Short Term Missions Risk

They excelled! Folks, in mid-September Gilbert Langerak of the Canadian Council of Christian Charities and Ken Hall of Roberston-Hall Insurance offered an excellent seminar on Safety and Security for Short Term Mission Trips. It was a great seminar and I benefited from it immensely.

They addressed the following questions in a direct, forthright and embracing manner:

• What are the top security concerns with sending groups overseas?
• What health and medical checks should be required of mission trip participants?
• How can we mitigate the risk of injury and liability?
• What legal responsibility do leaders have for the health and safety of mission trip participants
• What are the best practices for avoiding the risks associated with short-term mission trips?

If you will be providing any level of leadership to a Navigators of Canada short term mission, I want to talk to you! They were clear where our greatest risks lie, what we can do to make things safer for the people we are responsible for and how we can reduce and minimize our legal risk and exposure.

I remember a conversation I had with Alan Andrews, the previous US Navigators National Director, and before that National Director for the Navigators of Canada. We were discussing finances, expenses, effort and investment of resources. He felt there were two things that were costly and well worth the investment. They were to do all we do with excellence. Not perfection. Excellence is doing the best you can with the resources at hand. The other was overseas missions.

We are called to the nations! To bring the gospel, healing and reconciliation. Nothing inexpensive here! We are called to lay down our lives.

And our short-term missions efforts are part of that! Thanks for looking at this together with me!

Yesterday, June 28, at about 10:00 pm, three suicide bombers attacked the Istanbul Airport and were taken out by airport security. It looks like 41 dead and over 100 injured. Everyone travelling to a retreat in the southern part of the country are fine.

This morning a retired CSIS senior staff commented that it is almost impossible to completely stop this kind of attack. His best idea and advice is to look at the root of this and address these issues. Otherwise we are treating the symptom and not the cause. I agree with him.

God knows exactly where these dynamics come from. At the risk of being incredibly simplistic, I quote James 3:18 – 4:2 (MSG)

You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves.You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you?

June 6 to July 5 is the month of Ramadan. One thing many Muslims do on the last evening of fasting is pray for visions from God.

I want to propose something to us.

Can we begin to pray that God will give thousands a vision of the Lord Jesus, reaching His Hands down to us all, calling us to peace, reconciliation and decrying violence? That He will give each one of us a profound sense of His Presence and each one of us will experience personal renewal and conversion and a new love for one another?

I will be doing this. I have my watch set to go off at 10:02. In Luke 10:2 Jesus calls us to pray for labourers:

He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

Please pray together with me for labourers, for healing of our relationships and hearts, and for Jesus to appear to many Muslims finishing up their month of fasting! And to me too!

Back to Cuba

Wednesday we are off again. Yup, back to Cuba for 5 days. My fifth visit there, Laura’s second.

Thanks to God for  His great provision of a marvelous caregiver Jaqueline to be with Crista. Seems like His Stamp of Approval on this trip. Boy, do I delight on having Laura with me on trips like these!

Once again we will meet with Coba and Conchi. They are skilled disciplemakers and range this grand island to and fro meeting with disciples they have raised up, speaking, tending to the flock God has given them over the years. Pastors to pastors, they row through rough waters, help hard-working families stressed to the breaking point,  stickhandle through government regulations and limitations all the while making disciples. With constancy!

This is an important trip for us. Our director of the Caribbean Navigator ministry, Joe Maschoff will be with us. We want Joe to meet Coba and Conchi and get a feel for who they are. Face to face, heart to heart, with the Spirit of God bearing witness as to what He would want us to do into the future. Pray for open hearts to His leading as we meet together!

Would you please pray for us? With each trip to Cuba we feel a palpable presence of the Spirit of God and a solid does of spiritual opposition. The Spirit wins, every time. Hands down thanks to your prayers for us.

Please pray for the following:

      A deep and discernable sense of God’s leading.

      Unfurling of what He would want us to do together with Coba and Conchi, along with Joe’s direction and insights into the future.

      The Light of the Gospel to go far beyond any darkness we would encounter

      Strengthening the Hearts and Hands of this fine couple!

      For Crista’s anxiety to be minimized and real confidence for her to have in Jaquelin.

