In a particularly exciting scene in Mel Gibson's powerful film, The Passion of the Christ, we see that Jesus is assisted by his mother after stumbling, trying to carry his crossroads through Via Delorose. When Mary looks at the face covered with blood, Jesus says with an aura of victory: "Look, mother, look how I do everything new."
These words are indeed found on the lips of Jesus, not in the Gospel stories of passion, but in Revelation 21: 3-5:
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying: “Now the dwelling of God is with people, and he will live with them, tear them from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning, weeping or pain, for the old order everything was gone. ” The one who was listed on the throne said: “I am doing everything new! "Then he said:" Write it down, because these words are trustworthy and true. "
Many of us in the international ministerial community strive for unity. Yet unity requires a common vision, and a common vision is strictly what we lack. Many in the mission community are guided by the vision of spreading the gospel and planting churches in the last uncovered pockets of the globe. Many Christian aid and development workers are motivated by the vision of helping poor communities through various projects that address basic human needs.
I think these visions are commendable, but incomplete. What became our vision? Read Revelation 21: 3-5 again. Here is the answer in one word: Transformation. The vision of the world has become new. "There is no more death, mourning, weeping, or pain." No more disease, corruption, hunger, poverty, injustice or war. A vision of fully and completely transformed people, families, communities and nations. Undoubtedly, this is the vision in which Jesus lived, worked, suffered and died, and which he laid on His disciples and the church.
In fact, evangelism, the planting of churches and the implementation of projects to help the poor - all this means for this greater end, and here is the main problem. People tend to do what they are going to do. If our goals are limited to planting churches or implementing development projects, we can do it, but we really risk not insisting on achieving the ultimate goal of transformation.
Some will unreasonably claim that such a transformation will take place only on the other side of Christ. Until then, everything will go from bad to worse. There is truth in it. Paul categorically warned Timothy: “There will be terrible times in the last days” (2 Ti. 3: 1-9). But is this the whole picture? No! Jesus overcame Satan on the cross. He appeared to His disciples before his ascension as the victorious King - the supreme authority of heaven and earth. He taught them and us to pray that His Kingdom would come to earth - now, as in heaven.
According to I. I. Packer, “The kingdom of God is present in its origins, although the future is in its fullness, in a sense it is already here, but in the richest sense it still has to be.” Francis Schaeffer said: “Christians who believe in the Bible are not just called to say that one day there will be healing, but that, by the grace of God, based on the work of Christ, substantial healing can be a reality here and now.” The word "material" is the key. Not complete or complete healing, but real and material. This should be our vision.
For real, substantial healing in every life, family, community, and nation here and now, and complete, complete healing when Christ returns. Are we waiting for unity within the church and within the mission community? Unity requires a common vision. Scripture gives us a common vision. The definite goal is to work, live and die. We have to raise our eyes to the far horizon. One that goes beyond evangelism, plants churches and deals with relief and development projects. A vision that understands that it is a means, not an end. Our vision is to be Jesus. a great vision of global transformations. His vision of the world, and everything in it, turned right up through Christ, shed blood on the cross.
Process inside
Our vision defines our goal. If we have a unity of vision, we can share the unity of purpose. As Christians, our goal is to advance the Kingdom of God on earth, here and now, as it now exists in heaven. To see the truth; The beauty and kindness of Jesus replaces lies, deformity, and evil in this world — in every heart, family, community, and sphere of society.
This revolution takes place from within. It begins within human hearts and minds, transformed through faith in the living Christ. Someone once said: "The law of God must be written on the individual heart, and then on the stone tables of the institutions of society." If so, then our main means of advancing the kingdom is to proclaim the gospel in word and deed. Transformed people turn the world into a beginning with their families. Transformed husbands and wives bring up pious offspring, and such children will truly shape the future.
Because transformed families come together, they form communities called local churches, and local churches are engines with the engine of the Holy Spirit that govern the development of the Kingdom. However, not only in any church. The churches that protect Jerusalem are those who are going to worship, pray, learn from the teachings of the Word, receive ordinances and answer to each other. Then, being equipped for service, they are scattered in the community, where they preach the Gospel, serve the poor, and bring truth, beauty, and kindness to all areas of society through their callings.
Root problem
Why do we see that nations that have been evangelized are still trapped in poverty, corruption, violence and division? Evaluating the results of the global missionary enterprise over the past 200 years, we are forced to conclude that the saved souls and transformed hearts are necessary, but not adequate, for the transformation of the true Kingdom. The mind must also be transformed.
This is a fundamental truth that is neglected both in missions and in aid and development communities. For the kingdom to move forward in order for a true transformation to occur, we must get to the root of the problem. But the roots, by their very nature, are below the surface, and then often neglected. What is the innermost core? This is our mind - our ideas, beliefs and assumptions. These “roots” govern our emotions, feelings, and values, which, in turn, shape our decisions and choices, and they determine what kind of life we will lead. They also form the kinds of societies in which we will live.
