Re-Defining My Role

My activity level changed abruptly following the students' departure and campus closure last June. For the first six months, I maintained contact with several of the students via e-mail, Facebook, and Skype. I also began shifting toward increasing my involvement in our local church by organizing/leading a number of worship services, as well as preaching a couple of times. I devoted a fair share of time toward thoughtfully, prayerfully, and actively considering with Gina what our next steps would be.

It became clear that now was the time to seriously pursue further education at the Ph.D. level, so with the full support of EuNC leadership, I devoted time to investigating numerous programs, studying for the GRE (which I took twice in Geneva), and completing the application process. By the end of January this year, all of that was complete and I returned to making the bulk of my time available to EuNC. However, there has not been a great deal of regular activity to keep busy every hour of each day. During the last five months, I've taught a couple of online directed studies in Church History I and spent most of my time developing Church History II. I've also kept busy supporting Gina in her role; as my activity decreased, hers seemed to increase. There has been plenty to do, but there was also time to rest, reflect, and enjoy the increased amount of time and mental space to devote to personal study and spiritual formation.

I'm proud of my inherited work ethic. But an important lesson I had to learn is that my value did not come from being busy, performing my job well, high-powered networking, or what anybody else thought of me - contrary to a great deal of what Western culture drills into our very souls so that the church is often indistinct from society in that regard. I had to learn in a more everyday, practical sense what our Protestant doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith really means: that my value did not depend on my efforts or image; that God's love for me, His ability to speak to me, and His ability to work in the lives of others through me are just as strong and present when I have very little to do as well as when my schedule is full of even God-centered activity. In short, that I had nothing to prove.

I was recently reminded of Luke 12, which mentions the ravens God feeds and the flowers God clothes. Creation is valuable to God, simply because He is the Creator. He did not create out of any need, but out of love. Even the mere fact of its existence is not something on which to base its value, because (by definition) God created everything out of love before it existed! If a rock can just sit there and be valuable to its Creator, how much more valuable to Him are we - living, breathing, growing, moving creatures whose chief uniqueness is in bearing our Creator's very image and likeness? While it is certainly no excuse for being lazy, it is a huge relief to know that I matter to God simply being who I am apart from any talent, achievement or recognition.

That may sound like this volunteer missionary with a master's level theological education is re-taking Basic Christianity 101. Personally, I think it would do all of us good to get a reminder of such basic concepts as grace and forgiveness, regardless of how many letters are behind our names or what kind of work we do. So while I've generally found ways of keeping busy during this season of decreased activity, I've learned or re-learned some important lessons, however basic they may be. Western society does a poor job of listening, but the Gospel remains relevant and vital even for developed, enlightened cultures like ours, and the church still needs to hear and respond as well as proclaim it. I'm thankful it has worked its way deeper into my own heart over the past few months.

I do have a number of things to look forward to this summer and fall. I've just begun taking a course with other EuNC instructors in developing and teaching online courses. While this may seem redundant since I taught myself on the job a couple of years ago and am more familiar with this method, it's important that each instructor is on the same page and applying the same standards. This course will run through the beginning of June. I will also be teaching Church History II as an online course toward the end of August, and will spend a fair amount of time this summer completing the development of that material. There's a possibility that I may be mentoring one of the young guys who has visited our church recently: he mentioned the idea yesterday, and I quietly leapt at the opportunity by expressing interest and passing him my contact information. I will begin pre-doctoral level study through Nazarene Theological College (Manchester, UK) this fall, and will spend time over the summer introducing myself to Latin -which will be one of two languages I will need in my research subject. I've joined a small prayer team at church, and may be preaching again in October. There are several other potential areas of involvement opening up around the same time, and I will carefully consider each one where the need is apparent and my gifts are able to address it.

It's good to be busy, and it's good to rest. There's certainly a time for both. I'm looking forward to having more to do, and waking up in the morning with a bit more on my schedule during the day. But I'm glad to know that I don't need any of it in order to prove to God that I'm important or valuable.