On another note, Laura sent a powerful letter to many of you about our family tragedy with the loss of our nephew Christopher in the prime of his life, living for the Gospel, loving his wife, cherishing the opportunities to bless others such as Friday French Toast and Tuesday Toasted Cheese at his workplace of truck repairs. To update you, the family is doing far better than can be expected. Like the American Bison facing an overwhelming Alberta Clipper, they have rallied together to face their storm shoulder to shoulder and are moving forward. As does the Gospel. Through thick and thin, tragedy and victory.

Bi-Focal Mission

Mission. It has an essential bi-focal aspect to it.

I remember my Grandmother Augustine darning socks in front of the farmhouse window as it looks south towards the barn and on to Lake Erie, about a half kilometer away. She sat there by the big window so she could see better as the gentle winter sunlight shone through. I loved watching her and chatting with her as her fingers went about their business. I loved watching her eyes flit from the bottom part of her glasses as she worked, then to the top when she looked over at me.

We wear bi-focals in our missions work. If we become energized about a house-build in South America with Habitat for Humanity, or plunge ourselves into a cultural and language change, I am able to sustain this energy if I have been looking closely at the mission right in front of me.

This afternoon, we will visit a funeral home. Our neighbours across the street from us will be hosting a visitation to honour a mother's life. We were last there a short 4 weeks ago when they lost a father. We walk with them.

And now my dear friend Amador, my best Chilean friend, is in the last days of his life. His cancer has spread to his brain and lungs. He has lost consciousness and is on a respirator. Despite a 6,000 kilometers gap, it's as real to us as our friends across the street. 

It may seem rather schizophrenic, but our spiritual eyes flit back and forth. We long for the full redemption of humankind and creation! We trust God that the Gospel is having its effect, both in Crestly Place, London ON as well as in Santiago, Chile. We cannot do this without our spiritual eyes seeing with bi-focals.

Nothing was going right in a wonderful way!

Nothing was going right! We had identified our next trip as somewhat urgent. Our mission was to continue our contact with our friends in Cuba and continue to explore what it might look like for us to work together. No small challenge in the constantly changing and turbulent social and spiritual landscape!

We recruited significant prayer from wherever we could. I tried out something new too. With each personal request for prayer, if people said yes, then I asked if they could pray for me right then and there for 15 seconds. It was wonderful! Nobody held themselves to 15 seconds! And as they prayed I felt the kind pleasure and confidence of God! Wonderful, yes, as I had become anxious and doubtful that I had heard Him right when we concluded we needed to go!

It was indeed a wonderful trip! Great personal and spiritual connections. We comprehended in an ever-deepening way the complexities our friends in Cuba work under. We sensed their rock-ribbed faith and engaged them in worship, intercession and spiritual warfare, all fused together with joy, respect and honour.

Laura and I returned with a deepened sense of His Leadership and look forward to how things will continue to unfold.

The Kingdom of God moves forward and it is thrilling to do our best to keep up!

To Cuba and Back

Folks, we’re back from Cuba and so glad we went!

 

We had 5 great days with Coba and Conchi and saw God do far more than we had hoped or even dreamed of.

 

This with the backdrop of so much uphill and challenge in getting this trip together, (we asked a number of you personally for specific prayer beforehand) it seems like a dream come true!

 

We longed that the following would happen:

1. Refreshing of our relationship with this fine couple
2. Confirming their abilities, interest and giftings for our Navigator Ministry
3. Deepening of our understanding of their life-reality
4. Strengthening their sense of emotional, ministry and financial support in a very demanding reality.

 

Our specific outcomes?

1. Much-deepened and confirmed working relationship
2. Strengthened capacities on their end of the equation
3. Increased intentions to move ahead in exploring our work together
4. The strong possibility of a conference on Servant Leadership on-site in mid-April

 

One specific prayer request for them: Pray that they would continue to live lives of honour, integrity and fruitfulness in the midst of a society that is currently very demanding financially, socially and practically!

 

We count it a privilege and honour to have been in their humble home and have them serve us in the way that they did!

 

So thanks for your prayers. If you are able to keep this before you and our Great God for the next two weeks that would be wonderful! One idea is to print this report and keep it in your Bible as a book mark to remind you pray when you have your  personal and individual Quiet Time with the Creator of the Universe!

