by Steve | Jan 7, 2019 | Jan-Feb 2019, Magazine Articles
By Bishop Kasap Owan –
The meaning of the cross is to bring us closer to God. The meaning of the cross is to reconcile us with God. Origen, an early church father, says the gift of God is Jesus himself. Because Jesus Christ is the gift of God given to us, he was on the cross crucified because of us. Through faith we are crucified with Christ. Faith is the confidence we have in God, and that confidence is centered on Jesus. When we depend on God, we need to be obedient to the gospel.
I come from Africa. In my area we received the gospel in 1912 through Bishop John Springer (1863-1963) who was sent to start mission in the Congo. Bishop Springer preached the gospel to the people. He asked them to believe in God – not in their ancestors or so-called sacred trees.
The gospel has completely transformed the culture of these people. There were so many traditional religions, but the gospel, the good news of God of our Lord Jesus Christ, has completely transformed our culture.
I have five annual conferences. One day I met a lady who asked me, “Bishop, what does the Bible say, what does the Book of Discipline say about marriage?” In Africa Christians talk about the Bible and the Discipline. This means Africa is always going along the word of God and Discipline. Africa holds on to faith in Christ our savior – Christ as the one who freed us from our culture.
Christ is the one who brings us close to our God. Christ is the one who gives us peace and the one who is giving peace between different tribes. That’s really the meaning of the cross.
Africa is saved in Christ. Africa keeps faith in the gospel. Remember when Jesus was born, Herod decided to kill all male children. Do you know where Jesus went as a refugee? It was in Egypt. It was in Africa. Jesus was protected in Africa. When the church is in this turmoil, Africa will remain the place to protect the gospel.
Africa will keep faith. Africa will respect the cross of the one who died for us. Africa will continue to obey the one who is just. Africa will continue to say yes to Christ.
This is what one man told me: “Bishop, we have celebrated a hundred years of evangelization in Congo. If you bring us another teaching on marriage, our churches will be empty. But if we remain obedient to the word of God, the church will continue to grow in keeping faith with Christ.”
I told him, “You have a bishop who is a true disciple of Christ who will keep the gospel as it was given to us through the apostles and we’ll continue to obey because Christ died for us.”
Bishop Kasap Owan is the Resident Bishop of the South Congo Area of The United Methodist Church.
by Steve | Jan 7, 2019 | Jan-Feb 2019, Magazine Articles
By Christine Caine –
Hope is unshakeable confidence in God. It doesn’t deny the reality of our pain, but it does give us a life beyond our pain. It gives us permission to believe in a new beginning. It is the happy and confident expectation of good that lifts our spirits and dares us to believe for a different future. It is always looking to God with expectation: “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you” (Psalm 39:7).
But when we lose hope, when all we feel is the pain of loss and disappointment, it can be so hard to believe that God wants to help us, or that he cares, because we have more questions than answers. More doubt than faith. And yet, that is the perfect time to become a prisoner of hope.
A prisoner of hope sounds like an odd thing to be, doesn’t it? Aren’t prisoners locked up in high-security institutions and stripped of all their freedoms? Why would we want to be characterized as a prisoner of anything, even hope?
Because being a prisoner of hope in God is different. God’s prisoners of hope aren’t forced into an institution for punishment but invited into a fortress for safety. Imagine a castle that stands firm even when the very foundations of life are shaken. A place created just for us, where we can chain ourselves to the promise that God is working all things for our good, even when all things are falling apart. From the high tower of this fortress, we prisoners of hope gain a whole new perspective. We can look beyond our unexpected circumstances to the future, trusting that God has good things in store for us.
When I first learned to think and live this way, it was revolutionary to me. I was raised in a religious tradition that never encouraged me to expect good things from God. In fact, it was considered presumptuous to even imagine that God had time for my requests, given that he had an entire world to run. I’m so glad I discovered in his word that God is good, God does good, and God wants to do good for me — all the time. But to keep my heart and mind thinking and believing this way on a daily basis doesn’t come naturally; instead, it’s always a choice, one I have to make again and again.
