On the Move

 On the Move 

As a wise friend of mine pointed out, Paul’s 

missionary journeys took him to some unexpected 

places.  In Acts 16, we find Paul looking for 

direction from the Holy Spirit on where he should 

go in sharing the Good News and in strengthening 

believers/the church.  Paul then receives what 

some have labeled, the Macedonian call:  a vision 

with a word to “come over and help us”.  Following 

God’s leading, he went to a major city in Macedonia 

(now what is modern day Europe).  The first person 

to respond to Paul’s message in that European city 

was from Asia (modern day Turkey).  Lydia, after 

listening to Paul’s words about Jesus, believed and 

was baptized along with her entire household.  She 

then went on to help lead a new community of faith. 

Today I am sharing about Paul’s winding 

missionary journeys to point out how often Paul 

impacted more than one nation for Christ by going 

to major trade cities where the nations were 

gathering.  While the call remained to share Christ, 

the people whom the Lord brought to Paul or other 

early church leaders in the book of Acts, where 

often surprising to the missionaries.  (See Peter’s 

vision in Acts 10 for another example.)  In some 

ways, I feel as though I can relate in being led to 

places that I would not have thought of on my own.  

Recently, I received a type of “Macedonian call” in 

that I received an invitation to come and pastor an 

international congregation in Hamburg, Germany.  

The Spirit of God through much prayer, the Word, 

other people, and even a dream later confirmed this 

call.  This city, interestingly enough, is the second 

largest port cityin Europe and is a major crossroads 

of commerce.  Peoples, tribes, and tongues from all 

over the world go to Hamburg to find work.   

  

Thus, our family is again on the move!  We will 

have another transition ahead where we will need 

to get the boys settled into new schools and to all 

learn a new language.  What we hope will be a 

longer-term situation seems to be building on so 

much of our experiences.  We see this move as a 

continuation of what we have already been about 

with some new twists.  Kirk will continue to write, 

research, and speak to mission movements of the 

Global South and North.  It turns out that a large 

migrant population of Ghanaians lives in Hamburg, 

so this move will place him closer to Africans in the 

middle of Europe.  Meanwhile, I will look to pastor 

Hamburg International United Methodist Church.  

This church began as a fellowship and has been 

part of an international migrant outreach in 

Germany.  The church members come from Africa, 

Asia, North America, and Europe.  

We will continue in our roles as “faith” missionaries 

with the Mission Society, raising ministry and living 

expense funds.  As the nature of a young, migrant 

church is very fluid and because it is a small 

congregation, they are not in a position to support a 

pastor’s salary. The church has been able to step 

up to secure funds for the worship space and is 

moving towards obtaining funds to help cover our 

housing (with some possible help coming from the 

UMC Advance).  We hope you will consider giving 

or continue to give in support of our missionary 

efforts in the days ahead as we cannot go without faithful 

givers.  Please do join us in prayer as we trust in our big 

God to help us with many details in this transition.  We 

recognize that these God- sized visions are way beyond 

our own strength, so we are actively depending on the Holy 

Spirit to guide us and for you to pray for us.      

—Nicole 

Growing a heart for Europe

They say confession is good for the soul. I must

confess to you that I have been judgmental. I

used to think, though probably didn’t verbalize

or admit, that missionaries from North America

needed to be sent to places like Africa or Asia,

but not to Europe. After all, I reasoned, Europe

has had its chance. They’ve heard the Gospel.

God had acted within their history and raised up

many great leaders of faith like Martin Luther,

John Calvin, John Wesley and others to

evangelize Europe. The Bible and the steeple

were in their villages but still they had chosen

unbelief, becoming hard hearted to the things of

God. In the past when I was going to support a

missionary it was going to be among poor people

with real needs, not Europe.

No, I wasn’t swallowed by a whale and spat up

on the shores of England in order to go preach in

Oxford, but after reading through the Book of

Jonah today, I feel encased with some intestinal

whale slime. I am all too much like Jonah, the

reluctant witness. Jonah was judgmental too. He

wanted mercy for himself and for his own people

but not for the sinful city of Nineveh. However,

that’s where God sent him to bring a message of

prophecy so the people might have an

opportunity to repent and turn back to God.

Jonah reluctantly landed at Nineveh’s shores and

God went to work on both the heart of the

congregation and the preacher as both needed

transformation.

I have been living in England for just over a year

now and upon reflection, recognize how God has

been working on my heart. I have talked to my

neighbor who recalled the horrors of World War

II during his childhood and the disillusionment

of its aftermath. I’ve listened to moms admit that

while they don’t see that there is a God with any

relevancy for their life, they did wonder if there

was a higher power when their baby was born.