 

Grateful for each one of you,

Irv, for Laura too.

 

Irving (Irv) Augustine

Missions Director

519-660-8300 x230

Fax 519-660-4922

Irva@navigators.ca   www.navigators.ca

 

 

Mailing Address: Box 27070, London ON N5X 3X5

Courier and physical address: 11 St Johns Dr. London ON N0M 1C0

 

 

 

Take the roads less travelled!

We have met for 6 out of 8 weeks now on our course on mission. We are talking about having bifocal vision: mission before me and mission around the globe. Great participation and engagement!

Acts 1:8 has been a surprisingly important verse for us!

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

We are empowered by the Spirit of God. A big part of mission is determining what God is up to in a particular situation and collaborating with what He has already initiated. Walking with the Spirit allows us to discern this and focus on the right thing.

As we do this we can minister effectively into our Jerusalem: our natural place of living, working and re-creating. Also included are our extended families, workplaces, places of play and our neighbourhoods.

Then we can move towards our Judea! Judeans could relate well to Jerusalemites and vice versa! They were similar in how they lived life, the foods they ate, the religious ceremonies they participated in and how they raised their kids. Missional, yes.

Once we have entered into missional connections with our Judean sisters and brothers, we are called to connect with our Samaritans. They live apart from you. Their values are different. They are looked down on by many of your friends. It's tough to understand the priorities they live by and what they give their time, money and attention to. They smell different, their religious customs are distinct and they are tough to stomach. Even their food is different! They even throw pork on their BBQs, if you can imagine!

Well-connected with Samaritans? Then go for the globe! You have travelled the essential roads leading you to effective cross-cultural mission! And I want to talk with you!

Incidental, Accidental, Manipulational and Frustrational are all Avoidable! By being Intentional and Generational!

Generations. I am thinking about generations almost constantly. I recently finished reading Genesis this morning. Generation after generation after generation are generated in Genesis. God is the great Generator!*

Some big lessons from reading Genesis. There is a lot of incidental, accidental, manipulational and frustrational generational reporting. But God ensures that all of His promises will come true whether we are willing to cooperate and collaborate together with Him or not!

One great example is Joseph. He has a couple of dreams as a young person. Unwisely, he chats up his dreams and what they might mean, and garners the ill-will of his brothers. Look at this from Genesis 37 and his first dream:

5 ¶  Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
6  He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had:
7  We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."
8  His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

And his second:

9  Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
10  When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?"
11  His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph ends up sold as a slave, imprisoned for what seemed a life sentence for false attempted rape charges. He was wasting away in prison due to the poor memory of a butler, but eventually finds himself finally realizing the fulfilment of his dreams.

What's my point in all of this? We are called to mission. To exchange our lives for others! To realize the dream of spiritual (and many add physical) generations of labourers until Jesus comes again!

Do generations the right way! Make sure you mix in the key ingredients of:

• Humility
• Love
• Trust
• Obedience
• Generosity.

Focus on all of these and avoid imprisonment, well-tossing, slave trading (where you are the slave!) and the criticism, abuse and conflict with those you should be loving the best!

Irv.
Missions Director

* Yes, we are indeed expecting to become grandparents! How did you guess?? :)

Still At It After 43 Years!

43 years and still at it, still growing, still going and still advancing!!

They were amazed as they watched. Paul got up, went over to the Communist Party Students table, and engaged them in a conversation about the Gospel! Once their disbelief began to fade, their line of thought went something like,

"He must really believe in order to do this! We’re going to pay attention to what he has to say to us when he is finished with them!" And they did. All this started in 1972.

Matti and Marja (pronounced Ma-ree-ya) paid great attention to what Paul and Helen Lappala had to say. And have been making disciples ever since, and are still at it! 43 years later, 4 children, several grandchildren, two countries, numerous hours of Bible Study, and many mountains moved by prayer later.

Laura and I just returned from spending two weeks in Helsinki Finland with Matti and Marja Leisola to celebrate our 35th year of marriage together, as well as celebrate the seminal work Laura's parents carried out in establishing the Finnish Navigator Work 1970 to 1974

Matti and Marja had just believed in early 1972. They gave their lives to Christ and asked God to send someone to help them. He did! Paul and Helen met them at the Helsinki University of Technology (now Aalto www.aalto.fi) and began their discipling relationship. 