Here’s another way to think about this choice. When the unexpected strikes, we find ourselves perched on a thin precipice with an abyss on either side. That’s when we have a decision to make. We can choose to fall into the abyss of despair on one side, or into the abyss of hope on the other. Both look like scary choices, but when we choose to fall into hope we soon find ourselves wrapped in the arms of a loving God — a God who always catches us and always promises to carry us from the precipice of despair into the wide-open space of new life. That’s where we find the new opportunities and experiences that get us beyond our disappointments and disillusionments. It is a place of freedom where we let go of what we once wanted in exchange for what we never expected — a new adventure. But we can’t get there by ourselves. Only God can catch and carry us into the new life we never imagined and take us to places we never considered going.
Becoming a prisoner of hope doesn’t mean we no longer struggle with disillusionment or despair. When the unexpected strikes and gives us new reasons to lose hope, it’s still tempting to dig a tunnel out of our fortress, to escape hope and lose ourselves in doubt, fear, and unbelief. I cannot tell you how many times I almost lost hope that we would see people rescued at A21 – our organization that works to fight human trafficking – or that traffickers would be caught and prosecuted and sentenced. There were times I wondered if I would have the ability to parent my girls with wisdom. Or if I would get free from the pain of my past. The list is endless.
In each and every endeavor, I had to chain myself once more to the God of all hope. As we launched our ministry initiatives, people who said they would stay, left. People who were supportive at one stage dropped out in the next. Doors slammed shut. Governments changed policies. But I have learned to walk by faith and not by sight. To close my eyes, proclaim myself a prisoner of hope, and step into a spiritual fortress — to dare to get my hopes up and keep my hopes up. I’ve seen God step in and carry me to better places, present me with better opportunities, and lead me into amazing breakthroughs.
When we are tempted to escape but choose instead to run into our stronghold Jesus, he promises to overflow our lives with hope: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). He promises to help us become the prisoners of hope he’s called us to be so we can move beyond despair and into a new destiny.
Christine Caine is an Australian born, Greek blooded, lover of Jesus, activist, author, and international speaker. She and her husband, Nick, founded the global anti-human trafficking organization, The A21 Campaign. They also founded Propel Women, an organization designed to activate women to fulfill their God-given passion, purpose, and potential. Taken from Unexpected by Christine Caine © 2018 by Christine Caine. Used by permission of Zondervan (zondervan.com).
by Steve | Jan 7, 2019 | Jan-Feb 2019, Magazine Articles
By Max Wilkins –
“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:11-12, NRSV)
“Please see me before you leave for the day!”
The note was taped to my office door by a colleague at work. My heart sank a bit. We’d been working through several challenging situations and my first thought was, “What now?” As I entered her office a short time later, however, she smiled broadly. “I’ve got good news!” Immediately my whole body relaxed.
“Good news.” These are two words we all enjoy hearing. They often precede a birth announcement and engagement notice. They are heard in connection with promotions at work, victories in sporting events, or positive results from medical tests. What follows them is almost always pleasant, and quite often joy producing. Rarely is anyone put off by a good news announcement.
From the very beginning, the announcement of the birth of our Savior Jesus, God’s incarnational presence in our world, has been called “good news.” According to the angels this joy producing news was for “all the people!” That includes everyone. God has entered our broken and problem plagued world with the promise of salvation, abundant life, and purpose. What is there not to like in that message? But lately it seems, especially in the western world, many have lost confidence in the goodness and joy producing power of this message.
Much has been written about the tragic death of John Allen Chau, the young man who was killed while attempting to share the gospel with an unreached group of islanders off the coast of India. There is, undeniably, a need for conversation about Chau’s missiology and methodology, and even whether he should ever have attempted to go to this island.
