when we say church

when we say church

church is not something you
drive by
look at
walk into
go to
sleep in
live near
get married in
attend

church is not something that
starts at eleven
is boring
never ends on time
asks for money
has stained glass windows
needs new carpet

church is something you are

church is a gathering of people
believing god
following jesus
being filled by the spirit
loving each other
serving the city
changing the world

church is something that belongs to jesus
church is something whose birth cost his death
church is something he promised to build, and against which the gates of hell have no chance

shouldn’t we mean what he meant
when we say church?

A year ago, a year from now

It was the first Saturday in December, 2003. Thirty of us crowded into Kenny and Theresa Bryant’s living room to dream about Christ’s entry into Brussels through us in 2004.

A year later, eight of us are here and another eight are on their way. We marked the anniversary of our gathering by hosting our first “Open House” in Brussels.

The setting was a café in the center of Brussels, a short walk from the European institutions we came to impact. The café is a ministry of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), and is in the same building as the accommodations for three of our interns, arriving mid-January. We are very enthusiastic about partnership possibilities with YWAM and continue to marvel at the opportunity to experiment with a café ministry so early in our time here.

We invited about 50 people to the event and considered this a success regardless of who came. The invitations were designed by one of our prospective team members and communicated that we’re here, we’re committed, we’re creative, we’re enthusiastic, and we’re going to make a difference, by the grace of God.

13 people came and we shared what we believe God has given us as a vision for Brussels. Many of these people had not met each other and we all sensed the presence of God’s Spirit, starting small, but working powerfully. Nations represented included the U.S., Canada, Japan, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland.

The next step is now a weekly worship gathering that we’re beginning on Sunday evenings, staring January 9. This is not our public weekly worship gathering – we will wait until September to start that. This is a rehearsal of sorts; we are gathering the actors, working on the script, building sets, and designing the program. We are praying this group would grow to 30 or 40 in three months time.

Mark your calendar now for the first weekend of December 2005! What will God have accomplished in Brussels by then?!

Prayer for Sri Lanka

From Ajith Fernando, National Director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka

31 Dec, 2004

1. Pray for proper planning and co-ordination of the relief efforts. At the moment some who have are getting more and others who don't have are not getting anything. Pray for wisdom for leaders in the Government and non-Government Organisation (NGO) communities.

2. Medicine and clean water are in short supply. Pray that the right people who are able to distribute properly would get this and distribute it to the right places. Also there is a need for tents as temporary homes for displaced people.

3. Disease could cause huge problems. Pray for proper preventive measures.

4. Christian relief groups like LEADS, World Vision and the Evangelical Alliance are doing good work. Pray that God would give them the necessary wisdom and human and material resources to do this work well.

5. Pray for the personal lives and the families of those doing relief. Usually during these crises huge tensions emerge in families and sometimes moral failures too. Pray that the workers would guard their spiritual lives and maintain their personal spiritual accountability with their spiritual brothers or sisters.

6. Pray for the meetings of coordination committees of individual groups and of umbrella organisations which bring groups together. YFC's leadership team meets on Monday 3rd.

7. Pray for the thousands of people who are devastated through the loss of loved ones and possessions. Pray that Christians would be a healing balm here. Pray that they would go out of their way to comfort and counsel such people.

8. The Sri Lankan church has received a lot of bad and false press in the past few years. Pray that our work these days would bring glory to the name of Christ even among those hostile to them. Pray that Christians would truly reach out to all in love irrespective of race, class and religion.

9. While we should not use this crisis in any unethical way to further the cause of evangelism, pray that this crisis may cause people to turn to the God who alone can meet their deepest needs. Pray that Christians would be wise and bold in witnessing about the Saviour's love.

10. Pray that during these initial days God would guide his people and government authorities to take the right steps in prioritising what needs to be done long term to rehabilitate those who have been affected.

11. Pray for an unprecedented uniting of the body of Christ. That we would appreciate what each other is doing and that we would not compete with each other, but unite to present a combined witness to the gospel.


