Going Barefoot is a metaphor that expresses a way in which we are called to serve the Lord Jesus as his witnesses and his change agents. Metaphors can be both positive and negative, so it’s important to evaluate them from time to time.

Just like the bronze serpent, a symbol’s value can change from healing to idolatry. Symbols can be very powerful with positive and negative affects. DL Moody and other Christian leaders of the 20th century declared, “The one thing needful is salvation or conversion.” Agreed. Moody, when criticized for his evangelistic methods, is quoted saying “Better the way I am doing it, than the way you are not doing it.” However, his positive evangelistic fervor, and gift, led him to say, “I have given up on this world; I am focused on rescuing lost souls.” His metaphor could be described as a “life raft,” powerfully influencing the 20th century Evangelical Church and conveying a message of Individualism and disengagement from social concern.

Unlike a ‘life raft’, Jesus’ parables were a message of transformation and growth, not merely of rescue and certainly not disengagement. Jesus metaphors were of seeds, fields, vineyards, yeast, and houses. Jesus’ call to us in the 21st century is to again take up his cross and his message of transformation and establishment. He is calling his Church to be a witness of His kingdom, building and growing, in the earth, not the witness of a ‘life raft’ escaping the earth.

Dr. Sherwood Lingenfelter describes “pilgrimage” as a people who are “at the same time ‘otherworldly’ and ‘this worldly’, both on pilgrimage and indigenous”. Youth With A Mission is an apostolic community, “called out” and “sent” to represent the Body of Christ as agents of transformation in every culture. We are not called to escape the world, as in Lingenfelter’s “Hermit game”, or merely supply a “life raft” for a hermitage. Neither are we called to shift from one cultural “prison” to another.

Servant-leadership, modeled and taught by YWAM International’s founder, Loren Cunningham, has been supported by the metaphor “going barefoot.” Leadership, for those on pilgrimage, is relational and not positional. To be “barefoot” as a faithful Christian is more than a leadership model, however. The metaphor, ‘”barefoot,” imparts a call to tread lightly, relinquish rights, embrace responsibilities, and take the risk necessary in all relationships. Going “barefoot” and having an “open hand,” another metaphor, is representative of a life that is surrendered and, like a “hand”, is open to give and to receive. Disarming humility, represented in one who is on pilgrimage is best for producing transformation. Each of the social games put forward an opportunity and an obstacle for producing transformation, however the barefoot pilgrim walks in and out of all of the social games.

The metaphor for the apostolic and evangelistic vision of YWAM, International, has been represented in the founder’s vision.  Cunningham writes of “waves of young people crashing on every continent of the earth.” YWAM champions young people to “Go into all the world”; this is literally understood, “Go means a change of location.” Another metaphor, the “grace ticket,” often taught by Darlene Cunningham, is an effective metaphor for pilgrimage, representing the grace of God that is available at the time of need, whatever the social context. The “grace ticket” challenges us to live by faith with a willingness to be flexible to any situation trusting in God’s grace. These powerful metaphors contribute to YWAM’s forward movement and the call to every person, including the youth. To be on pilgrimage is not to be a passive non-participant; the pilgrim will likely make “waves”. As the “yeast” in Jesus’ parable is active, to be on pilgrimage is to be an active agent of transformation “working through all” of society. 

Discipleship training is not a program; it’s a command to every believer. The way we have traditionally fulfilled this responsibility has been through formal instruction in a classroom or auditorium setting. We have called those formal gatherings “church.” In time this tradition of gathering and sitting in formal settings became more important than fulfilling the command to “go, make disciples.”

Let’s get back to the command; let’s get back to where we once belonged, making disciples. Let’s let Jesus be our example. Yes, Jesus did have people sit down and listen to him, sometimes in the Temple, sometimes in a field, on a mount, or in the intimate setting of a home. However, we should notice that the setting for his instruction was rarely formal. Instead, he practiced a non-formal and often informal method of making disciples. He said, “Come and follow me.” This was Jesus’ invitation to a life of a disciple.

Let’s “flip” discipleship.

What I am suggesting is that we change things up a bit. Let’s “flip” discipleship. If we were intentional about a reversed teaching model we could deliver instruction on the go, in the regular rhythms of life. If we were to “flip” discipleship, we could follow Jesus’ model and use the education tools of the 21st century.

Everywhere, in nearly every corner of the world of education, learning is going online. Some like it and some don’t. Let’s step back a moment and consider how today’s online learning tools might help us “flip” discipleship training.

Consider a moment how an interactive online learning environment might enhance discipleship of today’s Christ followers. What if we created hundreds of short Youtube videos to deliver content and we made discipleship more personal? What if we moved lectures outside of the classroom and allowed teachers, mentors, and disciplers to spend more 1:1 time with each disciple? What if Christ-followers had the opportunity to ask questions and work through problems with the guidance of a personal mentor/teacher and find the support of others on the same journey? What if we “flipped” church and made it a community learning on the go? What if church became a community on mission, making disciples?

I am convinced the changes present an opportunity to do church and missions differently. Every modern advance of the gospel has originated in universities, among devoted and praying students and professors. To navigate the shift to a more missional formation of church, students are finding courage through the example of the Chinese church and in prayer spaces on campuses on nearly every campus I have visited over the past several months.

What students are learning in the place of prayer is that God is not calling them to “leadership” as it has been handed down to them from recent generations. They are learning humility and servanthood. They are learning an intense love of Jesus, and an amazing faith that he will again move in miracles on campus. And there are many students with an intense passion to see the ills of global human need corrected. They seek to end human trafficking, assure that every child has access to clean water, and every woman may be treated with dignity and equality in every nation. How is this kind of change to happen? It did not come from the United Nations’ Declaration of Universal Human Rights. It requires a different kind of leadership, and a seismic shift in the way we see how culture and society changes. We must return to the words of Jesus, especially when he spoke of the mustard seed and the yeast, the small things that change everything.

This is a challenge for students and for anyone desiring to connect with what God is doing in these days. We’re used to a “leader” who gives us clear direction and we’re used to being a part of a large community of people in a hall with familiar worship. What God is calling us to is not the same tightly bounded mission driven corporate structures. Rather, God is calling a new generation of obscure, small initiatives of faithful witness. God is not calling students to a spiritualized triumphalism, but to an embracing of neighbors and an engagement with the world.  God is calling this generation to follow him on his mission. This is a challenge. It is a change to nearly everything we have known about church and missions. It requires that we press in to be taught by the Lord.

Let’s pray more fervently for one another and for eyes to see what Donald McGavran called the “bridges” God sets before us. As we do, it’s important for us to join with others on campus and “in one accord” as we share meals from house to house, or dorm to dorm. And let’s worship Jesus, our vision and true visionary, our model of self-sacrificing love.

  ∞

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 4,600 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 8 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

He always stood at a distance. Never close to anyone, except the few social rejects with him. The “others”. The un-welcome.

Never would he be allowed to come inside. To sit with friends. To eat with others.

He and the other nine had leprosy, a chronic infectious disease that causes skin sores, nerve damage, and muscle weakness. It just gets worse over time, until the light colored skin starts to fall off. Nobody wants to be near you.

Keep your distance! You’re UNCLEAN!

By law, you must announce yourself, “unclean”, and stay away.

So distant. Nobody will touch you.

He could never shake hands. Never embrace a fellow human being. Never hold a child to comfort. Never receive comfort.

Keep your distance. That was the rule.

Then the Teacher came walking through their village, with many followers.

“Have pity!”, he and the other nine cried out from a distance.

When Jesus saw them, He responded, but with the requirements of the law. Anyone with leprosy must do this:

“Go and show yourselves to the priests.” (Luke 17:14 NASB)

Sent away again.

But the words of this Teacher were strangely different. It was warmth. There was compassion in his voice, in his eyes. It was like physical touch. How did he do that?

So the ten misfits did what he told them to do. They went to see the priest.

Why? Not sure.

But as they were going, they were cleansed.

What? Amazing! Clean!

No longer must I announce to strangers, fearful of my curse, “Unclean.”

I am freed from my loneliness. I can be close. I can touch. I can get lost in a crowd.

And that is exactly what the other nine did. They blended into the crowd, never again required to announce:

I’m different. I’m cursed. I’m to be rejected.

