Evening for Senior Citizens

Wednesday night was our monthly evening for senior citizens at our church.  We held the evening in our newly remodeled cafe/fellowship hall.  The atmosphere was great, but when 40 people showed up we found out that it is too small so next time we'll go back to meeting in our main hall. 


Liese helped out in the kitchen and they cooked an amazing meal that kept with the Orthodox Nativity fast that is going on right now (more about that fast here).  Everyone who came seemed to enjoy the evening (I measure that by how many hugs I get as people leave) and we had a lot of helpers come to clean up and put everything away.  It is great to see our church reaching out to the elderly in the community.

Global Mission Mondays: Ghana

Ghana has a population of about 24 million people. It is home to more than 100 different ethnic groups.  Ethnologue lists a total of 79 languages spoken in Ghana with English being the official language.

Since 1992 Ghana has had several open elections and now has the status of a stable democracy.

The economy of Ghana has been listed as The World's Fastest Growing Economy in 2011 with an economic growth of about 20.146 % for the year 2011.  Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has more than twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West Africa. Ghana is one of the world's top gold producers and is the second largest producer of cocoa in the world.  The economy relies heavily on agriculture which accounts for 37.3% of GDP and provides employment for 56% of the work force, mainly small landholders.

The adult literacy rate in Ghana was 65% in 2007, with males at 71.7% and females at 58.3%.  With 83% of its children in school, Ghana currently has one of the highest school enrolment rates in West Africa, although some 500,000 children still remain out of school because of resource constraints in building schools, providing adequate textbooks and training new teachers.

According to the CIA World Factbook, religious divisions are as follows: Christian 68.8%, Muslim 15.9%, Traditional African beliefs 8.5%.  In 1960 only 24% of the population identified as Christian. 

[information via wikipedia and the world factbook]

10 Reasons to Go on the Mission Field

 [original graphic from theResurgence]

A while ago I was reading theResurgence and I came across this article by Justin Buzzard about 10 reasons to join a church plant.  As I read the list the thought that kept coming to mind was "these are reasons to go on the mission field, not just join a church plant". 

So here are the Top 10 Reasons Justin Buzzard gave for joining a church plant, and my explanation why they are also reasons to go on the mission field:

1. If you want to see Jesus do something new and are sick of the status quo.
God's plan is to gather for Himself a special people from every tribe and tongue and if you want to get out of the status quo of life then give up that which you can not keep to gain that which you can not lose and give your life for the spreading of the gospel throughout the world.  You will see Jesus do something new.

2. If you dream of being part of something bigger than yourself.
God's mission has been going on since the creation of the world.  It is bigger than any one person, than any one local church, than any one generation. Yes, the church is God's main vehicle for His mission but His mission is bigger than a church plant and if you want be a part of something bigger than yourself go overseas to spread the gospel.

3. If you want to get into a fight/enter a battle for the kingdom of Christ.
If you want to enter a battle for the kingdom of Christ go to India where the spiritual darkness is almost palpable.  Go to tribes in Africa that are seeped in animism and witchcraft.  Go to countries where government, economic, and political corruption are so entrenched in the culture that every good deed, every act of righteousness is a long drawn-out battle. 

4. If you feel a constant itch to see people who don’t know Jesus come to know Jesus and you believe church planting is the best way for the gospel to advance.
If you feel a constant itch to see people come to know Jesus take a look at the statistics of countries in Africa, Asia, and the middle east and see how few people are out there telling people about Jesus.  If you believe church planting is the best way to advance the gospel then go to those countries and plant churches.

5. If you want to give your time, money, energy, and talents to starting something new and you want to make sacrifices to see a mission succeed.
This applies directly to overseas, cross-cultural missions.

6. If you fully support the vision, mission, doctrine, and leadership of a church plant.
If you see the reason to plant a church, the vision of why churches need to be planted, and what the mission of the church is, then take one step further and see that while America needs healthy churches most places in the world just need churches.

7. If you want your faith to grow and you want God to fundamentally meddle with and change your life.
This is not a reason to go on the mission field, but if you go you will find at every step of the way God will fundamentally meddle in every area of your life and change everything about who you are. 

8. If you want to love your city.
Loving your city can easily become more about the place than about the people who live in the place.  Loving your city can include cooperation between the local church and the international mission to build a bridge from your local city to the rest of the world.  This can enrich your city as God's creation of multiple cultures, languages, and peoples are introduced to the glory of God in His plan to save.  This isn't the only way to love your city, but loving your city doesn't only mean staying and planting another church.

