This blog will be the place where you will post your responses to the Perspetives on the World Christian Movement articles that you are assigned on the Course Calendar. Additionally, you will be asked to view several videos throughout the course related to Christ and Cutlure issues. You will post those responses here as well. It is our hope that you will take this opportunity to interact with your fellow classmates concerning their responses. Good hunting and have a great semester.
Please take a moment now and post what you expect from the course, your thoughts from the first night of class, and what you think effective Cross Cultural Ministry looks like.
Blessings,
Brother McDaniel
7 comments:
In the article on page 55, it talks about God having a mission and instead of doing the mission Himself, which He is MORE than capable of, He chooses a sinner like me to do it for Him. I don't know about you but that is ASTOUNDING to me. That a God who spoke the very earth into being, created birds, fish, snakes, the atom, everything that holds this world together would choose a pathetic excuse for a creation like me to do something for Him. How He must love and trust us to not only let us help Him, but trust enough to make the decisions and move the way He wants us to. And then when we do what He asks us to do He rains down blessings and gifts to show His gratitude. Out of that entire article I kept coming back to that section. Everything He wanted to done rather building and ark, bringing His people together, or preaching to gentiles, He used us.
Jennifer Eskue
To be honest I had no idea what to expect. Trey Hyman told me that is was an awesome course. I did not expect anything really. I just believed that Trey was telling the truth. The first night of class was great. My prayer is that I have more of a heart to share the Gospel Message evrywhere. I look forward to what lays ahead.
Israel’s Missionary Call p. 10
This article brought to light some interesting points concerning missions within the Old Testament and quite honestly, prior to reading, I had not given much thought to. I now have a better understanding and can see the connection between God’s chosen people and their calling to be a missionary nation to all other surrounding nations. This call was given in Genesis 12 when God gave His blessing upon Israel. God’s blessing upon Israel was not something given in which they would be receiving the glory, but His blessing was given to Israel so that they may in turn bless the other nations surrounding them. In being a blessing to those nations, Israel was to be directing those nations to God. I also found it interesting when the author of this article mentioned that the Gospel is found within the promise of Genesis 12:1-3. The Messiah would be coming from this nation which places an even greater emphasis on Israel’s calling as a missionary. Just as Israel was called out to be a witness to surrounding nations, an application can be made for believers today as well. We are to be a light to those individuals that are around us by living a life that will direct others to God.
Jessica Shouse
On Mission with God p. 55
The authors of this article caused me to reflect upon a few things about the God that we serve. I find it interesting how that the God who created this entire universe chooses to establish a relationship with His creation and desires to accomplish His work through us. He uses us as His tools to see accomplishments be made upon this earth that will affect the people of today, tomorrow, and the days to come. The very fact the He chooses to use me to do His work reminds me of how personal our God is. He does not need us to complete the work that He wants to be done. He could accomplish His tasks without us if He wanted it to be done in that manner, but rather He desires for us to know Him personally through what Christ did for us and allows us to become an instrument used for His glory.
It is also very interesting how that God uses varying types of people to accomplish His work. The authors mentioned how Moses was used to do God’s work. As is well known, Moses had difficulties in the way he spoke, but God was still able to use him. There is a reason why God chooses the types of people He does to do His work. That is so that He will receive the glory and not us. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29) The authors also mentioned how that Jesus depended upon His Father to accomplish His work. This shows the human side of Christ and gives us the example of how we too must depend on God to see progress made for His Kingdom. Without God, we truly are nothing.
I agree with the authors on how that doing God’s work is a process in the life of the believer. I liked the reminder that “our ways are not God’s ways.” As believers we should know and expect that doing God’s work will require change within our lives as He corrects us and we learn how to completely trust and reply upon Him and His strength to bring about those changes. Following Christ requires action and obedience on our behalf. We should be willing to allow God to shape us into who He wants us to be. Through this, God is able to use us in a way that impacts others.
Jessica Shouse
While I expect this class to be a challenge, I expect it to help me form a plan to minister to those that God has called me to: US Army Soldiers. This idea of forming a “ministry plan” is what intrigued me on the first night of class. I am excited to see how this plan develops and am anticipating putting it into action when I come off of IRR this coming fall. As to the question of the appearance of Cross Cultural Ministry, I would say that it is being able to reach across any boundary and effectively communicate the good news of the Gospel of Christ.
