Trinitarian Theology
This is an article about the different views of theology that have come out of western countries as opposed to China. It's an intereresting read by a prof who taught us for a couple of days here:
http://www.christianityinchina.org/Common/Admin/showNews_auto.jsp?Nid=303&Charset=big5#topLove to hear what you think if you have time to read it.
Labels: miscellaneous
Translation
We have been going to a Chinese church this month as part of our month-long cultural case study on China (I suppose if you can learn Chinese culture, you can learn any culture?). Anyway, the church was incredibly welcoming and they asked us to share this Sunday about what we are going to be doing in Ireland! Our future missionary teammate, Bryce, gave the sermon and Seth gave a short testimony afterwards. Chalk it up as the first time Seth ever spoke through a translator!
The folks from church also took us out to a Chinese restuarant after the service. We thought we knew what Chinese food was from the restaurants in Virginia, but this food was TOTALLY different... Bryce got to try some chicken feet, and Seth liked the squid so much he had seconds. So the food was great, but the time we got to spend with these brothers and sisters in the Lord was even better!
Labels: our ministry, travel
Ministry Success
While it's very nice to be able to see measurable results like decisions made and church attendance, are these the kinds of goals that we are really after? Jessica and I have seen several examples of folks who made public decisions, came to church, tithed, and did all kinds of other good things... and then turned their back on all of it.
Why?
Part of the reason may be that a lot of what we do in ministry is aimed at changing behavior without ever really addressing the core issues of life. People can hold on to all kinds of destructive passions and sinful attitudes, but as long as they conform to our set of behaviors we don't usually even notice that anything is wrong until it's too late. Jesus wants our hearts - all our passion, all our desire, all our love - so why do we tend to measure our success by intellectual assent and ritual performance?
How do you measure love for God, anyway?
Labels: our ministry
Our Group
Here's a group shot of the folks here for training this month:
We've got f
riends here who have been, are, or are going to be missionaries to Haiti, Senegal, Japan, Central Asia, Mexico, France, the Philippines, Slovakia, and of course, Ireland. This is one interesting group! We are loving the chance to spend time with all of them!
Labels: travel
Weekend
It was very nice to have a bit of a break from classes this weekend! We did a little bit of looking around the city on Saturday. Found a great bookstore and coffee shop, but that's certainly not hard to do in this town! There were something like 5 coffee shops in two blocks. The hard part was finding a place to
sit in them...
Poor Mr. Daniel has not been feeling well, so you can certainly pray for him - he's teething pretty heavily (he got one tooth, but we're waiting on #2). We're not sure if he's sick also or if it's just from the teething, but anyway, he's not his normal happy self these days. Pray he feels better soon, and that we don't go crazy in the meantime!
Labels: family, travel
Worldview Center
Here's a view of the place we're staying in Portland:
It's the "Worldview Center" and it's nice! It's pretty much self-contained with a cafeteria, library, computer lab, lounge, etc... and our own well-equipped apartment. Folks come here from all over the world for lots of reasons - some to live here while they go to seminary in the area (Western is right down the road), some to have a place to meet for missions planning/strategy, and some for month-long training sessions...
Labels: travel
The Cultural "Onion"
We've been learning a lot about how cultures are like onions... they have layers. On the outside, there are behaviours that everyone can see, but those behaviours are shaped by what is underneath: Authority structures, social networks, experiences, and even deeper... the "core" - where values and beliefs are held that often cannot even be expressed, but that shape everything about who we are. While the behaviours may change quickly in response to changes in environment, new technologies, etc., the "core" of a culture usually takes generations to change significantly. What does that mean for us? We've got to target more than what people
do - we've got to figure out
why they do it and aim for bringing the light of the gospel into the core of people's hearts.
NOTE in reference to the post "Girly Angel Wings" from December... I have been informed by a good friend that there actually is a place in the Bible that talks about women who have wings - Zechariah 5:5-11. Although these women are in a vision and are not specifically identified as angels, some have argued that they are a kind of angel.
Labels: our ministry
Chinese Garden
We took a trip to a Chinese garden here in Portland today and here's a little of what we saw:
In other news, Daniel cut his first tooth last night! hooray!!
Labels: family, travel
Languages
We've had a lot of full days with mostly classes and a few field trips, etc. One of the interesting things we've learned about is what they call the "12 Signal Systems" which is basically 12 languages that every culture uses to communicate. Of course, one is verbal, but there is also written,
numeric, tactile, spacial, temporal, taste/smell,
kinesics and more. Every culture uses all kinds of ways to communicate but most folks only really think about a couple of them. That's okay when you are in a culture you are familiar with, but once you get to a different one those
unconscious "Signal Systems" can get you in big trouble! Even simple signals like a thumbs up can mean something very different in another culture. We've got some learning to do when we get to Ireland!
Labels: our ministry
Learning Portland
Above is a view of Portland we got from a high point in the city. It's a cloudy day so you can't see the giant mountains behind, but still, you can tell it's a good size city. Our first assignment here is to study the culture of Portland and see what we can find out about it by using some of the tools they have started to teach us. We've had a couple of opportunities to look around the city, and for the first time we got to see a giant
sequoia! (below - you can tell it was cold!)
We are specifically going to be studying the Chinese culture here in Portland, so we went to a Chinese church this morning with Carlaws (missionaries to Ireland who we'll be working with). It was a great experience and the folks were super friendly and thankfully the service was bi-lingual so we could understand what was going on! We'll be going to that church for the remainder of our time here, so pray that we can be a blessing to them!
Thank you for your prayers! Daniel has transitioned into the new situation and time zone better than we ever expected, plus we've seen God work out tons of little details and throw in neat little extras like having us sit right behind fellow CrossWorld missionaries on a packed flight from Dallas to Portland! Our God is truly a wonder!
Labels: travel
Oregon
After a fabulous (but too short) visit with friends and family in Alabama, we flew to Portland, Oregon today for a month of "Cultural Adaptation School". Daniel did better on the airplanes than we and the people sitting near us dared to hope (we got some not-so-friendly looks and colorful language when we sat down...). Now we are here and getting settled in our home away from home - a two bedroom apartment with a kitchenette. Everyone seems very nice and the food is okay, too. We'll keep you posted.
Labels: travel
