A Brick in the Valley

"Parochialism: “Narrowly restricted in scope or outlook; provincial”

I often tell our people that, “a local church is not a local church.”  While we certainly should be concerned across the street, we need also to think about around the world.

Stuart Briscoe writes that parochialism is a scourge:

The vision of John recorded in Revelation 5:9 tells of the throne of the Lamb of God being surrounded by people from ‘every tribe and language and people and nation.’  This is a fulfillment of the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  In between these bookend statements, there is ample evidence that right from the beginning the church was both local and global – -some call it glocal!  Call it what you will, there is no doubt that the resource-laden church in the West and the comparatively impoverished church in the developing world are all part of one body, the church of Christ.  They belong to each other.  Parochialism is a scourge; a worldview is imperative.  Both must learn to share and encourage, to instruct and support – - the West from their abundant resources while carefully avoiding loading David with Saul’s armour; the developing world from their rich store of experience of fundamental spiritual dynamics and brave commitment, which the West all too often lacks.  This requires more than a casual interest in international affairs on the part of many believers.  International affairs are happening where our brothers and sisters live – -and many die.  It demands more than a ten-day mission trip . . .

“I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while (Romans 15:24).

Whether or not you accept that Paul wrote Romans from Corinth, he evangelized Corinth and that area, and when you look at this map you can easily see Paul’s missions strategy.  If he traveled to Rome, as we know he did, then he could hope to solidify the church in Rome and use this as an outpost to reach Spain.

Extended as they were, the boundaries of the Roman Empire would then make it possible for the Gospel to burn throughout the known world.

*I added the red stars and labels to this map.  Otherwise, it is a scan of a page from the Hammond Atlas of the Bible, the current edition is shown below.

See also, The Miracle that Was Paul

1.2 billion people and according to Operation World, “India has more (and larger) people groups with no Christians, churches or workers than any other part of the world.”

The Big Picture takes us to India:

January 26th, 2010 marked the 60th anniversary of India’s adoption of the Constitution of India, and the 80th anniversary of its original 1930 Declaration of Independence from British rule. The annual holiday is celebrated as Republic Day, with a grand parade held in the capital, New Delhi, and many other celebrations across the diverse nation. Collected here are a number of photographs from the Republic Day celebrations and many more colorful glimpses of daily life from all around India.

More here.

Another amazing collection.

Click here to see more at the Big Picture.

HT: Z

If God is touching your heart about Haiti, but, you’re not quite sure how to respond, here’s a devotional exercise you could do in the next few days.

1. Read Matthew 25 aloud.  It is a good thing to force yourself to slow down and hear a segment of God’s Word.
2. Notice that there are three segments:
1. The parable of the Ten Virgins
2. The parable of the Talents
3. The final judgment
3. Reflect on the significance of each of the three sections.  Do you agree with these summary statements?
1. Matthew 25:1-13: Only foolish people are not prepared when Christ comes back.  And, we can be sure that the Master will return when many are not ready – - at which time it will be too late.  Oh, can you say you are ready, brother? 
2. Readiness looks like aggressively leveraging what God has entrusted to us, not playing it safe.  Matthew 25:14-30: Wise people aggressively multiply the resources entrusted to them.  Christians are not called to bury their savings in a 401K (which doesn’t turn out to be so safe after all) or to put our stuff in a safety deposit box of one kind or another. We are to shrewdly dream about the ways that we can shine the light of the Gospel across the street and around the world (see also Luke 16:8-9).
3. In particular, readiness means being mobilized to help hurting people.  Those who decline to help the hurting should fear for their souls.  Matthew 25:31-46: To ignore the least of these is to ignore Jesus.  Our Lord said is that if we have no heart for the “naked,” then we have no heart for him – - indeed, those who think they are His, but bear no fruit of compassion – - these have a Hell of a shock in front of them (Matt 25:46).  Deeds of compassion don’t save us; but, the saved feature deeds of compassion.  2 Corinthians 13:5.

On a corporate level, if a local church is just a local church; then it may one day have a hell of a shock; if a group of believers look only inwardly, only locally, then they have reason to question if they are the real deal or not.

Rather, let us see Christ when he is naked.

Click here for more pictures from Haiti.  Pray.

Click here to see more.

HT: Challies

Tony Blankley, Editorial Page Editor, The Washington Times, writes in his book, The West’s Last Chance:

The threat of the radical Islamists taking over Europe is every bit as great to the United States as was the threat of the Nazis taking over Europe in the 1940’s.  We cannot afford to lose Europe.  We cannot afford to see Europe transformed into a launching pad for Islamist jihad.

My purpose in writing this book is to assess, with cold logic and objectivity, how the West is responding to the radical Islamist threat—and how we can and should respond.  My central assertion is that while we in the United States and Europe have vast resources for protecting ourselves, we have thought ourselves into a position of near impotence.

It has been awhile since I posted on Miss Mango.  For those who are new to my blog, I took a picture of the little girl to the right when I was in Mango, Togo last spring.  I am part of an ABWE effort to see a hospital built in the Mango area.

The project continues to forge ahead.  The groundbreaking was held on October 24.

*************

Pastor Andrew Ford posts:

“From ABWE Missionaries in Mango, Togo.  Three things stand out to me:

1. Mango is ready for a hospital and ripe for the Gospel.
2. God is at work there.  So many things are coming together that can only be attributed to God’s grace and work in a special way.
3. It rained.  Make sure you read the last paragraph.

October 24, 2009

It’s a cloudy Saturday, and I think it best to write today as we travel to Dapaong tomorrow and have meetings in the evening here in Mango.  The big news is of course the laying of the first stone for the Wendell Kempton Medical and Ministry Center on Thursday.

First off, the President didn’t come, which was both a disappointment and a relief.  It certainly lowered the level of security, and that was a blessing.  He did send his greetings, and the person who announced the change in plans attributed his absence to a last minute affair of state that required his presence in Lome.  We did have four cabinet ministers and five representatives from the Togolese National Assembly, so there was plenty of “star power” in attendance.  The authorities here told us they estimated the crowd at 4000, and people came from distant villages, and from as far away as Lome.  The day started off with a light fog, which cooled things down early in the morning.  But that burned off, and it rapidly heated up.  We were under a canvas shelter, but most of the crowd was seated, or standing in the sun, which had to be very uncomfortable.

To me, the high point of the affair was when Pastor Pat Nemmers preached from Mark 2 about the paralyzed man whose friends brought to Jesus.  Our desire here is to talk about our Lord Jesus Christ, and to show His mighty works, and wonderful teaching.  Pastor Nemmers spoke of how we can be healed physically but then lose our souls. Jesus, however, went beyond healing the man physically, forgiving his sins and giving him eternal life in the process.  Our friends here see Jesus as a powerful prophet, but not as God in the flesh.  The story in Mark 2 defines His deity in a powerful way, for only God has power to forgive sins. 

Read the whole thing here.