For the nations to be transformed, the churches must be transformed. In order for churches to transform, families and individuals must be transformed, and this transformation must go all the way to the root. Then human schism and poverty are not only rooted in lost souls, but usually in darkened minds. Dallas Willard describes the problem as follows:
Christian spiritual education is inevitably a matter of recognizing the system of ideas (or systems) of evil that governs the present age and the corresponding culture (or various different cultures) that determine life far from God. The necessary transformation is largely a matter of replacing those systems of evil ideas (and their respective cultures) with the help of the system of ideas that Jesus Christ embodied and taught, and with the culture of the Kingdom of God. This is definitely a transition from darkness to light.
This brings us to the topic of worldview. Worldview is just another word for “systems of ideas” that Dallas Willard speaks of. Our worldview — and we all have one thing — is the sum of all the claims we hold about life, which shapes our view of reality. These assumptions are so common and important how we think and how we approach life, that we often don’t even know what they are or understand when and how they work. They are formed within us from early childhood from the teachings, expectations, and behavior of family and community members. People are social creatures. We develop our thinking - our way of seeing the world - from our culture. We tend to think about what our culture thinks and value the values of our culture. This is part of what it means to be human.
Decision
However, when we accept Christ as Savior, our mentalities need updating. The word "repent" - from the Greek word methano - literally means to change the mind. Repentance leads to the fact that the world sees how God created it, and then lives within this framework. Those who are saved should rest on the mind of Christ. They must repent of “the empty and deceptive philosophies of this world, which depend on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, and not on Christ” (Colossians 2: 8). They should “no longer follow the pattern of this world, but be transformed by renewal [the] mind ”(Romans 12: 2). They should “capture every thought in order that she should obey Christ” (2 Ko. 10: 5). It is important that we understand that this does not mean simply accepting with some key Bible doctrines. It means seeing the world and everything in it in a completely new light, and then living accordingly.
The community’s relief and development mistake is to not dig deep enough and get to the root of the problem. Is there enough water in the community? Let's do a water project. Do people lack an adequate balanced diet? Let the agriculture project. And if we are Christians, then let's do these projects “in the name of Christ” and distribute the gospel at the weekend. But what if the lack of clean water or food is the result of poor choices, which, in turn, is based on false, destructive beliefs? Then it is clear that these projects will have little or no effect.
The mission community error is very similar. Evangelism and the landing of churches are necessary, but not adequate to the transformation of the Kingdom. They are means to the goal, not to themselves. New believers, if they are not carefully disciplined to the level of their thinking or nations, at the cultural level, will still be trapped in the many false, destructive beliefs they had before coming to Christ. Conversion does not automatically entail a complete change of beliefs. The transformation of consciousness is a process that is central to sanitation, and sanitation is central to the development of the Kingdom. It was here that many missionary efforts failed.
Too often, their vision ends with the number of conversions, the number of churches visited, or the size of church growth. When this is the case, students have little motivation. There is little or no vision that these precious new churches act as engines of the transformation of the Kingdom. For many missionaries, it doesn’t matter that this happens, they assume that someone else will do it, or something will happen automatically.
Transformation example
The following is the real story.
Pokomchi Indians are among the poorest people in the poorest state of Guatemala. A generation ago, missionaries came to preach the gospel and plant churches. Many Pokomchi accepted Christ, but their communities remained disappointingly poor. Young Christian converts are doomed to hope for the future, but there is no hope for today. In fact, they literally waited for death, so that they could leave their miserable existence on earth and go to be with Jesus in heaven. Some time later, several aid and development organizations came to work with Pocomci, who were interested in helping them overcome their physical poverty.
They bought in large quantities out of money and completed many projects, noting their success. There were toilets now, but they were large unused. There were school buildings, but very few children attended or graduated. Many of the projects aimed at improving the physical condition of Pokomchi were completed, but there were no changes in the life and communities of Pokomchi. People remained desperately poor.
This began to change when Arturo, a young Peruvian pastor, began working among Pocomci in the early 1990s. Unlike previous missionaries and relief and development workers, Arturo understands the importance of a biblical worldview for individual and community transformation. Similarly, he understood that genuine Christian ministry must be holistic, reaching every area of destruction in the community. He began working with the illuminators of Pokomchi pastors. He prayerfully took them through a comprehensive study of the Bible, in the hope of challenging their thinking. Arturo understood that true repentance involves not only spiritual beliefs. It also requires a completely transformed mood.
As Arturo from the Bible taught them, he used everyday illustrations to teach concepts, such as the intention of God, for humanity to follow the direction of creation. A common problem among Pokomchi was the lack of proper storage facilities for harvested crops. Often the peasants gathered a good harvest, only that the rats ate it before their children could be fed. Arturo asked the farmers: “Who is smarter, are you or rats?” Farmers laughed and said: “Rats”. Arturo asked: “Do you have power over rats, or do rats have power over your life?” Farmers reluctantly admitted that in a real sense, rats dominated them and their families.
Then Arturo pointed to the truth contained in the Bible - that men and women are given dominion over the creation. He noted that God blessed them with creativity, because they were created in His image. Thanks to their God-given creativity and the correct understanding of their role, to subjugate and take care of the creation, they could overcome this problem.