I’ve met more children than I care to count who

don’t seem to know anything of my Jesus who

visited churches who are struggling with how to

speak to this new generation. In short, I am finding

a huge need for the Good News of Jesus Christ in a

place called England and God is starting to form in

me a heart for the people in this great land. It’s as

though I can hear God say to me as he corrected

Jonah’s thinking, “Should I not be concerned about

that great city….” (Jonah 4:11)

Jonah whined for Nineveh to “get what they

deserved” yet God wanted to pour out His love

and mercy once again. While Jonah was

inconsistent, God continued to faithfully act within

his character, repeatedly demonstrating his heart

for the world. Our God is a God of steadfast love

and mercy who longs to forgive and restore (Jonah

4:2). Amazingly, our call, as Christ’s followers is to

join in with this ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor

5:19). So I hope you, our ministry team of prayer

and financial support will join with me in being

increasingly open to laboring for England. We

need your support at this season as there is so

much work to be done. Indeed all of Europe needs

the Gospel presented to them in a culturally

relevant way within this generation. They need His

grace. Just like us. May God continue to transform

us all to have a heart like His--one that longs to

embrace the nations. --Nicole

Recipients of Mission

Who are the recipients of mission? I

bet an image just came to your mind.

It may be based on a mission trip

experience, hearing a mission speaker,

or serving in a local outreach. More

than likely, you thought of a “them”

and not an “us.” Often times, we

think of mission in single directional

ways. “We” have what “they” don’t

have, and God calls us to share what

“we” have with “them.” This could

be spiritual, financial, intellectual,

material, medical, and so on.

Unfortunately, we may sometimes

send implicit or even explicit

messages when we engage in mission

in that we are the ones who have and

they are the ones who don’t. Hardly

ever do we think that we may be or

may need to be recipients of mission.

To those of us who are Americans, it

hurts our pride. We value being self-

made people. We have because of

God’s blessing. After all, we are the

ones who send the missionaries.

Being in Europe this last year, I have

seen how people have so much, but

also live with depravity. As you all

know, I have been researching

mission from West Africa. One thing I

am discovering is that many Africans

who have immigrated to Europe see

themselves as missionaries to a

“barren land.” In some ways, because

of the state of the church here,

Christians are in need of energy

from somewhere. (In England,

only 6% of the population regularly

attends church—which makes it

hard to believe that the seeds of the

modern missionary movement

once emerged from this land!) I am

sensing this century will see revival

in Europe, but it will probably look

quite different from the picture the

faithful have been praying for. It

sounds a bit like the surprise the

first century Jews had with Jesus,

the King and Savior of the world!

It’s interesting how God often

works outside of the box we

imagine. Perhaps God has created

us with depravity that we cannot

fill on our own. I guess that is why

we need Jesus and one another. After

all, Jesus has called us to be members

of His body, the church. And yes, the

Christians in the West need those

from Africa. Perhaps they will be

able to show us windows into the

fullness of the Gospel we miss every

day because we like having God in

our “box.”

The Africans are coming. They have

a Christ-centered passion and

commitment unknown to many of us

in the West. Will we in the West be

humble to learn from them and be

receivers as well as senders? Kirk

Continuing our missionary service in England

“Declare His glory among the nations,

His marvelous works among all the peoples.” (Ps 57:9)

Now as a resident of Oxford, England, I have

been struck by how so many of the nations

reside at my back door. I am observing this

place to be of great international influence as a

university city where some of the brightest

future leaders of the world are my neighbors.

From meeting fellow moms from places like

Nigeria or Turkey to leading a discussion

group about the Bible with college students

from places like China and India, it is

becoming obvious to me that I am living in a

unique context and season for global missions.

God keeps expanding my vision towards all

the peoples of the earth. Globalization and

migration are creating more opportunities

among the nations simply where I am planted.

Moreover, when I read the Bible, I am further

convinced of how God has been calling

believers to reach out with His love to the

nations. In the Old Testament alone there are

over 40 different times where God commanded

the Israelites to care for the foreigner in their

midst.

So I also want to encourage you to think

outside of traditional boxes for reaching the

nations. As a Christ-follower, we each have a

call to the nations. It is on God’s heart. Just go

to the book of Psalms and see how often the

words “glory” and “nations” are written.

This is not a time for business as usual. So think

for a moment, who are your newest neighbors? I

want to exhort you to recognize how mission has

come to your door. A plane taking you to the ends

of the earth is not the only option. There are also

people from many different ethnic groups coming

to the United States for education or job

opportunities. Foreigners coming to your

neighborhoods would be so blessed if you would

take the time to offer radical hospitality, build

friendships, and share about the difference Christ

has made in your lives. Some of the people coming

are even from closed countries or unreached

people groups who may not be able to own a Bible

in their own land, let alone legally talk to someone

about Jesus. I pray that we all will have eyes to see

and ears to hear how we can be in ministry to the

nations wherever we are planted. —Nicole

Declaring our faith

Coming from a United Methodist background, affirming a creed was something that Christians simply did by rote in the Sunday service just before the Gloria Patri. But on Saturday night at the Lausanne Congress, the act of professing the Nicene Creed came bellowing out of my soul with a gusto I do not ever recall having in such a recitation.

