Sunday, September 9, 2007

let's continue speaking

When I lived in Stockholm , Sweden, I had a dream to carry
a big banner through the center of the city proclaiming:
The world needs missionaries!
I still believe that this should be done.
In many countries, including Turkey, missionary activities
are considered to be morally wrong and therefore unacceptable.
Missionaries are labeled to be intolerant fanatics, disguised spies,
who are not interested in building bridges between people
but rather imposing their narrow-minded views on others.
In religiously insecure countries this is considered dangerous.
I like Korean missionaries.
I’ve met a lot of them around the world.
They are fun-loving and hard-working people.
Because of their limited knowledge of the English language
they often are left as outsiders in the English speaking
missionary communities.
However, they usually learn the local language faster than
anyone else and therefore are, soon after their arrival,
able to communicate the Good News to the local people.
Sometimes mission work and evangelism becomes so
sophisticated that ordinary believers feel they never can
do it right. It’s easy to blame believers’ poor testimony
for the unsuccessful missions.
Paul’s view was different. He said that the problem is not
with those who share the message but with those who
don’t respond to it. II Cor.4:1-6
Let’s not put the standard for sharing the Gospel too high.
Look at the Samaritan woman in John 4 and the blind man
in John 9. They didn’t attend any evangelism courses, but
they became a witness right after they had met with Jesus.
A changed life continues to be our most convincing
message to those who still haven’t heard.

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