4 Jan, 2005

Dear friends,

This is a note to say that a massive relief operation is under way. Indeed there is a lot of disorganisation, and therefore resources are not been sent to the most needy people as soon as they should be. Some experts who have come from abroad are frustrated because the infrastructure is not set up for their expertise to be used. There is some looting, some misappropriation of relief supplies. But such things always happen in situations like this, because of the selfishness and sin of us humans.

One thing requires special prayer. There has been some (I hope very little) rape of women and sexual abuse of children among the survivors, especially in camps. Please pray about these people.

But we can say that the people by-and-large are working. Christians are doing very good work. Large and effective work is being done by groups like World Vision, LEADS, the Evangelical Alliance, the Assemblies of God, the Methodist and Anglican churches etc. YFC is working in partnership with some of these groups in different areas. We have many staff and volunteers who have pitched in with their services. An earlier estimate of 200 YFCers at the job may have been a bit inflated. I am sorry about that.

Personally, I am working on a biblical reflection on what Christians in Sri Lanka should be thinking and doing now. There is a lot of confusion in the church in these areas. This document may be signed by several Christian leaders and sent out to the Churches. Please pray that I will have wisdom as I write. I want to finish it tomorrow (Wednesday).

Some are saying that this is God's judgment because Christians were persecuted. But the waves came when churches were meeting for worship on Sunday. I know that one church in the East lost all but three of those who had come for worship, and another lost all but one-the pastor who managed to cling to something. I keep hearing of more and more wonderful Christians who have died. Several of them are close to the YFC family. Please say a prayer for these people who have suffered.

Also please say a prayer for those who are working. Several of our staff are showing signs of the strain of several days of really, really hard work, little sleep and hours and hours of travel in trucks carrying supplies to affected areas. Some spouses are upset. They all need to be ministered to.

Thanks again for standing with us.

Ajith

But it says right here. . .

I can hear it now.

“Bethlehem!”

“Egypt!”

“Nazareth, you stupid cow! And you call yourself a scholar! It says right here in the prophets: ‘he shall be called a Nazarene!’”

“You insult me?! You’re the foolish one! Have you not read, ‘Out of Egypt I called My Son?’”

“How many times do I have to tell you – you’re both wrong: the Scriptures clearly say, ‘out of Bethlehem will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel!’”

Year after year, generation after generation, the arguments between priests and scholars, professors and students: where would the Messiah come from?

Maybe Matthew was smiling as he wrote about the birth of Jesus. Born in Bethlehem (2:5-6), Jesus was taken by his parents to Egypt at the age of two to escape Herod’s sword (2:13-15). Once back in Israel, they settled in Nazareth (2:21-23), which explains why Jesus – who was born in Bethlehem and called out of Egypt – would be called a “Nazarene.”

“Oh, I guess we were all right. And wrong for getting so upset.”

“Sorry.”

“Me too.”

And what of our disagreements on Reformed theology or Dispensationalism or the premillennial rapture of the Church?

Maybe God is smiling. Won't we be surprised?

Seeking to worship

There are a lot of things I like about the location of our new home in Brussels: we’re across the street from a metro station and one of Brussels’ largest shopping malls; we’re near the highway and the airport; and we can walk to a bakery, a restaurant, a park, and a video store in sixty seconds or less.

But my favorite thing of all is the statue of “The Worshipper.” Okay, I confess, that’s my name for him. He’s also a sixty-second walk away, in the middle of the roundabout that’s next to the bakery and the video store.

“The Worshipper” stands as tall as he can, head thrown back, arms extended to heaven in complete abandonment. He is, at the same time, the picture of desperate need and absolute surrender. If you’re walking out of the video store at just the right time of day (a sunny day, that is), you can see his face lit with the warmth of heaven, as if God Himself is expressing His pleasure. And in the background stands a small church, where fewer and fewer gather for worship.