It was just one. Just one foreigner. A Samaritan. A hated stranger to the people that live so close, the people of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses.

Just one noticed.

Just one could not be unnoticed. One of the healed lepers could not allow this amazing miracle to go unnoticed.

It was the stranger, the foreigner, the one rejected because of both disease and heritage who returned to Jesus.

It was just one who approached the crowd that still rejected him. It was just one who came glorifying God with a loud voice. “I’m clean! I’m clean!”

He came very close to Jesus, close enough to touch him..

… and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. (Luke 17:14, 16 NASB)

This Thanksgiving, as we enjoy time with family, may we all take notice of the amazing miracle Jesus has done for us.

Though we were once far away, rejected, and under a curse, we have been brought near. We have been brought into intimate, loving friendship with The Lord of every family.

1 God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.

2-3 I’ll make you a great nation
and bless you.
I’ll make you famous;
you’ll be a blessing.
I’ll bless those who bless you;
those who curse you I’ll curse.
All the families of the Earth
will be blessed through you.”

It is time for me to be honest.

Fathers do not typically share their frustrations. They tend to be reserved, sometimes emotionally distant. Some more affectionate fathers are more engaged, but they choose to protect their children, keeping the hard realities of life out of sight. That is understandable and appropriate. But this is time for honesty, as a father.

I’ve been frustrated with religion & politics lately. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between the two. Political movements can get too much like religious cults. And churches can be way too political.

Listening to political ads and news reports can get a bit surreal! Obviously, both sides have placed their faith in what they believe, the candidate they support. Sadly, others simply check out. They say it’s all a waste of time. They say it doesn’t matter. Some believe Jesus is returning when the world goes to hell, so why try to stop it? What kind of faith is that?

Yes, the Church is political too. Sometimes our Christian friends, pastors and leaders, are caught up in political games. Or perhaps I should call it business games.

I’m a missionary, so I believe businessmen and women can fully participate in Christ’s mission; Business as Mission. The trouble is, too many Christian leaders have adopted a kind of Mission as Business.

What do I mean?
Playing to the crowd, too many church leaders are marketing, rather than ministering; competing for members or attendees among the shrinking percentage of evangelical christians, rather than contending for lost souls;
controlling the agenda, rather than equipping the saints for the work of the ministry and the vision God is giving them; organizing for church growth, rather than discipling people of all nations to walk in the promise of receiving the blessings God has promised.

Really, what frustrates me most is the impact this lack of spiritual leadership is having on people. (Recently, two people close to me asked if faith really matters. They asked: What good does it do?)

We should not seek leaders, or train for leadership in the church. (There is very little reference, in fact, to “leaders” in the bible. The word Pastor only shows up once, Eph. 4:11) And there is an important reference to “shepherds”
Jeremiah 3:15 (NIV)

Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not picking on your pastor.

What I am saying is this: Instead of seeking leaders (political or pastoral), we need to seek the Lord. We need to bring forth fruits of repentance on behalf of our generation and our children. We need a revival of faith and faithfulness.

Let’s stop putting our faith in a political platform or a politician. And let’s stop finding refuge from our broken world, hiding behind the stained glass windows of our churches.

It’s time for believers to once again be equipped (as it says in Eph. 4:11) through a plurality of servant leaders for the work of ministry in every sector of society, among every people grouping, in every way God blesses us to be a blessing.

We need to stop seeking security in anything or anyone other than the Person of Jesus Christ.

Are you with me?

Could it be there are some that are not discouraged or frustrated as I have been? Maybe your faith in Christ is strong and this message is not connecting with you so far.

Maybe you are one of the Fathers (or Mothers) of the Faith. Maybe you ARE reaching across cultural boundaries into the lives of people with extraordinary need. It’s difficult, isn’t it? It can be just as frustrating, if not more, to watch our leaders pick at each other when there is such need, when time and money could be directed to help people who are really hurting.

Perhaps others learn from you.
Honestly, sometimes I worry. I wonder if seeds I’ve sown into the lives of young people, in poor and in church communities will bear fruit, fruit that will last.

I always watch for faithfulness and fruitfulness so I can fan the spark into flames with encouragement.

And I admit I get tense. I’m an intense guy. I want to push with my own strength to get my way, my hopes fulfilled. I want to say I trust the government to meet my needs. I want to say I trust the church to be all it says she is in my bible. But then reality strikes and I’m disappointed again.

How do you respond when life throws a curve ball, when disaster strikes, when you lose a job, a child, a marriage?

Here are our choices:
1. Turn from God?
2. Reject the church?
3. Refuse to ever participate in community again?
4. Renounce my citizenship?
5. Fight back! (One of three ways: as a religious zealot, as a materialist seeking personal gain, or as a political crusader)
6. Pretend everything is okay, paint a religious smile on my face, but allow anger to fester just under the skin.

Or finally, …
7. Fall broken before a God who allowed himself to be broken for me.

God sets before us a choice: Life or Death, Blessing or Curses.

I don’t know much, but I know this much. Life is better.

So choose life, grace, and truth,
and with it, choose the way of the cross.

The only way the devil, sin, and death can be defeated is through the cross.

Politically, I believe it is time to choose life. Here’s a basic question to guide us in this political season: Do human rights come from Nature, or Nature’s God? (This is what many of the Founders of the US Constitution wrestled with and they chose God. Only they didn’t choose a Church to guide the State. They believed we have inalienable rights, including freedom to choose, to speak, and to congregate in public gatherings to worship God. The State does not give us rights; God does. This is the arena of battle for the minds of men and women and of the future of this nation. Let’s choose life and truth.

Truth is not merely an objective, scientific, and observable reality; Truth is embodied in the Person of Jesus Christ who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me….

The enemy, Satan, hates it when we preach Jesus. The world is confused, thinking we are being exclusive. We do not choose who belongs to God; he does. We preach Christ and him crucified. This is taking the battle to the enemy.

Yes, there is a very real enemy.

One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan, who was the Designated Accuser, came along with them. (Job 1:6 MSG)

Satan is a liar, a deceiver, and dedicated to killing and destroying all that God loves, including you and me.

If he can’t destroy us, he’s satisfied to shut us down. He is happy to frustrate us and anger us so we will not talk with each other. He’s happy to deceive us into believing God may not be as good as he says he is. He may bless other people, but not me. Why bother to serve him? Why preach Jesus if your neighbor is just going to get angry? Stay quiet, be a good citizen, and go to church.

After Jesus sent out the 70 to preach on a short term outreach, he said,

“I know. I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky.” (Luke 10:18 MSG)

He told them to go and enter homes and accept hospitality, leaving a blessing when they went. What an interesting missionary strategy to our neighbors!

Here’s a suggestion: Instead of creating ministry programs with big budgets and lots of work, we could simply sit down for a meal with neighbors, sharing “Table Fellowship”. That’s what Jesus did, and that was the issue of the early church as she crossed cultural boundaries.

The big religious hang up of the early church was Table Fellowship, Believing Jews sitting down to eat with Gentiles. Perhaps, we could avoid all the politics and simply offer services in our homes, breaking bread with neighbors, offering hospitality, friendship with strangers, extending the grace and fellowship of the Holy Spirit in the simplest form, in the relaxed setting of our home. Certainly, Mothers and Fathers of the Faith can do that.

Jesus gave us his authority; he said “Go, in my name!”

He didn’t say to form a committee and set a budget and ask the leaders of the Temple or the Synagogue.

We must not allow ourselves to get so frustrated with politics and disappointments that we lose faith.

He said that we would do all that he did and more, including the huge task of teaching entire nations (peoples) to obey him.

So we have a choice.

I choose to believe God is good and true and faithful. We need to choose to trust in The Lord; he has always been faithful.

We preach, and teach, and live as witnesses of the truth of this gospel message.

What will you do when disappointments keep coming? What happens when you’re so discouraged that you wonder if you can continue?

I asked the two people who questioned their faith last week to read Ps. 73.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26 NIV84)

Faith Matters

Imagine you are holding two apparently identical eggs and I asked you:

“What’s the difference between the two eggs? One egg is completely different. One will remain an egg and the other will completely transform to become a chicken.”

