Missions Conference

European missionaries first brought the gospel to Namibia back in the mid-1800s. Conversion rates took off so that Christianity has become widely imbedded in traditional life. Today we regularly hear statistics boasting that Namibia is considered 90% Christian (although JoshuaProject.net suggests only about 12.5% of those are Bible-believing, followers of Christ). Regardless of the accuracy of those statistics, the reality is that Namibia is strategically positioned to become a key source for sending out future mission workers.

Therefore, SIM Namibia recently helped host a National Missions Conference to inspire and promote a missional mindset among local church pastors and leaders. We invited the president of a Ghanaian mission board to come as our main speaker, and had workshops by the regional directors for SIM and AIM. We also had a panel of local Namibian mission workers who shared about their experiences and challenges. Some of the main themes included how Namibians can be mobilized to be part of God's mission force, how we can financially support mission from Namibia, and how we can encourage the local church to be involved in missions. Overall we gathered about 55 attendees over two-day conference, some traveling as far as 8-hrs away to attend. The feedback was very positive and all those who attended were very encouraged and suggested we make this an annual event!

The diversity in the audience helped show
how we need to all work together in mission.

A huge prayer circle to close off the conference

All our conference attendees

African Mobilization Consultation

A long time ago I wrote in my journal, "May I never pursue a vision so small that it can be fully accomplished in my own power." At the time, I didn't really know what that vision would be. It started with a vision for training Namibian youth workers. But over the past few years, I think I've been gradually shifting toward something a bit bigger.

Gathering of African mission leaders

There have been a few monumental shifts that have helped shape the history of missions. You could start right in the NT with the gospel going to the Gentiles, or more recently, the advent of mission agencies and the modern mission movement, and the focus toward unreached peoples. The latest shift happening within our generation is the mission force changing from "the West to the rest" to "from anywhere to everywhere." What that means is that places which have traditionally received missionaries are now sending missionaries.

Since 2018, there are more people who profess Christianity in Africa than on any other continent in the world. By 2050, they project there will be more Christians in Africa than on the next two most prevalent continents (Europe & Latin America) combined! So that means the future of the mission force in the next generations could be predominately African! But what we need now are Christian leaders and strategies that will help facilitate this shift.

Discussing challenges of mission

This past week I've been at a consultation of mission leaders from across the continent discussing how we can mobilize Africans and African churches for involvement in global missions. There is no shortage of challenges that need to be addressed, but we heard some encouraging stories of how it's already working (AfriGO magazine is trying to capture some of these stories). I don't think it's an understatement to say this moment in history that we're living can have a monumental impact on the future of missions for generations to come. And I'm excited to be in such a strategic place to be part of that by helping figure out how to send out Namibian missionaries to the least reached places of the world. That's definitely a God-sized vision! 😄

God told Habakkuk, "Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe even if you were told" (Hab 1:5). Something similar could be said of our day. God's word is going out to the nations, and He's using Africans to take it!

TMN: Mission Boot Camp

December 12 was a day that we had been planning and praying for since the beginning of the year, and now it was finally here. It was time for Teen Mission Namibia! The staff had gone to Elim Training Center the night before for a little orientation and prep. Then the morning of the 12th we met up at the bus station with the six participants who had committed a week of their Christmas holiday to participate in God's mission. Team members ranged from 18-24 yrs old, and came from various towns and churches around Namibia. But all were coming together to grow in their relationship with God and be equipped and impassioned for mission.

Our first two days were spent in training and preparation, what we were calling "mission boot camp." We began by making sure everyone had a solid grasp of the gospel. So in our first session we unpacked what it means to trust in Christ alone for a restored relationship with God. That word alone is very important because it means we're not trusting in our religious activities or family history or tradition. We also discussed how trusting Christ means directing our lives after Him. Being a Christian is not just "fire insurance" for the afterlife, but it's a whole new way of living, progressively uprooting sin from our lives and pursuing Christlikeness.

Our second session was all about God's mission in the world. We looked at the biblical story of how God has been gathering a people who joyfully worship and glorify Him. God's relationship with Israel in the OT was to demonstrate His glory to the rest of the world. Now in the NT, His followers are sent out to the ends of the earth to go make more joyful worshippers of God. Even today there are still around 3 billion people in the world who have no access to the gospel of Christ, so it will take pioneering missionaries to go to them to share the gospel for the first time.