This is also PURE coincidence, but I suddenly remembered that it was 17 years ago today that I responded to the Gospel for the first time. I did not exactly pray the traditional "sinner's prayer," but I have never entirely forgotten a little request I made that night: "Show me this Christian life I've learned about since I was a kid is actually real, and that Christ actually does make a difference in someone's life. Show me that it's not just stories, or some creative way of trying make us be better people." I couldn't have known what I was really asking (and risking), but neither have I ever regretted it. The Gospel is true, Christ does indeed make a profound difference, and there is definitely so very much more to it than mere moral improvement with a religious basis.

- Andrew

Sowing seeds

As Andrew and I have traveled around the Eurasia region for both ministry and vacation time, we have encountered interesting people and held unexpected conversations, making ourselves open to "divine" encounters.

We have talked about religion with a Hindu doctor on a train in England; discussed faith with an Italian hostel owner named Leonardo in Florence; prayed for a Canadian foreign student named Joanna who spent a day sightseeing with us in Rome; and most recently I talked with two young Nepalese men in Portugal who fled political upheaval in their home country to bounce around Europe seeking jobs.

Sometimes it is tempting to wonder what good such brief encounters might do in the lives of the people we met. Does God work in their lives through chance meetings? Are seeds planted deeply enough as to produce fruit sometime later? Can God really do transforming work in someone's heart through a few minutes' conversation with a stranger?

I have learned recently the answer is yes.

In this month's issue of the regional newsletter, Where Worlds Meet, we received permission to reprint a blog written by a pastor in the United States, who reflected on a chance meeting with a missionary while he was vacationing in Austria. The writer was an atheist at the time, and avoided Christians at all costs. Yet, after meeting the Nazarene missionary, Dan, on a train, the two young men realized they were both traveling alone, and decided to spend a day or two sightseeing together for some company.

The writer said that God used this brief encounter with a respectful Christian to lead him into a believing relationship with Jesus Christ many years later. Although they had little in the way of conversations about faith, and Dan didn't try to "sell" the young traveler on Christianity, the Holy Spirit was at work anyway. And all these years later, this former atheist is now a pastor.

Recently I was also encouraged when I heard from my friend "Jenny." I met Jenny in Colorado Springs, shortly after she'd arrived in America from South Korea to be a nanny for a year. She was struggling with her English and so I suggested she attend church with me sometime to practice.

"But I'm a Buddhist," she protested.

"That's OK," I replied. "Anyone is welcome. It would just be a good way to meet more people and practice your English."

She agreed to come.

After the service, we went out for lunch with a mutual friend and Jenny gushed that she had "felt love" the second she walked through the door.

Over the following months of our friendship, Jenny came to church with us occasionally, began listening to Christian music radio and gratefully received our prayers as she went through some difficult experiences. She never expressed a direct statement of faith in Christ, but I knew that at least it had appeal for her.

When her student visa was not granted, she was forced to return home. I tried to reconnect with her over the next 5 or 6 years, but because of the great distance we lost touch. During this time she got married and had two children.

A few months ago, she found me on Facebook and joyfully shared that in the past year or so she had connected with a group of believers in her home city and begun to worship with them, study the Bible and enjoy a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. She said that her new faith in Christ has replaced sadness and hopelessness with joy, and that she has new purpose and pleasure in her life.

I was thrilled to hear that the seeds we planted with Jenny so many years ago had been nurtured by the Holy Spirit, even in the absence of any other believers in her life for several years. God was faithful to continue His prevenient grace to Jenny so that when the time was right, she could plug into a community of believers and enjoy a personal relationship with God.

If you would like to read the original blog by Pastor Scott on how God used a divine appointment to reach him years later, visit http://theunexpectedpastor.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/sowing-seeds-in-vienna/.

Never underestimate what God can do with our brief encounters.

Successful workshop in Portugal

Gina here. I just wanted to thank you all for praying for me as I prepared my presentation and then gave it to a group of about 40 mission leaders from around the world who were receiving training in Portugal two weeks ago.