Often times, the Apostles Creed is the statement most often used in most contexts, but one thing I deeply appreciate about the Nicene is that whereas the former is usually stated in the first person singular, the latter is most often translated and affirmed in the first person plural. To place this use of a creed in context, we at the conference had spent sessions learning about persecution: being stirred by sensational stories of many who have suffered simply for what they believe. Just prior to the creed, the 4000 participants humbled themselves by "taking a knee" and engaging in a session of confession of sin, first personally and then collectively on behalf of our own peoples.

So it was with great solidarity that sisters and brothers from places like Eritrea, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Norway, and Colombia, and even this American declared, “We believe…”

May Christians never forget that when we affirm the Ecumenical Creeds, we are joining with servants and disciples of Jesus the world over. It is not a light thing to declare our faith!

The new reality of the church

One thing that has deeply impressed me being here at the Lausanne Congress on Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa is the rich diverse reality of the world church. Though America is still the largest contingency from one single nation, there is no doubt the new center of gravity of the church is represented. With the exception of the Chinese Christians, many who were refused departure from airports in China, the conference is representative of 198 different countries, and is quite possibly the most diverse gathering of Christians in church history.

As one who has been working with missions emanating from Africa, I am delighted to see that the spiritual and theological hegemony of the Western Church beginning to be set aside. As I spoke to a delegate living in the south side of Chicago, he told me that his “world was not the world” and that the he has gained perspective. He told me that his understanding of suffering was too small when we were exposed to the stories of fellow believers such as a wife of a missionary who lost her husband a few weeks ago in a South Asian country or of an Anglican archbishop who shared of how 30-40 people twice stormed into his house to kill him, leaving his wife blind and beaten the first time when they discovered he was not present and had his life spared only the second time after he began to pray and his attackers decided to leave.

The reality of the church is that the day of Southern Christianity (and I am not talking about a region in the US where people say “y’all” and eat pork barbeque) has come.

May the Lord bring fruit from bringing such diverse people together.

Watching my life flame before me

“Watching our lives flash before us” has become a cliché to say we have had a close call with death. Of course, some people actually have faces and memories flash before them as they are reminded of what is important in their lives, but rarely do we have sort of a record of our lives unfold like a rolodex or a video on super fast forward.

Picture this...at about 8:30 in the morning, I went out to an open space near my house, and I began to open up garbage bag after garbage bag to burn papers for about eight hours in the heat and humidity of a sunny day in tropical Accra. Nicole and I had been fortunate in the fact that we able to ship some possessions along with a few other families over to Africa when we moved here, but as many people do when they move, a lot of the boxes of our memories and files became boxes we would deal with when we had time—you know when we would get “there.” Perhaps you have moved and simply taken a filing cabinet or a box of hand written notes and said, “When I have time…” Now, we are moving from Ghana, and besides a very small handful of boxes of pictures and books, we are planning on leaving the country with the allotted two suitcases at 50 pounds each. I cannot describe the freedom I feel from liquidating our stuff. In looking at what I will pack in my two bags, I am incredibly limited to what I will be allowed to keep.

Unfortunately, papers that are not tied to immigration, identity, or my schooling just are not at the top of the list, and I have been forced to sort and eliminate just about all of them. Yes, I had saved all types of things. Fee paid cards from my time in college. Bank statements. Bulletins from my first church. A phone list of fellow employees from my first job. Church directories. And yes, those nice notes people had written me to tell me how great of a guy I am!

I wish I could have kept some of them, but being limited in what I can keep, I had to discard most of them. Of course, I would have loved to have simply put these items in the garbage, but this would have been unwise because of Africa’s own “recycling program” whereby people sort through your garbage. Whether it is the neighborhood children, the guys who come with the truck, or the people who actually pick through it at the landfill, anything that is reusable will be reused. I just could not risk putting anything personal in the garbage as I know it will pass through the hands of others. And for those who are conscious about the carbon footprint of a fire, I had brought a paper shredder to Ghana, but it did not survive the conversion to 220 electricity!

So back to our picture of me standing by a fire in scorching heat. In order to make sure my documents were securely destroyed, I had to personally stand over and feed my nineteen Hefty bags of papers to the flames. Memories galore! As I put one stack in, I had to “deal” with the memories of that season in my life. At moments, I realized I needed to forgive certain people, and at others, I was able to thank God for special relationships. I found myself in a Brother Lawrence day of constant prayer. Throughout the day, I was also sensing the Lord remind me of how life is brief and how God is eternal. Being in a less liturgical environment, I missed participating or leading an Ash Wednesday service this year. Incidentally, my Lenten season has been solidified by the memories of releasing and serving Jesus with only my “staff, one tunic, and my sandals” (Mark 6:8). In a serendipitous moment, I found a palm frond from a previous Palm Sunday I had saved for a future Ash Wednesday. As the palm went up in flames, it was if the Lord was speaking to me in a manifest way: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”