There is one aspect of the conversation which followed his martyrdom, however, that has given me great concern. Many people, a number of them self-professing Christians, have decried attempts to take the good news to people who haven’t heard as culturally abusive and an unwanted intrusion into the lives of others. For these people, the idea that the gospel could be welcomed as good news and received with great joy by people hearing it for the first time is not only unbelievable, but dangerous and wrong. Rather than good news, these voices see the gospel as intrusive, manipulative, and unwelcomed. Yet there is much evidence that when the gospel in shared, even cross-culturally, in culturally sensitive and contextually appropriate ways, it is still an announcement of good news that is received with great joy.
Several years ago, Sue Koljeski, one of TMS Global’s cross-cultural witnesses, moved to West Africa to work in partnership with the Methodist Church of Ghana. She settled in a remote town on the border of Burkina Faso and began to learn the culture, language and traditions of the people there. Sometime later she discovered a very remote village where there was no active church presence, and where the good news was not known. With loving care, Sue formed relationships with the people there, ministering to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the community, and sharing the good news of Jesus with them.
Sue and the young Christian boys who now have the Scriptures in their language.
Over the coming months and years, scores of people from this village, both young and old, received the message openly, became followers of Jesus and were baptized. Among them were three young boys who heard the message with gladness and responded with great joy. Intelligent and deeply desiring to know more about this good news, the boys longed to have the scriptures in their own language. Sue worked to make that happen.
On the day she arrived in the village with the Bibles, the three early adolescent boys excitedly raced off with their copies of the Word, each to his own tree, where they sat for hours devouring the scriptures. These young men became so enthusiastic about the life transformative power of the gospel message that they committed to sharing it with others. Indeed, they began to refer to each other as Prophet, Evangelist, and Pastor. And the people in the village began to refer to them in the same way! Today the lives of the entire village are being transformed in positive ways as a result of their embrace of this message. No wonder this good news produces great joy!
Sue retired a couple of months ago after many years of faithful service. She has returned to the United States, but not before having a wonderful farewell service in Ghana. I was blessed to be present for the almost 7 hour long affair, and witnessed multitudes of people celebrating with glad hearts and bearing witness to the life transforming power of the gospel among them. At the conclusion of the service, Prophet, Evangelist, and Pastor – the three young men – came forward to read a scriptural blessing over Sue, each testifying to their gratitude for Sue’s willingness to share with them that a Savior, Christ the Lord, had been born – for them!
Stories such as Sue’s are being repeated around the world and here at home on a regular basis by those who not only believe the angelic message, but are willing to embrace it as their own. Taking this good news to “all the people,” especially to those for whom it is truly news, they are discovering that this message is not only welcomed, but life changing. And that, I would contend, is good news indeed!
Max Wilkins is president of TMS Global (www.TMS-Global.org.)
by Steve | Jan 7, 2019 | Jan-Feb 2019, Magazine Articles
By B.J. Funk –
As my eyes fell over the first verses in James, I felt inner anguish. How could James write, “Consider it all joy when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4)?
Who cares about perseverance? I was rolled into a knot, crying my heart out day and night, and this was no help! Wasn’t the Bible supposed to comfort me in my troubles? I labeled James as an out-of- touch, over-my-head man. I skipped over those verses for many years to come.
I was young then. My eyes moved right over a key word James intended for me to see, but I did not see it then. The word is when. James does not say, “if you face trials,” but “when you face trials!” James is saying that trials are a sure thing, and when they come, consider it joy.
I am looking back now over thirty years of training in these three verses. I finally get it. I started by deleting the idea of joy being a great giggle and replacing it instead with the idea of delight and pleasure. “Count it all delight and pleasure, when you face trials.” I also erased my thinking that I was to find joy in the trial itself. James never said that. My paraphrase then became, “When you face a difficulty, think of the delight and pleasure you will derive as you learn to persevere and grow your roots deeper into the Christian soil.”
