Visiting the field helps keep one fresh and “plugged-in” to the issues affecting our global workers. These past couple of weeks, I’ve been traveling through Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria. Here are three sample issues I’ve picked up on. Are these affecting your field too? What’s your take on them?
*** Living in an age of political uncertainty — It’s always been dicey out there in certain fields. However, since the terrorist bombings in Kenya and the attacks on 9/11, since Afghanistan and Iraq, and since the so-called Arab Awakenings, …is it my imagination, or are we living in a time more unstable, politically and economically, and ever before? This creates added stress for cross-cultural workers, who already had more stress than they needed just dealing with language, culture, and strategy.
*** Will community transformational ministries speed up or slow down the establishment of strong church-planting movements (CPM’s) — In the CPM’s that Garrison studied, he concluded that they seemed to swirl around the “10 universals” that he discovered. (Read more at…
http://simplechurchathome.com/PDF&PowerPoint/ChurchPlantingMovements.pdf )
At one point, he even went so far as to say that the movements that he studied didn’t result from community projects. Do you have any experience with CPM’s that DID come about by transformational service projects?
*** Paying nationals — Is it my imagination, or are more and more churches (in missionary sending lands) wanting to support the work of nationals from other countries rather than sending out members of their own homeland? In their zeal to do so, are they sometimes resorting to the equivalent of paying the salaries of national pastors and, if so, is this bad strategy for growing the indigenous church?
We appreciate your feedback and input on these issues. If you have an opinion, please click “Comment” in the online (web) version of Brigada and tell us what you think. You can always do so anonymously if you choose. Thanks in advance for participating!
Yes, I know of not just a church but an entire Latin American family of churches that grew out of a service project. The Verbo churches grew out of a team rebuilding houses after the Guatemalan earthquake in the early 70’s. Now they have churches across Central, South and even North America.
Awesome Pete! Sounds great.