It was finally decided yesterday that our three-month church planting outreach will be to Marseille, in the south of France. We had been given a few options to consider including France, The Ivory Coast and South Africa. In the end we opted for France for a variety of reasons. Of particular concern, our group includes a married couple with a young baby and a second one on the way. Since Angie's pregnant, she can't get any vaccinations without potentially harming the baby. This ruled out The Ivory Coast and we also felt that the conditions in the South African location would be a bit challenging.
One of the cool things about Marseille is that they have a large Muslim population. We're going to be focusing on north African Muslims so that we can learn church planting in a Muslim community while still living in a stable and safe country. I'm excited about going there because I'll also be able to use some of my French which is actually my most academically studied language besides English, although I've never been in a French-speaking nation for any significant length of time.
We don't have exact dates yet but we'll be heading to France just after New Year and we'll be finished by the end of March or start of April. It looks like I'll be celebrating my 30th birthday in France. I daresay some of my Scottish chums could come to visit. I think flights to France are pretty cheap these days. :)
Showing posts with label CPx. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CPx. Show all posts
Friday, November 03, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Puja
On Sunday evening I attended an interesting worship experience. It is called a "Puja" which is a Hindu term from the Sanskrit language. We were learning in class about contextualisation, which basically means presenting the gospel in a way that people can relate to in their culture. Too often, missionaries present the gospel as a very western thing, resulting in the indigenous people thinking it is a western God, when in fact no-one in the bible was western at all.
The analogy we heard about contextualisation was to think of the message as the water of life in a container. The container it is presented in might be different depending on the culture. In the west, we are quite familiar with mugs with a round handle and an image printed on the side. In India, though, this would be very foreign. Contextualisation is the technique of using a vessel people are more familiar with so they can receive the drink.
The whole setup of the meeting was very different from anything I've ever seen before. We were still singing songs of worship to Jesus, though. We were simply using a style that Hindus would be very familiar with. This has been really successful in India where people have felt comfortable and familiar with the surroundings and able to receive the message and understand what is being said.
We had communion as part of the Puja. Instead of bread and red wine, we used bananas and milk. These are both things that are very abundant in India and easy for people to get. The milk can represent purity because it is white and the banana can represent Jesus body which was broken.
We also heard the gospel explained using a coconut as an illustration. As Dag, the leader, explained that Jesus was bruised and beaten for our sin, he hit the coconut with a hammer several times. Eventually, it cracked and the clear milk poured out of it, reminding me that when stabbed with the spear, water came out of Jesus' heart along with the blood. He talked about how we can now be as white as coconut because of this. To someone in India, a phrase like "as white as snow" would not make sense as most of them have not seen snow, yet everyone knows what coconuts are like.
Another interesting aspect was the use of incense. As we worshipped it was interesting to engage the sense of smell as well as sight and sound. It reminded me that Jesus can be like the air we breathe, able to expand and rise to places we couldn't reach.
We sang songs in Hindi with the English translation alongside it so we could see what we were singing. We sang about the name of Jesus, how it is a powerful, beautiful name and we sang about how he is our ultimate Guru and even that his word is our mantra. All the time, we were using terms people would be familiar with to help them understand our faith better.
The whole Puja experience gave me a bit of a feeling for how it must be for someone from a different culture to come to a "normal" church meeting in the west which is in a different language with all kinds of new things happening. At first I was constantly reading the English beside the Hindi to work out what I was actually saying. After we had repeated some of the songs a few times I started to remember and I was able to focus more on actually singing.
I've learned that there's no one structure or pattern that is correct for worship. In our western churches we are so stuck on the pattern of having a band playing worship songs and us all sitting in rows listening to someone at the front. These things are not bad, but they are not necessarily relevant to all cultures. It would be wrong to re-create the same thing elsewhere in the world and expect people to be familiar with it.
The analogy we heard about contextualisation was to think of the message as the water of life in a container. The container it is presented in might be different depending on the culture. In the west, we are quite familiar with mugs with a round handle and an image printed on the side. In India, though, this would be very foreign. Contextualisation is the technique of using a vessel people are more familiar with so they can receive the drink.
The whole setup of the meeting was very different from anything I've ever seen before. We were still singing songs of worship to Jesus, though. We were simply using a style that Hindus would be very familiar with. This has been really successful in India where people have felt comfortable and familiar with the surroundings and able to receive the message and understand what is being said.
We had communion as part of the Puja. Instead of bread and red wine, we used bananas and milk. These are both things that are very abundant in India and easy for people to get. The milk can represent purity because it is white and the banana can represent Jesus body which was broken.