Answer: One has been fertilized, one received DNA information.

It’s like looking at two people. Both may claim to be Christians, each with reasons that cannot be distinguished with our eyes. But one has not surrendered his life, while the other has submitted his life to King Jesus. One really believes.

How do you know if you believe? Here’s how John 8:31 MESSAGE reads:

Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure.”

It begins with words that come up out of our hearts.

Romans 10:9 says:

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

And when you believe, when you speak with faith. Something happens. It’s like a mighty rushing wind, a Tornado effect, that will change the landscape and all your relationships.

Look below to vs. 14:

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”

Obedience of one will have a big effect. Small things make a big difference.
Like a contagion, the gospel of the kingdom is like a little yeast, it changes the whole lump of dough.

This is simple, yet impossible for anyone to grasp without a full surrender. The battle for the hearts and minds of every living soul rages everywhere, in thousands of languages, hundreds of nations, and millions of families.

We are in a battle, and the battle belongs to the LORD.

The word of God to my Lord: “Sit alongside me here on my throne until I make your enemies a stool for your feet.” (Psalm 110:1 MSG)

The battle is about belief, not religion or politics. That’s small stuff. As believers we must follow Paul’s advice:

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. (2 Corinthians 10:3 NIV84)

We are called to
… Take every though captive.

Jesus warned,

“Be very careful. Keep a sharp eye out for the contaminating yeast of Pharisees and the followers of Herod.” (Mark 8:15 MSG)

What is this Yeast-teaching?

While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, (1 Corinthians 1:22 MSG)

Yeasty Teaching is often missed, not understood. It’s hidden, a mystery to many.

Some heard thunder, others heard angels. But God did speak a word from his heart.

John 12:20-31

Paul understood Yeasty Teaching. It’s not “baptizing” (religious acts), not “words of wisdom” (philosophy); it’s the gospel of power.

The power of the cross is the full working of the power of God through a surrendered life.

This is the essence of what it means to be a Great Commission witness. This call to carry this message of God’s grace and favor for every family is his forever dream.

Gen 12 is the Promise; it’s God’s plan to bless. He is good. He is True.

We all know the New Testament Great Commission texts. Each has a different focus.

Mt 28-go, teach, nations…

Mk 16-go, preach, individuals…

Act 1:8- The Holy Spirit enables you to be his witness, a testimony to his truth and goodness.

Here’s another Great Commission text; one that you may not have considered:
2 Cor 4:7-11

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us.

This last week, I joined 119 other younger Christian leaders (40 and under) from Canada and the USA in Madison, WI, for a 3-day consultation. This gathering convened a small section of the global “Lausanne movement” – let me explain!

The story of Lausanne begins with the evangelist Dr Billy Graham. As he started preaching internationally, he developed a passion to ‘unite all evangelicals in the common task of the total evangelization of the world’. Lausanne is a global movement that mobilizes evangelical leaders to collaborate for world evangelization. It grew out of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization convened in Lausanne, Switzerland – hence the name. :) The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization (October 2010) in Cape Town, South Africa, brought together 4000 Christian leaders, representing 198 countries. The resulting Cape Town Commitment serves as the blueprint for the Movement’s activities.

During this NAYLG, we spent hours split into “working groups”, looking at ten topics pertinent to the Church on our continent in our day - Discipleship, Unity in the Church, Reaching Cities, Mission to Unreached People Groups, Arts & Media, Theological Education, etc. My group (pictured above) focused on “Developing Christ-centered Leaders”, and after hours of conversation, we concluded something incredible: We believe that the most pressing need in developing (and sustaining) young leaders is personal, relational investment from the older generation, as well as some like-hearted, peer-level friends. Many of my peers at this gathering feel isolated and alone in their leadership, and we agree that we don’t need more skills training or instruction! We need intimate relationships, above us and beside us, so that we can provide the same for others.

I love this conclusion! I feel quite rich with both, and I am amazed at all the Father has invested in me as a young leader. To act on what we ‘discovered’, we are writing a shout out to the entire Lausanne movement, which we’ll get out to many other church networks as well, expressing our need for the older generation and inviting them to invest in us. “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”(Malachi 4:6)

“Consider things the way they could be and say, ‘Why not?’ Look at the landscape and say, ‘Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.’” - Doug Birdsall, Exec Chairman of the Lausanne movement

It’s been since the Fall of 1985 that I have been a “faith missionary;” I have depended on the faithfulness of God through his people who give out of their love for God and his mission and their love for me and my family. I can testify, through all the years and many tests and trials, that God IS faithful.

Much of what I have learned has come through our living example of faithfulness, our Ministry Partners. One of our Ministry Partners said it well: “John and Mary, you have a calling to go; I have a calling to send.” It is such a privilege to be in partnership with friends who know their calling and honor the Lord through their obedience to His calling.

I want to share a few of those lessons with you. Whether you are a missionary or a supporter, these lessons are for partners in Christ’s mission:

1. Whether you are a missionary or a supporter, choose a Ministry Partner to pray for. We may not always communicate who we are praying fo or when, but God often stirs our hearts for one or more of our supporters.

2. Communicate regularly. We have sent a prayer-letter every month with only one or two interruptions. And many of our supporters send a monthly note with their support. This communication is an amazing encouragement. Ministry Partners can use email, Skype, Facebook, and even short text messages to stay in touch.

3. Be hospitable. Hospitality literally means “friend of the foreigner.” The result of hospitality is friendship; we become closer. Host your Ministry Partner for a meal or an overnight. If you can, help provide temporary housing or transportation too.

4. Connect your small group or ministry team with your Ministry Partner. Broaden your hospitality, inviting your network of friends to also become Ministry Partners.

5. Invest your vacation. Invite Ministry Partners to visit your ministry site or community. Travel with your partner; its a great way to spend part of your vacation. (Most of our vacations are combined with visits with supporters.)

6. Help create or strengthen a ministry project for your Ministry Partner. My wife and I have volunteered with several churches to help them with outreach preparation, youth ministries, missions and leadership training, consulting and counseling. Virtually all of our short term teams have served the long term work of Ministry Partners on the field. You can offer your time to a special project, outreach, or event. You could take a volunteer job, like weekly administrative tasks, driving shuttles, or kitchen duties.

7. Be generous. For years we sent YWAM Prayer Diaries or other books as gifts to our Ministry Partners. We try to bring gifts from the field, especially when we visit Ministry Partners. We have also received care packages, baskets of food, and surprise gifts. These are acts of generosity displaying the goodness and faithfulness of God. Very often those surprise gifts have been direct answers to prayer, which helped us meet our monthly bills.

We all, both missionaries and supporters, are walking by faith. We all are called to put our faith in God to supply our daily needs. When we, as Ministry Partners in the work of Christ’s kingdom, give our hearts, our time and resources, we cause thankfulness to overflow and bring pleasure to the heart of God.

Special thanks to all our Ministry Partners. We love you!

Be Missional: How can you support and encourage your missionaries or your supporters in their calling?

Youth With A Mission (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Recently, YWAM has undergone a leadership restructuring, from that of a corporation, with corporate titles, to that of a family, with family-style relational leaders. The former Global Leadership Team is now the Global Leadership Forum. They recognize YWAM is not a hierarchical institution; instead it is a movement with a flatter and more egalitarian eldership. YWAM has many groupings and leadership structures, in many different cultures.

The University of the Nations, on the other hand, is an institution with a hierarchical structure including formal titles, such as President, Provost, Dean, and Centre Director.

Actually, the terms can be a bit confusing. There are nuances of hierarchy and other “social games” organizations and cultures play. Hierarchy is involved in virtually every large organization. A pure democracy or egalitarian culture is impossible in large organizations. Small organizations can be more egalitarian. However, there are always elders in any culture who have spiritual, intellectual, and social authority, even in small groups.

When a structure is high grid and high group, it is hierarchical. But if the group is not high in priority and the grid (or structure of authority) is very high at the top (where a decision is not or cannot be made without the top leader), then it is less hierarchical and more authoritarian. From the way I read Darrel Guder and other contemporary theologians’ discussion of Church & Mission, I see a rejection of the authoritarian leader and a call for a flatter organization with higher group involvement. Therefore, they are actually calling for a kind of hierarchy for some of the issues and egalitarian game for much of the other issues in the church culture. As I read the Scriptures, including Jesus’ own words, I see the servant leader who goes so far to say, “It’s better for you that I go away.”

