The Eternal Difference between Missions and Charity - Mike Young

     There was a time when there was a clear difference between missions and charity work, but it seems that in recent years the line of separation has become blurred. That line that needs to be crossed in order for charity work to become mission work is the sharing of the gospel. Hardly a week goes by that I do not hear of some great project referred to as a “mission project,” only to discover that the gospel was not part of the project. Some recent ones that come to mind include providing food to the homeless, donating to a church building fund, teaching English as a foreign language, various construction projects, concerts, volunteering to work at a children’s home, and many other projects designed to help people in need.

     Did I touch on a nerve? Maybe you yourself are involved in one or more of the items in the above list. I am not saying that these things are bad, nor am I am saying that Christians should not be a part of these things. On the contrary, we most certainly should. I have and continue to be a part of several of them myself. What I am saying that is that each of these activities regardless of the good that is being done, without the gospel is only charity. 

     It does not mean that the gospel needs to be presented at every stage of the project, but it should be the primary purpose. For example, teaching English to foreigners is something that I am very involved in. I may teach someone for several weeks or even an entire semester without being able to share the gospel. This is the exact situation we have when teaching in local schools where I live. However, we make it clear that we are Christians and do not avoid spiritual conversations when the opportunity presents itself. At the end of the semester we invite students to an off campus event/celebration where a clear presentation of the gospel is made. The mistake is believing that one has to form a really strong relationship first. A strong relationship is helpful, but not necessary and if used as a prerequisite for sharing the gospel, it is easy to never feel the relationship is strong enough, eventually leading to the sharing of the gospel message being eliminated all together.

     In Jim Collins book, Good to Great, he states, “Good is the enemy of the great.” By removing the gospel message from missions, we are settling for the good with no hope of ever reaching the great. This settling for good is a mistake that has been made by many Christian workers including pastors and missionaries. To further complicate the issue we have adopted the term, “missional.” Missional is used to describe anything a Christian does outside the walls of the church, whether it has anything to do with building the kingdom of God or not. 

     I recall hearing past president of the IMB, Jerry Rankin, share a story from Africa about a project to bring clean water to a village. The project from a “social gospel” standpoint was a great success, but from a sharing the actual gospel standpoint it was a complete failure. Clean water was provided and the people are now healthier and happier, however the workers never shared the gospel. He shared, “Healthy in @#!*% doesn't count for much.” These words have stuck with me.

     A quote that many proponents of this social gospel often use is “Preach the gospel, if necessary use words.” This sounds great. It brings visions of Christians being involved in service each and every day. However, these words that are questionably credited to St. Francis of Assisi, really make no sense at all. It is impossible to share the gospel (or good news) without using words. In the book, Total Church, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis discuss this trend.

"There is a tendency in some quarters today to promote a kind of evangelism without proclamation. Acts of service are done or people are invited to experience Christian worship. But without words of explanation these are like signposts pointing nowhere, or worse still, signposts pointing to our good works. The Gospel is good news- a message to be proclaimed, a truth to be taught, a word to be spoken, and a story to be told (p. 54)."

In the tenth chapter of Romans, Paul writes: 

"14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!' "

     I encourage you to think about the mission projects you have been part of and continue to be a part of. Are they truly missions or are they charity work? Again, there is nothing wrong with charity work, but don’t make the mistake of confusing the two. If you have not tried to share your faith with others, give it a try. It gets easier the more you do it and can make an eternal difference. 

     If interested in further reading about how to share your faith, a book I would recommend is, Tell the Truth, by Will Metzger. It is a book that I read every year or two and I always gain new insight and ideas.

Mr. Mike Young is a long term missionary with the IMB currently serving in the Czech Republic.

Work?

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men..."

Colossians 3:23

     How many of you know how to change the oil in a car or plug a hole in a tire? Or do you go somewhere to have someone else do these things for you? Have you ever made cards yourself? Do you make meals yourself? Can you fix your car yourself? Do you find things that you can do yourself? You've probably realized by now that I like to ask a lot of questions, but I do this to give you some things to consider. The topic I'm writing about today is a bit less theological than my previous topics. I’m going to discuss the benefits of doing things yourself and having a good work ethic.

     Jesus was a carpenter like his earthly father Joseph and he also worked and did many other things. Jesus did things himself and perhaps you'll discover that you can too. Work is important in this life, either for yourself or for someone else; one cannot support a family without working. In the bible Paul said that if you don’t work you don’t eat. God created us for work and we shouldn't try to avoid it. Working is actually good for you. It builds character, endurance, perseverance etc. Working can be hard and is sometimes discouraging, however, when you finish a hard job and have done well, you often get a strange sense of satisfaction for a job well done.

