Fellow Incarnational Workers,
See below for the introduction from our friends who, in order to function subversively, need to be called simply "two workers in Hawaii". (BTW have you seen Eugene Peterson's chapter on "The Subversive Pastor" in The Contemplative Pastor? He makes the powerful point that "Jesus was a master at subversion".)
Two comments come to my mind about this report. The first is that it reminds us that each of our "mission fields" have a different level of receptivity. As a result, the strategies that He gives us will vary. There's no "one size fits all" here. I see our MRT Community as a place where we can reflect on these differences with safe people who understand the uniqueness of each calling.
Second, I love the fact that this MRT is consist of just two people - in this case a husband and wife. ("... and He sent them out two by two" -Lk 10:1) The simplicity of this has huge implications for multiplication. Neil Cole: "Only that which is simple can multiply rapidly."
Your comments/observations?
John
We are two workers following God into mission in the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. We believe God has called us to be vocational apostolic workers here for the rest of our lives. This place is our home and these people are our people. We aim to take on the "flesh" of our fellow citizens as a way for them to see the Kingdom revealed among them. That means, we're doing everything we can to blend in and incarnate Christ here in a local manner. Hence, we've taken regular, ordinary, everyday jobs as a vehicle for building continuity with our fellow locals and opening up venues for ministry and evangelism. For far too long, Christianity has been brought here with a foreign fist ready to strike at anything non-Western. We feel it is now time for the Kingdom of God in Hawai'i to be revealed with love and aloha - allowing ordinary people here to see that they can join up with God without having to "leave home" in the process.
For the now, it is just us as a couple who are part of the MRT for this region - at least, we're the only two that know we're part of it. There are others we live among and connect with on a frequent basis that hold to CO2/MRTish practices and have missional hearts for this place. So, while we don't have any official MRT-mates (as of yet), we are definitely not without believing company. We're actually just getting started (within our first year in our current location) but we do have a church of believers (6 adults, 3 kids) that shares life together within our neighborhood. We have also found many people of peace in this place (some followers of JC, some not) that we are nurturing relationships with and seeing where God leads. Even though we may not live to see it, we look forward to the day when every person in this region is within close-reach, both geographically and culturally, to a local family of Jesus.
Awesome! I love it (especially as Sean and I are just a team of two as well). Maybe we should all be in pairs even though the pairs might come together in larger groups to share ideas, success stories, difficulties etc
ReplyDeleteThe remarks about culture are very timely as we have an opportunity here in St Neots to speak peace to a Muslim family and are about to make contact with them.
We need to take the good news to people without taking our culture along with us too. That's easier said than done because culture is part of 'who we are' in society. But it's not part of 'who we are' in Christ!
Well done, Mr and Mrs Anonymous. You have encouraged and delighted me. Thanks!
It is absolutely delightful for me to see a church planter from the UK connecting with and blessing a church planter on the other side of the world (Hawaii) that he has never met face to face. What an amazing day we live in!
ReplyDeleteI wonder where God is going to take us on this journey together?!
Thanks for your thoughts, Hawai'i. I love the points about you working in everyday jobs to meet the everyday people. The past few years I've seen how my nursing profession has opened up so many doors to physicians, other nurses, and co-workers that I would never reach if I wasn't working side by side with them. I'm currently working with poor Hispanics in our city, and I've had to learn to not take my 'white culture' into their neighborhood, but to model the love of Jesus in a way they can understand. Thanks for sharing your story.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Having been in full-time ministry for most of the last 16 years, I've frequently found that my "title" put up more walls between myself and non-Christians than it tore down. It's much better to be able to say, "I'm a meat-cutter," or "I'm a truck driver." It builds a certain solidarity with those we would introduce to God.
ReplyDeleteIn some ways it's sad that previous "missionaries" have done such damage in these places that we have to be really careful in how we present ourselves... but in other ways it will accentuate the true "light" when it does finally become evident to each person.
ReplyDeleteI do feel that God is leading many of the "new missionaries" to actually live life alongside the people they feel called to... to have jobs, to be "normal", but to live brightly through love and good deeds. I love what you guys are doing with this and will be praying that you would be given divine opportunities to subvert the "missionary force fields" and reach people's hearts right where they are.
For the Kingdom!
Beautiful Hawaii . . . maybe the Lord is calling me . . .
ReplyDeleteYou make me curious, expand the idea: The Kingdom of God revealed with aloha. Sounds deep.
Unfortunately, the descriptor "missionary" brings alot of baggage. Most people don't want to be "missionaried" by religious people--I certainly wouldn't. And yet, all of us desire to live with purpose and mission--to tap into the God-ordained purposes that God planted in us--we want to be on mission.
ReplyDeleteYour desire and decisions to begin this chapter of your life under the radar is good for me to consider as I too think about next chapters.
I'm praying with you today.
Great to hear the beginning of your story in Hawaii. Thanks for letting us listen in.
ReplyDeleteI, too, admire those who attempt to sink in like leaven into a culture...being "normal", and yet with a great sense of love and purpose and subversive hope to build lasting change.
We might use the word "infiltrados" in Spanish..."Insiders" or "Infiltrators"...
Your vocation and description reminded me of Jesus' metephor of salt, dissolving itself inside meat - you fail to be able to see it, but it is having its impact.
-James
Chadd, I love it that you make this great descriptive noun "missionary" and turn it into a verb "missionaried". When you think of it that way it is striking. I'm not sure I want to be missionaried. But, when I engage in something true and life-giving; when I encounter relationship with love and power, and then I learn the definition this verb, maybe I will like it more. To be "missionaried" in Hawaii sounds like being colonized by a heavy hand. Thanks for providing creative spark.
ReplyDeleteCan't think of anyone I'd rather be praying for in HI than you two. God be with you.
ReplyDelete