With the exception of 2010, the year of Winter Olympics in Vancouver, MFV is regularly held
during the last weekend of January in one of the most prestigious locations in
downtown Vancouver, namely the city’s Convention Centre. Most of it in the
older part of the Centre, but this year the Film Festival was held in the newer
West section, a building so beautiful, I would describe it as
ostentatious.
It’s kind of funny that
part of it is built over the waters of the Burrard Inlet, an arm of what is
really the Pacific Ocean. The “funny” part of it is that Canada is a huge
country, the second largest in the world next to Russia, with only a tiny
population. It’s got oodles and endless empty spaces, but we build over the
ocean waters as if the country is crowded and land scarce! OK, that’s just a humorous but true aside.
The best ways to get acquainted with MFV,
apart from actually attending it, are, of course through its website
<www.missionsfestvancouver.ca
>
and by reading its annual magazine simply
called Missions Fest 2016. Below that title MFV always prints the theme,
which in 2016 was “Mission: Being or Doing?”
For the leaders of MFV, that was a rhetorical question with an obvious
answer, but it was posed to help Christians overcome a seriously mistaken
dichotomy between being and doing.
Missionaries have taken sides on that issue and structured their mission
programmes accordingly. That in effect led to their hosts being presented with
one-sided and thus distorted versions of the Gospel, some emphasize being;
others, doing.
I expressed dismay when I first noticed that theme and
objected that these two could and should not be ever be separated. The CEO,
John Hall, explained that the intention was precisely to undermine that
distinction and insist on their togetherness. I was happy that this pseudo
distinction was finally going to be laid to rest. In the meantime, some of the
emerging churches suffer from the residue of this false dichotomy in their
thinking. Perhaps I can use a later post to explain how this distinction caused
serious problems, but today I want to talk more of MFV itself, perhaps induce
you to attend the 2017 version.
You should have been there Friday afternoon
and all day Saturday. If you had any degree of claustrophobia, but for the
grace of God, you would not have lasted. The wide hallways were so crowded in
both directions that pedestrian traffic was close to standstill.
The most
important fact here was the amazing number of youths, both primary and
secondary as well as tertiary. MFV is
successful beyond imagination and far more than any other Christian
organization in attracting youth. True, some of them are bused in by schools,
no doubt often forced, but their enthusiastic participation was obvious.
There were programmes for every age level,
even for pre-school. There were the Film
Festival, youth concerts, art and drama along with outstanding speakers, all
aimed at youth and attended by huge crowds. I’d like to say “thousands,” but I
don’t want to exaggerate. But with approximately 35,000 visits by an estimated
crowd of 15,000 individuals throughout the conference, one can be generous in
his estimates without exaggerating too much. The MFV archives contain many
stories of young people having made decisions
in the areas of the spiritual and career choice that affect them for the
rest of their lives.
An annual feature of the multi-faceted
programme is that of seminars, about 100 of them! These are given by various
experts who have something to contribute to contemporary mission debates. This
year there were three “seminar tracks,” one on “Business as Mission.”
They had four sessions with the following themes:
1.
“The call for all: Finding purpose in Life,
work & mission.”—“Every believer is called. We are all on a mission. Our
calling is bigger than our job. Find out how to live out calling in the
marketplace, whether whie collar, blue collar or no collar.”
2.
Panel discussion on calling: From white collar
to blue collar to no collar.”—Markletplace believers will discuss how to live
our calling in the marketplace, whether while, blue or no collar.”
3.
The
call to business: The new frontier?”—“The world of business may be this
century’s most important mission frontier…--find out why!”
4.
“Panel
discussion on living your calling at work.”—Panelists discuss how to live out
your calling in the workplace on a daily basis and to have a kingdom-building
impact.”
This was actually the subject that interested
me more than anything else. I myself have written a book on the subject with
the title Caught in the Middle:
Christians in Transnationals. (See www.SocialTheology.com/ boeriana
for the entire text.) I had hoped to attend at least one of these sessions, but
somehow I could not make it due to other duties assigned me.
I did attend
another seminar on the subject by another speaker and was left very
dissatisfied, for the speaker strongly advocated an approach that gave business
no legitimate or significant place in God’s Kingdom except as a means of
evangelism. That entire book of mine fulminates against such an approach and
gives business a significance and meaning of its own in the Kingdom, not merely
as a handmaid to evangelism. Go read that book of mine! I do not know just
which direction the business track took. I suspect and hope along the line of
my book. That, at least, I would expect from one of the leaders, Paul Stevens,
a professor emeritus from Regent College.
Then
there was an “Islamic” track led by seven discreet individuals, not by a team
as was the case with the business track. Here, in
summary,
were the issues presented:
1.
“Introduction to Islam”—“This lecture is
designed as an introduction to the religion of Islam and the Muslim cultures.”
2.
“Share your faith with a Muslim”—“A
conversation about reaching out to Muslims in your life and sharing the Good
News with them. Topics include what to say, what not to say and Stevens Paul, resources.”
3.
“Muslims
and media”—“Muslims in the Islamic world live in controlled environs where
questions are prohibited but smart phones and the internet have become secret
conduits to truth.”
4.
“Ask an ex-Muslim”—A panel discussion”—A
moderated panel discussion in which panelists will share their conversion
experience and present ministry before fielding audience questions.”
5.
“Current issues in Islam”—“A Christian view of
explosive issues around reaching Muslims for Christ. Topics: Who is Allah? Chrislam, insider movements, bible
translation and radicalization.”
6.
“Major
barriers for Muslims”—“Muslims are currently coming to Christ in unprecedented
numbers, but often they face huge barriers. Be equipped.”
7.
“Islamic worldview”—“An interactive aid to
understanding critical aspects of the Muslim worldview and view of western
Christians, with practical considerations for reach out.”
Again, I did not attend even one of them, partially
because I was busy but, more importantly, having been immersed in Muslim
culture for many years, by living, researching and writing,I did not
expect there would be anything new for me in these presentations. If you are
interested in any of them, you can order them on CD from MFV,
including the one I delivered some years ago.
I would love to tell you about the 200+ booths in which a
bewildering range of mission, development, educational and medical agencies
presented their programmes. In addition, there were those who tried to “sell”
major opinions, like views on Free Masons, on creation versus evolution, as
well as abortion and euthanasia issues.
One of my jobs as member of the Board of Directors was to interview all
the exhibitors in one isle, about 24 of them. This was an attempt to establish
good relations with them as well as uncover any problems they may have
experienced and special experiences they had with their visitors.
I would love to tell you more, but I’ve already gone way
beyond my 750. Post 92 will feature a
speech I gave at a plenary session to encourage generous giving to help MFV
cover its costs. Here’s hoping these three presentations on the Festival will
be enough to encourage you to attend MFV 2017?
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