Questions from the Mission Field…

For two weeks I was not able to correspond with anyone here, at home. When we landed in Santiago, Chile I thought we had arrived. Very modern and advanced place. Then we got on the bus and travelled 10 hours south toward Antarctica. Next, we got into the mountains on the dirt roads, serpentine climb up. Then – the boat ride for 2 hours to the village. Two weeks rest from cell-phone, internet, e-mails, and other gadgets that supposed to assist us in our relationships. The phone service was too expensive and we had to rely on family calling in. During the two weeks the real relationships, face-to-face interactions with the team members grew stronger (felt like) than formal interactions in the home church.

I got to experience how the church must have been in the days of Apostles, when meals were shared and community of faith lived together. Biggest surprise was discovering that not all Maranatha Volunteers are Seventh-day Adventists. There were Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, and simply secular. Of course, the majority were Adventists, but our evangelism became real “for the people by the people.” Two of volunteer-translators were not Adventists, and, as they had to work their ways through sermons, they were learning themselves. During the final baptism a Catholic from Boston, Massachusetts was in the water by the pastor, helping candidates in and out. As I talked with him the day after, (he had a lot of questions about the book of Revelation), he was serious about studying to know more about biblical faith. What was impressive is that these people responded to the Three Angels Call message to go to all the nations, tongues, tribes and peoples. They have not responded to the “altar call” into a local church yet, but they are responding to go and care for people’s needs. In my opinion they are closer to fulfilling the Commission of Christ than Adventists who sit and talk about mission once every Sabbath in their class, and, maybe, get a $100 per month to send to the “missions.”

Throughout this trip I was thinking about our church family. I know we don’t like being compared, yet I could not help but learn that among 4 teams that were simultaneously in Chile, there were 3 churches whose members were on each team – majority on every location. Two from Washington State – Chehalis, and Centralia SDA, and West Niles from Michigan. What would it take for our churches to awaken and join the Great Advent missionary movement?

One of many things I articulated on this trip, was the fact that one cannot dictate people. I knew that all along, but never stated it this way. The only thing one can do is disturb people from their comfort zone and cause people to seek a new meaning. Still the choice belong to the people, to react, or not. That’s how Jesus worked – starting from the 12-years old experience with rabbis in the Temple – asking questions, suggesting a new meaning to old things.

My dear church family, what is the mission about? What is meaningful to you – a story in the book, or a live contact with people oversees? How meaningful is your church experience? Let’s talk about what’s meaningful…

Youth in the Church Family

A recent article in the local Conference communiqué, which is received via e-mail by all church leaders, sounded an alarm about the state of the Youth in our churches, about the lack of youth in our churches.

The North American Division Young Adult Ministries Advisory is preparing for the Youth Summit in Dallas next weekend, and a special concern has been raised at the Fall Annual Council of our church, showing that the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America is failing, along with many Protestant denominations, to retain a greater proportion of its young adults.

As the youth are leaving the church is “aging.” In society where median age is 37, the church, including un-baptised children in church families, is 58.

We don’t have to go far, or read many reports to see it right here, in our own home church – youth are going, or gone. They maybe around, but not committed to follow Christ, and are not interested in developing their spirituality. What do we do? How do we retain our youth? Where did we go wrong and missed value education in the past? Why are our young choosing the world, even if it hurts them, instead of the safety of Church haven? Are we a haven, a safe place for youth? Do we show them hope, peace, purpose in our lives? Do they have raw-models among church members for happy successful living? These and more questions are racing through my mind as we are entering into a year where our focus is on becoming an attractive church, where youth is cared for, families are in harmony, and community sees the Presence of God, His Kingdom in our midst.

The Conference Youth director, Cyril Millett, was interviewed this week about the future strategy and he admitted that the old approach of the “AY society… is antiquated… Is the AY society meeting their (youth) needs? Is it dealing with the issues that are truly of concern to them and their peers outside of church?”

At the same time there is a grass roots movement among our youth who do care about their walk with Christ. Even this weekend a group of 10+ College, University and high-school students are at Camp Frenda spiritual retreat, spending an entire weekend on Spiritual Formation.

We need to involve our youth from early age in all aspects of church life. And that’s not giving them a few verses to read Sabbath morning, but involving them in decision making, in renovation and repair work, in service, in every aspect of what we do as a church family. Why isn’t our youth with us at the work-bees, cleanups, outings, business meetings, prayer meetings? Some are. Yet we need to go beyond keeping the few that are already committed, and reach out to those that are lost.