     I'd also like to talk about the benefits of doing things yourself. Consider this scenario: your car needs an oil change. You know how to do it but don’t really want to. So you go to the place you bought your car and pay them let’s say $50 to change your oil for you. You could have bought the oil and filter and taken 30 minutes to change your own oil and probably saved at least $25. Over the course of time and even just 10 oil changes, you could have saved, hypothetically $250, which is quite a lot of money. I know it may take more time doing it yourself but in the end, it can really save you a ton of money. This money can then be used for something else like food or doing something special with your family. If you do things yourself and do them well, most importantly with a happy heart, you will come out much better in life. 

     Remember that Jesus was a carpenter, he did much work, and he suffered pain. So don’t go and think, "Oh this is too hard," "I don’t want to do this," or maybe even, "I hate this job." Do your best in every job you do, don’t just try. I love this quote from Yoda in Star Wars, “Do or do not, there is no try.” That’s what we need to do, we don’t want to just try, we want to do. At the risk of sounding repetitive, let me bring this to a close. Working is good for you, it's good for your heath, and it is good for the soul. It builds all sorts of good attributes in you that will help you in life. 

    So this week, it is my hope that you will think about rather than paying to have someone else do something for you that you are capable of doing, do it yourself, and while you're at it, do your very best!

Chipper

Learning Eucharisteo: Part 2 of 3

"I have learned to be content with whatever I have."

Philippians 4:11

     I ended the last article in my series of gratefulness with the question, “How do we give thanks and praise God for all the blessings He has showered us with?” Some might think, “Well, I’ll just say, ‘Thanks, God, for everything. Amen,’ and that should cover it.” While this is a plain (although somewhat childish) start, gratefulness extends much deeper than that. 

      But what is this eucharisteo word? In the original Greek text of Luke 22:19, when Jesus gave thanks and broke the bread during the Last Supper, “He gave thanks” reads as eucharisteo. The giving of thanks. The root of the word is charis, which translates as “grace.” “Joy” (chara) slips in as well. We see the grace God has given us, we thank Him, and we acquire joy. Eucharisteo. 

     As Ann Voskamp puts it in her amazing, life-changing book One Thousand Gifts, “Eucharisteo—thanksgiving—always precedes the miracle” (p. 35). Jesus looked toward heaven in John 11:41 and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me . . .” and Lazarus was miraculously raised from the dead (emphasis added). When 5000 stomach’s growled, “taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he [Jesus] gave thanks and broke the loaves” and the small lunch fed 5000 people, with some to spare (Matthew 14:19, emphasis added). When we give thanks—are truly grateful—God blesses us with the miracle of His holy joy. But in order to receive this holy joy, we must first give thanks.

     Being thankful is a conscious effort. When you say, “Thanks for everything,” you are consciously being thankful for three seconds, then thankfulness clears your mind for the rest of the day. It might pop up here and there, like when a neighbor gives you cookies, but it was looking for you; you weren't looking for it. 

     In One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp discovers eucharisteo through writing down the blessings around her in a list she calls her “gift list.” She kept a little journal with her wherever she went. When I followed Voskamp's example of numbering my blessings, I always possessed a pencil and piece of paper in my pocket or purse. It may start small and easy, noticing the “big” blessings. 

1. A hot shower

2. Being able to read the Bible freely

3. Indoor plumbing (this is definitely a biggy)

    As I counted all the things I was thankful for during the days, I began to notice all the little blessings—seemingly insignificant details—with which God fills my life.

83. The earthy, green smell of dirt and garlic mustard (a kind of weed)

92. True laughter with my sister

133. Cardinal call in the trees

122. Clear, cool water in cupped hands

162. The warmth of a friend’s coat around my shoulders

I soon lost count and just jotted down the blessings, enjoying them and praising God as they came.

The rich, musty smell of old, crinkly, yellow-worn books

A mom who sacrifices her time and energy to help me

A safe drive home

The scratching, satisfying sound of pencil on paper

Body heat to warm up fingers

My scraps of paper quickly became over-creased and smudged from the many times I unfolded it, scribbled a moment of thanksgiving, folded it again, and slid it back into my pocket.