About the time I was struggling with this, books came out advising to “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Again, one word brought my confusion, and I thought I was to thank God for the desperately painful situation. But, the phrase reads, “thank God in all circumstances.” I later understood that, in everything that happens, good or bad, I include God, turn it over to him, and look to him to bring something good from it. The last part of that verse does not indicate that the circumstance itself is God’s will. Instead, God’s will is that we give thanks to him.
I now believe that a heartache, a trial, a disappointment, a grief – these are the best things God uses to grow a Christian. We become a Christian when we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross, along with his resurrection. We are made into Christians as we walk barefoot over thorns and rocks in the valley, becoming desperate for God.
Paul is right when he says in First Corinthians 13, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, and I reasoned like a child.” Some Christians are still children in their faith. When trials come, they rebel with, “Why me?” Many will live and die on this earth without the realization that we live in a fallen world, plagued with heartache. If we will allow those heartaches to shape us, grow us, and carve our character, we will begin to put away childish things. We will understand and desire perseverance. We will know joy!
In the early centuries of Christian persecution, non-Christians were amazed that martyrs did not die angrily. They died singing! One was asked why he smiled in the flame, and he said, “I saw the glory of God and was glad!” Pure joy!
We come out of these painful times realizing how much we need our Lord. In the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, the stuffed rabbit was loved by a little boy. His love made the rabbit become real. God’s love carries us into the thorn-filled valley, stays by our side, and loves us into healing. His goal is that we leave behind our surface Christianity and become real.
I have had a taste of the sweet waters of Christianity that flow from the bitter springs of pain. I would go through every trial again to have this deeper, satisfying life.
Forgive me, James. Long ago, I wanted to cut those first words out of your book! I’ve changed. Now I want to thank you for those life-saving truths.
More than anything, I want to be real.
by Steve | Jan 6, 2019 | Jan-Feb 2019, Magazine Articles
Authors of Renovation Core Group Study – (l-r) Rachel Knight, Lauren Shirley, Denise Beckman.
By Katy Kiser –
Last summer, I took a friend who lives on the East Coast to Waco, Texas, on a tour inspired by the popular show “Fixer Upper” with Chip and Joanna Gaines. The show is about what families go through to fix up a house. Not all remodeling is about building something new; it can also include tearing down what needs to come out so the house can reach its intended potential. For the families that embark on this process it can be scary. But at the end of each show when the “before” picture is rolled away, the joy on their faces as they view their newly renovated home says it all. It was worth it.
A house is not the only thing that needs renovation from time to time. As Team Leader of Renew Network, I have the privilege of hearing from women who have realized their ministry and mission programs are not meeting the needs of their congregation, much less the plan God has for them.
Last year, the women’s leadership of First United Methodist Church Carrollton, Texas, met to evaluate their ministry and make plans for the coming year. They had some great programs such as weekly in-depth Bible studies and quarterly multigenerational events with inspiring speakers. Once a year, everyone looked forward to the women’s retreat. Mission opportunities abounded, but something was missing. Their ministry and mission programs needed fixing up.
A few of the leaders went to the Lord in prayer and asked him to give them his vision for the women of First Methodist Carrollton. Rachel Knight, the women’s committee co-chair, describes this process as “shadow stepping” the Lord. “As we sought the Lord, he showed us there was untapped potential in our women that he wanted to uncover. As God revealed a new direction for our ministry, he gave us each step to take. Some doors opened and others closed.”
One of the first things the Lord impressed upon them was that the women’s ministry should not have a separate mission or vision from their church. Making disciples for Jesus Christ had always been a focus of their church since 1901, when the church was established. Even before their official founding, early members of First Methodist had participated in weeklong revivals and camp meetings held in nearby Dallas. In the 1970s, the church was a training center for Evangelism Explosion.
Currently, they find themselves in a diverse community where many of their neighbors have very little understanding of Christianity. The Lord reminded the women of their church’s mission to “create a community connected to God and others” and their vision to “fill every neighborhood with the good news of God’s love.”
