millennia of Gospel expansion and Church growth, why is there so little being done to reach the Kurds?  Is it just me, or does there seem to be an ocean of saints around the rest of world sleeping in happy oblivion? 

No, I’m not naive about the difficulties involved in reaching the Kurds.  They are an Islamic people marked by intense political and geographical isolation.  Their homeland encompasses more than one war-zone.  And for the most part they don’t want you to come!  Loving Kurds is no cake-walk.  

Thankfully, no one is more serious about reaching the Kurds than God Himself!  He has already purchased Kurdish worshipers at Calvary (see Revelation 5:9), and in His time He will send forth more laborers into “Kurdistan” (eastern Turkey, northern Iraq & Syria, northwest Iran, and western Armenia) and flood the people’s hearts with the knowledge of the glory of Christ (Mark 13:10, Romans 10:14-15, Habakkuk 2:14).  The Kurdish Harvest will happen!  The question is not “if,” but “when”.   

Therefore, I wonder…are you number 26?

~~posted by Jack

Helen Roseveare: Her Suffering & Her Challenge

In her book Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God Noel Piper presents a biographical sketch of the life of Helen Roseveare, missionary to the Congo for over 20 years. The above video clip is a 4 minute condensed version of Helen’s life presented by Noel (HT: Desiring God’s Blog). Helen is now 82, and still travels around speaking about the great need for missions. She will be speaking at the 2007 Desiring God National Conference: “Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints”.

Helen Roseveare’s Suffering

On the heels of Zioneer’s post The Blood of the Martyrs, it is perhaps fitting that we pause and reflect on one of the many modern day missionaries who faced severe suffering for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom. Helen upon graduating from medical school, took her promising future and went to serve in one of the poorest and most remote places in Africa. She stayed there for 20 plus years.

Her time in Africa was one of constant work, treating 200 or more patient’s a day, struggling to build a hospital practically by herself, training numerous medical students, and suffering from constant tropical sicknesses. I would encourage you to read Noel’s account of Helen’s life, it is available to read online here, and is only 20 or so pages long. It reveals how sensitive Helen was to the things of the Lord, and how she grew through so many and varied trials.

The most trying time of her life, and the great suffering that she endured for Christ came during the Simba rebellion of 1964. Her house was ransacked and she was brutally beaten, and even raped. Then she was in captivity for several months, during which time she again suffered rape and brutal treatment. Through this dark time in her life, Christ Jesus was faithful to meet her with special peace and grace. You can read the account of her suffering starting on this page.

After that time of suffering, Helen still stayed on for several more years of service in the Congo. Oh for more missionaries like Helen Roseveare who embrace suffering for the sake of the Kingdom.

Helen Roseveare’s Challenge

As I read the section on Helen’s life, I couldn’t help but notice her current passion. She has a strong desire for the youth of today’s Church to join the cause of missions, specifically for the sake of the thousands of unreached people groups in the world today. Listen to Helen’s challenge in her own words:

Since 1973, I have been living in the United Kingdom, and seeking to present the desperate need of the three thousand million people, alive today, who have never yet heard of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the redemption He wrought for them at Calvary. These are the “hidden peoples” in more than ten thousand ethnic groups around our world. As I try to present their needs, I pray earnestly that the Holy Spirit will stir hearts to make a response. It seems so obvious to me that Christian young people…should rise up and go….

Why is the response so poor?…

Is it that we Christians today have an inadequate understanding of God’s holiness and therefore of his wrath against sin and of the awfulness of a Christless eternity? If we were gripped by the two facts—of the necessity for judgment of sin because God is holy; and of the necessity of holiness in the Christian that he may represent such a God to others—would we not “hunger and thirst after righteousness” whatever the cost, and would not others then see Christ in us, and be drawn to Him?

In other words, if we [understood] the Scriptural teaching on the need of Holiness in the life of every believer, we should not need to plead for missionaries. (From Helen Roseveare’s book Living Holiness, pg. 32; cited by Noel Piper, Faithful Women And Their Extraordinary God pg. 168)

~~posted by Bob