The Leisola’s have been living and discipling among the many people God has given them over the past 43 years. In Finland Matti obtained his doctorate and went on to lead his research team at the Swiss University of Technology from 1981 – 1988. In that context they led many to Christ, one couple being from Mexico who lived next door to Navigators in Mexico City!

They returned to Helsikini and worked in industry from 1991 to 1997 in his area of specialty of sugars, proteins and enzymes and effectively shared his faith there.

Matti then returned to the Helsinki University of Technology as a professor and finished his career there as Dean of Biochemical Technology and Engineering, now known as the School of Chemical Technology. And once again, he shared his faith, made disciples, and lived and discipled among the people in this context he knew so well.

Matti has become a world leader in the area of Intelligent Design, of clearly seeing how God has authored creation and the impossibility of evolution explaining and articulating the origin of living organisms, let alone the wonder and power of the Human Beings, created in the Image of God, designed to steward creation in such a way as to give glory to Him! (If you want to dig more on your own, check out this link:         ^{http://vixra.org/abs/1504.0130}

So, yes, 43 years later and here they are, still Advancing the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom, Into the Nations, through Spiritual Generations of Labourers, Living and Discipling Among All People!

We just finished up two days here in London at the National Office. Great meetings with two of our international leaders, Mike Shamy and Alan Ch'ng.

 

The subject was City Coaches, or, to use a term used by our international work, Mobile Alongsiders.

 

This is the fourth of four roles used to talk about opening up, developing and sustaining Navigator Ministries around the world. Pioneers, Insiders, Local Leaders, and Mobile Alongsiders.

 

Great Scriptures to study on this dynamic and powerful role are following:

• Acts 11:22 - 26
• Acts 15:36
• I Thessalonians 3:1 - 6
• Philippians 2:19 - 24
• Colossians 4:7,8
• Titus 1:5, 2:1 - 7, 3:12, 13

 

Digging in to these Scriptures allows us to come up with a delightful list of activities these Mobile Alongsiders engaged in! We easily came up with 10 functions that we saw Barnabas, Paul, Timothy, Titus, and Tychicus engaged in! Maybe you will come up with more.

 

What we concluded we want to see active between the Mobile Alongsider and those s/he visits are the following:

• The gift of being present and fully engaged with those you are visiting
• Listening for information, heart, meaning, purpose and direction.
• Careful questions that look for the Grace of God, Dedication, Focus, Faith and Resilience
• Genuine concern that will result in well-being, attention and needed adjustments and recognition
• Resources that will allow us to thrive and see generations of labourers living and Discipling Among the Lost!!

We seek to provide this for all of our overseas staff. We want to grow in our ability to do this! And we want to provide this for all of our in-country staff and our Navigator Family.


One great concept if we think about building the Kingdom of God is that of a buttress. It does not form the actual structure of the building. Rather it supports, stabilizes and ensures the structural integrity of the walls.




Pray for us as we seek to implement and grow this wonderful function and see the Kingdom of God move forward and thrive!

 

 

 

 

Well, Folks, I am in Santiago once again, but this time in Cuba! I booked my flight on the internet and didn´t realize that to go from Havana to Santiago and then to fly to Toronto I needed alot more than the one hour the system gave me. I was effectively taking an international flight that required I be there 3 hours ahead of time. Sigh. However that is not why I am writing.

You will hear more about this from me in future posts. However I wanted to give you insight into the quality of people I engaged during my time here. As I leave, Coba and Conchi are preparing for their weekend activity. And what an activity!

They have a Havana Wide Marriage Encounter with 18 churches participating. Their goal is to help them all, eacn and every one of them, with their marriage, glorify God, and impact their communities.

Not only that! They are also preparing these couples to be agents of God´s Blessing and inspiration into the churches where they attend and that they are representing by attending this seminar!

Wow!

All of this after looking after this Gringo for a week!

So, please pray for them! Ask God to bless their time!

And pray that I will be able to get back to Canada tomorrow!

Irv.

PS  Next post I will send you a couple of pictures I think you might enjoy!  I think they are a 1955 Chevy and a 1961! No charge to take the picture!

As we engage in world missions

We are thoughtful about our engagement in world missions. We desire clarity and seek to have insight intellectually, spiritually and be directed by the Holy Spirit himself.

