April News Letter

Here is our most recent news letter for April! Thank you so much for your encouragement and support!

“Is It Dangerous There?”

So over the past 6 months we have had a lot of questions come our way, and a lot of the same ones. One of those has been, “So is it dangerous there in Ivory Coast?” What is interesting, is that most of the time it comes right after we share that 80% of Ivory Coast is made up of Islam and African Traditional Religions. So based upon a lot of people’s assumptions it must be a dangerous place (I dont fault them for that given the realities they see on TV). However, sometimes it comes up right at the beginning, and people just wonder if it is “wise” to take a wife and kid there. I find that this question brings lots of things up within me. So I thought I would share my thoughts on this. (I like points, which is why I number every thing so forgive me if you hate that about many of my posts).

1) ISLAM has a reputation that is quite astounding, given its ability to persuade as seen on TV through the numerous news reels of people being car bombed and what not. And though this may not be the best illustration I think it is very real. Extremists of Islam are kind of like the homosexual population of America, there are very few of them, but because they scream so loud they make a big ruckus! I mean 1% of the population of America is able to persuade policy on a number of issues simply because it is not quiet, and the same is true for Islam, only a very few are running around blowing up things, but they get a lot of attention because of the noise they create.

However, many Muslims are not extremists, just like they would think all Americans are Christians, and we would say, “Uh… negative ghost rider!” So the perceptions are misunderstood both ways. The Islam in Ivory Coast is not hostile in the same way as seen in other African countries and the Middle East. Not to say that it wont, because neighboring Mali is currently dealing with the extremist side of things. However, the Islam in Ivory Coast is what is known as Folk Islam, which is when a previous religion takes on Islam and does not fully leave behind their previous practices. So much of the Islam is cultural, so that they are known as “Muslim” but they practice some of their divination from before. However, if one converts from Islam it is difficult because that person is ostracized from the community, but not usually killed and hunted down as an honor killing. So it is important to understand the version of Islam in Ivory Coast, and so right now, NO, the fact that Islam is pervasive and present does not mean that it is dangerous.

2) WISDOM is a word that often gets thrown around when heading to a place that is difficult to live, and so many say, “Is it wise to go there with a family and raise a child?” However, a good many of Christians have hidden behind this Wisdom Card for a long time, and have opted out of going because it would be “unwise” to raise a family THERE. The problem is though that Jesus did not say, “If it is wise, aka safe, then go into all nations…” He didn’t say, “If there are wolves where you are headed, then be wise, aka safe, and don’t go.” NO, he actually said, there WILL be difficulties, trials and persecution. He said that if you want to follow me then you must take up these realities and lean into me, for in doing so you will seem foolish, but the cross is foolishness to the wisdom of the world.

So Jesus redefines for us what Wisdom is, and that is why Paul can tell us that wisdom is not safety and security, but obedience unto death, even death on a cross. He says that it is faithful obedience to the obligations of God, not selective obedience to the privileges of God. We have taken obligations and made them privileges, and therefore we see safety as wise, and difficulty as unwise. And so, “Is it dangerous there?” YES, but does that change our going or confirm it?

3) VALID is another word that comes to mind for many, as well. Because if it is not dangerous, then it probably is not REAL missions, as though someone is choosing the easy route. Many fail to support missionaries in any sense if they are not going to be heading to the “front lines” of the mission of God. If they are not going to work with underground churches in North Korea, or with Saudi Pastors, or in war torn Sudan, then you may be a sub-par missionary. Thus, this question of “Is it dangerous there?” becomes a litmus test for whether or not the missionary is worthy of support. So if they are going to Spain, Germany, or France, then they may not really be missionaries if it is not dangerous.

However, what makes a missionary valid is neither the location of their work nor the level of civility and safety where they reside, but whether they are committed to taking the Gospel to people who do not yet have it, seeking to build the church where there is none, or if they are sending the church in urgent mission to meet the needs of those around them. So “Is it dangerous there?” MAYBE, but it does not change the validity of our work or the worthiness of the people we are going to work alongside.

Here is a sermon that was recently given that has revolutionized my thoughts on the current perception of danger and missions. Plan to soak in this for a while…

A Meme From Recent Support Raising Experience

There are a ton of misnomers when it comes to what perceptions there are of missionaries doing support raising. I thought I would just put the cards on the table and lay out some of the experiences we have had over the last 6 months of support raising. So I figured I would use my missionary contextualization methods and communicate in technical American technological terms. Now remember, Memes overstate a case so please don’t read into these.