Serving faithfully God’s Kingdom

I've been debating myself about the focus of this week’s article – February has two major emphases – the Black History month and the Family relationships month. Both causes are very significant and important to our congregation. I’ve looked over a few articles from the Adventist review regarding those topics, and asked myself “what do these topics have in common?” And the answer I got was the reason I write to you again about money!

What is the cause number one of family squabbles and the most significant contributor (37%) to failing marriages? à Money, the lack thereof…. What do you hear on TV preached most of the time in most of Afro-American churches? Money, the power, danger and responsibility that comes handling money…

Some parents are so frustrated about not having enough money that they are loosing interest in spending their time with kids, as they “can’t afford the quality entertainment” forgetting that their time alone is already the quality their kids need. Husbands are known to be reluctant coming home when money are low. People from minority backgrounds who were underprivileged and were not able to afford equal opportunities are striving hard to gain necessary means. Here, in church community, we witness it all. How do we deal with it? Do we offer assistance? Do we teach the right attitude toward money? I’ve mentioned in the sermon a month ago that 16 out of 38 of Jesus’ parables were about money. Five times more is said in the Gospels about money than about prayer. Comparisons may continue. The bottom line is that we place values where we see worth. Apostle Paul enlightened the young pastor, Timothy, on how people who did not have the right attitude about money “wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:10).

This year one of our leadership efforts will be learning stewardship together, to be blessed, and to bless others. I will begin with a few biblical recommendations:

1. Give back to God first-fruits. Proverbs 3:9-10 reads: “Honour the Lord with your wealth, then your barns will be filled to overflowing.”

2. Maintain good records, good accounting. Know where your money is going. “Know the state of your flocks” (Proverbs 27:23)

3. Plan and budget your spending. Tell your money where you want it to go, rather than wondering where it went. “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity” (Proverbs 21:5). Jesus warns us (Luke 14:28) “Don’t begin until you count the cost”.

4. Save for the future. “He who gathers money little by little makes it grow” (Proverbs 13:11).

5. Enjoy what you have. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).

Dear Church Family! How are we managing God’s wealth among us? Are we aware that indebted are serving not God but money lenders? (Proverbs 22:7). Jesus says that God uses money as a test of our management and stewardship skills before entrusting us with spiritual things: "So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" (Luke 16:11)

In this church we value our Families and our Cultural Diversity. Think of the blessing we would be to the community around us when our faithfulness to God would be manifested in healthy families, strong marriages, upward mobility of all ethnic groups, and missionary assistance to the needs of all ethnic groups around us. It all begins with consistent faithfulness…

Handling Holy of God’s Kingdom

This past Monday’s stock markets plummeted causing comments in papers of global economic crash and crisis. This plunge provokes fears of recession. This bad “R” word is now openly used by economists. How are we to react in view of possible economic hardships? Looking at the giving trends of our churches – tithe continue to increase, God continues to bless people, and often in times of crisis people turn to God even more, realizing that we cannot afford not to return what is already His, for then we would not be just robbing God, but robbing ourselves.

As I think about the Tithe I wonder if people truly understand its meaning. Does God need our money? Church members are often concerned what happens to their tithe. What happened to offerings brought to the temple in ancient Israel? They were burned up in most cases. Did people see it as a waste; after all it could’ve been eaten, or sold back in the temple market? What if your deacons would collect the tithe, and then ceremonially set it on fire? Would you get upset? The tithe is holy unto the Lord, meaning it is separated for Lord’s use. (Leviticus 27:30-33) It is simply a token of our trust, minimum test of our faith commitment. Think of this: the moment you set one tenth of your income apart into an envelope in a form of cheque, or cash, designate it as tithe and seal it – it becomes holy! You actually handle the Holy as you bring it and place as an offering of trust.