Gradually the mindsets of these Pokomchi pastors were transformed. As their mentalities were transformed, the church was affected. Through the church, the community began to transform. Children began to go to school because people valued education, especially those educated in the Word of God. Women have learned to read because they understand that God cares about men and women. Men began to resort to new farming methods because they wanted to be good stewards of what God had provided. Women built stoves in their homes to keep their children from falling into open fires and not catching fire. Women also began to create small pantries to keep insects and monsters out of their food, because they understand their responsibility for managing and providing for their communities.
A seminary professor from the United States visited Arturo. He witnessed how the life of Pokomchi transformed, and tears screamed in his eyes when he said: “This is the coming of the kingdom of God in Pokomchi!”
The Pokomchi community in this story is representative of millions of communities around the world. Churches exist, but have little effect on the transformation. The same can be said about aid and development projects. Hopelessness, fatalism, poverty and despair still reign. But here we see a spark of real transformation! What can we learn from this story?
What do you need?
In this case, the transformation agent was not a project, but a man. Not only any person, Arturo was a pastor, whose life was radically transformed by an understanding of the importance of worldview and the power of the biblical worldview. Arturo had the right vision. As for the early missionaries, they came and went. Churches were planted. Mission Complete. Mark this from the list and the next border. The same can be said about relief and development workers. Projects completed. Picture taken. Check it out in the list and the following community. But Arturo was looking for something far from churches or projects. He was looking for a transformation. This has not happened yet. There is still much to do.
The comprehensive transformation that Arturo envisioned required a comprehensive response, or, as some say, a holistic response. The “whole” transforms life, leading to a transformable community. “Parts” are spiritual, physical, social, and mental needs that are solved seamlessly, in a complex way. Arturo's vision required a holistic response. Simply addressing one of these needs, while neglecting others would not get a job.
In addition, Arturo was trained to think "ideologically." He correctly acknowledged that the lack of resources or even the absence of churches (which already existed) was not a fundamental problem; these were beliefs; assumptions and ideas belonging to Pokomchi himself. Or, more precisely, false, destructive ideas and beliefs that were still intact and acted.
For Arturo to recognize these problems took time. Short-term missions would not be enough. This required him to become deeply acquainted with the community; his stories, beliefs and values. Это потребовало, чтобы он жил в сообществе, став частью этого. Это то, что значит работать «инкарнационно».
Артуро полагался на весь Божий совет, как его ширину, так и глубину. Широкие предприятия - поток библейской истории: Творение - Осень - Искупление - Совершенство. Глубина - это библейское мировоззрение, основа и стандарт культуры Царства истины, красоты и добра. Имея это в виду, он смог оценить местные убеждения и ценности и определить, какие из них были истинными и полезными, а какие - ложными и разрушительными. Тогда он смог эффективно противостоять ложным убеждениям с истиной. Это было сделано в контексте неформального и формального обучения с использованием местных иллюстраций. Но для истины, чтобы приносить свои плоды, требовалась сверхъестественная сила Святого Духа. На самом глубоком уровне трансформация возможна только благодаря прямой силе Святого Духа, переводя, осуждая, открывая глаза и давая людям возможность изменить свои убеждения, ценности и поведение. Это работа благодати. Преобразование подлинного Царства всегда осуществляется силой Бога и Его славой.
Артуро построил фундамент, который уже исчерпан. Он начал с христиан в общине - пасторов церкви и лидеров, потому что он правильно понял, что церковь является ключевым двигателем трансформации Царства. Если бы церковь не существовала в этом сообществе, то Артуро пришлось бы работать над тем, чтобы посадить ее в качестве важного первого шага. Артуро сначала бросил вызов христианам, чтобы жить в этих убеждениях в контексте своих семей. Мужьям нужно было видеть своих жен по-новому. Родители должны были видеть своих детей в свете Божьей истины. Семьи - это самые основные социальные единицы. Если трансформация Царства может произойти в семьях, тогда она может распространиться на все сообщество и за его пределами. Именно это произошло в сообществе Покомчи.
Столь же поучительно подумать о том, что не нужно для трансформации в общинах Покомчи. Это произошло без больших вливаний денег, внешних ресурсов или технических знаний. За исключением Артуро, все необходимые ресурсы уже были на месте - глаза просто нужно было открыть, чтобы увидеть их. Это не значит, что деньги; ресурсы и технические знания плохи, просто мы должны быть осторожны, чтобы не надеяться на них, и их нужно вводить только в случае необходимости, а затем с большой осторожностью.
Conclusion
Можно ли воспроизвести данное исследование? Yes! На самом деле это должно быть. Наш больно сломанный мир кричит о трансформации. Здесь мы находим настоящую надежду и видение для сломанных народов Африки, Азии и Латинской Америки, а также для запутанных, потерянных народов развитого запада. Что требуется? Божье видение в сочетании с четким пониманием коренной проблемы и процесса наименьшего изверения преобразования Царства.
