So we have been busy this month with the Nations course and it has been great. In this post I shall cover a few highlights of the first three weeks. We are joined on the course by active missionaries currently in the field from all over the world including Mozambique, England, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and a few local "boere". We have enjoyed the fellowship and mentoring from them almost as much as the course itself.
The first week: "Its not wrong just different"
We started the course with a thorough dose of anthropology (the science of humanity) and looked at changing the forms of bringing the gospel but ensuring that the meaning is not effected. We dug deeply into world cultures and compared for one our own western individualistic culture vs embedded, family orientated cultures which dominate the least reached world. We were also the first group to have started with peer coaching as an alternative to counselling. The main idea is to guide a person by asking questions to reach the conclusion or goal by themselves in cooperation with the Holy Spirit instead of telling them what to do. This is a big mind switch and forces you ask good, thought out, open ended questions. It definitely takes longer than mere counselling but the effects and goals are "owned" rather than told.
The second week: "for the sake of the gospel"
The second week was very practical and we looked at cross cultural communication, historical insights and missionary life. We had to learn to speak a few sentences in a foreign language and were given tools for reaching people without any written language (majority of least reached people groups). We were also prepared for the life of being a missionary and the struggles that lay ahead (stress, compassion fatigue and reverse culture shock).
The third week: "a man turning into a what?"
The third week we dealt with Animism (religious worldview of spiritualism). You may know this in Africa as forefather beliefs and is mediated by Sangoma's. Initially my thoughts were, why are we studying this?. Well it seems like approximately 5 billion people in the world still daily practices this belief system and any missionary going into the field has got to familiarise himself with this topic. We heard stories that would make your hair stand up... but these things are real and we have the power in Christ to stand against them and win.
Wow time has flown, that's all for now enjoy the rest of your week..
The first week: "Its not wrong just different"
We started the course with a thorough dose of anthropology (the science of humanity) and looked at changing the forms of bringing the gospel but ensuring that the meaning is not effected. We dug deeply into world cultures and compared for one our own western individualistic culture vs embedded, family orientated cultures which dominate the least reached world. We were also the first group to have started with peer coaching as an alternative to counselling. The main idea is to guide a person by asking questions to reach the conclusion or goal by themselves in cooperation with the Holy Spirit instead of telling them what to do. This is a big mind switch and forces you ask good, thought out, open ended questions. It definitely takes longer than mere counselling but the effects and goals are "owned" rather than told.
The second week: "for the sake of the gospel"
The second week was very practical and we looked at cross cultural communication, historical insights and missionary life. We had to learn to speak a few sentences in a foreign language and were given tools for reaching people without any written language (majority of least reached people groups). We were also prepared for the life of being a missionary and the struggles that lay ahead (stress, compassion fatigue and reverse culture shock).
The third week: "a man turning into a what?"
The third week we dealt with Animism (religious worldview of spiritualism). You may know this in Africa as forefather beliefs and is mediated by Sangoma's. Initially my thoughts were, why are we studying this?. Well it seems like approximately 5 billion people in the world still daily practices this belief system and any missionary going into the field has got to familiarise himself with this topic. We heard stories that would make your hair stand up... but these things are real and we have the power in Christ to stand against them and win.
Wow time has flown, that's all for now enjoy the rest of your week..
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