“The Worshipper” makes me think. Worship is not an action, it is a reaction. God reveals Himself, the Spirit brings conviction, life’s circumstances show us our frailty, and we worship in response. Worship is hard. It is the opposite of everything our sinful hearts want to do. But if we don’t worship, we are in conflict with our very soul, for worshipping God is what we were made for, and where we find our home.

We’ve given a lot of emphasis to the word “seeker” in the last couple decades of evangelicalism. While helpful and handy in many ways, it has always bothered me as a description of people who are not followers of Jesus. Paul quotes Isaiah when he writes, “there is no one righteous, not even one; no one who understands, no one who seeks God” (Rom 3:10-11). We know this to be a description of people without Christ because Paul later refers to a “righteousness from God (that) comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Rom 3:22).

We call people seekers because they are interested and asking questions, and it’s a lot nicer than calling them “heathen slime-sucking pigs” (although I’m not sure that’s Biblical either). But, actually, God is the seeker. Jesus came to “seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). The Father seeks worshippers (John 4:23). Paul quotes Isaiah quoting God: “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me” (Rom 10:20). We are not seekers before we are believers; we become seekers once we’re found.

We’re commanded many times in Scripture to seek: seek first God’s kingdom (Matt. 6:33); seek instruction from priests (Mal 2:7); seek the Lord, seek righteousness, and seek humility (Zeph 2:3). We can obey these commands, as all others, once we’ve said yes to the One who seeks our soul. Increasingly, it is my feeling that it’s worshippers who seek and seekers who worship.

Take Herod, for instance. The magi from the east came to Jerusalem looking for Jesus, whose star they had seen and followed for some time. Their quest to find the one “born king of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2) disturbed Herod and the entire city (Matt. 2:3). The priests were able to report where the Christ was to be born, so Herod sent the magi to Bethlehem with the following instructions: “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him” (Matt. 2:8).

Of course, we know that Herod had no intention of worshipping Jesus. God used dreams to warn the magi to go home another way and Joseph to take his family to Egypt. Herod’s horrific response was to kill every boy two years of age and younger in Bethlehem.

Whatever was on his mind, Herod gave the magi reason to believe that he would worship based on what they found. But we never worship as the result of another’s search. We worship because, compelled by God, we seek Him and find Him to be our Savior and only hope. Worship is the result of a firsthand “careful search for the child.”

It’s easy at Christmas to let others do the hard work of seeking and expect that we will worship the Christ Child on cue somewhere between the pianist’s introduction to “Joy to the World” and final chord (by candlelight) of “Silent Night.” The only seeking done by many is to comb the church bulletin to see when the faithful are expected to turn up. But that doesn’t fit the description of the worshipper the Father seeks: those who “worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23).

Here in Brussels, our new church community is so young that we can’t expect someone else to be planning events and activities that will help us celebrate Christmas. From where I sit, this doesn’t feel like a disadvantage. I think it provides us with the opportunity to make a new personal commitment to “go and make a careful search for the child” so that worship would be our response.

And then, sometime on Christmas Day, maybe I’ll take my place near the video store alongside “The Worshipper” – eyes fixed on heaven and enjoying the warmth of God’s pleasure.

Missions in Matthew

I remember when, if told to find missions in the Bible, I would have turned to Matthew 28:18-20 for the Great Commission and Isaiah 6:1-8 for Isaiah’s call and been pretty well stumped after that.

But now it feels like I see missions on every page of the Bible! Even, as I discovered this week, in the genealogies of Jesus!

The New Testament opens with Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus. His first objective is to show how Jesus is a direct descendent of both Abraham, the Father of the Jews, and David, their greatest King. Matthew divides the genealogy into three sections of fourteen generations: from Abraham to David, from David to the exile to Babylon, and from the exile to Jesus (1:17).

At first glance it appears to be a list of names, mostly unknown, difficult to pronounce, with more than their fair share ending with “iah” (which means of, with, or from the Lord, so don't knock it). But on closer inspection, some familiar names appear which would not have been included in a genealogy that had the sole objective of impressing its readers.