There are many different postures we can adopt. Here are a few:

• The world is a mess and it is our job to clean it up
• We live in a superior society and it is our job to help others not so fortunate.
• I feel survivor guilt that I was not born poor, had little or no educational opportunities and must try to balance the equation
• We have more money, technology and expertise and must therefore help others.

As we look at our involvement in world mission, we seek to be thoughtful, balanced and strategic. Of course, we also allow the Spirit of God to lead us and direct us and make the contribution He has for us to make! Look at this verse from Isaiah 30:21:

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

I had a profound conversation with two great colleagues earlier in the week. The following is what we came up with as we debriefed her recent trip to Asia and wondered about how to communicate the results of her trip and ministry.

We see three key areas of work and Kingdom Contribution:

1. A Professional as well as Practical Contribution – Through my profession I am able to make a unique contribution. This includes best practices from my training, knowledge from my education and work experience, and insights from working with my colleagues.

2. A Spiritual Contribution – In the context of working together with my hosts, I am free to speak the truth of the Gospel and increasingly of the application and implementation of faith in my own life and how that can spill into their lives. We all pray before, during and after our ministry trips and trust God to prepare the way for these conversations. Because this contribution happens in the context of conversation, the likelihood of spiritual insights and illumination is high!

3. A Personal Connection – Dawson Trotman, the founder of the Navigators, often said that the truth and impact of the Gospel goes from lip to ear and heart to heart. We esteem one another by seeing and knowing one another, by taking one another seriously. We then honour each other through the give and take of conversation and engagement of each other’s joys, pains and life issues, and the miracle of spiritual ministry is carried forward.

This is an awesome and somewhat overwhelming task, and we engage it because of our hope, faith and spiritual perspective that brings us into this ministry. Our work demands all that we have, and we have full confidence God will lead us and use us to accomplish his kingdom work.

2 Corinthians 5:14a For Christ’s love compels us

Standing Against!

Today is our last day at the centre. What a great group! We have covered some excellent material with solid engagement of the content in people’s minds and in their hearts. People who work with women in prison, couples dealing with domestic violence, divorce, division over religious legalism.

These folks stand against evil, woundedness, aggression and in relationships, distance, resentment, resistance to good, and enmity between family members.

Yesterday during our session we asked about female heros and looked at Queen Esther. In this difficult area of domestic violence, we really need both female AND male heroes!

Will you pray for them? I will give you a fuller report once we finish up.

All the best,

Irv.

Today is day 3. We have had a good start, great group of people, in a great venue.

People working hard at making a difference, becoming equipped and skilled at counselling, coaching and supporting others who want to do a good job on their lives. All of this in a very unsupportive social environment.

We had a fun moment yesterday. We talked about seeing and being seen. I cited the movie Avatar and how the phrase “I see you” was used so powerfully. And how in the Serengedi Savannah there is a tribe that greets one another by the first saying “I see you!” and the second replying “I am here!” and then they reverse. Try it with your good friend or spouse. Then we got out these huge play sunglasses and declared them to be an amazing scientific instrument that allows us to do this.

Really, what allows us to do this is to greet one another with care and kindness, paying attention to the other, and allowing the other to see into myself. This creates some great moments of connection!

I feel privileged to be here, sometimes thrilled with what goes on between us, other times feeling like I am not quite delivering where and what they need.

It’s great to have Laura with me and have her feedback and encouragement.

More to come.

Irv.

Addictions - Argh

We are off today. I am sitting at the kitchen table thinking about our time coming up. Seeking to support addictions counsellors, learning from their work, their investment, compassion, courage.

We are so strongly influenced by how we feel on the inside. When we are aware of these, we can be thoughtful and reflective and filter out what is good to respond to, not so good, what to give free reign to (think of a horse that just got spooked!). Like giving free reign to loving Laura, or Jon and Jenn, or Crista. Not so good - the driver who gave me less space than I wanted. Or more.

Many times addictions are expressions of strong emotions associated with our hits and hurts and holes in our lives. If we are unaware of these, they still demand attention, but it comes out in strange ways.

When we connect with God, He brings healing, balance, creative tensions as we allow Him access to these areas.