Three words summarized this vision and became a framework for the ministry: “Gather, Grow, Go.” Gather events were necessary – large group events that had an element of fun and were an easy entry point for new people to get involved. Gather events always pointed to an opportunity to Grow. And as women realized who they were in Christ and were reminded of the gospel, they would Go and serve – in the church, in their neighborhoods, and around the world.
The Grow opportunities needed the most work. The idea of short-term small “core groups” emerged. Ladies would meet with four to five other women for six weeks, and then they would be placed with a different group of four to five women for the next study. This fostered new, multigenerational friendships in a church where many members have been in the same Sunday school class for decades.
The leaders developed three, six-week studies around the theme of renovate. “Fixer Upper” was the perfect starting point to discuss how all of our lives need God’s redemption and sanctification to remodel us into the image of his Son, Jesus. Rachel Knight and Denise Beckman, the women’s ministry co-chairs, began writing curriculum with Lauren Shirley, the church’s Communications Director.
The first study, titled “Blueprint,” centered on God, the Master Builder, and the story of creation, catastrophe, rebuilding, and restoration. Women studied the biblical framework that makes sense of the world and explains the big questions of life. It was followed by “Remodel,” which looked at the process of sanctification so we might overcome the effects of the Fall and reach our full potential to reflect the glory of God. “Move In,” the third six-week study, invites women to a deeper understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit, as they discover why Jesus left so the Spirit could move in and finish the work of the gospel.
The work of the Holy Spirit was nothing short of amazing. As women revisited or discovered for the first time the foundational principle of each lesson, they uncovered new insights. The discussion-based curriculum encouraged participants to verbalize what they were learning. As they reasoned their way through the scriptures and questions, they applied the scriptures to their own lives.
The success of the studies was greater than the women had hoped. Because Core Groups were offered on almost every day of the week and at various times, women who had not been able to attend signed up and came. When the program was reported to the Church Council, the decision was shortly made to adapt it to the men’s ministry where it has been equally successful.
For decades this church has had a vibrant commitment to global missions. Currently, they are planting churches in Cambodia, supporting orphanages in Honduras, India, and Pakistan, and leading evangelistic baseball summer camps in Germany. But encouraging Core Groups to “go” together has helped the church focus on local ministries in their neighborhoods such as sidewalk Bible school for Spanish-speaking families every Saturday and partnering with local food banks. There was every reason for Core Groups leaders to encourage their small groups to join in and strengthen the mission commitments of their local church.
With shared mission, First Methodist Carrollton is united and prepared for whatever challenges that may come. Their new program began with a handful of women committed to prayer. They know that when you seek the will of God, honor the teaching of Christ, and trust in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord will bless even in difficult times.
We live in challenging times. Division in our culture, in our church, and in our families is prevalent and threatens our foundations. But if our foundation is built on and committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have nothing to fear. There may be crises and division in the church, but God is still at work in the life of the church and in the lives of those who faithfully seek him.
Katy Kiser is the Team Leader for Renew Women’s Ministries. Lauren Shirley contributed to this report. If you are interested in learning more about the ministry and curriculum at First Methodist Carrollton, contact Katy Kiser at Renew Network at 832-381-0331 or by email at www.renewnetwork.org
by Steve | May 15, 2018 | Magazine Articles, May/June 2018
By Rob Renfroe –
I don’t have a crystal ball. I’m not a prophet. And I’m not claiming to have “a word from God.” But I think I can see how the called General Conference may end next February.
The bishops have spoken predominantly about two options which they are likely to put forth. The first proposal is called “The One Church” Plan. Previously it was referred to as “the local option.” Each pastor would determine whether to marry gay couples and each annual conference would decide whether to ordain practicing homosexuals. We would be one church with two different sexual ethics, some of us teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman and others proclaiming that marriage is the sacred union of two persons. Some of us would teach that loving homosexual relations are a gift from God to be celebrated; others of us would refer to such relations as contrary to God’s will, even sinful.