We also heard the gospel explained using a coconut as an illustration. As Dag, the leader, explained that Jesus was bruised and beaten for our sin, he hit the coconut with a hammer several times. Eventually, it cracked and the clear milk poured out of it, reminding me that when stabbed with the spear, water came out of Jesus' heart along with the blood. He talked about how we can now be as white as coconut because of this. To someone in India, a phrase like "as white as snow" would not make sense as most of them have not seen snow, yet everyone knows what coconuts are like.
Another interesting aspect was the use of incense. As we worshipped it was interesting to engage the sense of smell as well as sight and sound. It reminded me that Jesus can be like the air we breathe, able to expand and rise to places we couldn't reach.
We sang songs in Hindi with the English translation alongside it so we could see what we were singing. We sang about the name of Jesus, how it is a powerful, beautiful name and we sang about how he is our ultimate Guru and even that his word is our mantra. All the time, we were using terms people would be familiar with to help them understand our faith better.
The whole Puja experience gave me a bit of a feeling for how it must be for someone from a different culture to come to a "normal" church meeting in the west which is in a different language with all kinds of new things happening. At first I was constantly reading the English beside the Hindi to work out what I was actually saying. After we had repeated some of the songs a few times I started to remember and I was able to focus more on actually singing.
I've learned that there's no one structure or pattern that is correct for worship. In our western churches we are so stuck on the pattern of having a band playing worship songs and us all sitting in rows listening to someone at the front. These things are not bad, but they are not necessarily relevant to all cultures. It would be wrong to re-create the same thing elsewhere in the world and expect people to be familiar with it.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Village Experience
On Thursday and Friday we did an interesting practical exercise called the "Village Experience". We didn't know quite what to expect and we were told very little about what was in store for us. All we knew was that we had to bring a bag of overnight things including a sleeping bag and that we had to be able to carry everything. We were only allowed one piece of food each as well.
It started off late on Thursday morning when we were blondfolded and loaded into a van. We were instructed to be silent and to keep our blindfolds in place. We drove for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. It's hard to say how long it was because it seems longer when you can't see anything. Maybe it was some vague recollection of a Hardy Boys book or something but I started mapping our route in my mind. I memorised all the turns we took and tried to visualise a map in my head of the path of the van. In the end it turned out that information was irrelevant, but I suppose it illustrated that I still had to keep my mind active. Actually, if the journey was much longer, I might have just forgotten about it entirely.
Once the van stopped, we were told we could remove our blindfolds and get out. We assembled by the side of the road with our backpacks on and Randy explaned the procedure to us. We were given the first clue which would lead us to the next clue. Each clue would lead us to the next until we finally reached our destination. We were to collect the clues to give to Randy at the destination and we were to pray for the village at each clue.
The journey was a fairly enjoyable hike along a few country roads on the Missouri/Kansas border. The clues were pretty straightforward and they were easy to find as well. It was a bit weird praying for "the village" since we didn't know what that exactly meant. At the first clue, we were presented with 3 logs that we had to carry with us to present to the villagers. This proved to be quite challenging with the additional weight. Later one, we collected a jar of Jalapeño Olives which were also to be presented to the villagers. We also collected three more logs further on. This was really sneaky and deliberate of them. There were five people and six logs. The uneven load was a strategy to test our teamwork. Someone would need to carry more logs than the rest and that would test our patience and co-operation.
When we finally reached our destination, we were allowed to rest for maybe ten minutes before we were taken to "meet the villagers." The rest of the experience was far more bizarre than the hike.
As we walked down the path, we saw a secluded area of grassland up ahead that was surrounded by woods on three sides. We were confronted by two or three men dressed in middle eastern outfits with some kind of arab headdress. They blocked the path and looked inquisitively at us. They spoke amongst themselves in Spanish and didn't understand anything we said. Fortunately, we had two girls in our group who could speak Spanish so they translated for us.
It would take too long to describe each event in great detail, but we had all kinds of things happen. They didn't trust me because I wasn't married, and they got the girls in our group to each throw a log to see who could throw one the furthest. Then they tried to get me to marry the one who threw the furthest. When I refused, they gave her to one of their villagers instead.
When we first arrived, we gave them the Jalapeño Olives. They looked suspiciously and made us each eat one to show them that they were ok. They fed us roasted grubs (which we had to eat), chicken and "cat". (which was actually rabbit)
The grandfather-type character was sick and we asked a few times to pray for him. When they let us pray, he got worse and called for the Witch Doctor who relieved the pain for a while. Later on, when we prayed again he got healed. The Witch Doctor wanted to buy the power from us with one of his necklaces.
