Post 90 Missions Fest International (MFI)

I ended the last post with the announcement I was going to attend the annual conference of Missions Fest Vancouver (MFV). There is a world-wide Missions Fest movement so that I do need to specify it is the Vancouver version I am talking about. Every specific Missions Fest has a place name associated with it to distinguish it from the others.

Well, not quite. There is actually a Missions Fest without a place name. It is the international version that is the proprietor of the name and the logo, and that is also based in Vancouver.  It is appropriately called Missions Fest International (MFI). Yes, our secular Vancouver is the womb where it all started. In fact, the original founder, Richard Dodding, now a man of seasoned age and living in Metro Vancouver, is still busy founding new chapters especially in Africa. There are now chapters in seven African cities with more preparing for theirs.  At the MFV conference he strides around sporting a lanyard that identifies him as “Founder.” I think he is both justly grateful for and proud of his achievement—with the help of God, of course—and well he might. He wrote the history of it all in his book Uncovering Missions—Engaging the World with the Gospel that I found very interesting reading. I encourage you to check out MFI’s website.

I have great respect and admiration for his achievements. People of greater fame than mine likewise exude in praise for MF in general. Tony Campolo, the well-known maverick Christian sociologist, wrote:

Missions Fest is one of the premier missions conferences in the world. This conference draws huge crowds to hear some of the best speakers in the world. Here, in Uncovering Missions Fest–Engaging the World with the Gospel, is a thorough account of its history, which in itself can inspire the reader to consider what he or she can do to carry out the Great Commission.—Dr. Tony Campolo, Eastern University, St. Davids, PA. 

Likewise, Mrs. Darlene Dodding wrote a book entitled Stories from a Reluctant Missionary of which one reader exuded:

You won’t be able to put this book down. I wasn’t! Reading Stories from a Reluctant Missionary made me laugh and cry–and relive my days in Kenya. These stories of sacrifice and dedication are full of adventure, challenges and, most of all, love. Arlene has captured the thrill of introducing her village students to the wonders of science and technology. In truth, these Christian young people have taken their places in Kenyan society in medicine, teaching and business. —Lillian Cornelius Warkentin, missionary and Bible translator.

I haven’t read Darlene’s, but it sounds like I should.

I do want to alert the more academically inclined among my readers. These books are not of an academic nature and sometimes that’s enough for us academics to shove them contemptuously aside as not worthy of our time. I have at times caught myself with that kind of attitude. But you know, some of the best things in this world are not of academic inspiration or nature. Any academic who dismisses popular books purely for that reason, is acting on prejudice and false pride, and definitely not according to a genuinely academic standard.  Missions itself—yes, a legitimate singular/plural combination—is not an academic enterprise, though missiology is. Non-academic as missions is, it has been one of the most positive forces for good during the last two centuries, in spite of its warts  and even more in spite of its many critics and detractors. My writings, including this blog, are a combination of the two.   

As noted at the beginning of this post, I intended to write about MFV but ended up writing mostly about MFI and its founders. OK, so I changed course slightly, but this MFI stuff really needed to be aired first in order to understand the context of MFV.  So, I promise: The next post will be on the latter. 

There I go again with my promises!  I just can’t seem to live without them. In addition, this post represents a break from some of the longer ones I have forced on you recently—not even up to the 750 words at which I generally aim and often exceed. An entire 37 short!

Post 55—Wasting Water: A Precious Resource

Spent part of yesterday at Derby Reach, a park on the Fraser River near Langley BC. There were many shrieking happy children voices as they ran around innocently playing their games without any thought of the potential effect or ramifications of their games. Well, of course not. Who would expect such concerns from happy playing children?

There was a water faucet nearby that was difficult to open, but once opened it spurted out water with great gusto, obviously under great pressure down below. There is probably only one activity that children playing in a river-side park like better than water faucets—throwing stones in the river’s water. We were not disappointed on either count. Many were the stones that ended up in the river and many were the gallons of water the children managed to squeeze out of that stubborn faucet and promptly dumped on the grass a few feet away—all evening. Perhaps we should have counted the gallons.  Water a precious resource as some claim? You’d never know from these children—or from their “supervising” parents who did nothing to stop the “innocent” play. 

It’s hard, if not harsh, to criticize children playing their innocent games.  I love watching them go through their antics.  So much fun; so much joy; so much innocence.  No, I won’t criticize them, but I will criticize their parents for allowing them to waste so much water. Today this group of families; tomorrow that group—but ongoing from day to day throughout the park season.  Gallons and gallons of it without let up.  

Water a precious resource? You’d never guess that to be the case either when you drive through North America’s suburbs with their spacious lawns in the summer time. Gallons upon gallons poured out daily to keep them green, only to be mowed every few days and that beautiful grass to be mulched on a weekly basis. An entire industry has grown up to serve that culture of beauty and—waste.  Yes, waste; pure waste of a precious and diminishing resource. Almost totally mindless.

It’s not only the people in Western countries who waste water mindlessly. I have lived in communities in an African country where women have for decades and even centuries had to daily haul water from distant places to cook and clean.  Usually on their heads; sometimes on shoulder or back. It was an unending and tormenting task without ever a break.  I have rejoiced with them when their government would install a water system for the community.  

You’d think that after life-long scarcity and hard work, they would be very careful in their use of the new easy supply of water, but that is often not the case. In contrast to the past where they rationed it carefully, they will often leave the faucets open and running when no one is around to catch the water. I’ve been amazed to see this. Just like the playing children and the law sprinklers above, they seem to think the supply is endless. They just let it run on and on and on….  Almost totally mindless. 

If you keep up with the news, you will know that in the US desert state of California, drought has set in with a vengeance, severely impacting the cost of food not only for the local people but throughout the US and even Canada. As we speak, I watch the price of food in Vancouver BC climb and climb and wonder when it will settle down. The question for all of us, not just Californians, is what can be done about it?  Where will it end?  Do we even have the gumption to address it?  Can a government that wants to address it seriously by restricting access in some way even survive?  

It’s a topic I plan to address off and on. I hope to occasionally describe various plans that are being offered to rescue the situation and the people’s reaction to them. What motivations might be needed for people to become more careful in their use of this precious resource?  Could financial incentives bring a change in behaviour? Perhaps water comes too cheap for us to bother?

As to myself, I have an in-built water restraint: my Christian faith.  I don’t need a financial incentive to reduce my water consumption. I am very conscious of the very first command in the Bible that instructs us to manage well the garden God has bequeathed us. This demands that as the supply diminishes, we devise more economical ways to use it. It demands an end to mindless or selfish wastage. And if nothing else, having experienced those African situations, every time I observe wastage, whether water or anything else, I get nervous.  That experience should be enough for anyone. 

So, this post is an example of  the previous post: the Biblical tradition of mixing religion with the “secular” things of this world. They cannot be separated, for your faith, whatever it is, will always influence your response to these situations. Check yourself. What would be at the bottom of any attempt of yours to convince you to change you wasteful habits?  You will find there is always some value system or belief that underlies your response. If you’re a Christian, the previous paragraph should be part of your motivation and that should be stronger than any financial considerations, though they also have a legitimate part in all of this.