Israel’s Missionary Call:
This article was adapted from Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.’s address to students at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1981. The first thing that I learned (or perhaps never really considered) was the issue of Melchizedek being a gentile…or at least not a Jew in the traditional sense. This was the only odd thing that stuck out to me in the article.
Kaiser says that there are three basic texts that address what he calls “Israel’s Missionary Call.” He says that these three texts call us to “proclaim God’s plan to bless the nations,” “to participate in Christ’s priesthood as agents of that blessing,” and, “to prove God’s purpose to bless all nations.”
In point one, Kaiser says that God blessed Abram so that he could be a blessing. The blessings that we receive are not necessarily for ourselves, but for others. This is the same principle found in 2 Cor. 1, which says that God comforts us so that we can comfort others with the same.
In point two, Kaiser says that through Exodus 19:4-6 that we as believers are called to be God’s priests to the nations, just as the Jews were in the Old Testament. He (Kaiser) says that we are to be “holy,” explaining that holiness is the same as wholeness. We must understand that in Christ we are complete (Acts 17:28, 2 Peter 1:3). And the whole point of this priesthood is not only mediatorial, but also to, “declare the wonderful deeds of Him who called them out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Ptr. 2:9)”
Finally, Kaiser says in his third point that God’s purpose is to bless all nations. This is for our benefit, that we may be more like Christ. If we can live as righteous ambassadors of Christ in this world, then all would come to Christ, and be blessed in Him.
On Mission with God:
This article by Henry Blackaby and Avery Willis was written to show us that God is always at work to accomplish His purposes…all we have to do is get on board. We are given seven realities concerning God and His mission: 1) That He is always at work, 2) That He is constantly pursuing a relationship with us. 3) That He invites us to become involved in His work, 4) That He speaks to us to reveal Himself to us, 5) That His invitation to work always leads us to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action, 6) We must make major adjustments in our lives to join God’s work, and finally, 7) We must come to know God by experience as we obey Him and He works through us. Perhaps we should not ask, “What is God’s will?” Perhaps we should ask, “What is God’s work,” and then do what He’s called us to do.
Israel's Missionary Call
So many people believe rumors instead of searching for the truth. Most people live the way they do and never truly repent from sin because they cannot comprehend that God forgives and truly fogets the past. The author discusses that there are three basic texts that we need to live by. The Old Testament tells us "to proclaim His plan to Bless the nations" which is found in the text of Gen 12:3. This text is about God telling the nation of Israel to be fruitful and multiply. God commanded the children of Israel to become a great nation and that He (God) would bless them so that they might become a great nation. God then tells them that if and when they become a great nation that He (God) would bless them. God wanted to bless them so that the nation of Israel would be a blessing. Not only would God bless them but He would also make their name great. Israel was going to be the greatest nation because they were the chosen people of God. God also promised that them that He would make them fruitful, that He would bless them and that He would make their name great. These are great promises but God also was a protecter. He promises that the people that bless the nation of Isreal will also be blessed but those who curse them will be cursed that God brings. The author writes, "This man and his descendants were to be missionaries and channels of the truth from the very beginning." I totally agree that the author of Genesis was a missionary because look at who He was reaching and why he was reaching these people. The author was witnessing to the choosen people of God and not only that the author was turning them into the people that God commanded him to do. The nation of Israel was to participate in priesthood and raise up some people to become the preist of the nation of Israel and make/help them to become a holy people. Lastly, the people of Israel was to prove through all the blessings and protection that God had bestowed upon His people that He is God. The more that the nation of Israel lived by the rules of God, the more that He would bless them. The people of Israel needed to stay in the path of God which is why He sent a missionary to them to save them and to make them a holy people. This article is so informative on the way that God built the nation of Israel and the way that He took care of His people. The only thing is that if God had not sent a missionary that was obedient then the nation of Israel would have never gotten out of bondage.
-Calandra Pratt
After hearing first hand about this class from the teacher himself I really begin to see how much I would enjoy this class. How many people out their in real life have we talked to that has said that they never have heard about what Christ has done for them. Just a year or two ago I was talking with someone on-line that lives in america that said that they never heard of what Jesus did for them. That really shocked me! I was stoned and shaken up by the fact that someone could live in the United States of America and never ever heard of the Gospel. Mabye it is just me. Maybe I just was not living in reality and needed a much needed reality check. Breaking down the cultural wall that prevents us from being as effective as we need to be when reaching out to them is something that i'm very interested in!
Jonathon Paul Ryback
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