A Biblical View of Singleness

One of the courses being taught at NETS this semester is called "Gender, Singleness, Marriage and Family" (yes, I know we really need to come up with a better title 😂). In general, Namibian culture has a fairly negative view of singleness and places a high priority on bearing children and having descendants. This makes sense when many traditional religions venerate their ancestors as mediators between them and God. Marriage and family is the expectation and extended singleness is considered at best, weird, and at worst, a curse. So I was excited for the opportunity to be a guest lecturer for this course teaching the section on singleness.

The Bible actually offers an incredibly positive view of singleness lived in purity for the sake of God's kingdom. When the disciples considered Jesus' comments on divorce, they responded, Perhaps "it is better not to marry." And the remarkable thing is... Jesus agreed with them! In Matt 19:11-12, Jesus said:

"Not everyone can receive this word, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it."

A eunuch was a man who was castrated. Some men may have received it as a birth defect. Sometimes, particularly in the palace, male slaves would be castrated to keep them away from the royal women and protect the dynasty. But others choose it voluntarily for the sake of serving God’s kingdom, whether literally (Origen being the most famous case) or figuratively in the sense of choosing to remain single. And Jesus remarkably says that those who can actually accept this statement should live this way! Living as a single person serving God's kingdom purposes is a good thing!

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul affirms the same truth. In vv.8-9, he says, "It is good for them to remain single" as long as they have the self-control to live with purity. In vv.32-35, he comments how married people have divided interests, because just practically they need to care for their spouses and families. But a single person can spend their time and energy fully devoted to the Lord (like the eunuch for the sake of the kingdom). He ends off in v.38 saying, "So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better."

Not taking anything away from the goodness of marriage (the Bible regularly confirms the goodness of marriage), but singleness lived in purity for the sake of God's kingdom purposes is a very good thing! One professor helpfully illustrated it like being part of the special forces in the military.

But what about the idea of children and descendants? Certainly in the OT, having many offspring was a blessing (e.g., Gen 1:28; Deut 7:12ff; Ps 127:3-5). Barrenness was a curse and having no posterity was a fate worse than death because your name would be blotted out from the face of the earth (e.g., Deut 29:20; 1 Sam 24:21; Ps 109:13). But Isaiah introduces us to two fascinating characters: 1) The barren woman of Isa 54:1-5 will have more children than the married woman! And 2) The eunuch of Isa 56:4-5 will be given “an everlasting name that shall not be cut off,” and one that is “better than sons and daughters.” What is the great hope for single people that Isaiah describes here? Who are these offspring?

Looking forward into the NT, Paul recognizes that Christ is the ultimate offspring of Abraham through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Gal 3:8, 16). And from the single divine offspring come many offspring, for all those who are in Christ are also “Abraham’s offspring” (Gal 3:29). So if we are in Christ we are Abraham's spiritual offspring.

So then, the physical multiplication of Israel in the OT becoming as numerous as the stars in the sky and sand on the seashore was a picture pointing forward to the spiritual multiplication of God's people to become an innumerable multitude from every tribe, language, people, and nation (Rev 7:9). So now, the primary mission of the church is to raise and nurture spiritual children through making disciples and expanding the kingdom of God (Matt 28:18-20; 2 Tim 2:1-2). Paul regularly talks about those whom have come to Christ through his ministry as his spiritual children (e.g., 1 Cor 4:14; Gal 4:19; 1 Tim 1:2; Tit 1:4; Phlm 1:10). Certainly families raising godly children is an important way to make disciples, but the mission is broader than this. And in that mission, single people have a very important role to play in raising spiritual children.

So, singleness is not a curse, or a disease you need to be cured from. It is a gracious gift from God, a time in your life when you can be undivided in your devotion and service of Him. The real question then is, what are you doing with this gift? Are you using it for God’s glory and mission, expanding His kingdom through raising and nurturing spiritual children?

