Sending. Going outside ourselves. Mission of God. Church planting. These words are never far from the lips of those who are participating in the Christ Journey. This summer they are front and center. What does it mean to be sent by God? What does it look like to put the aspects of our story into practice to serve God’s Story?
Over the last three weeks I’ve been immersed in a world of reflection and listening. Four very diverse ministers and two professors have been coming around a table to understand more fully what it looks like to serve God and the Church in our contexts. One of the primary methods we’ve used for learning has been an EXTREMELY thorough analysis of a specific event from our ministry context.
Each of the four of us shared our life and faith story with the others and then we also shared the details of this event - which served as the background for the 8 billion pages of papers we’ve written each night. What was powerful was that we didn’t merely reflect on our event or the cultural context or theological principles at work. We presented our papers and then worked through the issues in the midst of this learning community; with others who share a common calling though in very different settings.
I didn’t just learn from the books we read or the professors (who actually didn’t lecture very much); I learned most from Sandralyn - a United Methodist pastor from south of Dallas, Debra - a Christian Methodist Episcopal pastor from Shreveport, LA and Devendra - a missionary/church planter from Nepal, who is here studying and preparing to add a bachelor’s degree program to their local missionary training school in Nepal.
We learned together by processing through our events together, instead of trying to solve our problems in isolation. As I think about what it looks like to live as a Sent people in the midst of Burleson, I think perhaps this same dynamic can be helpful for the Christ Journey community.
I’ve asked Devendra Acharya (Ah-sha-REE-ah) to join us this Sunday and share his faith story. I don’t want to give too much away, but it is incredibly powerful...and parts are so funny that the class had to wait for me to stop laughing before we could continue...
Nepal is a mountainous country (ever heard of Mt. Everest?) It is primarily a Hindu culture with a similar caste system to what you would find in India, which it borders. Devendra is the Senior Pastor of Bishram Ministries and founder/director of the Bishram School of Missions located in Kathmandu. Since its inception in 2001 the Bishram Church and school has planted around 45 churches comprised of over 100 house churches representing around 8000 people.
Join us at the Nashville Room this Sunday as we hear the story of a Christian brother from a culture slightly different from our own. As we gather around the Table together be sure to realize that this is a glimpse of heaven, people from every language, tribe and nation coming together in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord.
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