21 November 2006
Dear
Friends:
Here is
the latest "Partnering
Minute"
communication from
REACT Services.
As you might remember, the
PM
is our attempt by to communicate to you on a more regular basis about the world of ministry partnering. Please
feel free to pass this along to anyone you think might be interested.
One of the great stories in global missions is the phenomenal growth of missionaries from Latin America. There are now more than
8,000 missionaries from Latin America -- many of them are going to very difficult places -- what one of my colleagues calls the
"church forsaken places" of the world.
Last week I was in Granada, Spain with nearly 2,000 Latin American mission and church leaders. They are seeking to mobilize even
more people as well as work on how to be even more effective in their efforts.
The city of Granada at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains is quite a symbolic place to have an event like this. It was
one of the last remaining strongholds during the Islamic invasions in the Middle Ages. The famous Alhambra Palace remains as a
beautiful and important reminder. In addition, the Catholic Cathedral there is where the Spanish King Ferdanand and Isabela were
married and gave their official approval to Columbus to take the Gospel to the Americas (and to search for trade routes).
Enrique and his wife Angela are examples of these Latin American missionaries (for security reasons I am not using their real
names). They are in their late thirties with three children aged 12, 9 and 7. They are from Costa Rica but they have lived in
North Africa for three years now. The language has been difficult for them to learn, but they are adapting fairly well into the
Arab culture. Their integration into the culture has made them increasingly effective in their outreach for the Gospel. Latin
culture and Arab culture are amazingly similar in a variety of different ways, especially in their relational style.
"God has called us to these people," says Enrique, his broad and warm smile overcoming his broken English. "Though it was a bit
hard at first to find our place, we now feel much more at home."
When I asked what the main challenges are that the family faces in their evangelism work, Enrique does not hesitate. "Learning how
to work together with the rest of the believers," he states. "There are many opportunities we have to do things in the community
and make a statement by our unity, but we have much work to do to build trust among ourselves. Often, I feel like we are spending
too much time reconciling things with my brothers and sisters in Christ so that we could not spend more time building connections
with my Muslim friends."
That is what I was doing in Granada, Spain among these key leaders -- learning and encouraging them in their desire for
partnering. In many ways, I am just providing applause on the sidelines as they are taking partnering principles and best
practices identified by many of us around the world and contextualizing it, translating it, making it theirs. It is an exciting
opportunity.
Blessings,
Brian
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