Yes, he actually left the hope of the nations to a bunch of uneducated misfits, all of whom still did not understand him or his mission even after they were filled with the Spirit. That’s the kind of leadership the Triune God has modeled for the Church.

So, Servant Leadership is a lifestyle, which may or may not have positional authority in an institutional hierarchy. As our YWAM Foundational Values says: “A servant leader is one who honors the gifts and calling of those under his/her care and guards their rights and privileges.”

In other words: If you are a visionary leader, be visionary for the people, releasing them to pursue the call of God, and remove the obstacles that prevent them or bind them to some structure. Release them to relationship with God, with themselves, their families, their neighbors, their community, their world.

I think the issue may be less about hierarchy and more about leadership style. Perhaps what Guder and the others are saying is that the single leader culture will, of necessity in a fallen world, produce transactional leaders rather than transformational leaders. Jesus spoke of these two kinds of leaders in Matt 20:25, the worldly carnal leader and the leader of the kingdom. (Note: I am getting much of the following from one of the servant leaders I most admire. He is Tom Bloomer, Provost of the University of the Nations.)

Transactional leaders emphasize rules, have a low tolerance for diversity, emphasize hierarchy and departments, withhold information as a method of control, announce rather than process decisions, require loyalty more than truthfulness, talk about accountability without being personally accountable, and use vision to manipulate.

Transformational leaders, on the other hand, possess vision that is liberating, reproduce personal initiative with trust and encouragement at all levels of the organization. Their official outspoken goal is to encourage everyone to fulfill their callings. They promote creativity and diversity, at every age level. Therefore, divergent and creative people feel welcome and stay. They do not lead with rules, but with principles and they encourage people to apply them as they see fit. The leader is not seen as superior to the others. They have a high respect for every individual. Information is share opening with everyone and everyone is truly accountable. Truth telling is encouraged. And all participants are involved in decision-making. Not all decide (that would not help the organization to work), but all can speak out, contribute, and participate. Therefore structure is deemphasized. The structure is subtle and flexible, changing as necessary and as the organization grows.

If we truly are Christian and our organization, the institutional churches we lead, is truly modeling kingdom leadership, then there will be no transactional leadership. There can be no transaction in love. To fail to lead as kingdom leaders, and therefore lead as transactional leaders, will produce Christians who live as though they have a contract with God; they bargain with God in their prayers, their service, and their giving. When bad things happen in their lives, the question what they did wrong or why God would not fulfill his end of the bargain.

Transformational leaders grow churches & missional communities under the radar, quietly, and without seeking control over what emerges. They truly release what grows. Paul said it very clearly, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.”

Closing thought: The nations were under hierarchical spiritual authority (Eph. 6:12, Col. 1:16) and Jesus came to break the power of that diabolical control. Jesus broke those powers as a lamb that was slain. He broke those demonic powers when he died on the cross, not when he ascended to heaven to receive all authority. Jesus did not seize power; he was given power. And then he gave that power to us. How do you think he wants us to lead his Church & Mission?

Recently I attended a YWAM North American Cities Conference in the beautiful French Canadian city of Montreal. My friend and colleague in the University of the Nations leadership team, Jeff Fountain, was the keynote speaker. I gave a couple workshops on Missional Collaboration, which were surprisingly well attended.

That YWAM leadership team and the community of city missionaries I have had the privilege to engage with on several occasions continues to inspire me. This expression of YWAM is doing deep theological reflection as a matter of daily living in their respective city ministries. This network of ministries teams in North America is doing more theologically because they are concerned with more than the “seed”, the Word of God; they are also concerned with the “soil”, the context in which they are ministering. Typically, missionaries will reflect deeply on their context, the people and the cultures represented in the place where they are ministering. But far too rarely do ministers in the North American context reflect with true missionary intent on the theology of place.

Our Student Mobilization Centre team plans to follow their lead in a couple ways.

• First, we plan to have several of our class lecture times for our mobile School of University Ministries & Missions (SUMM) in a dozen cities in N. America in coffee houses and student lounge areas. 
• Second, rather than fly speakers to us, we’re going to the lecturers, campus ministry leaders, in their context. We’re inviting them to exegete their university community. 

We’re starting the first week of the SUMM at the URBANA Student Mission Convention (Dec. 27-31, 2012), where all participants will also be representing YWAM Int’l at our exhibit booth. We’re partnering with YWAM Emerge, traveling with their band, doing mobilization events in cities in the Midwest and Northeast USA. So all SUMM participants will also be recruiting on this mobile mobilization school. 

We welcome you to participate with us according to your ability or calling:

1. YWAM: If your YWAM ministry team needs a recruiting boost, and you are praying about engaging the colleges/universities in your city, this mobile SUMM may be just right for you or a member of your team. Go here for details and application.
2. Ministry/Project Leaders: If you could use interns at your ministry location, the mobile SUMM will be recruiting students for internship around the world. Go here for details and an online application.
3. Student Group: If you are with a student ministry or church interested in having us do a missions mobilization and/or prayer event with live band and an awesome challenge to respond to the Call of God and you are in Madison, WI, Minneapolis, MN, East Lansing or Ann Arbor, MI, Boston, MA, New Haven, CT, Williamstown, MA, Charlotte, NC, Pittsburgh, PA, or anywhere near those major cities, contact us. We would love to invite you to an event.  

In Him,

John Henry

UofN Student Mobilization Centre

StudentMobilizationCentre.com

“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory. But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. 2 Cor. 10:12-18

All young leaders need encouragement, and sometimes correction. Some young leaders are timid, always looking inward, and wanting circumstances to be “right” before they can faithfully fulfill the call of God. Other young leaders seek to do too much too soon. They idolize celebrity preachers seeking to by-pass the growth period and discipline necessary to produce lasting fruit. They repeat what they have heard, the stories of those they idolize, but fail to endure hardships that prove God’s faithfulness in their own lives. In order for “our sphere of activity among you [to] greatly expand,” as Paul the apostle suggests, we need both a clear vision and a work in “regions beyond you.”

In fairness to young leaders, it is also true that too often older leaders- those who ought to be mature, “boast” of their vision to “change the world.” See James Davidson Hunter’s book, To Change the World.) Hunter provides a penetrating appraisal of several approaches of Christian leaders to change the world. He highlights their inherent flaws and the presumption of ministry leaders. What is too often ignored is this: change implies power. Christians seeking to change the world have all eventually embraced strategies of political engagement. Sadly however, few Christians are taught a theology of power or how to engage the world.

In this post, I am offering an important foundational understanding necessary to grow as leaders and ministries as we obey Christ’s command to “make disciples of nations,” to change the world.

There is a tension in any growth. Babies cry when they are teething and small children cry when their bones are growing. There is always a painful maturing process if we are to grow. It is painful for an individual to grow in giftings and calling. It is painful for a ministry to develop leadership teams. And it is painful for families of churches, ministries, and organizations to learn to network and cooperate in their calling to make disciples of nations.

During the past 1500+ years, the Church has been led by people, mostly men, with two primary giftings: pastors and teachers. The tension of growth naturally feels uncomfortable for anyone, but especially painful for pastors and teachers. Both pastors and teachers want to protect and teach their members in a safe environment of learning and growing in the Lord. A safe place to hear and study the Bible is very important. I thank God for the protection and wisdom of leaders who watch and pray in Christian communities. However, putting too much emphasis on safety and a kind of lecture-style learning-without-doing will stifle the growth of leaders and ministries.

We Need Everyone to Help

Have you heard that before? “We all need to help right now!” When we work with a ministry or church, including a Youth With A Mission location, we are challenged to take up the urgent issues that frequently emerge in any growing ministry. YWAM particularly, at its foundation, is a pioneering apostolic organization. There will always be an urgent call to reach into “regions beyond.” This is consistent with YWAM’s global calling. Why? Because there will never be enough people, money, or time to do all we are called to do. Actually, it’s also consistent with the calling of any church community. Jesus did tell all of his followers to “Go into all the world…” (Mk. 16:15) and “Make disciples of every nation.” (Mt. 28:18-19)

When a church or ministry location leader calls his or her staff team or volunteer leaders to help in the urgent issues of the moment, every one of them is under pressure to lay aside their “primary call,” if they know what that is. Their “primary call” may or may not be directly related to the urgent issue at hand. This urgent call is always to action, rebelling against the status quo, and not to the tension-free lecture hall experience of most church experiences. Of course, this tension between individual and corporate callings presents an opportunity to grow and mature in the Lord far more fruitfully than if they remain in a safe, secure, and relatively inactive lecture setting.