Recent research of church members shows that those in financial troubles, debt, bankruptcies did not handle holy, did not return tithe, they thought they could not afford to tithe. They did not understand that none can afford not to tithe, and be on your own without God blessings. Reality is that only 35% of church members are faithful in tithe. The comment made by one of our pioneers over a century ago is still valid today: “If all the tithes of our people flowed into the treasury of the Lord as they should, such blessings would be received that gifts and offerings for sacred purposes would be multiplied tenfold, and thus the channel between God and man would be kept open.” (E.G.White “Testimonies” Vol.4 p.474) Think of the possibilities that we are missing!!! Some people are audacious enough to decide themselves how their tithe should be used – diverting it into local church budget, or their pet projects, playing gods and deciding the use of the holy…

While tithe is increasing – the local Budget giving and special projects offering has plunged. People are more cautious about giving in uncertain times. Analyzing giving trends in our congregations for the past three years it is evident that if we would be faithful in tithe and offerings we would afford 3 pastors to do the soul winning in our city, and have 10 times more money for the local ministries. Our church families in London (both churches) handle every year over 5 million dollars in personal income combined. Less that $400,000 are dedicated to the Kingdom of God and its growth. We brought nothing into this world d, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. (1^st Timothy 6:7) Hence we better consider on sending what we have on ahead. Jesus taught an interesting principle about giving: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth….but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20) I’ve highlighted the “for yourselves” on purpose – giving what you have to God’s cause is not giving it to God at all – it is storing for yourselves!!! Think about it – for myself, for yourself, for our own benefit in eternity. God is Possessor of heaven and earth (Genesis 14:19). When we assume that we are giving something to him we are belittling God. We are invited to manage what is given for our temporary use to benefit ourselves in eternity – do not waste this opportunity, it’s better than doubling stocks.

Stewardship of God’s Kingdom

I find it inspiring to see how God orchestrates the life of the Church, how without human interaction themes of Sabbath School, preaching emphasis and other events just “coincide.” The Sabbath School quarterly is focusing us on Discipleship, and the Elders Board agreed to preach the Kingdom of God for the first half of the year. These two themes are more than interconnected – they are about the same thing: discipleship is the radical call to leave the kingdom of this world and come under the Rule and Reign of God.

Today more and more denominations are speaking of the “crisis in Christianity” where churches are struggling to reach their financial goals and fund their visions. This is not a struggle of stewardship – it is a discipleship crisis. What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus in the 21^st century? Isn’t discipleship a call to become a citizen of the Kingdom of God?

Somehow last few generations defined disciples as those who do not mind taking up their cross, so long as it is not too heavy, fits into their schedule and does not conflict with their lifestyle. Preaching a bloodless cross has robbed Christianity of its power and has turned the biblical teaching of stewardship into a task most preachers would rather avoid.

Dallas Willard paraphrases Mark 1:14-15 this way “Jesus then came into Galilee announcing the good news from God. "All the preliminaries have been taken care of,’ he said, ‘and the rule of God is now accessible to everyone. Review your plans for living and base your life on this remarkable new opportunity.’

The Kingdom of God requires to repent – to change one’s mind and purpose, to turn around from the way you lived. You can enter into the Kingdom of God only if you are willing to let go of the “apparent” control you have over your own life. Jesus preached about the Kingdom by using parables, and one term that was frequently used to illustrate the new economy of the Kingdom was “manager” (Greek: oikonomos “house rule, law of the dwelling place”). Typical use of that word in the time of Jesus was to describe a person who was responsible for property that wasn’t his, and was accountable for what he did with it. The concept of stewardship is build on the promise that the real owner will return one day – the expectation of Christ soon coming, and all in His Kingdom will give an answer how they managed what was entrusted to them.

Our stewardship consists in more than just material things. In 1^st Corinthians 4:1, Paul says Christian workers are stewards of “the mysteries of God,” referring to the gospel, the mystery of “the manifold wisdom of God,” which the church has been entrusted to make known (Ephesians 3:9,10). Related to this is his use of the word “stewardship” to describe preaching of the gospel (1^st Corinthians 9:16-17).

In Titus 1:7, while listing the qualifications for elders, Paul describes the overseer as God’s “steward.” Church leaders who are entrusted with God’s church are accountable to God for their oversight. Finally, 1^st Peter 4:10 says, “As each one has received a special gift, employ it serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God,” going on to list speaking and serving gifts as the domain of our stewardship. The gospel, our churches, the gifts of the Holy Spirit – none of these wonderful blessings belongs to us. We are just recipients of the good things of God. Therefore, we are responsible for their use on this earth, and we will ultimately be held accountable for our faithfulness with them (Matthew 16:27; Romans 14:10-12; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10). Consider how you are stewarding God’s grace in your life.