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?

Post 82—The “Christmas Spirit” at McDonald

Today we are going a bit lighter as well as a bit shorter to give you the time you otherwise may not have to do your final Christmas shopping.  If you wonder how come I have the time to write this post when I probably should be shopping feverishly, well, it’s simple: I don’t. Period. Now don’t jump to the conclusion that I—or, rather, my wife and I-- are cheapskates. Remember: before you judge, if at all, be sure you have all the facts at your command. That fact is that we have decided this year to spend our gift money on persecuted people, including refugees. We see little sense in spending fortunes on gifts no one among our family and friends needs. Writing a few cheques or sending monetary gifts online or by Paypal takes off a lot of pressure—and allows me the time to write this post.

The Denison Forum recently featured a story by one Nick Pitts under the heading “250 Mcdonald's Drive-Thru Customers 'Pay It Forward'.” Since it’s a Christmassy kind of story, it is a fitting  post in this Christmas week. In Pitts’ own words, it goes like this:

·          

Marisabel Figueroa probably started her shift at the Lakeland, Florida McDonalds where she works expecting that day to be like any other. However, one woman's generosity set off a chain reaction that, several hours later, would leave her saying that she'd "never experienced something like that before." It all started when Torie Keene decided to pay for the order of the car behind her and specifically asked Figueroa to tell the driver Merry Christmas, rather than Happy Holidays, when she delivered the news of the free meal. 

As the cashier described, when the other driver was told that her meal had been paid for, she was so grateful that she decided to do the same for the driver behind her. The pattern continued for almost the entirety of Figueroa's six-hour shift, as some 250 customers decided to "pay it forward." 

"I just kept giving everyone the same message, and they were all so stunned and so happy,” Figueroa explained. “One lady even paid for the meals of the next three cars behind her."

After a local news station picked up the story, Keene contacted Figueroa via Facebook to express her surprise, saying that she was "only trying to brighten someone's day." It seems clear that she did that and more as the story has now made national headlines. 

I don’t know just where Pitts’ story ends and where Denison of the Forum takes over. The next few paragraphs amount to a kind of Biblical application of this apparently true story.

The thing is, most of the people that experienced the gift of a free meal and decided to continue it paid roughly what they expected to pay when they arrived at the drive-thru window. The difference is that, because someone had already covered their debt, their actions from that point forward became voluntary rather than necessary. They were given the freedom not to pay but chose to use that freedom for the betterment of others rather than just themselves. 

It's a living example of the mentality Paul describes in his first letter to the Corinthians when he spends the majority of the Epistle writing on the need to think of others before yourself and to place their rights above your own (1 Corinthians 6-14). He is clear that we are not called to make that choice out of an obligation to them but in order to simply be better representatives of Christ in their lives. As he wrote to the Galatians, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1). 

Because of Christ's sacrifice, we have been set free from the burdens of the Law. Will we use that freedom to model the kind of life to which He has called us or will we view his grace as a license for disobedience? How we answer that question speaks volumes about the nature of our relationship with God, and an unbelieving world is watching closely for our response. 

So this Christmas season, let's be intentional about using the freedom that God has granted us for His purposes rather than our own. Our heavenly Father has given us the gift of unhindered access to Himself through Christ and asked us to "pay it forward" by helping others to understand that offer as well. Will you?

The only thing I question in the above few paragraphs is that italicized clause that there was/is no obligation at work here. Presenting ourselves as better representatives of Christ is our obligation. True, it’s also our privilege, but you cannot eliminate the obligation part. And what is the problem with that?  

Maybe this “little” is a reflection of a divide between Lutheran and Calvinist thinking with the former tending towards a negative attitude towards obligation and law while the latter emphasizes that law and grace always go together. 

Perhaps the non-obligatory part is also a reflection of the influence of the general Western antipathy to law that stems way back in our history to the so-called Enlightenment.  The roots of our thought patterns go so deep and long to the point that most of us are not even aware of them; we just act, speak or think along those patterns without any further second thought. 

One of the purposes of this blog is to lay bare for you readers the reasons and roots of our accepted thought patterns or worldview. This obligation thing may be one of those unexamined items in our Western culture. 

I guess I ended up not so short after all nor so light. Next time just read the story without the comments, enjoy it and ponder it for yourself. Maybe even go to Burger King and initiate the same story to see what happens, Christmas or not. Oh, sorry, it was McDonalds, not BK. No matter, for when it's spring, can summer be far way? When you see Big Mac, can BK be far away? 

Post 70--Born Again

You’ve come to expect a mix of religious and so-called “secular” topics from me. I’ve explained the reasons for that more than once. It is simply that they are not two separate areas or regions so much as that religion underlies all subjects; it serves as their substratum.  They do not exist as separate entities so much as the religious infusing and shaping everything else. 

And so, today we jump from the topic of water consumption to that of being born again. The reason for my concern for the economics and ecology of water consumption is precisely because I am born again. Of course, reason, observation, experience, etc., all play a part as well, but the direction in which they lead you is ultimately decided by your value system, your worldview, your beliefs and, finally, your religion, i.e., your ultimates. If you are truly born again, then water issues must concern you, for they are so basic to the life of your neighbor throughout the world.

Born again. In the minds of the average writer in the Vancouver Sun (VS) this is about the most vicious pejorative you can use to describe Christian Evangelicals and Fundamentalists, especially their American versions.  Once you have described Evangelical or Fundamentalist action as the result of being born again, you no longer have to take it seriously; it is guaranteed to be wrong, damaging, anti-social, ridiculous even. Nothing further needs to be said.

But what is this thing called “born again?”   Let’s go back to the original reference to it in the Bible:

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.^[a]”

⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit^[b] gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You^[c]must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3).

It must be admitted that Jesus’ explanation is not too clear to our modern way of thinking, but one thing is clear: It is necessary if we wish to see the Kingdom of God.  It is not just something nice, not just icing on the cake of salvation; It is a necessary condition.  Without it you cannot see the Kingdom of God; without it, you cannot be a Christian. That’s pretty drastic. 

Since the early history of Christian theology, scholars have widely discussed the meaning of being born again. I hope to take you through some of that in the next post.  However, it is no wonder that it is unpopular with the secular crowd. The need for it is the human condition, which, according to both the Bible and Christian theology, is totally distorted.  May I say the word?  Sinful!  Stronger still, dead in sin!  There, I’ve said it. Phew! Now that ain’t pretty and it’s not going to raise my popularity with my favourite VS writers, most of whom I appreciate and read regularly. 

No wonder that proud mankind is offended by this evaluation of human nature. And no wonder most folk try to evade its truth by poking fun of it and castigating it for its association in our minds with extreme fundies in the southern USA. In terms of the West, it has been rejected in principle ever since the Renaissance centuries ago and by the subsequent philosophical developments through rationalism, secularism and post-modernism.  It is offensive, humiliating, demeaning. It is one of the reasons the dominant worldview in the West rejects it outright and pokes fun of it.