This “one church” plan has been around for a good while. It was proposed at General Conference in 2016 and fared so poorly in committee that its rejection was a certainty and it was not even brought to the floor for a vote. This plan would require evangelicals and traditionalists to belong to a church that allows and promotes what they believe to be contrary to the clear teaching of God’s word. It’s hard to understand why the bishops think the same plan might pass when practically all of 2016’s delegates are returning to vote in 2019.
The “one church” model will be opposed in St. Louis by the same coalition that defeated it in the past – traditionalists in the U.S., delegates from Africa (almost unanimously), and most delegates from The Philippines and Eastern Europe. This coalition, or some form of it, has been the majority opinion on every significant sexual ethics vote that has come before General Conference for four decades. In fact, this alliance even defeated a less progressive proposal that United Methodists simply admit that we have differing opinions regarding homosexuality. I’m not a prophet but I don’t need to be to predict that “The One Church” Plan will fail again when it is proposed in St. Louis.
The second proposal has been referred to as “the Multi-Branch plan.” This proposal divides the church into three jurisdictions. One jurisdiction would be fully progressive with pastors required to marry gay couples. A second jurisdiction would be traditional in its beliefs and would not allow its pastor to marry same-gendered persons. A third jurisdiction would permit pastors to determine their own policies. Ordination of gay persons would likewise be required, forbidden, or allowed (but not required) of annual conferences, depending on the jurisdiction they joined.
For some evangelicals this plan is more palatable. The distance between the three branches is sufficient for some traditionalists to “live with” this model even if it’s not their first choice.
But can it pass? Probably not, because it requires constitutional amendments, meaning it must pass by a two-thirds margin at the called General Conference and by the same margin when it is considered later by annual and central conferences. Some progressives will not vote for this plan because they see it as an institutionalizing of injustice. Many evangelicals, both in the U.S and around the globe, will reject this plan because it also requires them to remain in a church that allows and promotes what the Scriptures forbid. Even if all of the progressives and one-third of the traditional delegates accept this plan, it will still fail to gain the two-thirds approval that it requires.
I’m not a prophet and I don’t have a crystal ball. But I can see a very unhappy ending for the special Conference that was called for the bishops to resolve our division over sexuality. If the only two options considered are the ones the bishops have been promoting in their press releases, chaos will be the result when they are defeated. The church will be demoralized. The bishops will have failed. Progressives will rampantly break the Book of Discipline. Conservatives will stop paying apportionments. Churches will leave the denomination. Members in huge numbers will depart to find non-Methodist churches to join. And there will be no one to look to for leadership. The bishops will have failed their trust and will have no moral authority to guide the church. The “centrist” leaders again will have lost their attempt to liberalize the church. Progressives will be seen for the true minority they are.
We will be in disarray and we will be leaderless.
In the meantime, the situation in the church is only getting worse. The decline in attendance is increasing. Bishops and annual conferences continue to disregard the Discipline by appointing self-avowed practicing homosexuals to leadership positions and by passing policies allowing the ordination of practicing LGBT persons (see page 6). More local churches are leaving the denomination. Mistrust and cynicism are growing. The morale of clergy in much of the U.S. is in the depths. Many are worried and anxious about the future of the church and its implications for their own personal situation. It is past time for the pain to end and this conflict to be resolved.
What’s our hope? That some other group will bring forth a plan that might resolve our dysfunction and our division. After all the time and expense that has been consumed in creating two plans that cannot pass, our hope is that a dissenting group of bishops, a global coalition, or some other group will create a plan that can pass. It will not be a plan that pleases everyone. It may not be a plan that “keeps us together” if that means having two or more positions regarding sexuality in one church. But it is time to resolve our differences and be done with the constant acrimony and fighting. That’s why the Conference was called. That’s what the bishops were asked to do. But if they won’t, then someone else must. Or I see a very unhappy ending for United Methodists.