Over-creased, smudged paper from myriads of blessings

     God filled me with an unforgettable, ineffable joy as I perceived every detailed gift He had given me. I became more cheerful throughout the day; the boring, mundane things of life had enhanced into exciting and new, detailed and etched with heavenly blessings. I had never totally realized how deep and wide God’s grace reached. I was experiencing eucharisteo.

     Alas, when my family moved and life grew busier, my gift list dwindled and was opened and smudged less and less. I gave up my God-given joy for the stress and rush of this world. But God doesn't state in Scripture that life will be easy. He says to “count it all joy . . . when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2, emphasis added). “When,” not “if.” How then, does one count joy when trials come? That will be answered in my third and final article on gratefulness.

Klipsie

Author’s Note: I encourage you all to start your own “gift list,” read One Thousand Gifts, or better yet, do both. Voskamp's book is probably more enjoyed by women, as it is written from a woman’s perspective of life, and the style of writing is uniquely expressive. But both men and women can glean insight of true eucharisteo and find heavenly joy in creating their own gift list.

Sources: One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Creation? Evolution?

     Creationism or evolutionism? This has been a large topic of arguing and strife among people for hundreds of years. One idea, creationism, is the belief that God is the creator of the universe and everything in it. The other, evolutionism, is the belief that man has evolved from primates, birds, fish, and a prehistoric, single celled organism. Everybody in the world believes in something, even if that something is nothing.

     Creationism is the thought that a God who was neither created, nor discovered or anything of the kind, but was always there, created the universe and all its inhabitants. God had finished molding His work, the universe, on the seventh day. He created it to be perfect and holy, blameless. And on that seventh day, He rested, knowing he had made something to glorify Him. He first brought light to the world and separated day and night. The second day, he created water and then separated the sky from it. On the third, he made land emerge from the water and made vegetation grow from it. The fourth day was complete when God created the sun and moon to show man the change from day to night. The fifth day brought forth birds and other flying creatures and sea swimming ones on the sixth day. Also on that day, He created man and woman in his image.

     Evolutionism is the theory that man and every creature evolved over hundreds of billions of years. The world came about to be when two gigantic pieces of space debris collided into each other, shaping the earth. String theory, an idea in theoretical sciences, came about as an idea that happened before the big bang, saying that the two pieces of debris collided and created multiple universes in a massive explosion. These theories are mostly taught in public schools and believed by mostly scientists.

     These two thoughts are believed, in a combined number, by over hundreds of millions of people all across the planet. This will be a large part of human history and debates as time goes on. I strongly encourage everyone who reads this to do their own research on these topic as to be knowledgeable in them and know the truth.

Haron

Image by Leaping Lizard. Image of Earth creative commons license, NASA.

The Love Chapter

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. ..."
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

     Many people have their views of what love really is. Often times, when used, it's meaning is distorted. Love isn't a term that should be used lightly. It's a term that should be used to express selflessness. This selfless concept is often found within 1st Corinthians, chapter 13, one of the most famous chapters of the entire Bible. In 1st and 2nd Corinthians, on his second missionary journey, Paul started a church in Corinth. After he had been gone a while, he heard about problems in the church and wrote his first letter. His second letter was sent a few months later when he heard that the church had corrected their problems. These letters of Paul are mainly instructions to immature Christians in the city of Corinth.

     Specifically referring to the "love chapter"(1 Corinthians 13), a portion of his first letter was to show the Corinthians how to love and what it actually was. These letters can now be read today, and used to display a solid picture of what real love is and isn't.

      The portion of Scripture above applies to all people, not just the Corinthians. This concept of love in the Bible should be used as a godly standard that should be followed every day. This, along with the "golden rule," should always be on your mind when with friends, family, strangers, and even enemies during agitating moments. If people would just learn to love according to the Bible, the world would be in a much better state than it is right now. There wouldn't be wars or fights, arguments, divorces, etc.

     Although always being loving can seem like such a difficult task, living this way can save many marriages, families, and communities. God is love. Living with this attitude of love bring us closer to Him and makes us more like Him. That's a part of Christian living. Whenever tempted to act outside of godly love, refer to the"golden rule," "Treat others the way you want to be treated," and keep in mind the words of "The Love Chapter."

Haiku

Resources: The Bible; Nelson's Compact Bible Commentary by Earl Radmacher, Ron Allen, and H. Wayne House; Guide to the Bible by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz

Editor's Note; We apologize for the brevity of these few articles. We have all been wrapping up school for the season. Thank you for understanding.