It is not only the proactive call to action that creates this tension; it also comes as a reaction to crisis. When times are tough, the natural tendency of any community, including a YWAM community, is to hunker down, to enter into a spiritual warfare mode. It may or may not be readily apparent, but “battle lines” are increasingly drawn, and the whole community is mobilized to meet the urgent challenge of the moment through prayer, sacrificial giving, and long hours of sacrificial service. Making this kind of urgent call is actually proper for pioneering and apostolic leaders and it is proper for the community to rally to help.

However, if this rallying to help is not sufficiently aimed toward the apostolic purposes of reaching new spheres or territories, the community will become in-grown. If the reactive “battle” rages on and on without time for reflection, for creative and re-creative thinking, and without releasing initiatives of pioneering activity, the members of the community will grow weary. (Of course, the community may also become ingrown where there is no “battle cry,” where the members of the community are without direction and focus. We can discuss this in a later post.)

When there is a continual “battle,” the community can take on an “us against the world” cultural ethos. If unchecked, this ethos can result in organizational silos growing taller. Those organizational silos can be departmentalism within an organization, or they can become wider organizational silos between political groups, church denominations, or cultural Christian identities. When it happens in a ministry or church, worldviews shrink, attitudes narrow and positions tighten. Unaware, the increasingly in-grown community will begin to find fault in the leaders and criticize anything that makes them feel uncomfortable. Some members seeking to grow may feel disloyal, and they may be labeled “rebellious” if they raise questions that point out an increasingly ingrown ethos.

About the Apostolic and Prophetic

This tension between the ministry organization or church community and the apostolic visionary impulse to pioneer is normal. This is what Paul is writing about to the Corinthian community about “spheres of activity” greatly expanding into “regions beyond.” However, this expansion of growth does not automatically occur; it requires spiritual leaders with apostolic and prophetic gifts, those with vision to expand ministry outside cultural boundaries, and those who bring a “check” or correction to leaders and communities who cannot see outside their cultural boundaries.

This “check” against organizational silos comes from a prophetic gifting. Prophets are called to “build up,” but they are also called to “tear down.”

See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and teardown, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” Jeremiah 1:10

Perhaps the reason the Church has splintered into hundreds of denominations and local churches split and individuals hop from church community to church community is because their has not been a sufficient understanding and appreciation for the apostolic and prophetic leadership giftings? Perhaps our communities would grow more and more in unity if we appreciated all five of the leadership gifts Christ gave to the Church, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers?

Just a thought. What do you think?

∞

This message of resurrection became a theme for the remainder of the global gathering. John Dawson shared how the elders of YWAM, our Global Leadership Forum, met in Mexico recently. They focused on several things, including Eldership.

Our elders asked many questions, which John Dawson shared with us during the global online meeting today.

What are your circles of covenantal love? What kind of agreement does that produce? How should we appoint what is lacking in our groupings?

What is the principle of Eldership?
Is it merely gathering in prayer and “covering” people? Is it merely older, more mature people? Or is it also walking in agreement and standing in the gap on behalf of others and on behalf of the future.
Is it not also to receive words from the Lord and declare His thoughts? Is it not releasing into the heavens the intents God has for a group through the power of agreement?

Do you really know one another personally? Do you meet together and pray? If you are praying, can you really cover one another if you don’t know each other? Can you protect one another from the spirit of contention? When you meet with love, John Dawson suggests, ask each other personal questions with affection and kindness. By doing so, you will be creating an altar of agreement so that the “work” of the ministry can be accomplished with God’s blessing.

John shared much of the word from the Lord given by Loren Cunningham during the Global Leadership Forum meetings. Loren encourages us all to follow the biblical injunction to make altars of worship.

An altar was made of stones, each of which is unique. They are an example of unity in diversity. Each altar is different, as each individual contributes to its creation in unity. Paraphrasing the apostle Peter, “We are like living stones built together as a holy priesthood.”

This eldership is not something we delegate to others. This is something we do in the grace of God with an authority that comes through unity in the place of prayer.

To overcome the spirit of fear in our communities, we need unity in eldership. Most of us face fears, not as triumphalists, but with a complete dependence on the grace of God. In that dependence and in the unity of the Spirit, we have powerful authority to bind the spirits of darkness that would attack our communities and those to whom we serve.

To close the global online gathering, John Dawson exhorted us and led to pray in the power of agreement over the things that are broken, the dreams and hopes, that have been broken. We prayed together and took up each others causes in love.

Though some may have been tramatized by loss, we declared together in the Spirit and we appealed to the Lord to heal and restore and resurrect those things. We released over the global YWAM family, a new day of beginnings in the grace of God.

“He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves.” 2 Cor. 5:15

As I was teaching, I stressed the importance of Jesus message: “He said ‘Repent!”  Who was Jesus speaking to? He was speaking to Jews. He was preaching the gospel of the kingdom, which calls for the necessity to “repent.”

Think about it. Jesus was preaching to those who were already assured of their covenant relationship with God. They needed to repent. How about you?

“He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves.” This is the gospel of the kingdom. People who live ultimately for themselves are not living the Christian life.

The gospel of the kingdom begins with one word: REPENT. It doesn’t say, “Accept Jesus in your heart.” The gospel of the kingdom is not just about going to heaven. The gospel is about changing individual lives, however it is also about changing everything, changing whole cultures, including our own.

So, to begin, it is about individuals. It’s about the conscience. It’s about heart transformation, a heart that is tender and obedient. That nasty word, repent, is difficult to use in the modern world. Flaky people use the word “repent.”  Call me flaky; I’ll follow Jesus. Jesus said:

This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Mt. 24:14)

Before we continue, we need to clarify the definition of the kingdom of God. I presented a question to the Perspectives participants: “If you had a map and a set of keys, which best represents the kingdom of God?”

Let’s consider first a map:

Has “this gospel” been preached everywhere? Is the gospel of the kingdom about claiming territory for Jesus? Yes and No. Yes, it is about claiming territory, but not in the way it has historically been done by the Crusader-type sword-bearing missionaries of European nations. The kingdom is not about a realm or land. What is the kingdom then?

Let’s consider the keys:  

Jesus compared the gospel of the kingdom to keys (Matthew 16:19), which represent authority. All authority has been given to Jesus Christ. There is no kingdom without the King. The kingdom is defined by allegiance and obedience to a good King. The gospel is the message of Jesus. The dramatic historical events of the New Testament, Jesus birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and his appearing to many is the gospel. Jesus is the gospel. He is the King. (1 Cor. 15)  The King gave the command to all of his followers saying:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. – Matthew 28:18-20

So then, is the gospel of the kingdom, obedience to the King, preached to all nations? Are we discipling nations?

We have churches. Some cities have big beautiful cathedrals, with few members or attenders. Some mega-churches are attracting tens of thousands of attenders. Some nations have majority populations of “christians,” such as Malawi with nearly 90% christians. However, Malawi has been among the poorest in Africa and the world. Malawi has been among the worst in corruption and the highest in infant mortality. Has “this gospel” or the number of “christians” made a difference?

Perhaps you are from the United States or another Western nation where the gospel has been influencing the nations toward a more just and more merciful society. Agreed. Western nations, where the gospel has been preached for centuries, have more just governments and better living conditions. But let’s take another look.

The latest U.S. Census shows in 2009, there was no difference in the rates of divorce and abortions between the more progressive citizens of Oregon and  the Bible-belt citizens of North Carolina. The murder rate in North Carolina is double that of Oregon. And did you know the United States has more prisoners than any other nation, including China. The USA has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.