When not connected with Him, these internal demands are like Hungry Ghosts, to quote one of my favourite secular authors in this area, Gabor Mate. It's a great read.

So, your prayers are welcome! Thanks for your kindnesses extended.

MayGod bring healing to all our hits, hurts and holes, and increasingly joy and abandon fill our lives and flow out to others!

Irv.

Saturday Night Alive! No, really Communites of Grace!

It was our last night in Lubango.

The four cell groups, led by Piries, Pedro, Tanino and Jojo were all meeting together. In our honour, and to be able to be together, they held a BBQ and a lengthy evening of conversation, teaching, preaching and interaction.

I found myself surprisingly frustrated. They were all playing this game where you close your eyes, and the leader appoints 5 people - two assasins, two  police, and an angel. The appointed people know who they are, but no one else. And they the group has to figure out "who dunnit"! All in Portuguese. It dragged on and on. Sigh.

Finally it was time for me to preach and teach. I went to the front where the whiteboard was, did my intro, and the markers didn't work. Sigh.

So, Piries translated for me and all gave me their rapt attention. I talked of my great upbringing, my frustration in my mid-teen years of having my life defined by milking cows when what I really wanted was to become that close to girls rather than bovines (some good laughs). Also how I needed to create some distance between my Father and I and how I did so creating pain, distance and isolation between us.

Further we worked through 2Corinthians 5:21 where it says:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.


He took upon and up-into Himself, our sin, embodied this, and took it to the cross and the grave. When I put my faith in Him, He takes His Righteousness, Perfection, and moral excellence and places that into us! What a Great Exchange!

So, as I spoke, and saw the Grace of God blossom into this group, I became frustrated once again, only now with myself. What I experienced as slowness, boring, silly before, was really part of creating an environment where people were attended to, cared for, and enjoyed.

How did I know? 8 persons of the 50 raised their hands, indicating they wanted Christ to be Lord of their Lives. And Crystal, along with Pedro as interpreted, prayed to receive Christ with me right then and there.

So, what's the big deal? Irv's message? Somewhat. A funny game about justice? Moreso. People who know how to love God and People and do so lavishly? YOU BET! This is the fuel the Holy Spirit uses to advance His Kingdom!

Just like a BBQ brings people together, the fragances wafting to sniffing palates, the Love, Acceptance, Enjoyment, Anticipation and Grace extended brought this group of people together for four hours!

My frustration? It melted away and became joy, celebration and thanksgiving!

May our lives emulate this great group of people in Lubango, Angola!

Great conversation over the breakfast table.

How do we provide a good context for spiritual growth for others?

How can we set the tone and atmosphere that is soooo good that they cannot bear to think of not joining in?

I can remember clearly communicating judgement and criticism for arriving late, not arriving, or arriving without enthusiasm or desire.

But look at this miracle from 2Corinthians 4!

5  For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6  For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7  But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.


It has been said that the heart of man's problem is his heart! And when Christ enters the heart, an amazing transformation ocurrs! Where there once was darkness, and dark deeds emanated from that place, now Light Shines out of that Dark Place! Amazing!

As we keep this miracle at the fore, we can rejoice with every tiny little step people bring forward!

And I set a table of  grace, acceptance, joy and delight.

Today is Friday. We head back on Sunday, arriving Monday afternoon.

Really looking forward to seeing Laura and Crista, Jon and Jenn! And the rest of you.

God's best,

Irv.

Corruption. Ugh.

Folks, welcome back, glad you are here!

Dan and I were quite the clowns!

This morning we talked about corruption. Dan and I were in an intermediate English as a Second Language (ESL) class with 14 students and Cara, one of our Nav staff who recently moved here to Lubango, Angola to help out with the work here.

Cara introduced the topic and posed 9 questions about corruption, such as who does it, where does it happen, is it useful, etc. We paired up and discussed this with several different partners. I met with Americo and Gustavo and they had some great ideas!

Nobody likes it. Everyone in the room felt it is damaging. sometimes we as Canadians can be critical of parts of the world where it is obvious and prevelant.