Covid Update

Over this past month, during our lockdown, the situation has improved. Our daily new infection rates have dropped from about 1600 to about 800. But along the way Namibia has become first in the world in deaths per capita due to covid. Starting tomorrow things will open up a bit with no regional travel restriction, a later curfew, and groups of up to 50 people. And, thankfully, we'll be able to return to face-to-face teaching at the seminary.

Regarding vaccines... I mentioned earlier that we did have two different vaccines available (AstraZeneca and Sinopharm). I even had an appointment earlier this month, but before I could go for the appointment our whole city ran out of vaccine stock. 🤦🏼‍♂️ We have now received more stock, but with the sudden spike in cases now everyone's interested and the lines are long. For some people the wait has been 3-7 hours (not exaggerating!). That's not for the poke, mind you, but due to all the hand written paperwork (🤦🏼‍♂️again). But even still, only 6.1% of our population have gotten their first shot, and only 1.8% have been fully vaccinated.

But in all this I have great peace, because the truth is any suffering we experience is a microcosm of God's great story. Remember from literature class, the tension of any plot line cries out for and points us toward the resolution. So any pain and suffering we experience in this world, is only a temporary precursor to life eternal! As Paul said, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us" (Rom 8:17).

I love the lyrics from Andrew Peterson's great song, "The Dark Before the Dawn":
I had a dream that I was waking

At the burning edge of dawn
And I could see the fields of glory
I could hear the sower's song
And all that rain had washed me clean
All the sorrow was gone
And I could finally believe
The king had loved me all along
I saw the sower in the silver mist
And He was calling me home

Pentateuch via Distance

Second semester at NETS has begun via distance education due to the tight covid restrictions in the country. I am teaching seven students through the books of the Pentateuch. We started off using Zoom which has worked out well over all. The trouble with taking online classes from home is that we often have to call students to wake them up!

I've also been making some videos discussing Genesis 1. Since I needed to be preparing for online class anyway, I decided to make them in a format accessible to anyone, and something that helps complement your personal Bible reading. You can check out those videos here.

Everyone seems to recognize that distance mode is less than ideal. We all miss the face-to-face contact for class, but also for mentoring groups, weekly Chapel, and socializing at tea time. Hopefully these restrictions will be lifted soon.

Covid Update

Since our second wave hit during the December-January holiday time, new cases had leveled off in Namibia. We were feeling optimistic with the decrease in cases and news of vaccines circulating. The government brought in a million doses of two vaccines, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm, and made it available for free. But people have been suspicious of conspiracy theories, or vaccine related deaths, or that it may be the "mark of the beast" from Revelation. So few people were going to get vaccinated that you could literally walk in with no lines and no waiting.

Additionally, people are tired of the restrictions, the face masks, the distancing, the group size limits. They are anxious for life to return to normal, so they stopped taking precautions. Recently, a video surfaced of a group of people partying at a night club after attending a covid-related funeral earlier that same day. So it wasn't much of a surprise when the third wave hit.

I first noticed it when more and more people in my circles were testing positive, or were in close contact with those who did. Then the numbers started rising, 400, 700, 800 new cases daily. Each day we kept setting new records for new cases. We've now been over 1000 new cases daily for the better part of this week, topping out at 2075 on Wednesday. These number may seem small in comparison, but remember we are a nation of only 2.5 million people. That makes Namibia the country with the second highest rate of new infections per capita on the entire continent.

With nearly 50% of the new infections occurring in the capital city, the government instituted a quarantine zone around the greater Windhoek area. Schools have been largely moved to distance learning mode. All contact sports have been cancelled and night clubs and casinos are closed. And we continue to have a curfew at 10pm each night.

Fortunately for me, NETS (Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary) is closed for their mid-year break, and with my other SIM duties I can mostly work from home. So I have been able to stay fairly self-isolated and healthy during this time. Our hope is that this calms down over the next month allowing us to resume face-to-face classes when we return for the second semester in mid-July.