Landa Cope, author of the Old Testament Template writes:

Christian pollster George Barna finds there is “no significant difference” between the behavior of people in the United States who call themselves born-again Christian and those who do not make that claim. Muslim evangelists in Africa ask, “What does Christianity do for the people?” The answer today is nothing. Nothing changes. The churches get bigger. More and more people get saved. But nothing changes. They are still poor, diseased, uneducated, and left in political and economic chaos.

Perhaps this seems is unfair, and perhaps a bit too pessimistic. Certainly, over the long stretch of history, Jesus has been doing his work of building his Church as a witness for all nations. True. Isn’t life better where the gospel has been preached? Yes, materially. For example, the per capita annual income in the USA is over $45,000 compared to $980 in Malawi.

On the other hand, we need to get honest, the positive influences of the gospel in culture do not happen in a moment. And some of those positive influences require tearing down before there can be a building up. Jesus prophesied the destruction of the Second Temple, freeing the Israelites from their bondage to tradition, but it took about 60 years for the prophecy to be fulfilled. And the destruction of that temple, which God intended to be a place of welcome for all nations, resulted in the complete destruction of Jerusalem. Israel had been called to be a “light to the nations” (Isa. 51:4), but they failed. Jesus himself became the representative of Israel, fulfilling Israel’s calling.

The destruction of the Second Temple amplifies the importance of the message of the kingdom. We must not cling to our cultural traditions, no matter how good the original intention. He is the King! His gospel will be preached Are we preaching and obeying the message of Jesus?

 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 3:2

Have we heard this gospel of the kingdom?

The gospel of the kingdom is not merely about personal salvation, saving yourself for heaven, which ultimately serves the selfish interests of sinful people. It’s not about personal incomes and comfort. It’s not about us building a church and a “christian culture” to which we invite others to enter. It’s about Jesus sending us out of our comforts and our culture to preach a message for every other culture. It’s about Jesus building His Church, which is the extension of his family. However, that family looks different in every culture.

The gospel of the kingdom is an all-encompassing declaration of Jesus as King, over our individual hearts and over every culture. It’s a radical message, which I fear many of us still have not heard.

On my next post, I will pursue this message of the kingdom further. We will consider the powerful influence of “teachers,” and the “leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” that Jesus warned his disciples about.

The SUMM is UofN Student Mobilization Centre’s core training for all YWAM staff and students serving university students. (UofN Code: STU/HMT 293). The following is a rationale and purpose statement for the next SUMM in North America, scheduled to begin on December 27, 2012 at the URBANA Student Missions Convention in St. Louis, MO.

Mobile SUMM North America 2012-2013

During 2011, we convened two Consultations, one in Northfield, MA and one in San Francisco, CA, where we met leaders representing several new YWAM campus ministries which have emerged in the past few years in North America. The universities in North America represent a particularly urgent context with strategic importance to the future of the Western missions movement and the need for partnership with the new majority Church outside the West. It is time to cultivate and assist those new ministries and equip leaders for greater effectiveness and growth through collaboration and pioneering new ministries.

The SMC’s commitment to student involvement in world missions will be evidenced not only in the curriculum of the SUMM, but also through active mobilization and prayer with potential student volunteers at various campus events during the North American Mobile SUMM.

Since 1986, SMC’s Field Ministry Internships (FMI), the principal program of the SMC, has mobilized students from over 100 different colleges/universities onto 75 internship teams in over 35 countries. We have mobilized students, as learners and not experts, for every sphere of society. To date, the FMI program has been designed by and directed by SMC leaders. Beginning with this SUMM, we are making a change to the FMI program; we are emphasizing internship placements.

Participants in this Mobile SUMM will not only practically experience the mobilization process at events, they will also be involved in the planning and coordination of internship projects for which they are recruiting students. Every SUMM participant will identify Field Partners (YWAM and non-YWAM organizations) to help them design and register their own internship programs for students in 2012 & 2013. During the SUMM, we plan to have 100 internship FMI Field Partner Hosts and their Field Projects posted on the SMC website.

We are championing university students to serve Christ’s Great Commission through their life-work. Students and Associate Field Partners are challenged to partner together in the next major wave of collaborative missions and holistic witness in and from university communities worldwide.

North American Mobile SUMM Context:

Today’s university students are more diverse, more pluralistic, more internationally aware, and more cross-culturally connected than previous generations. Students travel abroad and study abroad more than any previous generation. The number of internationals studying in the United States has more than doubled in the past twenty years, from 325 thousand to well over 700 thousand today, most of whom are from nations in the 10/40 window. Those seeking to plant churches among unreached peoples ought to make ministry to these strategic persons a priority. International concern about human tragedy and injustice, such as impure water, human traffiking, and HIV/AIDS orphans, have captured the conscience of this generation. Today’s students, both Christian and non-Christian, are seeking to make a difference and they are seeking a vital community that shares their concerns. Christian students, many of whom have desperate need for family and community, are at the same time seeking God for his justice and his mercy to be extended through a shared vision of a community and through their own life’s work.

North American Mobile SUMM Strategic Objectives:

This twelve-week interdisciplinary course emphasizes the impact and strategic importance of the mobilization of students toward their life work and calling. It is the SMC’s objective to recruit, equip, and place student volunteers ready to practically serve communities caught in a cycle of poverty resulting from unproductive worldviews. International Student Ministries (ISM) are a priority of the SMC. It is our objective to help North American YWAM centers within reasonable reach of university communities to adopt this priority. In addition, we will be encouraging YWAMers and former YWAMers currently enrolled in university to form missional communities with fellow students. It is the aim of the SMC for students to learn more deeply the importance of a biblical worldview, their calling from God, and what it means to love our global neighbor. Participants in the SUMM will therefore:

• Examine and practice teaching how God’s calling relates to the destiny of nations.
• Research the migration of students, the growing international student population, and learn how to equip university students for effective witness in their generation and in various areas of society: arts, business, education, government, media, science and technology.
• Gain understanding and practical knowledge of university student ministries as a mission strategy with particular application the variety of cultures in the North American context.
• Study the historical and biblical basis of university student ministries,
• Learn how to lead an intensive and integrated discipleship and outreach experience, and
• Gain practical instruction for pioneering and leading a campus ministry and for leading Field Ministry Internships.

We accomplish our objectives through a four-part strategy, which will be applied to this SUMM:

• We Gather - We will gather students & leaders from university communities in several North American cities through mobilization events.

• We Train – We will further develop curriculum through contextual and practical research in university communities in North America.

• We Send – We will recruit students for 100 different service projects related to global human need, their individual fields of studies, and their future influence in the spheres of society. Students will have opportunity to participate in short-term outreaches, serve long-term field projects, and discern their life-work and calling.

• We Network – We will cultivate missional collaboration and partnerships with various organizations, churches, and agencies in and around university communities in North America for the purpose of mobilizing an emerging generation of student volunteers serving Christ’s Great Commission.

North American Mobile SUMM Plan:

This Mobile SUMM in North America will visit several cities to observe and serve some of the most effective campus ministries and leaders. The SUMM mobile community will participate in and/or help organize mobilization events in several cities, including St. Louis, MO for the URBANA 2012 Intervarsity Student Missions Convention (Dec. 27-31, 2012). Every SUMM participant will enroll with the expectation of participating as one of the YWAM international exhibitors at the URBANA 2012 event. (SUMM tuition fees will include URBANA 2012 exhibitor registrations fees.)

SUMM Staff:

SUMM staff assignments are limited to those who have completed the School of University Ministries & Missions -or- current YWAM staff with a Four-Year College Degree and Student Ministries Leadership Seminar (STU 195). All staff members for the North American SUMM will make a full 12 month commitment, in order that they may serve as participant mentor/overseers for SUMM Field Assignments.