Walking Into the Unknown

A lot of life for some of us, and a lot of our process in heading overseas has been about walking faithfully with God into the unknown. This past month has been about the peak of it for us, as we began to consider back in March whether we should return to work another year at Cedarville or not. Our support has been increasing at phenomenal rates and we thought, “What if we get to the end of the summer and we have 80% of our support, but then we have to stick around for another 9 month contract!?!?!?” So we decided to look into what it could look like to leave Cedarville, and that meant we had to have housing for super cheap to free, insurance, and for me (Justin) to find a job, otherwise we would be foolish in a lot of ways.

Well, God provided housing, as a professor/friend of mine offered us his apartment that normally goes for $600/month for $200/month. So we had a good start. But I needed a job, and I looked into several options that would give me the flexibility to work days during the week, and I had several interviews, but nothing came through, and as of last night it was confirmed that I just wasn’t going to have a job. Compiled on all of this was the time factor, because I had to renew my contract with Cedarville the week before I started thinking this through, so they graciously gave me an extension, but time has run out, and things just have not come together.

However, in this whole process God has taught us a lot.

1) Don’t follow a plan or prior course of action, follow the person and purposes of Christ. This whole month has really showed us how easy it is to follow a plan (to stick around Cedarville without questioning it), and not really consider how Jesus might be calling us to follow Him. For as our pastor said in a sermon during this past month, “Almost obedience is not obedience.” So as we continue to move forward we are calling on God in Christ by the Spirit to show us how to walk into the unknown, as we continue to follow Him to Ivory Coast.

2) God is sovereign and his purposes cannot be thwarted, but only extended through your circumstance. God cannot mistakenly place us back at Cedarville without purpose. It reminds me of the beautiful doctrine that is discussed so little, a theology of place. God loves space and place, and he places his people in certain places at certain times to accomplish his purposes for that place, and for the person he set there. Because our ministry to others is God’s ministry to us, and we can so easily forget that when ministry is tough. So as we move forward we look not only to see how we are to better minister here, but to continue to sit under God’s work in us along the way.

3) Faith is not walking into the unknown and taking a blind leap, rather it is trusting in the promises and person of God to act as He said or as He is in and of Himself. This term “Faith” has been thrown around a lot in the last month for good and for ill. It has been used to say,  “Just step out in faith and see what God does” and also as, “In the name of faith don’t be unwise.” However, through all of this and my study of Romans in the class I am teaching with another prof. I realized that my situation is not one of faith, rather one of wisdom. Because God never told me to leave and never promised me anything like he did with Abraham. Yes, God provides, honors, and respects those who follow Him, but that does not mean you leave in the name of “faith”. Because biblical faith is not a blind leap, it is a deep confidence in the person and promises of God to act in step with who He is. So we have been able to learn that lesson, and we have learned to think biblicaly and not clichely (is that a word?) about what it means to follow Christ in faith.

4) The people of God are a community of passionate followers of Christ who seek to walk with you no matter what you are going through and provide the necessary support along the way. In the past month we have been blown away by the Church. Our own church family has walked with us in prayer, counseling, and encouragement. The broader church at large has been mind blowing as we have had 8 different people offer up their houses or living situations for free or next to nothing. We have felt the love of Christ through his people over the last month in an astronomical way, and we have been left praising God for them, and is a huge testimony as we continue to lean on the Church for future provision as we follow Christ to Africa.

5) It is one thing to believe in God’s sovereignty, but it is quite a different thing to love His sovereignty. I heard this in a sermon a few years back from a pastor and it continues to leave its mark on my soul. I realize every time I try to do something with my desires out front that God teaches me this lesson. But it is so true, it is one thing to mentally assent that God is sovereign, but the true test of believing God’s sovereignty is to love the outcome of it, no matter what it means for you. It may be more difficult it may not be, and it may be a tragic event or a lovely event, and it does not mean you love the tragedy if it is due to the evil of this world, rather it means you follow God faithfully because His sovereign hand in your life is working to mold you into the kind of person he wants you to be for His glory. We simply have to live into where we are at, in our various situations, and seek to follow God faithfully into the unknown that lays before us.

Stepping Into Our Fears

So if we didn’t lose all of our readers after the last 3 posts, then hopefully this will be a change of pace, and a more helpful picture of where we are at right now. As our support continues to grow, and as people come around us, we are realizing more and more how close we are to leaving for Africa. In our recent trip to Denver, as we were taking off, I looked over to Jenna and said, “Some day this is going to be us leaving American soil for Africa, how crazy!?!” To which her face responded, “Yeah, I can’t let myself go there yet.”