Yet Dan and I found ourselves acting out a skit to explain the term, "Paying Under the Table". We had fun, all of us laughed, but I also wondered about what I personally can do about this significant problem. As I write this, I thought it would be wonderful to congratulate this great effort of tying significant cultural content to the noble goal of learning another language. I think I will!

and I want to make a couple of requests of you:
1. Pray that this great institute, Know How, would continue to make noble contributions to Angolans who want to make a difference where they are
2. Pray for the Nation of Angola, to make courageous steps in addressing this in their own nation
3. Think about where you run into corruption in your own circles. Do something about it! Ask yourself how you can be a man or woman of integrity, humility and honour in our family, neighbourhood and workplace!

Here is Janet with Dan, discussing their work in construction, seeking to provide quality materials at just prices, making a solid profit, creating employment, quality construction, working against corruption!

God's best, 
Irv.

Sometimes we talk about the Incarnation. Jesus taking human form and coming to the earth. No one has ever seen God. Yet He is much more fully known by us as we look at Jesus.

As Jesus walked on the earth, he made some phenomenal statements. "I am the Bread of Life" and "Come to Me and I will give you free food and drink!" He longed to give us what we needed to give us a sense of satisfaction, belonging and connection.

He also talked about the human condition apart from himself, and what to do about it in Matthew 9:

36  When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd.
37  "What a huge harvest!" he said to his disciples. "How few workers!
38  On your knees and pray for harvest hands!"

Shortly after I decided to follow Christ I began to read through the Bible and began to benefit from these amazing passages! I newly felt this sense of connection, purpose and direction from my relationship with Him.

Then came my personal connection with a passage that ended up givimg me my life direction. It was  in Isaiah 42:

6  "I am GOD. I have called you to live right and well. I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe. I have set you among my people to bind them to me, and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
7  To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light: opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons.

This so resonated with me! I said to myself, and to God, that I wanted a piece of this! I felt so delicious, that God would bring me into a relationship with Him, and then allow me to become a lighthouse for others, as Peter, who led me to Christ, was God's lighthouse to me!

So, lots of metaphors here. Lighthouse, bringing people into the light, releasing prisoners, emptying prisons!

As we mingle our lives together with others, we become God''s Workers! I feel called to this. Profoundly. But not only this, we become a Covenant. A Covenant, issued by God, extended to all who would come! I am the embodiment of this Covenant! I bring Hope, Light, Life and Vision to those around me!

You too!

Below is a photo with Carlos and Marcia seated to my left, along with folks from Brazil, Uruguay and the States. It seems a miracle that they are in our international gathering. 17 years ago they found Christ, and they have become Covenants to Chileans in Chile. 49 other nationalities are doing this too! And you can too!

This afternoon I head out from Kenya on my way to Angola along with my great colleague and colabourerer, Dan McIver. I don't know how internet access will be, but I will try to keep in touch. Thanks for your prayers! Pray for my time there with the Holdens!

Irv.

Theology, Mission, Doing it Right

Chris Wright is an amazing theologian. Theologan. Hmmm. Brings to mind complicated words, big books, writers who seem to try to complicate what they want to say, and dust gets in the way.

Not Chris. Look for his book, The "Mission of God's People" if you want to build your own effective, comprehensive  understanding of God's work across the ages in meaningful ways. He spoke to us this morning during our plenary session.

Chris talks about God's 5-fold mission of Evangelism, Teaching & building, Compassion, Justice and Creation Care.

As Navigators we have focused big-time on Evangelism and Teaching & Building. Our hallmark, classic terms of follow-up and discipling. Helping people to become established in their faith to the point where they can feed themselvs. Then discipling them until they can lead another to Christ. Then generations, when the one they lead to Christ in turn leads another to Christ.

We keep doing this.

And we do more.

Compassion. Justice. caring for our environmnent, looking after the extended family, healing woundedness. Doing all of this in Communities of Grace, where, rather than rewarding performance, we reward authenticity, humilty, serving and loving.

Our contexts? Church, Society and Creation. Look at these amazing verses from Colossians 1!

 

18  And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone.

19  So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding.

20  Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.

 

 

So, let's do it right! Reconciliation, staying connected to Christ, making space continually for more, fixing the broken, healing the dislocated! His Death on the Cross makes this possible!

 

And the afternoon. Four hours on the bus, to get in 60 minutes of shopping. Oh well.

 

Irv.

 

PS Amazing trip to visit the game park just outside of Nairobi! Evidence of our trip!