9. If you want to watch God move in ways you never imagined and you want an adventure (with all its discomfort and risk).
Don't stay home.  Go.

10. If you’re not afraid to bank your life on Matthew 16:18 (“I [Jesus] will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”).
This promise is the foundation of missions: Jesus is building His church and calls us to be a part of it in every corner of this earth. 

What do you think?

Global Missions Monday: Togo

This week we are praying for the country of Togo in West Africa.  Togo has a population of about 6.7 million people and is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with a climate that provides good growing seasons.

Most of the population (65%) live in rural villages dedicated to agriculture or pastures.  Approximately one half of the population lives below the international poverty line.

The largest religious group in Togo are those with indigenous beliefs (approximately 51% of the population), but there are significant Christian (29%) and Muslim (20%)minorities.

There is not much current information available about Togo, apparently due to political instability over the last 7 years.

The Nativity Fast

The Orthodox Church throughout the world is celebrating the 40 day Nativity Fast right now and as our church prepares for Christmas I thought it would be helpful for us to look at the reasons for the Nativity Fast and to see what we can learn from the Orthodox traditions. 

In the Orthodox Church fasting is seen as purification and the regaining of innocence.  Fasting is the means for a Christian  to rid himself or herself of the passions, the desires of our fallen carnal nature.  The underlying philosophy is that the physical things in this world are at odds with the spiritual things of God and fasting is a way to move away from the physical in toward the spiritual.   In general fasting is usually simply abstaining from meat and dairy, and on the stricter days also abstaining from oil and wine. 

In general in Ukraine most people know about the Nativity Fast but thanks to the Soviet Union making the New Year holidays the main holidays of the year, not very many people actually observe the fast because that would mean not being able to party on New Years Eve.  Often the Orthodox fasts (which happen every couple months throughout the year) are looked at as a healthy thing to do because it means not eating meat and other fatty foods. Many understand the Orthodox fast as testing yourself, making your spirit strong, or simply doing something that is healthy and will make you a more complete person. Many see the fasts as good things, something that one should do to purify oneself because of all the partying that is going to happy during the holidays.

In this week's sermon I'm going to talk about how the culture around us looks at fasting and then we'll look at what fasting looks like in the bible.  

The main thing we will learn from the Orthodox tradition of fasting is that it is good to discipline yourself to fight your flesh and seek God as we seek to know the power of God in our lives.  

Preparing for special holidays is a good reminder to be disciplined in drawing near to God and seeking the fullness of His grace in our lives.

Global Mission Mondays: Benin

Benin is a country in West Africa with a population of approximately 9 million.  It was ruled by France until the 1960’s and then in the 1970’s after more than a decade of ethnic strife, coups, and regime changes Benin became a Marxist state.  At the end of the 1980’s the Marxist state collapsed.  

Now Benin is highly dependent on agriculture, with substantial employment and income arising from subsistence farming. The literacy rate in Benin is among the lowest in the world: in 2002 it was estimated to be 35% (48% for males and 23% for females). 


There are about 42 African ethnic groups in Benin.  In the 2002 census, 43% of the population of Benin were Christian (27% Roman Catholic, 5% Celestial Church of Christ, 3% Methodist, 7% other Christian denominations), 24% were Muslim, 17% practices Vodun, 6% other traditional local religious groups, 2% other religious groups, and 7% claim no religious affiliation.

[information from wikipedia and the world factbook]

The Advent Season

This week our church is starting to celebrate the Advent season as we prepare for Christmas.  These words from the Anglican Church's Second Book of Homilies beautifully remind us of the reasons for Christ's birth. 

These were the chief ends wherefore Christ became man, not for any profit that should come to himself thereby, but only for our sakes, that we might understand the will of God, be partakers of his heavenly light, be delivered out of the devil's claws: released from the burden of sin, justified through faith in his blood, and finally, received up into everlasting glory, there to reign with him for ever. 

Was not this a great and singular love of Christ towards mankind, that being the express and lively image of God, he would not withstanding humble himself, and take upon him the form of a servant, and that only to save and redeem us? 

O how much are we bound to the goodness of God in this behalf? How many thanks and praises do we owe unto him for this our salvation wrought by his dear and only Son Christ who became a pilgrim in earth to make us citizens in heaven, who became the son of man, to make us the sons of God, who became obedient to the Law, to deliver us from the curse of the Law, who became poor, to make us rich; vile, to make us precious; subject to death, to make us live for ever?

What greater love could we silly creatures desire or wish to have at God's hands?

(via reformation21)