Post 92—My Offering Appeal

             

This is an edited version of an offering appeal speech I delivered at one of the plenary sessions at MFV 2016.

“Salam Alaikum”—That’s the common Arabic greeting used by Muslims to each other around the globe, no matter what language they normally speak. Millions and millions of times a day this is their greeting to each other.  It means “peace to you.”  What a wish. What a prayer. What a greeting.  Time and time again. In mosque and market place. Everywhere.

The response:  “Alaika salam”—“Peace to you.”  A conversation throughout the day. How beautiful. I live next to 100 refugees who are in a hotel next to us in the West End of downtown here. The men come out on the street to smoke. So I stop and try to talk to them, something not easy due to language differences.  But when in the middle of a halting conversation I stop and suddenly greet them “Salam Alaikum,” the entire tenor and atmosphere becomes electric. They look up in surprise and enthusiastically all chime in with “Alaika Salam.”

That, by the way, is one of only a few words of Arabic I know, but they are key to beginning a relationship. I know them because I speak Hausa, a major language in Niger and Nigeria. It is the mother tongue of, I would guess, some 60 million Muslims as well as a trade language for another 30 million or so. It is the language I studied at Michigan State University and frequently spoke  as a missionary in Nigeria. It is not a Semitic language like Arabic and Hebrew, but the language has adopted many Arabic theological, philosophical and abstract words that I often recognize due to their similarity to  the Hebrew I picked up in seminary.

I thought about that greeting the other day. We Christians have our own greeting:  “the peace of Christ.”  But we do this only in church!  Why is that? Why only in Church?  Why not everywhere like the Muslims?  Is the peace of Christ only for church?  Of course not. It’s for the whole world.

The purpose of MF is exactly that: to convey the peace of Christ to the whole world. Wouldn’t it be nice if we would regularly greet each other that way?  “The Peace of Christ” wherever you go.  How about us MFesters starting this tradition among each other publicly?  Break through our secular secrecy and silence. Thereby proclaiming the Peace of Christ throughout the world.  But I would go one better than Muslims. While many Muslims restrict the use of this greeting among themselves, though in public as well as private, I would want us Christians to use it even when greeting  non-Christians no matter what their religion. Proclaiming the “Peace of Christ” to everyone within reach time and again throughout your day both in church and marketplace. Can you think of any reason this would be inappropriate? I said, “Inappropriate,” not merely “politically or culturally incorrect.”  Any reason at all we should not do this?  Feel free to contact me about this.

MFesters: The Peace of Christ to you (raising my hand as in blessing). 

My name is John Boer. I live within walking distance—WE and I serve on the Board of MF

But today I have a much greater role:  MF Pickpocket. Yes, you heard that right:  MF pickpocket.  But pickpocket with a difference. Not with a clever sleight of hand in your pocket but with a powerful sleight of the Spirit of God in your heart!

Did you realize that MF is the largest unifying Christian event in our Metro?  Yes, indeed. Annually some 35,000 or so visits and that for 33 years. That’s visits, not individuals. Yesterday I heard John Hall, our Executive Director, suggest this probably amounts to about 15,000 individuals at each annual conference.  That’s a total  of about 495,000 people coming to this event one time or another over our 33 years.  Nearly half a million! And that’s not even counting the thousands that are touched by MF and its partners throughout the year, every year by means of ongoing events.

Did you realize that this crowd annually includes thousands upon thousands of young people?  It’s one of two events I meet some of my nephews and nieces once or twice removed even, the other one being family funerals. This is a place where many young people begin to think seriously about their  calling in life. There are files in the MF office with amazing stories of young people having been brought to a life time commitment and decision.

It’s also a place where all of us can and do get connected to over 200 Christian mission agencies from across the street and around the world. So many challenges. Almost too many to take in.

The things that are happening here are amazing. Yes, amazing, nothing short of that. And all of this is accomplished by the Spirit of God through a miniscule staff of 5 people.  JUST 5! Imagine what all this around you takes to organize in just one year by such a small crew. Oh, yes, including 600 volunteers who do herculean work. Without them it would be impossible. But you probably have no idea how much work those 5 staff people have to do to get those volunteers aboard and trained.  This is a modern miracle, nothing short of it.

This brings me to the, hard, cold fact of money.  You all know full well, all of this takes money. This venue takes money, big money. And that in turn brings me to our budget.

At the mention of budget, a technician will show the budget slide.

Our budget this year? A modest $520,000.  Yes, that’s it—a mere $520,000. I’m not saying it’s a small amount, but for what you get for it?! Just think of the cost of this venue and then of all the programmes going on around you throughout this entire weekend.  It is our goal at this event to raise $120,000 through tickets and  offerings.  That’s the big  O-WORD for today!  Offering!  And that’s where you come in.  Offerings.  Can you say that word?  Offerings!  Yes, offerings with an exclamation mark. Your offerings.  Your offerings today, In this meeting. The big O!

We ask that you give generously today and maybe even consider starting a routine of monthly giving.  By doing so you will have the privilege of participating in an event that that sends ripples of hope throughout the world.  I can just feel these ripples surge through my body right now. Don’t you feel them? 

So, offering. There are three ways you can do thi:.

(1)  Online using Canada Helps. Go visit MFV website and click on the donate button on the home page. That’s one easy way—if you’re into online stuff.

(2)  If not, well then you use the envelopes found on your seats. That one thing most of us have learned to handle . If you need a tax receipt, fill in the info section on the envelope. And please check the box authorizing us to send you news and updates.

(3)   You just place your 1000 bucks in the bucket that will be passed around. It doesn’t get easier than that.

Oh, and allow me to draw your attention to an important info column in the MF Magazine,  p. 40.

At this point, we’ll take just a moment so we can consider how God wants you to invest in His Mission. Yes, we have the courage to call MF "His Mission."   We will pause for about 30 seconds for you to make a serious commitment around this big O-word. 

After that, I will break into prayer, after which the ushers come with their buckets.

PRAYER

Holy, Divine Triune God. We begin with adoration of you the creator of the entire universe that till today, we are told, is still expanding. Amazing.

We adore you, Holy, Divine Son of God, who did not hesitate to come down from your position of power and glory to take on our flesh and blood, including all the pain, suffering and agony that come with that.  

We adore you, Holy, Divine Spirit, who works in our individual hearts but who also moves amid the cultures of this world and who today wants to pick our pockets. Pick it, Holy Spirit, pick it, so that the work of Mission Fest Vancouver can continue to connect the people of this city to your Kingdom. Triune God, open our hearts today, open our hands, our pockets for our own sake, but even more for Your sake.  And for all those who have been moved to give, we say a loud….”AMEN!”

Mission Festers: the peace of Christ to you!

          Volunteer Ushers—Please come forward with your buckets. We have      

          prayed ourselves ready for you.     

Post 91—Missions Fest Vancouver (MFV)

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?