But that is where we find ourselves. Going to places that we aren’t ready for yet, and in going there we find ourselves unable to even come to conclusions, because all you can do is ponder possible worlds, and never know if any conclusion is the right one until we actually get there. So we are trying to step into our fears by at least recognizing what is true about them, and then speaking truth to all that is false about them. What happens is that Satan, the World, and Our own sinful desires begin to distort the truth about the fear into something that is an oppressive weight and a disabling force, and then we take the distortion at face value and impose that on all of life and ministry in Côte D’Ivoire. This is then fertile soil for doubt, more fear, and difficulty in our marriage. So we have had to run to the Lord and to each other as we face these fears by stepping into them and not away from them. There is a reason that the most common command in the Bible is “Do Not Fear”, because we do it so much. So here are three major fears that seem to be at the top of the list in these past few weeks.

Justin: I have just been growing in my knowledge of, and ability to teach, the Bible. However,  I am starting to realize in my study of French that I am going to have to relearn all of this knowledge in French, and then learn how to communicate it helpfully for Africans. It hit me that it is going to be several years and maybe even a couple 4 year terms before I am even helpful and able to contribute constructively at the Bible Institute. So I find myself wanting to throw in the towel at times because I say to myself, “Self, am I ever going to be of any benefit to anyone!?!? It’s like I finally feel like I am gaining ground here, and now I have to take off and start all over again!” But this is the reality, and it is one I am fighting to see the truth about, yet at the same time trying to  speak the truth to the distortion about it, as well. Pray that God will give me peace in this, and that I will find the learning posture something to be desirable and something that is an adventure, rather than an oppressive hurdle that just needs to be leaped to get on to “greater things” (my how American this is!). It feels as though I am in a holding pattern just waiting, when in reality it is so much more than that. I am not just waiting to get on the plane to take off, but I am setting myself up for a life long commitment. Hard to get inside of that reality when you are only 25 years old, and you have the potential to serve for double that across the span of a life time!

Jenna: Justin asked me to write out my fears that I have been working through over the last few weeks into months as we prepare to head over to Ivory Coast. Here is an insert of my journal: Lord, I have been asking that you would reveal fears within me and you have. Thank you! I began asking this in response to a medical question concerning malaria medication and the Yellow Fever vaccine for Aria- at how old, when to give it, would it affect her in bad ways, etc. We have planned to take a team with CU students in May and I was thinking of how old Aria would be and when she could receive the vaccinations and such. I began to get overwhelmed/scared. Here I am a nurse, yet naive about tropical medicine, and trying to decide what is best for my daughter. I had many tears as I held Aria and cried out to God asking for peace, clarity and wisdom as to what I should do. I was soon reminded that my daughter could be just as “unsafe” here in the U.S. and my God has Aria in his hands. He will protect her or allow her to get sick in either place. This is just another step in helping me to trust that God is her father and creator; she is his. He cares for her despite what she may face in this world. Of course, as a Mother, I will do my best to keep her from certain dangers! =)

The second major fear, rather concern, that I have had to face is the longevity of being a home school mom versus my desire to be a nurse. I love being a mom and I am excited to see the possibilities of homeschooling our children, but I fear that I won’t have any time to do medical ministry like I feel God is/has been calling me to. This may sound selfish, but I found myself thinking, “What if I home school all of our children (Lord willing we have more); that could be another 15-20 years before I get to do anything medical. I don’t want to wait that long.” As I talked this out with Justin and got advice from our Africa Director’s wife, Kathy,  I came to the realization that this is normal processing, but that God may have something completely different than I imagine. I may be a home school mom and take my kids one day a week to play with kids while I help out in a clinic. In this my kids might get to see me as a nurse too. Who knows the doors that God may open up. Justin and I will have our “own dance” that may look completely different than others on the field with us. I am walking in to this fear with confidence that God knows my needs (Phil 4:9) and he will guide my life in what he thinks is best. I am walking forward in that truth. God is faithful and I have a feeling it will turn out much better than I can imagine.

Please be praying with us as we step into our fears. And may God strengthen you to step into yours, as well!

The Power of the Gospel in the African Context (Part 2)

In my previous post, I outlined the African perspective of life, and how ultimately the biggest concern for them is the harmony that needs to exist amongst the self, the community, and the invisible world. For if there is a rupture at some point, then there is something that caused it and it needs to be dealt with to restore the harmony that once existed. However, the African world view is anthropocentric (man-centered) and pragmatic, so they are unconcerned about the moral or spiritual consequences of an action, but are primarily occupied with the physical implications of the “rupture of harmony”. So while they seek to find out WHY it happened to bring about the cure, they don’t really care about the WHY, but how to fix it so they can resume life as normal. They are preoccupied with the physical implications and effects that it has on them as a community, and not about the offense that it has for them in a “relationship with a god”. So they appeal to the lesser deities to know how to resolve the matter, but not for theocentric (God-centered) purposes, but merely for selfish purposes.