SUMM Values:

The Foundational Values of Youth With A Mission are integrated into the teaching/learning experience in a variety of ways. The Values we find most closely relating to the School of University Ministries are:

1. Godly Character & Servant Leadership: SMC seeks to build Godly character and demonstrate principles of servant leadership; humility and integrity are essential to produce in the student a trusting relationship with God.
2. Championing the potential of young people: The SMC seeks to mobilize today’s university students recognizing this population may be the most potent missionary force on earth.
3. All ministries and functions are equal in the Kingdom of God: the SMC course seeks to promote calling in relation to a broadened understanding of the character and ways of God to reach and teach all nations;
4. Commitment to the Word of God: SMC is committed to the authority of the Word of God, to seeking to know and hear God’s voice, and to a lifestyle of intercessory prayer.
5. Visionary: Students come with a desire for revelation of how their field of study in university (other than the UofN) relates to God’s call on their life. The SMC curriculum is designed to foster the development of that vision.
6. Great Commission & Discipling Nations: Believing that the Gospel of Jesus can transform not only individual lives but the structures of society, SMC is dedicated to fulfilling the Great Commission to disciple all nations.
7. Hospitality: The Biblical meaning of hospitality is ‘friend of the foreigner’. God has always instructed His people to love and care for the strangers and sojourners in their land;
8. Communication: SUMM participants will communicate and methodically follow up with students and leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures. Participants will articulate succinctly and clearly what today’s students need to be able to serve as missionaries in a 21st century mission field, emphasizing YWAM’s commitment to the Christian Magna Carta and a spirit of collaboration in response to dramatic shifts in the Church globally and extraordinary economic and societal crises. Communicating to mobilize students on cross-cultural, serving-learning experiences is an integral part of YWAM’s discipleship of students in every campus ministry location.

If you or someone you know would be interested in the SUMM course in North America or another part of the world, or if you can host the North American Mobile SUMM for a campus event at one of the cities we plan to visit (St. Louis, Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston, Baltimore, Richmond, Atlanta), or if you know of an organization leading a project that needs interns to serve and learn for a few weeks or a full semester, contact us. We’ll be really glad to help you connect with this exciting series of events.

#2
A “New” Kind of Church Minister: George Isley
My pastor, George Isley, who went to be with the Lord five years ago, modeled a kind of leadership in the Church that is, from my perspective as a missionary of 25+ years, too rarely seen. One of George’s classmates, Dr. Don Lundgren, Missions Minister at College Church in Northampton, MA, said George had been [...]

#3
Introduction to Missional Collaboration
As I develop a new training course on Missional Collaboration for the University of the Nations, I will be unveiling several aspects of the course through this blog. Today’s post originates from one of my papers and in response to an article on the Trinity by Mark Avery, professor of a course on Collaboration at [...]

#4
New, Old Meaning for Hospitality
Hospitality has taken on fresh meaning to me lately. I’ll explain. I understood hospitality to be mainly “friendship with the stranger,” and NOT primarily how to set your table to impress your dinner guests. Welcoming strangers, radical as that view seemed, isn’t broad enough. Recently, while doing some research on church eldership, the word hospitality [...]

#5
Table Fellowship
Our table is the center of our home. It’s the place our family comes together, the place we welcome friends, neighbors, and strangers. We invite others into the kitchen where we chop and sauté vegetables, bake bread, stir sauces, pour the fruit of the vine (juice or wine, you choose), and prepare to savor the [...]

#6
History: Adoniram Judson
In September 1809, college student Adoniram Judson began to ponder seriously the subject of foreign missions. At the age of twenty-one, he had just finished his first year of theological studies at Andover. Judson read a sermon which was preached in the parish church of Bristol, England, by Dr. Claudius Buchanan. Buchanan had been a [...]

#7
Calling: What I’m looking for…
U2 singer songwriter Bono expresses a spiritual yearning in the 1987 album The Joshua Tree hit single: “Still haven’t found what I’m looking for…”  New Musical Express (a pop music mag in the UK better known as the NME), points out that the popularity of the song may be due to the way it showed [...]

#8
Easter Note: Holiness is Intimacy with God
“What language should I borrow, to thank Thee dearest friend, for this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end? O make me Thine forever, And should I fainting be, Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.” This line comes from “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” a 12th century hymn by Bernard of [...]

#9
Henry’s Hawai’i
Sitting here warming in the sun and listening to the gentle spash of the waves along the jagged lava rock of the Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawai’i, I find it difficult to believe this is where a tsunami slammed the small shopping center along the shore on March 11, 2011. That contrast [...]

#10
Holiness is MORE than Intimacy with God
At Easter I wrote about Holiness, that holiness is intimacy with God. (Here’s that post.) I described how Bernard of Clairvaux’s 14th century hymn, O Sacred Head Now Wounded, was a personal and public pre-Reformation plea for intimate relationship with Christ. I return to this subject because I did not adequately describe the beauty and [...]

#11 Special Tribute:
It Happened at a Haystack
I first learned of the monument on the Williams College campus in 1988 while researching student missions. In 2006, I joined several student ministries leaders from across the nation at the 200th anniversary of the event that led to the establishing of this memorial. Do you know why there is a monument on the small [...]

Thank you for a great year! – John Henry

‘… Yet if the gross national product measures all of this, there is much that it does not include. It measures neither the health of our children, the quality of their education, nor the joy of their play. It measures neither the beauty of our poetry, nor the strength of our marriages. It pays no heed to the intelligence of our public debate, nor the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our wit, nor our courage, neither our compassion nor our devotion to country. It measures everything in short, except that which makes life worth living, and it can tell us everything about our country except those things that make us proud to be a part of it.’

Robert Kennedy, US Senator;
Kansas city, 1968.

Amid all the protests of 2011, Robert Kennedy’s words are a timely reminder of what is really important for the citizens of a nation. Of course, the famous words of Jesus of Nazareth are most appropriate for the citizens of his kingdom.  Jesus instructed his disciples by telling a story about a king that went on a journey. He told them to “Occupy Until I Come.” He told them to stop concerning themselves about when the end of the world would come (hello 2012!) or when the world would somehow suddenly have justice (hello “Occupy”). Instead he told them to remain faithful and fruitful in their life and work.

Ps. 90:12 (Message) reads:  “Teach us to live wisely and well!”

Before this New Year begins, stop a moment to consider making these three things your priorities for 2012. I’m convinced by doing so, we will avoid the dead-ends of life, such as climbing the corporate ladder, joining a protest movement, or sitting in a religious sanctuary waiting for the return of the king. Instead of measuring our bank accounts or the days until Jesus returns, we can choose to measure what is really important.

1.  Be Creative. 

Eleanor Roosevelt said it well, “‎Do one thing everyday that scares you.”  Invest the time to do that big project you hoped to do “someday.”  I’m not getting any younger. I’ve been around the world several times, but I still have very big dreams. So, this year I recommit to getting some big projects started and some smaller projects accomplished. This year, I recommit to closing the door and shutting myself off from distractions so I may finish my book manuscript and seek to get it published. I also recommit to a radical redesign of our student outreaches. By the end of 2012, I commit to identifying 100 Field Projects for student outreaches doing things like volunteering in orphanages and clinics in China, helping start businesses in the Middle East, and teaching forgiveness in war-torn cities of Africa and Ireland.

What about you? Stop dreaming and start doing.  There’s no better time than now.

If you have dreams, or ideas that you think would change the world for the better, write them down.

^“And then God answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time.” Habukkuk 2:3 (Message)

2.  Enter the Story

The thought of making New Year’s resolutions is a bit annoying. Lose weight? Pay off debt? If you are like me, you can get a bit overwhelmed with the realities of life. Paying bills, family pressures, deadlines to meet, and the barrage of bad news and suffering we read about and see on the nightly news, it’s too much to handle. And yet, this is our reality. It’s a drama playing out in our lives and the lives of our families and neighbors. Some may seek escape from the pain with a diversion. That diversion may start as a harmless hobby and become an obsession, a wall around your heart to protect you from seeing and hearing the suffering all around. Whether you drown your sorrows with a six-pack of Budweiser, smother the pain with another brownie, or  resolve to lose the weight, fit in those jeans, and buy that new car, you may have lost something important along the way. You’ve lost your story.

This year I am committing to enter the story more fully, to listen, and pay greater attention to the drama playing out all around me. I recommit to engaging with the grand narrative through prayer.

“Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.” Matt. 26:40b-41

When we are wide awake, we can learn the art of storytelling. I recommit to learning from the stories of the Bible. But I want to learn from the stories playing out on the world’s stage, in my neighborhood, and in my family. I also want to learn from the great fiction writers. Their stories may not be “true,” but it’s “truth.”