Other sessions included training in how to share the gospel with others, how to write your testimony, and how Christian social work fits into missions. We had a guest speaker come in and share his story of getting paralyzed in a car accident, and teach us how we can use our stories to point others to the gospel. Our schedule also included daily personal devotional time, as well as meeting together in small groups. Our mission during the week would include organizing a children's Bible club, so we also spent time learning games and planning dramas in preparation for that.

Practicing some games for our kids club

Classic wheelbarrow race!

"Fill the bottle" is an old favorite here

Small group time

Morning workout

Personal devotion time

Practicing sharing the gospel

Our last night of Boot Camp was a bit of a commissioning service. We had a guest speaker share about some bold prayers that we hear about in the Bible. One of the most challenging prayers that struck our participants was, "Make me bold!" When the disciples were delivered from persecution, they returned to their church community and prayed, not to be delivered from persecution, but to be even more bold in sharing the gospel (Acts 4:29). As our team was about to go out and share the gospel the very next day, that was our commissioning prayer, "God, make us bold!"

Read the next post in the Teen Mission Namibia series here.

Worldview Differences

Imagine you're a Western tourist driving along an African road. On the side of the road you pass by a white cross with perhaps a flowery wreath hanging around it and a large pile of rocks nearby. You may have a passing thought of, "Oh, there must have been an accident here. I wonder who died." But you're busy on your way so you fly past and continue on toward your destination.

Shortly thereafter, a black cow steps out in the middle of the road in front of you. You quickly hit the brakes and swerve to avoid hitting the intruder. Then, a bit annoyed and your heart beating a little faster, you probably think, "Wow, TIA! They should really put some fences along this road to keep the cows away. I could've hit that thing!" Perhaps when you get back home you tell stories of your adventure and the novel antiquity of these African roads where you must beware of livestock wandering out in front of you.

Now reimagine this scenario from a Herero perspective. A traditional Herero man is driving along the road and passes by a white cross with a large pile of rocks nearby. Further down the road a black cow steps out into the road in front of his vehicle. He slams on the brakes and his car squeals to a stop. He thinks, "Wow, that was a close one," and quickly turns the car around. Returning to the white cross, he pulls his car off to the side. He jumps out, finds a nice stone and adds it to the top of the pile, then breaths a sigh of relief and continues on his way.

What just happened?! What happened was a difference in worldview. One of the classes I'm teaching this semester is called "Worldview and Intercultural Studies." I have five different culture groups represented in this class which provides a fascinating collection of cultural perspectives and anecdotes. It also provides me an excellent opportunity to learn about worldview and culture differences here in Namibia. Let's briefly unpack these two very different responses to the same situation.

A common Western worldview has largely separated the natural world from the supernatural world. Perhaps God interacts with this world via natural means and the exceptional miracle, but generally my day to day life exists in the realm of natural processes. The grave on the side of the road is in remembrance of someone who died, but all that's left of them now is bones and dust. The cow stepped into the road because perhaps it saw some nice grass on the other side that it wanted to eat. There's nothing mystical going on here. So I may thank God for giving me the eyesight and awareness to observe and avoid the cow, but largely think nothing of it.

A traditional Herero worldview is generally more animistic. They recognize that we live and exist in the realm of the supernatural. Everything is supernatural. The grave on the side of the road represents a person whose body has died, but whose spirit lives on, very real and present in our world. Driving past this grave at high speed reveals my irreverence and disrespect for the deceased. The cow stepping out into the road is a warning from the spirit of that ancestor that something bad might happen to me. Therefore, I should quickly turn around and place a stone on the grave to show my respect for this ancestor, lest something worse should happen to me.

Same scenario, very different responses, because our cultural behaviors, customs, and practices are an overflow of our worldview. Our worldview is the foundation upon which our beliefs, values, and behaviors are built. It's why we do what we do and think how we think. This is why understanding worldview is so important for cross-cultural ministry and why we have a specific class covering it at NETS. Because you must understand how someone views the world, the ultimate reality of the universe, in order to effectively confront them with the gospel. Whether for the Westerner or the Animist, conversion happens at the worldview level.

What is "Home Assignment"?

After about 2 years and 3 months in Namibia, next month I'll be returning for my first Home Assignment (HA). Historically, mission organizations used the word "furlough," but such terminology often caused confusion that this is just a long vacation, so now they use the term "home assignment" because it better communicates the purpose and goals of our time in our home country. So to help clarify what this is all about I thought I'd write a post addressing some frequently asked questions concerning Home Assignment.