• Rahab of Jericho (1:5)
• Ruth, the Moabite (1:5)
• The wife of Uriah the Hittite (1:6)

Each of these was a foreigner to Israel and yet a follower of their God. Matthew was not trying to introduce Jesus as one whose Jewish bloodline was spotless. Matthew wanted us to know that Jesus is a Jew who has come to bring salvation for the world!

From the beginning of his book, the beginning of the New Testament, the beginning of the life of Jesus, Matthew prepares us for what he will write as the climax of the story:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (28:18-20)

Now I’m going to start looking in Leviticus . . .

Anti-Americanism

From the International Herald Tribune, Sat-Sun Oct 23-24, Letters to the editor:

There is nothing new in saying that Spaniards are strongly anti-Bush ("U.S. ties with Spain show rising tensions," Oct. 18). But it would be far fetched to infer that there is an anti-American feeling in the country.

Spaniards who demonstrate at the visits of U.S. presidents go have lunch at McDonalds after their protests. Spaniards spend evenings watching the latest Hollywood blockbusters and enjoy sitcoms made in the United States. American basketball games are sometimes followed with more attention than Spanish basketball. Furthermore, we Spaniards sympathized with Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 as if the attacks had happened in Madrid or the Basque country where we unfortunately have had 40 years of experience facing terrorism.

Please do not mix concepts: A vast majority of Spaniards - and Europeans - dislike the Bush administration, but a vast majority of Spaniards still appreciate many of the American values that have helped create such a strong country. My worry is that many of those values are in danger of being lost today. But Americans will have the opportunity to decide on this in November.

Raimundo Diaz, Brussels

Numbers from Acts in Luke

It was our first day in Brussels. Longing to be a part of a great work of God in this city, I started reading Acts. Desiring also to include our friends and supporters in the adventure, I counted the NIV paragraph divisions to see how long it would take to read through the book together and found there were 72.

This reminded me of the 72 whom Jesus sent out in Luke 10. I felt like I could identify with this group – called and sent out to announce the Kingdom of God. I knew the story, or so I thought.

I had imagined Jesus sent this group out like I would have: in order to multiply His effectiveness. I thought, well, Jesus was a busy guy – certainly too busy to get to every little town – so He sent these people to places He didn’t have time to visit. They would speak on his behalf, heal one or two people, and wipe the occasional unresponsive town dust off their feet. Then Jesus could cross that town off the list. (I do like lists!)

But Luke says Jesus appointed these people “and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place where He was about to go!” (Luke 10:1) Suddenly the story took on new meaning. Jesus wasn’t sending them out instead of Him, to save time and maximize resources. He was sending them to places He intended to visit. They were preparing the way, letting everyone know that Jesus was coming!

This made all the difference to me as I thought of myself as one of the 72. I’m not here being sent out by Jesus to do something He doesn’t have time to do. I’m here to prepare the way! He’s coming! He’s going to visit Brussels in a new way and I get to announce it!

I immediately thought of the painting we have talked so much about: Christ’s Entry into Brussels in 1889 by Belgian artist James Ensor. (If you haven’t seen the painting yet, go to http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/objects/o932.html) It’s a fantastic crowd scene in which Jesus is entering Brussels, but being ignored by all but a few eccentric worshippers. As a member of this group of 72 (and a little odd, it must be said), I began to see myself as one of the few worshippers, called out of the crowd by Jesus and commissioned to run on ahead so that people would know He’s on His way!

Now, excited and a little nervous, I identified myself with the 72 in Luke 10, gathered around Jesus, ready to go, carefully listening for His instructions. Where do I go? What do I do? How will my needs be met? What if things go wrong? What’s the most important thing Jesus wants me to know?

I was stunned to read the first instruction Jesus gave: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field” (Luke 10:2).

But Jesus, here we are! Ready to be sent out! Why should we ask You for workers when we’re standing here right in front of You? Ah, I see: more workers! You want to send out more workers!