So the question for the person bringing the Gospel to bear on this culture is, “How do I move them from a man-centered view of life to a God-centered view of life, so that they can see that the problem behind physical suffering is merely the surface to a much deeper problem, sin?” However, one has to do this without dismissing the genuine realities and fears behind their real and true concern. Because one knows that the real issue is the fear and shame that come with bringing rupture to the harmony that is to be maintained. Thus, at its core the African Religious system is driven by fear of frustrating the spirits or the ancestors, and bringing shame on themselves and their community, which brings about physical consequences. As a result, their response is to visit the witch doctor who can help them appease the spirits/ancestors, so as to restore the harmony. However, behind all of this is Satan at work, who is seeking to manipulate people with fear and shame, so that they continue to operate on his terms. For if someone decides to go against this, and physical affliction comes on them, then this is further affirmation that the new message is wrong and that they need to appease the spirits/ancestors. Thus, Satan is active in all of this, because physical suffering is around every corner as an African, and to experience these physical ramifications and be told that they just need Christ, is really not helpful. So how does Christ enter into this and redeem it? How does the Gospel adequately answer their major concerns and reorient their world view at the same time? For if we fail to do both, then we fail to share the Gospel in meaningful ways and fail to see true conversion that is lasting and true.

Thus, as the book I am reading said, “The Gospel does not offer guaranteed protection to believers from an African background, for whom fear of occult attack is a pressing concern. However, it places such attacks in a transformed perspective, which emerges from the presupposition that all spirit and occult activity is subject to God’s overriding sovereignty.” As a result, this proclamation and reorientation has several implications that bring healing and hope for the African’s most pressing concerns:

1. It means that no one is outside the bounds of suffering from Satan and his forces, but that what happens is within the limits of which God defines. Thus, salvation is not the immediate removal of suffering, but through it God achieves a purpose for our good. As a result, the question of “Who did it?” or “What was the agent that brought the affliction?” is irrelevant, because nothing can take place for a believer outside the jurisdiction of Christ’s reign, regardless of the agent of affliction.
2. The reign of Christ assures eternal security for those who believe even though they still live in a realm where Satan still operates. The powers that be are still trying to compromise or terminate their relationship with God and affect them here and now, but they are unable to touch them for all of eternity. This does no negate God’s good creation, but it does remind the African that this is not the end.
3. When bringing the Gospel to bear, one can use medical care as a chief means to express it. The aim must be to establish an integrated, holistic approach, paralleling that offered by traditional witch doctors and avoiding the dichotomistic separation of body and soul. Thus, the most important element of such an approach would be prayer with and for the patient which would visibly unite the physical and spiritual dimensions for them. For if one just gave a medication, then they would think nothing of Christ, but see the missionary as just another doctor, and still have the void of hope and healing for their dire situation. Or if the missionary just prayed for them and did not help them physically, then the Gospel would just be a mental assent and have no bearing for their lives. But by bringing them together it draws them into the reality of who God is, as sovereign savior over ever area of their lives.

Thus, one finds that the Gospel does speak to the African situation, and does so prophetically. However, it means that the way it is conveyed is vital, because it has to deal with the reality of spiritual forces and physical affliction, so that they can see that sin is the root problem, and that God in Christ has dealt with sin on their behalf by destroying the spiritual powers by dying a death on our behalf by shedding his blood, and rising again to bring life and hope for all who believe. And now he sits at God’s own right hand over all creation, and next to Him sits those who believe. Thus, now, one can have joy in affliction, patience in suffering, and hope without despair, because God is the sovereign savior who is taking the world to its proper end and has begun that in Christ, but he has to fix you to do it, and then send you to continue it. And one day he will return to raise the living and the dead (ancestors) and judge them, and those who are His will live forever in his new creation, and those who don’t will suffer forever in Hell. Thus, a God who is a righteous, sovereign savior, is a God the African’s need, and one that we hope to proclaim through our ministry in Côte D’Ivoire. (Click on the picture with the man holding the pot to see this come alive in Video Form).

February News Letter

Here is a little about what God has been up to in our lives this Month: FEBRUARY NEWS LETTER