What is Home Assignment?
This is missions lingo for when missionaries periodically come back to spend time in their home country. Missionaries will typically spend anywhere from 2-4 years on the field in their host country, then spend anywhere from a few months up to a full year on HA. My projected plan is to have a rotation of 2.5 years in Namibia and then a 6-month HA back in the States.

Why do missionaries take a Home Assignment?
There are many reasons why missionaries periodically return to their home countries. Sometimes, beyond initial culture shock, missionaries experience ongoing culture stress from living in a foreign culture with a foreign language, foreign worldview, different foods and cultural expectations. So on HA they can experience much needed emotional rest and recovery from such anxiety. Other purposes for HA can include recruiting new workers for the field, or new ministry partners for their support team, or even continuing education opportunities to be better equipped for their ministry.

But one of the primary purposes is reconnecting with their ministry partners and sending church. Writing blogposts and monthly newsletters only go so far in helping you stay connected with the ministry in Namibia. Plus, those can only communicate so much. Spending face-to-face time with people can help clarify questions, quell rumors, build mutual trust, renew interest, and it's just a whole lot more personal! But beyond that, there's nothing like the mutual encouragement of hearing what God's been doing in your lives! Paul told the Romans that one reason he wanted to visit was "that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith" (Rom. 1:12).

Aren't you just giving ministry reports?
Financially supporting a missionary is not simply a business transaction. It's not like you're investing in a business venture and now I'm reporting on the results of that investment. Ministry partnership is relational. So Home Assignment is about investing in relationships. It's about helping you stay personally connected with what God's doing in Namibia, answering your questions, and reinvigorating your passion for the vision of ministry here.

Why six months?
Last year I came home for 3 weeks, primarily for a special family occasion, but secondarily to reconnect with my ministry partners. I did that mostly through large group events where I would share about my ministry and then only get to talk to individual people for 5 minutes or so. But in such a short amount of time it was impossible for me to individually connect with my over 60 ministry partners who are spread throughout the country. So a solid 6 months will give me opportunity to spend quality time with people and to deeply reinvest in my sending church. After all, when Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch after their first missionary journey, "they stayed there a long time with the disciples" (Acts 14:28)!

Is this just a long vacation?
Absolutely not! SIM gives me a set number of vacation days each year, just like any of you might get from your employer. I will use some of those days while I'm back in the States to get some R&R, but primarily HA is an extension of my work in Namibia. That's why it's called "Home Assignment," because it's still a ministry assignment, just in my home country rather than my host country. So, as one author says, "returning from the field means a change of venue, not a vacation" (Hawley, Furlough or Home Assignment?).

Is this just a code name for a fund-raising trip?
Sometimes missionaries need to return home because their support levels have dropped below what's needed to fund the ministry, or their support needs have gone up over time, and therefore they do need additional support before returning to the field. But that is not always the case. Home Assignment can be just as much about maintaining existing relationships as well as building new ones.

Do you still need support while on Home Assignment?
Yes, because this is an extension of my work in Namibia, I will still be living on support while on Home Assignment. In other words, this is still part of my job as a missionary, so I will still be receiving my income as a missionary.

Who will teach your courses at NETS while you're gone?
NETS assigns courses to lecturers at the beginning of each semester. So knowing that I would be away, they haven't assigned me any courses for this semester. The course I specialize in, "Ministry to Children & Youth," is only scheduled to be taught again next year.

If you have any other questions, then feel free to drop me an email or leave them in the comments. And hopefully, I'll get to see many of you while I'm back!

The Changing Face of Missions

The world of missions is changing. It used to be that Western countries were taking the gospel to unreached peoples in other parts of the world. But now Christianity has taken root in many of those places and they are sending out their own missionaries. So now missionaries are being sent from everywhere to everywhere!

It was my privilege this past weekend to take part in commissioning a good friend and former NETS graduate who will be heading off as a “missionary” to Scotland. He’ll be working at a Christian hostel where he will have many opportunities to share Jesus with those he interacts with. It’s exciting to see Namibia not only receiving, but also sending out people for Christian ministry around the globe!

Fishers of People

When was the last time you explicitly talked to someone about following Jesus? Religion is always one of those taboo topics that most people don't want to talk about, yet religion addresses the deepest questions of life that everyone must answer. What's the point of everything? What am I here for? What's truly satisfying in life? Am I accountable to anyone? What happens when I die? These are questions that Christianity has good answers for. But we tend to keep those answers to ourselves because we're afraid people might think we're judgmental or too religious or just plain weird. But sharing the answers to questions like those with people who don't know Jesus is exactly what we're here for! But instead we tend to walk around hiding our light under a cover and thinking if somebody asks me about it then maybe I'll mumble something religious before changing the subject.

