Mini-Outreach - Week 9

Mini-Outreach to the

Flathead Indian Reservation

in Northwest Montana

Jun 4-7 2013

My only contact with the Native American is through the Hollywood movies.  And as a child, I did play ‘Cowboys and Indians’.  Apart from these, I have no further knowledge.  Therefore, to have a mini-outreach in our FCD to the Flathead Indian Reservation in Northwest Montana and learned about the Salish and Kootenai Native American Tribes is truly once in my lifetime experience.

My highlight was to meet Elder Small Salmon, from the Salish Tribe.  He shared that today, there left only a few full-blooded Salish Natives.  As such, the Salish language and culture would soon become extinct.  Elder Small Salmon is one of the few left. He went on to share that he gave up his acting career in Hollywood to teach the Salish language and culture to the next generation.  He now teaches the Salish language and culture to about 60 children at the Nkwusm Salish Language Institute.  My training has taught me to respect and honor the cultures of all Nations. As I sat listening to Elder Small Salmon, I could feel his passion to see his language, culture, people and land lived on for many generations. There is much to learn from his dedication and commitment.  He has given up a small ambition in the Hollywood scene for a much bigger vision.  That is - raised up generations of his people where their language, culture, stories and legends will live on forever.  Here is a quote taken from the Nkwusm Salish Language Institute handout, “When you lose your language, you lose the soul of your culture because you are forever disconnected from the wisdom of your ancestors.”

I come from a little island called Singapore.  Singapore is a multiracial and multicultural country.  We have a unique language called ‘Singlish’.  It’s colloquial English. We can easily identify each other in the crowd when ‘Singlish’ is spoken.  This is the power of the language of the people.  It’s our identity as a people of the Nation. We belong to each other.  Singaporeans are proud of our language and culture.  Shouldn’t it be the same for all others.

Church Planting - Week 8

By

Dawn Rogers 

The best nugget of truth I learned during the week of Church and Regional Church Development was the Five P’s of Evangelism.

Presence: let the people in the area witness a godly life. Don’t make it an agenda to get people saved. Let the people see that you love them. They want to see how you will care for the needy, sick, and uneducated.

Proclamation: Proclaim the gospel of Jesus. Depending on the culture and community, people will need to hear the gospel in different ways that they can understand—proclaim the gospel in a way they need to hear it such as preaching, drama, stories, or other ways.

Persuasion: Bringing them to a point of decision to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior; this means a heartfelt faith, not just praying a prayer that they repeat after you.

Planting: “Go therefore and make disciples” (Matthew 28) Teach them to come together, mature, be discipled, and learn His ways. Let them be apart of redeeming their culture, and not a traitor of their culture. Plant, go back there, and appoint elders.

Propagation: Make church planting churches. Raise up the leaders and show them to multiply leaders.

I think the Church needs to understand these principles. Sometimes we want to rush things along and see people saved; but living a life of integrity, a life where we walk with Jesus, that people get to see is a better foundation. When someone witnesses the Church living a life that truly reflects Christ, loving as He did, and walking in truth then when they accept Jesus and want to walk with Him they know what it looks like. I think that type of “soul saving” is much better than having someone repeat after you the prayer of salvation without them having much understanding to count the cost.

Let’s love and walk as children of the light, living lives that show people whom our Savior and Father is. Let’s do life with people and humble ourselves to understand them. 

Eviromental Stewardship - Week 7

By

Richard Won

For “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (I Cor 10:26 ESV)

           

An awesome week in FCD on Stewarding The Creation Of God. Probably, one of the best topics in FCD.  The premise is God created and owned the earth and He intended it to be fruitful and abundantly full of life. We are called to steward it which is an honorable position (I Cor 9:17) In order to preserve the earth we need to think of sustainable community development such as recycling of plastic, paper and metal. Earth dwellers to be more contended in life and consume less, accumulate less, use less goods and stuff. Basically, it is Recycling the material; Refusing toxic and chemical waste; Re-educating the mindset; and Renewing the land by planting more trees;

            Some of the key ideas and community principles I have gained:

1. God loves the beautiful earth and He wants it to be abundantly fruitful. John of Damascus says, “The whole earth is a living icon of the Face of God”
2. Beware of the pitfall of over consuming, over spending and over possessing of stuff that I do not need. It creates toxic waste which pollute the earth. The key in community development is educating the masses to be contended rather than drawing our identity from stuff.
3. The rule of thumb in environmental issue is if it is good for people but bad for creation, then it is no good at all.
4. In Community Development, a good steward of God’s creation must think in terms of long term, long haul and bringing lasting change and inner transformation of the heart and mind
5. Helping the community to rethink of the lie that they have no choice in environment injustice. A world-view change in the hidden assumption can lift up the community with hope and life.

            What have I learned? I can worship the God of creation in nature, in the lake, in the mountain and in the animals. George Washington says, “Nature itself is a broadcasting station through which God speaks to every hour” Nature is speaking so loudly but we can’t hear it due to our own occupation of self. John Scothis Eigena says, “Christ wears two shoes in the world: scripture and nature. Both are necessary to understand. At no stage can creation be seen as separation of things from God”

            I can help to sustain the earth and the environment by doing my part in recycling of paper, plastic and metal. It may be a drop in the ocean but that one drop can make a difference. Never despise the days of small beginning

Nation Building - Week 6

By

Michael Brewer

It's always important to be gaining understanding.  As Christians, God has given us minds to be able to know truth, and to apply that truth to our world.  Vishal Mangalwadi spent this entire week really challenging us to think and understand God's desires for his people, and the world he has given us.  While classes this week touched on many topics, I believe it is safe to say that our speaker wanted us to understand the heritage of missions that we as Christians are a part of.  As he took us through the history of the rise of the modern world, I was astounded as he painted a picture of devoted, God-fearing men and women who helped build the modern world.  Abolition, workers' rights, equality of women, technology, science, and freedom were areas of society in which men and women of God played key roles.  Without these people, and their integral view of the Gospel of Christ, our speaker posited that the west would not have arisen as we know it, and we would not be enjoying the fruit of so many dedicated peoples' efforts.  With that knowledge, he then challenged us to go out and do the same.  As Christians, we must not sit on the sidelines.  The Gospel, the Truth, is known to us, and it has something to say to every society, every nation, every problem, and every individual.  This week challenged me personally to engage my mind and my talents in whatever I find at my hand to do, because no issue is untouched by our mandate to disciple and baptize nations.

Thanks for reading!