We slept in tents nearby and it was COLD at night. In the morning there was frost on the ground and on the tents. It had dropped to freezing during the night.
Here are some videos I made along the way:
You can also browse the video playlist on YouTube.
It started off late on Thursday morning when we were blondfolded and loaded into a van. We were instructed to be silent and to keep our blindfolds in place. We drove for maybe 10 or 15 minutes. It's hard to say how long it was because it seems longer when you can't see anything. Maybe it was some vague recollection of a Hardy Boys book or something but I started mapping our route in my mind. I memorised all the turns we took and tried to visualise a map in my head of the path of the van. In the end it turned out that information was irrelevant, but I suppose it illustrated that I still had to keep my mind active. Actually, if the journey was much longer, I might have just forgotten about it entirely.
Once the van stopped, we were told we could remove our blindfolds and get out. We assembled by the side of the road with our backpacks on and Randy explaned the procedure to us. We were given the first clue which would lead us to the next clue. Each clue would lead us to the next until we finally reached our destination. We were to collect the clues to give to Randy at the destination and we were to pray for the village at each clue.
The journey was a fairly enjoyable hike along a few country roads on the Missouri/Kansas border. The clues were pretty straightforward and they were easy to find as well. It was a bit weird praying for "the village" since we didn't know what that exactly meant. At the first clue, we were presented with 3 logs that we had to carry with us to present to the villagers. This proved to be quite challenging with the additional weight. Later one, we collected a jar of Jalapeño Olives which were also to be presented to the villagers. We also collected three more logs further on. This was really sneaky and deliberate of them. There were five people and six logs. The uneven load was a strategy to test our teamwork. Someone would need to carry more logs than the rest and that would test our patience and co-operation.
When we finally reached our destination, we were allowed to rest for maybe ten minutes before we were taken to "meet the villagers." The rest of the experience was far more bizarre than the hike.
As we walked down the path, we saw a secluded area of grassland up ahead that was surrounded by woods on three sides. We were confronted by two or three men dressed in middle eastern outfits with some kind of arab headdress. They blocked the path and looked inquisitively at us. They spoke amongst themselves in Spanish and didn't understand anything we said. Fortunately, we had two girls in our group who could speak Spanish so they translated for us.
It would take too long to describe each event in great detail, but we had all kinds of things happen. They didn't trust me because I wasn't married, and they got the girls in our group to each throw a log to see who could throw one the furthest. Then they tried to get me to marry the one who threw the furthest. When I refused, they gave her to one of their villagers instead.
When we first arrived, we gave them the Jalapeño Olives. They looked suspiciously and made us each eat one to show them that they were ok. They fed us roasted grubs (which we had to eat), chicken and "cat". (which was actually rabbit)
The grandfather-type character was sick and we asked a few times to pray for him. When they let us pray, he got worse and called for the Witch Doctor who relieved the pain for a while. Later on, when we prayed again he got healed. The Witch Doctor wanted to buy the power from us with one of his necklaces.
We slept in tents nearby and it was COLD at night. In the morning there was frost on the ground and on the tents. It had dropped to freezing during the night.
Here are some videos I made along the way:
You can also browse the video playlist on YouTube.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
End of week one
I've finished my first week of CPx. (The church planting experience) Today, Monday, is my day off so I thought this would be a good time for a brief update. We had class from Tuesday to Saturday with each session starting at 8:00 am. That's been a bit tricky to get used to. Usually we finish at 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon.
The class hasn't exactly looked like what I expected, although I didn't really know what to expect in the first place. We meet in a small house in a residential district of Grandview, which could be considered either a suburb of Kansas City or a neighbouring town. I normally get a lift to class in the morning from one of the others on the course, although I'm hoping to get a bike soon. One odd aspect of Kansas City is that a lot of the roads don't have pavements to walk on beside them. (sidewalks to you N. Americans) Even in residential neighbourhoods, I need to walk on the road or on the grass. It's a strange omission.
Each morning we start with an hour of prayer and worship. So far this has been a very quiet routine which I've found difficult to engage in. I think the point is to strip everything back to the absolute basics of what we might encounter when planting a church. Combined with the early start, I tend to find it hard to stay awake.
As for accommodation, I'm staying with an elderly couple who feed me and look after me. They have their own eccentricities but they are good to me. They have matching rocking chairs and a clock that sounds every half hour. On the hour it chimes the appropriate number of times and on the half hour it chimes once. (I noted this could lead to ambiguity around 1 o'clock.) Although this clock is in the living room, it has woken me up a few times in my room.