3. Enjoy God’s Presence and Listen to His Voice

If you are reading this post, you are likely “connected” to Facebook or Twitter and the expanding blogosphere. I’ve found it tempting to get distracted, to check Facebook before reading the Bible in the morning. True, God can speak to you through a friend’s post. However, you need your time with the Father. In order to share the good news of the Father’s love with a hurting world, you and I need to first enjoy his presence. I recommit to time with my dearest friend, my hope, and my king in 2012. I love his presence.

Though I may experience pressures and fears of failure, and though I may not have a lot of money, I know I have a calling from God to fulfill. He’s my source and my supply. He does not call the qualified; he qualifies the called. The concern for paying bills and raising funds sufficient to accomplish all that God has called me to do may weigh heavy on my, but when I am in his presence there is joy and hope with faith to fulfill all he asks of me.

Whether you are rich or poor, we all have the same precious and practical asset. It isn’t money or even knowledge; it’s time.  I read recently that time is the currency of the most successful people in the world.  My prayer for you in 2012 is that you really live in the time you have this year, that you really live each day before the face of God.

Oh! Teach us to live well!
Teach us to live wisely and well!
Come back, God—how long do we have to wait?—
and treat your servants with kindness for a change.
Surprise us with love at daybreak;
then we’ll skip and dance all the day long.
Make up for the bad times with some good times;
we’ve seen enough evil to last a lifetime.
Let your servants see what you’re best at—
the ways you rule and bless your children.
And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us,
confirming the work that we do.
Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!

^{Ps. 90:12-17}

 - John Henry

P.S. We’re making changes to internships, helping Field Partner organizations register their own internship program and student outreach opportunities on our website. Soon, all Field Projects will be posted on the site. We are seeking 100 Field Projects. Know of a project that needs some short term assistance? Go to: www.studentmobilizationcentre.com

SMC Objectives:

1. To foster missional partnerships, placing interns to serve field projects worldwide.
2. To recruit and place students and staff ready to serve and learn a biblical worldview as a missional strategy worldwide.
3. To establish an international coordination office, including guest house, study center, and library.

At first I feel Christmas pressure, a negative reaction to the appearance of Santa in shopping malls. Have you noticed he’s earlier every year? What are they going to do, have him sit on pumpkins next year? I react to the World’s Way trying to press me into it’s mold. That first wave of pressure makes me resist shopping. So I put off shopping to the last week or so, until after a careful look at my budget. It’s not that I don’t want to give gifts; I just want to give freely, and without all the commercial expectation.

The Appearing of Christ at Christmas

That early phase of unholy pressure begins to fade as the date draws near. My heart warms to a different expectation. I begin to hope for the appearing of the Christ of Christmas. But then I notice the World’s reaction. Here in Madison, the Freedom from Religion foundation objects to a Christmas tree on public property and so they protest by placing a fake crèche and a baby girl doll and Thomas Jefferson figurine in the Wisconsin State Capitol. Sadly, those who reject Christ are stuck in a world without hope, a Darwinian world where survival of the fittest remains the ultimate value. The hopelessness of a purely materialist worldview will drive people to seek significance and happiness in material things, including saving the planet.

Then, the deep hope of Christ’s appearing takes new root again in my heart. Slowly, subtly, I find the grace to celebrate the birth of Christ. I realize that the expectation of his appearing is not complete in merely remembering that manger scene, where the Son of God was born 2000 years ago. He has come. He is Emanuel, God with us.

The expectation of Christmas, the Advent season, is his appearing AGAIN. He is coming. And all creation is longing for his appearing. That same longing is for the appearance of the sons of God, the Body of Christ. Not only will Christ Jesus come, he will set all things right.

Because we received the free Christmas gift

Meanwhile, the sons of God, those of us who have received the free Christmas gift of faith, are urged to “appear” with Christmas gifts. We’re called to make things right, reconciling relationships of all sorts, in his Name. We’re called to reconcile all relationships, beginning with our relationship with Him.

We “appear” as “Sons” when we love God and our neighbors. The Christmas season is the time to be reconciled with family, with our community, and with our nation (despite political differences), It is the time to be reconciled with our world. It is wrong to reject the world, the world to which Jesus was sent, because he loves the world.

Receive and Give the Free Gifts of Christmas

This Christmas, we can receive again the free gift of our world and we can choose to love it. We can love the amazing creative structure of our world, and we can help reconcile the mis-direction, the way of the World.

This Christmas, may you enjoy the wondrous appearing of Christ again in your family, in your world. Have a blessed Christmas!

And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. (Luke 19:13 KJV)

This call to “occupy” is not new. Jesus of Nazareth told a story to his followers to encourage them, especially the ones who were asking if the kingdom would appear right away. They asked, “Will we live in a world with justice and mercy today?”

Interestingly, the people in the story actually “hated” the king. According to the Message, a popular common language translation of the Bible, those who hated the king…

“…sent a commission with a signed petition to oppose his rule: ‘We don’t want this man to rule us.’ (Luke 19:14 MSG)

What does it mean “to occupy”?
Well, according to this ancient use of the term, it refers to good stewardship. Those who were faithful to what the king entrusted to them, those who increased the King’s wealth, were given more than they already had. And to those who did not faithfully invest his wealth, the king took away everything.

Why was this the story Jesus told when asked if he was going to establish his kingdom now?

Perhaps the cry for justice in the heart of every generation can help us understand.

Most people do not want a king. They do not want to serve another, to be faithful to the cause of another. Most would choose not to trust a leader. While crying out for justice, they would reject the most faithful, the most merciful, and the most just leader the world has ever known. Few would see the importance of their own faithfulness.

Most did not, and still do not recognize him. He hid his identity in his humanity. Born in a little corner of a Roman Client State, Palestine. Entrusted to human parents of a middle eastern tribal people, Israel. Jesus was born a king. And only young shepherds and angels knew it. A few odd astrologers too.

Jesus, the son of God, preferred to be addressed as “son of man.” He occupied a human body. And, even after being rejected and killed by those to whom he came to love, he did not reject his creation. Raised in a resurrected body, he occupies that body today.

And he will return, no matter how many Freedom from Religion petitions are circulated, or similar petitions rejecting leaders. No matter how many continue to hate the thought of anyone being their leader, Jesus will return as king.

Have you been “occupying” in anticipation of the king’s return? Have you been faithful with what he has entrusted to you?

He is coming soon. In this Christmas season, may we all occupy our human bodies, our neighborhoods, and our world with the same attitude that Jesus did. Though he was privileged, he became a servant of all.

Have a blessed Christmas!

Watch the Video and go to Perspectives.org to find a class near you.

Field Ministry Internship - Health Care India 2007

In order to become a Field Partner with SMC, your organization must be leading (or in partnership with an in-country organization) a Field Project, which will at least:

• Have a history (at least 2 full years) of serving the poor, excluded, and/or vulnerable people for the purpose of alleviating poverty or reducing vulnerability.
• Be registered as a legal entity in your country of operation. (Note: We understand that the Field Host may not qualify. For this reason, we encourage the Field Host to place students with legally registered organizations.)
• Provide opportunities for the intern(s) to practice and/or research components of your Field Project related to the intern’s field of study.
• Provide the intern a weekly schedule, including participation in your community/team practices of worship and intercessory prayer, and community living work duties. The FMI intern will function in the regular schedule as if he/she were a member of the Field Project staff team.
• Be personally available to the intern(s) for advising, including at least a (one-hour) One-on-One interview at regular weekly intervals. You will agree to offer timely and candid feedback on the quantity and quality of the intern’s work.
• Provide a short online evaluation on the intern’s performance at monthly intervals (after every 30 days at your location) and upon completion of the internship term. All hours accumulated by the intern will be signed off by the Field Project Internship host supervisor.

What SMC Offers:

• We offer you the widest possible participation in the internship program decision-making. We want you to actively engage in the process. We agree to actively recruit qualified student interns on your behalf if you allow us to post your Field Project opportunity on the SMC web site and at various mobilization and recruiting events throughout 2012 and 2013.
• With your help, we are creating a registry of 100 Field Projects for university student internships to be displayed at YWAM International’s URBANA 2012 Exhibit. Registration as a Host for student interns is just $50 USD until June 1, 2012. After that date, the fee will be $100 USD.

Ready?