I've mentioned before that I'm involved in a young adult Bible study on Sunday nights that specifically addresses this topic. We meet together weekly at the park to encourage each other and keep each other accountable on how we're doing with sharing the gospel with others. We share testimonies of opportunities we've had the past week or of struggles we've had. We do Bible studies to challenge and motivate us and to help us learn how to better share the gospel. We worship together and pray together and weekly send each other out on mission. Obedience is a lot easier when we're doing it together in community.

The Great Commission in Matthew 28 isn't optional. It's a command. And if we're not doing it then we're being disobedient. So let me ask again, how's your sharing going?

Nigeria, Part 1

A year and a half ago, when I first arrived in Namibia, I looked around online for an African youth workers conference to attend to learn a bit more about contextualizing youth ministry in Africa. Through my SIM connections I heard about one in Jos, Nigeria. I inquired of the organizers who said they hadn’t set a date for this year’s conference, but said I was welcome to come and I could be a “resource person” (whatever that meant). When this year’s dates came out it was to be the same week as my NETS intensive so I wouldn’t be able to go. But they later came back and said it had been postponed, and this time I was invited to come as the main speaker. From attendee, to resource person, to main speaker. Yikes!

Many people (including a U.S. Embassy public service announcement) warned me against going to Nigeria because of terrorism and hostilities. But I remained confident that if it was terribly unsafe then SIM wouldn’t allow me to come, and besides, a little hostility never stopped Paul. He said, "For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die...for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).

Nigeria from the air.

So after summer camp I packed up my suitcase and flew off to Nigeria. I arrived none the worse for wear, however my suitcase did not. But fortunately I’m an experienced traveller so I packed enough in my carry-on to get by. So everyday I was hand-washing the one set of clothes I wasn’t wearing so that I could have something to wear tomorrow. People were kind and offered to lend me clothes, and I managed to pick up another pair of jeans at a street-side shop. This could be a major frustration to people, but it helped me realize that more than 2 pairs of clothes is really a luxury. I had what I needed, and that’s a lot more than some people have. Fortunately, five days later my suitcase was finally delivered, just before I had to speak at the conference.

Traffic is not quite like what I'm used to in Namibia.

One of the less busy street-side markets

Nigeria's having a fuel crisis, so this was the craziness
of people lining up to fill their gas tanks.

Click here to continue with part 2 and part 3.

Intro to Missions

I put together this little video for a friend who's doing a missions emphasis with his youth group

this month. It's a brief introduction to mission strategy but also to my ministry in Namibia.

Prime Time

I've never had someone ask for my speaking notes before, but after my talk on coveting and contentment one Polytech student did just that. I had mentioned how everything that I had said was really only an introduction to the topic, so she was interested in the rest of it. She wanted more than just the introduction, she wanted the meat. It's so encouraging to see that hunger, that desire to know how to live a life after God.

Campus Crusade for Christ holds weekly events called 'Prime Time' on both UNAM (University of Namibia) and Polytech (Polytechnic Institute of Namibia) campuses. This semester they've been studying through the 10 Commandments. The events are entirely student-led, but they invite different guest speakers to come give the teachings. My topic was the Tenth Commandment, "Do not covet." We talked about coveting as wanting something other than what God wants for you. God is the Giver of all good gifts, but sometimes we look at the gifts He's given us and say, "That's not what I wanted." Instead we see the gifts He's given someone else and think, 'Why can't I get those gifts?' That's coveting. The cure for coveting is contentment. Contentment is not about getting what you want, but it's about learning to want what God wants for you.

I'm not good at guesstimating attendance, but I'd say there were 30-50 people at each Prime Time event. Each of these students are converging on campus from their different towns, villages, or countries. In campus ministries they hear the gospel and learn how to follow Christ. Then they take that message back to wherever they came from, or on to whatever position of influence they will attain. Their university education will make them the future leaders of African countries, whether business people, teachers, politicians, lawyers, doctors, whatever. Do you see how that makes campus ministry such a strategic opportunity for spreading the gospel?

Do I know you?

The first missionaries used to ship all their possessions to their field of service in a coffin because they didn't expect to return. Their only communication with home was letters which would take months to arrive by ship. More recently a missionary would come speak at a church, they'd show some pictures and take up an offering, then after they left all you would ever see of them is their prayer card on the wall next to a world map with a string of yard pointing to their country of service.