The True Kingdom Citizen

This semester at NETS we've been studying through the Sermon on the Mount in our Chapel times together. I got to conclude our series in our final Chapel preaching from Matthew 7:13-27 on the topic of being a true kingdom citizen. We’ve all known people who seem very spiritual on a Sunday morning, but live a completely different way during the rest of the week. So is a simple profession of faith, or saying a “sinner’s prayer” enough to be saved? You can download and listen to the message here. [Note: Our chapel service was held outdoors due to Covid so the wind and ambient noise affected the audio quality. Sorry.]

Introducing Teen Mission Namibia

After 3 years of teaching, training and guiding his disciples, Jesus sent them out on a mission to "make disciples of all nations." That mission has been passed down from generation to generation until, centuries later, European missionaries first brought the gospel to Namibia. By now the gospel has been in Namibia for over 150 years, and it's high time for us to be sending out missionaries to places that have yet to hear about the good news of Jesus.

But in Namibia, the term "missionary" still carries connotations of foreign Westerners coming here to serve, help, and give. The church needs a dramatic paradigm shift to consider every Christian as a missionary and "all nations" as our mission field.

Enter Teen Mission Namibia (TMN), a project designed to inspire and equip Namibian youth to get involved in God's mission in Namibia and the world. What better way to inspire and equip people for missions than by taking them on mission! So, for their summer break from school, we are organizing an 8-day mission trip to train young people for missions and then give them practical opportunities to serve.

The trip will start with 2 days of intense training, skill development, and team-building at Mission "Boot Camp." We then plan to travel to Osire Refugee Camp, which is home to over 6000 refugees from war-torn countries around Africa. There the team will have opportunities to put into practice all that they've learned. We will end with 1 day of debrief, helping them solidify their learning and prepare to take their new-found passion for missions back to their local churches. 

The team will consist of twenty-one teens age 14-18. They will be split up into groups of three, each led by one young adult small group leader age 19-24. Those young adults will come one day early for specific leadership, discipleship and small group training. We will also have 12 adult leaders managing the details of the trip. So our multi-tiered approach looks like this: 12 adult volunteers investing into 7 young adults who will be investing into 21 teens who will be investing into the whole community.

As you can imagine, such a God-sized vision requires God-sized provision. Each teen will be required to raise a certain amount of support (good practice for full-time missions!), but even that amount will only be a fraction of the actual cost to fund such an endeavor. Therefore, our planning team is seeking individual as well as corporate sponsors to help support this vision. Corporate in-kind donations will help lower our overall expenses, while financial donations will help pay the cost of those things that can't be donated.

If you would like to get involved with raising up a generation of Namibians passionate about missions and equipped to serve, you can give directly to our project through this link. We would also love for you to pray for us regarding the many details that need to fall into place, preparing the hearts of those who will be involved, and God's provision for the whole trip. Thanks for your consideration!

Commencement 2021

"This certificate is not the end; it's the beginning." That was the message from our Principal to our graduating students this past weekend. Students often feel that graduation is the end of their journey, but the reality is that studying was only a preparation stage. When they leave NETS it is the beginning of full-time ministry and life-long learning.

This year we hosted two graduations: one in the morning (to make up for the one we had to cancel last year due to the pandemic) and another in the afternoon. We met outside in our amphitheatre at NETS underneath a temporary shade tent. We had to keep under the government restrictions of 50 people, so we also live streamed the event for everyone who couldn't attend. And we ensured that everyone's seats were separated by a distance. Such is the nature of living through a global pandemic.

But overall, it was a great time of celebration, seeing the fulfillment of all the hard work put in by the students, faculty and staff. In total we had 12 graduates receiving their Bachelor's degree in theology, 2 graduates receiving their two-year Diploma in Ministry, 5 graduates receiving their one-year Certificate in Theology, and 20 students graduating from our distance Certificate in Christian Ministry program.

A musical number by some current students

Congratulations to our Barnabas and Timothy Award winners!

And congrats to all our graduates!

Enjoying some snacks and fellowship afterward.