{"id":2596,"date":"2014-10-09T15:03:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T15:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=2596"},"modified":"2014-10-09T15:03:15","modified_gmt":"2014-10-09T15:03:15","slug":"lessons-learned-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/lessons-learned-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Assumptions<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe older one is, the wiser one becomes.\u201d Is this quote a truth or is it an assumption? It all depends on the person and the context. It is true that, oftentimes, an older person is wiser than a younger person. But it is not always true. And if I assume<\/em> it is always true, I will find myself being surprised when it isn\u2019t. Perhaps the greater truth here is that our assumptions can get us into trouble, deep trouble\u2026and as a 58-year-old person, I can tell you honestly that I am not always wise because I sometimes make assumptions that are not true.<\/p>\n

This weekend, as I was preparing for my Introduction to Cross-Cultural Ministry<\/em> class, I put together a list of the lessons I learned on our Cape Town Advance that I have discussed with my students. My list contains 15 items:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. There is no magic on an airplane ride.<\/li>\n
  2. Know the history and context of a new culture before going there.<\/li>\n
  3. Often, the most bothersome people are the ones with whom you work and who are from your own culture.<\/li>\n
  4. Disagreement happens, even among Christians \u2013 even about values and doctrine.<\/li>\n
  5. Tourism is not cultural immersion \u2013 no matter where you are.<\/li>\n
  6. It is na\u00efve to think that apartheid and racism are things of the past.<\/li>\n
  7. Suffering is a part of life, not apart from life \u2013 especially for the poor.<\/li>\n
  8. Helping others does not always help \u2013 it just might do more harm than good.<\/li>\n
  9. Ask others what they need; don\u2019t tell them what they need.<\/li>\n
  10. Americans (or any other group) do not bring God into a new culture; God is already there.<\/li>\n
  11. What it means to be a Christian varies from culture to culture.<\/li>\n
  12. Never assume that you understand another person\u2019s culture.<\/li>\n
  13. Rarely (if ever) can a person become an insider in another culture.<\/li>\n
  14. We often learn best through experiencing contrasts, especially between cultures.<\/li>\n
  15. Always be ready and willing to learn \u2013 especially in cross-cultural situations.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As you can see from my list, our Advance was a stretching and learning experience for me. The learning process is not always an easy one; in fact, true learning is sometimes painful \u2013 especially if it requires confronting our assumptions.<\/p>\n

    When I saw the title of this week\u2019s reading, I was quite apprehensive. I have had several disillusioning experiences with Pentecostal people and theology through the years, so I assumed that this book would be a defense of charismatic \u201ccraziness.\u201d But I was wrong. Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement<\/em>[1]<\/strong><\/em><\/a> was, overall, a refreshing read. The authors\u2019 research is objective and enlightening. I was amazed at their openness to learn and to grow and that they tested their assumptions throughout the text.<\/p>\n

    The term \u201cProgressive Pentecostalism\u201d was new to me. I had never really thought about this much before, since my experience with Pentecostals was filled with legalism, prosperity thinking, authoritarian leadership, and crazy healing services \u2013 all practices that turned me off to this branch of the Church. However, the authors of this text bring a different emphasis of Pentecostalism that includes many types of social ministries that truly help real people in the real world. I found this to be very refreshing. The following covers the types of ministry programs offered in many of these Progressive Pentecostal<\/em> churches:[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Mercy ministries (providing food, clothing, shelter)<\/li>\n
    2. Emergency services (responding to floods, famine, and earthquakes)<\/li>\n
    3. Education (providing day care, schools, tuition assistance)<\/li>\n
    4. Counseling services (helping with addiction, divorce, depression)<\/li>\n
    5. Medical assistance (establishing health clinics, dental clinics, psychological services)<\/li>\n
    6. Economic development (providing microenterprise loans, job training, affordable housing)<\/li>\n
    7. The arts (training in music, dance, drama)<\/li>\n
    8. Policy change (opposing corruption, monitoring elections, advocating a living wage)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Throughout the book, Miller and Yamamori give many international examples of these types of ministries that they observed firsthand over several years of research. I was especially interested in the work in Johannesburg with nursery schools. In the Highway Assembly of God Church, the pastor, Geoff Brand felt a need to reach out to the community. He teamed up with Coleen Walters, who was from a completely different church. The ministry they came up with was with preschool children in the Black communities. Their ministry to children, parents, and workers is amazing, so much so that I believe it should be copied in all parts of the world. According to the text, this program is \u201cintroducing to the fifteen hundred black assemblies of God churches in South Africa a vision of community engagement that stretches their understanding of the Christian responsibility in the world\u2026\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

      What impresses me most about this ministry has to do with the unconditional love associated with the work, particularly Coleen\u2019s perception of evangelism within her vision:<\/p>\n

      While many of the teachers are associated with an Assemblies of God church, not all of them are. Coleen\u2019s strategy of evangelism springs from her educational philosophy: namely, people learn from doing, and she trusts the Spirit to inspire these women as she practices the Christian life in their presence. Nor is there any prerequisite that the children be associated with a worshipping community. They are all of equal worth in God\u2019s sight, she believes.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      In my experience, evangelism has often been focused on one\u2019s agreement with a set of beliefs. This is not wrong; however, in my view it is a shallow and scripted way of bringing the Gospel to people. Christianity is more than a set of beliefs, and I believe that the strategy described above allows God back into the process of evangelism. People see Christ in the service being done, and rather than merely proselyting, the Christian workers are living out the life of Christ. When others see these good works, they are drawn to God, to Christianity. It is in seeing Christ that they can come to faith. It is not coercion; rather, it is trusting God to drawn people to Himself. I like this type of evangelism. It is meeting the real needs of the people. It is loving people unconditionally, whether or not they are converted.<\/p>\n

      I am grateful again for the assigned reading. And I can add another lesson learned to my list, never judge a book by its cover. Thank you, Jason, for once again pushing me into unfamiliar territory.<\/p>\n

      [1]<\/a> Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Tamamori, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement<\/em> (University of California Press: Berkeley, CA, 2007)<\/p>\n

      [2]<\/a> Ibid., 42-43.<\/p>\n

      [3]<\/a> Ibid., 79.<\/p>\n

      [4]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      \u201cThe older one is, the wiser one becomes.\u201d Is this quote a truth or is it an assumption? It all depends on the person and the context. It is true that, oftentimes, an older person is wiser than a younger person. But it is not always true. And if I assume it is always true, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[530],"class_list":["post-2596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-miller-yamamori","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2596"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2598,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596\/revisions\/2598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}