And that’s when we started praying for 72. Now, I don’t know if Jesus wants to provide exactly 72 or less – or more! I’m not even sure I know exactly what a “worker” is. Does a “worker” have to be a full time missionary? Does a worker have to live in Brussels?

Here’s my conclusion: Jesus wants to send workers into His harvest field in Brussels. Those workers might be full time missionaries and their children. They might be people who already live in Brussels who are willing to commit themselves to this task. They might be people who commit themselves to come on a short-term trip. They might be people who will never come to Brussels, but feel strongly that God would have them be supportive in significant ways.

I can see some of the workers around me now. Steve and Mary Elizabeth. Daniel and Russell and Jenny. Jon, Kristen, Leah, Mark, and Dan. Kevin and Anne. Stephen and Laura. Ed, Vesa, Nicci, David, Ben.

And many more. Please keep praying for workers. And let me know if you feel God prompting you to be one, whatever that means from where you live.

Acting on Acts

Thank you so much for reading Acts with us. Maybe you read the whole book, maybe you just read the same first chapters of Acts you always read! Regardless, the journey has been worthwhile. Here’s a response from our good friend, Mike Taylor, in Chesapeake, Virginia:

“Reading Acts with you has 'strongly' brought out this to me: we are to tailor the gospel message specific to those we meet. We are not to pre-program our outreach in any way... if we truly rest in the power of the Holy Spirit, He will guide on a case by case basis the exact way we should tell others about the hope within and the joy of knowing God. This has been a great awakening for me, who tends to compartmentalize everything. I have always been an 'out of the box' thinker and now the Spirit would have me apply this to my walk with Him with respect to the opportunities He brings.”

The book of Acts is so exciting, but it is sometimes intimidating. God did amazing things, but is it normal to expect He would do so today? If so, what would be our role? We read stories of thousands who came to faith in Christ in settings in which the Apostles spoke on the spot to large crowds, often near large piles of menacing stones.

Is that what God wants me to do? Is that the only or the best way for people to come to faith? As I read Acts, I was excited to observe what seemed to be an evangelistic pattern in the ministry of the first century church that could apply to our lives and churches today.

Consider Peter in Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost. Over 3,000 were added to the church as a result of his sermon! Then there’s Peter and John, through whom God healed a crippled beggar in Acts 3. And Stephen in Acts 7, as well as Paul before Gentiles in Acts 14 and 17. For that matter, there’s Philip on the road to Gaza with the Ethiopian treasurer in Acts 8.

What do these stories have in common that would help us be more effective in evangelism today? Here’s the pattern I observed: God acts, people question, and the Apostles respond.

In Acts 2, God acts: He gives the Apostles the gift of speaking in foreign languages they had never studied. People question: “What does this mean” (Acts 2:12). The Apostles respond: Peter stood up and addressed the crowd, explaining the death and resurrection of Jesus.

In Acts 3-4, God acts: Through Peter and John, He heals the crippled beggar. People question: “(When they saw that the beggar was healed) all the people were astonished and came running to them” (Acts 3:11). Later, the high priest questioned: “By what power or what name did you do this?” (Acts 4:7) The Apostles responded by preaching Christ in several settings.

In Acts 8, God acts by guiding Philip to a chariot in which there was an Ethiopian man reading, but not understanding the book of Isaiah. The man questioned: “How can I (understand) unless someone explain it to me?” (Acts 8:31)

And so on: God acts, people question, the Apostles respond.

I believe this is readily applicable to evangelism today. God is acting all around us in people’s lives. He is bringing blessing and allowing tragedy. He may bring healing or permit disease. Creation is never silent, and we never know when our neighbors might hear something of God’s divine nature by what is being shouted by the stars or the seas. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone hasn’t had some experience in their life that made them think of God. God acts.

And people question. What’s right and wrong? Why is this happening? How do you explain the hope you seem to have? What do I do with the guilt I feel? How can I fix the things that are broken in my life? Why do some people seem so lucky?

