I was attracted to George Fox\u2019s D.Min program because it was designed for \u2018reflective practioners\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 This past week\u2019s reading helped me to be just that.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Being a practioner on the field speaking often, and working, in the villages with women and children, on the premise of changing the world and building God\u2019s Kingdom, Hunter\u2019s book helped sharpen my thinking of why I was doing what I was called to do.\u00a0\u00a0 He explicitly states that we don\u2019t build God\u2019s Kingdom, which is an essence of divine act, but only serve to exemplify Kingdom values of love, peace, justice, equality and unity which are foundational then to cause change in the community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Who exemplifies these values and how has been a question of much debate over the years.\u00a0\u00a0 Hunter in his second essay elucidates the case of the Christian Right, the Left and the Neo Ana-baptists who, leveraging \u2018politics\u2019 and \u2018power\u2019 have sought to \u2018Change the World\u2019 and \u2018Extend the Reign of God\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0However, the political stance and resulting action has not quite resulted in over-throwing neither the reigning \u2018darkeness\u2019 of the consumer culture or poverty related issues.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While efforts have resulted in some random change, it hasn\u2019t been enough to create a \u2018culture\u2019 change, which again Hunter argues is not only impossible but also should not be attempted as a goal since the \u2018mission of the church\u2019 is not about changing culture but \u2018making disciples\u2019 as commanded in the Great Commission.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
So what does all mean to me as a reflective practioner? I advocate \u2018culture change\u2019 in communities bound by idolatry, superstition, and where real spiritual darkness is apparent.\u00a0\u00a0 I rally for \u2018culture change\u2019 in areas where women and girls are subjected to domestic violence, female infanticide, bonded labor, child marriages, and dowry deaths.\u00a0\u00a0 I speak about changing the culture where exploitation, bribery, and extortion are rampant.\u00a0\u00a0 But I have always had to stop and ask myself is it just about culture change!? No.\u00a0 I do all of this because I am called and sent..because I am a disciple in the process of making disciples.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is not done in a vacuum but through the church that is the vehicle that God uses to extend His Kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The church, as Hunter writes rightly, must have a \u2018faithful presence\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 But I have come to understand through my ministry that just being present doesn\u2019t mean being complacent or \u2018actionless\u2019 (pardon my English J<\/span>).\u00a0 The church is called out, commanded and sent to be the \u2018Salt and the Light\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 Salt cannot afford to lose its saltiness and the Light cannot be hidden.\u00a0\u00a0 As the church lives out its mission in its entirety, not taking sides, not leveraging power, not advancing hidden\/personal agendas, the church, I believe can create a \u2018culture change\u2019 and in fact provide a \u2018foretaste of the Kingdom\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Block 21, was a settlement of thugs, drug peddlers, and rapists.\u00a0\u00a0 No one, especially women, dared walk through the streets of Block 21 after 4 pm.\u00a0\u00a0 Notorious for its anti \u2013 social activities, the general public and even the politicians feared to do anything to \u2018change\u2019 the situation at Block 21.\u00a0\u00a0 It was this place that God chose for pastor Rajkumar 20 years ago.\u00a0\u00a0 He stepped on to the streets to preach the gospel.\u00a0\u00a0 He was persecuted, beaten and sent away.\u00a0\u00a0 But he persevered and prayed.\u00a0\u00a0 Today there is a thriving church of 200 believers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 These believers by their \u2018faithful presence\u2019 have created a \u2018culture change\u2019.\u00a0 But the change has also come through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 Power encounters, miraculous healings and life changes are an everyday event at Block 21.\u00a0\u00a0 The place is not only inhabited by peace \u2013 loving individuals, a safe haven for women and children, but it is a model community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n To the world outside it may seem that the \u2018faithful presence\u2019 of the church extending God\u2019s Kingdom may not equal the audacious claim of changing the world, but to the believer who is living it, experiencing it by the power of the Holy Spirit and praying \u2018Thy Kingdom Come\u2019, it not an impossible dream. \u00a0\u00a0Having reflected on the reading and transformations I have experienced, I feel affirmed to press on to do that which I have been called and sent to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was attracted to George Fox\u2019s D.Min program because it was designed for \u2018reflective practioners\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 This past week\u2019s reading helped me to be just that.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Being a practioner on the field speaking often, and working, in the villages with women and children, on the premise of changing the world and building God\u2019s Kingdom, Hunter\u2019s book […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"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":[2,5],"class_list":["post-911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-hunter","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911","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\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}