Fall Update 2019
Psalm 117
Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord.
Dear friends,
We just got back to the Missionary Training Center this week and are gearing up for a new semester of church planting classes! When we got back into our apartment, we quickly found that ants had swarmed our house and got into lots of our pantry food. So, we sifted our flour and boiled our maple syrup and have counted this all as extra missionary training!
Vision Trip
We want to thank you all so much for praying for us during our vision trip in the Philippines. The purpose of the trip was to learn and experience all we could about the field of the Philippines to help aid our decision to either serve there or continue in our plans to serve in Papua New Guinea.
We started our time by attending the Northern Luzon Field Conference in Manila. The missionaries showed us around the city, taught us how to get around town on Jeepneys, and shared about the tribal works they are a part of. We then traveled down south to the island of Mindanao. There we stayed at the guesthouse and learned about the E2 Program, where we would learn the language of wider communication and national culture.
Our family took an Ethnos360 Aviation helicopter to one remote tribal work. The missionaries have been there for 38 years and have so far translated ¾ of the entire Bible into their tribal language. The church that they helped plant has also planted 22 other churches among their language family.
Towards the end of our trip, we went into another tribal work that is accessible by road and attended the tribal church there. A tradition their church has is for newcomers to sing a song at the beginning of church. That was perfect for us, as we love leading worship together. We grabbed the church’s guitar and led them in singing “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.” The missionary translated for us and it worked well with the Bible lessons they had been going over.
We loved our time with all the missionaries in the Philippines. They welcomed us, provided for us, and took the time to teach us about the country and culture.
After this trip, we still don’t have a clear-cut answer about where to serve. We are still prayerfully considering both fields. Regardless of the outcome of our decision, this trip was really good for our family. The Lord taught us a lot about ourselves, our family, ministry, and missions that will be useful to us wherever we end up serving. Here are a few things that I (Nathan) personally learned from our trip:
Go and make Disciples
Jesus clearly says in Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all people. It’s a simple command, and we hear it all the time at the training center, but in our messy world, it can look very complicated. The Filipinos would call theirs a "Christian" country, but many only know the name of Jesus. They don’t know Him as their Savior. Ethnos360’s slogan is “a thriving church for every people.” We want to see churches full of believers that know God. We saw how important discipleship is, and how most of our time in ministry is spent loving, caring, and nurturing believers no matter their starting point.
Missions models are not ministry
Within the organization, we are given a very well-thought-out model for missions and powerful methods and principles to apply to our ministry context. But missions is not as clear cut as it sometimes feels in training. What if there is already a Bible Translation in that language? What if the people are already literate? Or what if there is already a form of the church in that people group? The needs are complicated, and despite our best efforts, people cannot be put into perfect models. We saw how ministry comes down to loving people and taking the time to see them discipled to truly know the Lord.
A heart motivated by love
There is a need for missions all around the world, but the need is not what will sustain you; it is Christ’s love. One missionary shared how he had been learning about how God’s love is what must motivate him to ministry. He shared that God’s love is a love that holds no records of wrong, a love that joyfully suffers, and a love that is motivated by affection and care instead of obligation. With complicated needs and complicated people, it takes dependence upon the Lord to sustain you and motivate you every day.
These are things that we have heard a lot about during our time in training, but the head knowledge really came alive when we went to in the Philippines. We have a new perspective on ministry and can glean from our experiences this summer to help aid us in our final year of training!
Decisions
Would you please continue to pray for us as we consider where to minister as tribal church planters? We have many things to consider and this is not an easy decision for us. If you would like to know more about what we observed in the Philippines, please respond to this email and let us know that you are interested. We would love to share more about the realities of the field that we are prayerfully considering before we come to a decision.
We loved our time at the Northern Luzon missionary conference in Manila!
Can you spot the "oddities" that we noticed in the next three pictures? ;) Email us and let us know what you think/see!
Please pray for:
Childcare: Simeon is beginning childcare this semester! We have never had him in childcare before, he has always been with us in classes. Would you pray with us that we will all adjust well? His nap time while in there is really throwing him and his teachers for a loop, so please pray that he would be able to sleep.
Our classes: We are very excited about the classes we will be taking this semester. After being in the Philippines, we feel like we will be able to clearly see how the things we will be learning will apply to our time overseas. Please pray that we would soak up these last few classes and be able to focus well.
Our Decision: Would you pray with us as we carefully consider what field God is leading us to?
This Semester
We are beginning our last year of training before being sent out as cross-cultural ministers of the Gospel! Check out the classes we will be taking this Fall Semester:
Culture and Language Acquisition Practicum
Phonetics 2
Semantics and Translation
Literacy
Safety Seminar
Church and Community Care
Pre-Evangelism
Curriculum Development
Biblical Parenting
Communication Universals
Ministry Partnership Development
Mobilization
Practical Spirituality