Our job is to respond. Whether we stand up and address a crowd or have a meaningful talk with a colleague over lunch or send a good friend an email, our job is to respond to the questions people have about the things God is doing.

Hey, I can do that!

But there’s one catch. The answers are useless unless we’re first close enough to hear the question.

by foot to faith (part 2)

In our October prayer letter, I wrote of Hammed and Leila, new friends of ours in Brussels. They tell the story of an unbelievable journey to freedom in Brussels, but speak even more enthusiastically about their incredible journey to faith. They began as Muslims in Iran and are now living as Christians in Brussels.

(If you did not get part 1, you are probably not on our mailing list. I can email it to you if you contact me – as well as include you in other mailings if you’re interested.)

When Hammed and Leila arrived in Brussels, they were sent to Le Petit Chateau. This is the Belgian housing area for all asylum seekers. It is over-crowded and only the most basic needs are met.

Leila had become ill on the long walk across the Balkans and was now close to death. Hammed was attempting to care for her, their twin boys, and their youngest son, still scarred from the torture inflicted on him by the Iranian government.

One day, Leila saw a group of people gathering around some visitors. They were Christians from a nearby church. Hammed wasn’t interested, but Leila wanted to hear what they were saying. Through translation she understood that they were being invited to church.

Under normal circumstances she would not have been interested, but she was so sick and the people seemed nice. They begged and begged her to come, and she finally agreed. With difficulty, she managed to convince Hammed to allow her to go.

It was their first time in a church. They listened to the service through translation and were not impacted significantly until Leila heard an invitation for any who were sick to stand up and be prayed for. Immediately, she rose to her feet. Hammed spoke sharply to her, “Leila, sit down. We are not Christians. We don’t believe in their God.” Leila was desperate. “What other chance do we have?”

As Leila stood, an amazing thing happened. The pastor prayed and she was healed. The sickness completely left her body. The next day they visited the doctors who confirmed that, to their great surprise, she was well.

Hammed was more easily convinced the next time people showed up to invite them to church. Though not Christians, Hammed and Leila were grateful for her healing and wanted to know more. After the service, Leila approached the pastor with a question.

“Is it true that your God can do anything?” Leila asked. “Well, I want to ask him for permission to leave Le Petit Chateau. If he does that, I will become a Christian.”

The pastor gulped, and then prayed as she requested. He knew what she was asking for was impossible. This had never happened before. All asylum seekers stay in the holding area until they have received their papers. Still, in faith, he prayed.

The next day, Belgian authorities showed up at Le Petit Chateau and did something that has not happened before or since. Due to some change in policy, all residents were free to leave and find housing elsewhere. As a result, some 700 people were freed – one of whom promptly became a Christian.

Hammed was a stronger Muslim than Leila, so he did not become a Christian right away. He met with Christians for almost a year and studied the differences between the faith of his childhood and the new faith of his wife. But he is now a follower of Jesus, as are their three sons.

Hammed and Leila serve the Lord enthusiastically at the church where they became Christians and in the community. Leila tells her story often in churches and schools and Hammed leads ministry efforts to other Iranians – many who new to Brussels and on their way to faith.

Patrick's story

Recently, I've been intrigued by Celtic Christianity. I think there's much that is relevant to ministry in a postmodern world. Consider this an invitation to join the exploration. I'll post other blogs from time to time that relate to this subject.

St. Patrick is generally regarded as the one who brought Christianity to Ireland. Following is what I have come to understand of his story. I'll email you references if you want.

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The sound of shrieks filled the air. Mothers, aroused from their slumber in the early morning hours, searched frantically for their children. Desperate men took up arms to defend themselves from the attacking Irish barbarians.

The band of marauders on or about AD 405 was looking to make slaves of English young people. Among the kidnapped on that particular raid was Magnus Sucatus Patricius, the son of a wealthy landowner – and years later to become Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Patrick, then 16 years old, was sold as a slave to Miliuce of Slemish, who put his newest acquisition to work slopping pigs.