We've had a fairly interactive teaching curriculum so far. On the first day (Tuesday) we learned about prayer walking and then went out in pairs to walk through the neighbourhood and pray. The next day we learned more about contacting new people in the street. We went out again in pairs, this time to talk to people in the area and start to make connections. On Thursday and Friday we had testimonies. We each had to prepare a 20 minute talk about our testimony.
On Saturday we had a seminar on "What is church?" We looked at the different ways the word "church" is used in modern day English compared to what it actually meant in scripture. We looked at the Western model of church and noted some of the things that aren't actually essential but are still part of our image of church. When planting a church, you tend to reproduce what you are familiar with and care must be taken to avoid placing a Western worldview on a new church in a different culture.
On Sunday we had a small house church meeting before going out for lunch. It was fairly simple and community-based but it was still church nonetheless!
The class hasn't exactly looked like what I expected, although I didn't really know what to expect in the first place. We meet in a small house in a residential district of Grandview, which could be considered either a suburb of Kansas City or a neighbouring town. I normally get a lift to class in the morning from one of the others on the course, although I'm hoping to get a bike soon. One odd aspect of Kansas City is that a lot of the roads don't have pavements to walk on beside them. (sidewalks to you N. Americans) Even in residential neighbourhoods, I need to walk on the road or on the grass. It's a strange omission.
Each morning we start with an hour of prayer and worship. So far this has been a very quiet routine which I've found difficult to engage in. I think the point is to strip everything back to the absolute basics of what we might encounter when planting a church. Combined with the early start, I tend to find it hard to stay awake.
As for accommodation, I'm staying with an elderly couple who feed me and look after me. They have their own eccentricities but they are good to me. They have matching rocking chairs and a clock that sounds every half hour. On the hour it chimes the appropriate number of times and on the half hour it chimes once. (I noted this could lead to ambiguity around 1 o'clock.) Although this clock is in the living room, it has woken me up a few times in my room.
We've had a fairly interactive teaching curriculum so far. On the first day (Tuesday) we learned about prayer walking and then went out in pairs to walk through the neighbourhood and pray. The next day we learned more about contacting new people in the street. We went out again in pairs, this time to talk to people in the area and start to make connections. On Thursday and Friday we had testimonies. We each had to prepare a 20 minute talk about our testimony.
On Saturday we had a seminar on "What is church?" We looked at the different ways the word "church" is used in modern day English compared to what it actually meant in scripture. We looked at the Western model of church and noted some of the things that aren't actually essential but are still part of our image of church. When planting a church, you tend to reproduce what you are familiar with and care must be taken to avoid placing a Western worldview on a new church in a different culture.
On Sunday we had a small house church meeting before going out for lunch. It was fairly simple and community-based but it was still church nonetheless!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Everythin's up to date in Kansas City
...They've gone about as fur as they c'n go!
(If you have no idea what that's about, don't worry about it. Just read on. It's nothing to do with what I'm about to say.)
Well I'm on the move again. I've only been in Scotland a year since I was unceremoniously dumped by Canadian Immigration, but it feels like a long time.
I've finally decided that since I hate programming so much these days, I should really get on with it and do something else. In the words of Why Don't You (theme song), I'm going to "...switch off my TV set [or monitor in this case] and do something less boring instead."
The "something" I am going to do is a church planting course in Kansas City. I will be at the All Nations Training Center, doing CPx, which is the "Church Planting Experience".
I'm actually leaving in 2 and a half weeks which is not very long at all. There are still a few details to finalise such as my flat and... oh yeh.. all the money!
If you feel like supporting me financially by any chance, have a look to the right of the page here and you should see a PayPal donation button. You can use that to send me money. Isn't technology handy?
(If you have no idea what that's about, don't worry about it. Just read on. It's nothing to do with what I'm about to say.)
Well I'm on the move again. I've only been in Scotland a year since I was unceremoniously dumped by Canadian Immigration, but it feels like a long time.
I've finally decided that since I hate programming so much these days, I should really get on with it and do something else. In the words of Why Don't You (theme song), I'm going to "...switch off my TV set [or monitor in this case] and do something less boring instead."
The "something" I am going to do is a church planting course in Kansas City. I will be at the All Nations Training Center, doing CPx, which is the "Church Planting Experience".
I'm actually leaving in 2 and a half weeks which is not very long at all. There are still a few details to finalise such as my flat and... oh yeh.. all the money!
If you feel like supporting me financially by any chance, have a look to the right of the page here and you should see a PayPal donation button. You can use that to send me money. Isn't technology handy?
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