Recently I've had the privilege of joining several local congregations around southern New Hampshire to cast a vision of what God's doing in Namibia. The churches that I've been visiting are specifically excited about one major aspect of my mission: relationship. They want a relationship with their missionaries. They don't just want to send some random people from other congregations who may send back a few newsletters and stop by every few years when they're home on furlough. They want to know their names, their situations, and their concerns. They don't just want a prayer card on the wall. They want to participate in a vision. The more I interact with churches who have this philosophy of missions, the more excited I get, because that's my passion as well! It's like Paul said in 1 Thess 2:8, "we shared with you not only the gospel, but our lives as well."

Social Justice or Gospel?

Social justice has received a sexy overhaul of late. Make a flashy logo and website, start a non-profit organization that has to do with feeding the hungry or saving orphans, slap a few pictures of starving black kids in front of people and the money starts flowing in. Everyone wants to be involved in some kind of social justice mission. And if you're not then your love of Christ may be seriously in question. After all, Jesus himself said, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me" (Mt 25:40). The whole New Testament is filled with exhortations to "care for the orphans and widows in their affliction" (Jam 1:27). The Old Testament law had special provisions for the oppressed and the broken. God himself is pictured as the Father to the fatherless. Obviously social justice is something close to God's heart!

But others would say, social justice is useless without the Gospel. What good is it if someone is educated and well-fed if they don't know Christ? You've used all your time and resources meeting people's physical needs, but their deepest need is spiritual. We need to put our energy into evangelism because satisfied bellies can still go to hell. In fact, Christ's final commission to his followers was, "Go and make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28:19). Paul's motivation and mission for which he endured imprisonment, beating, stoning, slander, shipwreck, and more was "that they also may obtain salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory" (2 Tim 2:10). This is an important matter. Eternal destinies are at stake!

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not against digging wells or attempting to end world hunger by 2025. Nor am I for preaching that ignores people's physical needs. Rather, I'm against gospel-less philanthropy, just as much as I'm against insensitive evangelism. I believe the current trend toward the former is an over-reaction against the later. But the solution to an extreme position is not swinging the pendulum to the other extreme. Most attempt to find a balance somewhere in the middle. But I propose that the whole spectrum is a false dichotomy. Social justice and the Gospel cannot (and must not!) be separated. (Note: I make this assertion in a Christian missiological context recognizing both people's physical and spiritual needs. Certainly those who don't follow Christ can participate in philanthropic causes by God's common grace to all, but that's a topic for another conversation.) Let me illustrate:

1) Social Justice pictures the Gospel. The Reformers called the sacraments "visible words" because they were physical portrayals of the Gospel. While I certainly wouldn't call social justice a sacrament, in a similar way it pictures the gospel in a visible way. The situation of the poor and oppressed is a physical portrayal of all of our spiritual conditions. We are all destitute spiritually, slaves to sin. We have absolutely nothing to offer God toward our debt of sin against Him. We must rely wholly on the work of Christ on our behalf. We are entirely dependent upon His making a way for us. And as a result we are freed from the bondage of sin and adopted into the family of God. Don't you see, the language of bondage, slavery, redemption, ransom, adoption, salvation, it's all social justice language. Our actions in taking a stand against the injustices of this world are a physical illustration of spiritual truths. By participating in Social Justice we are playing out elements of the Gospel in our actions.

2) The Gospel implies Social Justice. Based on their situation, it may seem as though God has forgotten the poor, the oppressed, the orphan and the widow. But in fact God loves them deeply. Often it is not until we find ourselves destitute and hopeless that we turn toward God. As followers of Christ, we should love those whom God loves. The second greatest commandment is, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt 22:39). John's statement in his first epistle is most telling, "If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth" (1 Jn 3:17-18). Please note, John is not saying don't love in word, but don't just love in word. God's love for us should cause us to express love to others, not just in word, but in deed as well. The Gospel at work in our lives overflows as Social Justice in our actions.

We've all heard the popular quote thrown around by social justice activists: "Preach the gospel at all times; If necessary, use words." I understand the sentiment that we should constantly be living out the gospel in our lives. But the nature of the gospel is that we have to use words. God used words! He didn't stop by revealing himself through creation. He went on to give us the Bible, and that's full of words! The final revelation was Jesus Christ who is call the Logos, the Word. In communicating the gospel, our actions only get us so far. To translate and interpret our actions, we have to use words. Social Justice is the actions of the Gospel. But the Gospel is the words of Social Justice. There's no balance. There's no spectrum. The two are contained within each other. They're inseparable. It's not either/or. It's both.