Patrick, from all accounts, had opportunity as a slave to reflect on his life and his beliefs, or lack of them. His father served as a deacon in the Christian church and his grandfather had been a presbyter. For all the godly influence in his family, however, Patrick was not convinced. But in his slavery, Patrick experienced a spiritual freedom that transformed his life. In his “Confession” Patrick wrote, “I was sixteen and knew not the true God, but in a strange land the Lord opened my unbelieving eyes and I was converted.” His slavery took on new meaning as, grateful for his salvation, he imagined himself a slave of Christ.

A late-night vision brought Patrick’s time in slavery to an abrupt halt. In a dream, he saw a ship leaving Ireland and was told it would return him safely home. He escaped from his captor and, finding the ship he had seen in his mind’s eye, was granted safe passage. He was welcomed home in England, six years after the kidnapping, as one back from the dead.
Details about Patrick’s life for the next decade or two are sketchy. It is thought he spent some time in France, perhaps studying theology. But what is clear is also of profound historical and spiritual significance: Patrick the former slave returned to Ireland as Patrick the missionary. His return was transformational for Ireland, and, as some would say, pivotal for the history of western civilization.

Initially he did not want to go. Not surprisingly, his family thought he was mad. Terrifying stories were told about the Druids, who were known to weave criminals and runaway slaves into giant wicker baskets and suspend them over a fire to roast alive. But Patrick was again moved by a vision, this time from the Irish themselves: “Come over, holy boy, and walk with us once more.” Patrick could not shake the conviction that God had called him “to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth beyond which no man lives.”

Patrick’s return to Ireland is the stuff of legends. Everywhere he preached, the Irish repented. Thousands upon thousands responded to the Gospel. Dramatic stories are told of power encounters with Druid priests, including Patrick’s attempt to convert the tribal chieftain from whom he had escaped. Legend has it that Miliuce sealed himself within his own house and lit it on fire, shouting curses and invocations to the gods over Patrick’s pleadings as he burned himself to death.

Patrick may or may not have used clover to explain the Trinity or chased the snakes into the sea, but his influence on Irish religious beliefs was unmistakable. The Irish, in mass conversion, responded in faith to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Celtic Christianity was born.

Missionary mailbag #1

For me, being a missionary is normal. But I recognize that, for most people, that's kind of weird. This shows up in letters I get in my "missionary mailbag." I'll share a couple, with my heartfelt responses, in the hopes of helping to bridge the gap between missionaries and normal people. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

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Dear missionary mailbag: It must be great to be a missionary, serving God full-time and everything. Man, talk about good connections! I guess if you work for God, he works for you! Could you tell me what a typical day as a missionary is like?

My response: Well, typically, the missionary’s day begins with several hours of prayer – but only when not already praying through the night. Unlike most people who go to the kitchen to get something to eat, the missionary goes to the front door for breakfast – to see if anything has been left by the ravens. Then there’s time spent memorizing Ezekiel before responding to a dozen or so “what must I do to be saved?” emails. Sometime before lunch, there’s almost always a demon or two to cast out of somebody – usually the children. Most afternoons are spent telling people they’re going to hell and dodging projectiles.

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Dear missionary mailbag: I’m thinking about becoming a missionary, but I’m not sure if I’m qualified. How would I know if I’m ready? What could I do to prepare myself?

My response: Good question. It’s really important to be qualified and prepared to be a missionary. The first thing you need to do is get rid of anything that makes you look like you have any money. Trade you car in for a junk heap or at least take a swing or two at it with a sledgehammer. Learn how to say important theological words like “supralapsarianism,” “postmillennialism” and “potluck dinners.” Develop the art of uttering deep and inspiring “mmmm’s” when people pray. The rest should come pretty easy.

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For more inspiring and insightful answers, address your probing questions to your senator. Or you can try your luck at cdeal@christianassociates.org, but no promises.