I am really grateful to have had the opportunity to talk with them for about 45 minutes on the power of storytelling, and how God uses our stories to shape our identity as a church, to unify us as one Body in one mission, to foster an environment for the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts, and to motivate us to participate in God's mission.

While I am not a polished and experienced public speaker, through your prayers, God helped me to say what I wanted to say and I saw that the leaders were taking in the points and information. (He also sent someone to my rescue when I got stuck in the bathroom -- the door handle came off in my hand -- just minutes before I was supposed to begin speaking.)

Now I pray for ways to continue resourcing them and their fields to help them share with our global church family the stories of what God is doing around the world.

Storytelling and effective communication are two of my passions. I keep seeking opportunities to assist our church in perfecting and expanding our work in these areas. I have dreams and ideas for communications that I continue to lay at the feet of God, and wait to see if He is moving in those ways and directions. I also continue to pray for God to raise up and send out more people from many nations and in many languages who will share my passion for storytelling and communication in our church. We really can't have enough of these folks involved in the mission.

Join me in these prayer requests if you feel led to do so.

Thanks!

- Gina

Büsingen election

Next week, there is a big election in our tiny village. It is to elect a new mayor. This is a big deal to the residents, as well as to the Eurasia Regional Office and European Nazarene College. Büsingen has had the same mayor for many years, and he has been well loved by the community, as well as by our ministry teams and our local Nazarene church. The mayor has been a big advocate for our presence here.

In Germany, of which Büsingen is a part by law, anyone from anywhere in Germany can be elected a town's mayor. The candidates don't actually have to live here. And this is the first time that there are no candidates who are residents of Büsingen. The candidate who lives closest is in the neighboring village.

Büsingen is a very special place, due to its status as an "exclave" of Germany, completely surrounded like an island by Switzerland. There are many complications that exist in this village that don't exist anywhere else. The next mayor will need to navigate these and understand how things work. And rising and falling currency values, as well as the recession, have hurt many of those who live here. So people are concerned about the future.

We have come to love this village and the people who live here. Our office teams and our church have been praying for God's hand to be in this election, so that Büsingen can continue to thrive. If you think of it, join in prayer with us, too.

Upcoming conference

Gina here. This weekend I am heading to a conference in Portugal called One by One IberoAmerica. It is a conference that started out as directed at Nazarenes on the Western Mediterranean Field (Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, and the Azores). Then, they welcomed Nazarenes from all Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries. Then, they opened it up to anyone.

A variety of meetings and trainings are taking place in conjunction with the weekend conference. One of them is a three-day training for field strategy coordinators -- people who direct and/or support denominational ministry at the field level (each region is made up of "fields" and within the fields are "districts" made up of the local churches). We have about 35 fields around the world.

I have been given 45 minutes to talk with these wonderful and hardworking people about storytelling -- why we do it, how it helps to shape and unify us as a global church family, and ideas and discussion on how we can do it more effectively. I am working on a PowerPoint presentation, along with a resource CD to distribute.

Then, during the conference, I will be interviewing different people about what God is doing in their lives or their part of the world, as well as reporting on the conference itself.

I would really appreciate your prayers now through April 29. Please pray with me that God will help me use the time and opportunities effectively, that I can connect and collaborate with those who share my passion for telling more of the stories of our church, and that I can come away with new relationships on which we can build better communications in the future.

Please also pray for the conference and all those who will be attending: for safe and smooth travels, the Spirit's work of renewal, refreshing, unifying and empowering, and for more effective ministry across our church as a result of this gathering.

Remember in prayer those who have been planning the event -- for their sanity, and for strength and endurance during this very busy and stressful time.

Thanks again for being part of what God is doing in our church and in us through your prayers and support!

Learning to make a Swiss bread

If there's one thing Americans will rave about after visiting this region, it's the amazing bread and the fantastic cheese (or general dairy products). Bread and cheese are among the many things that Swiss and Germans know how to do right.

Our favorite bread here is called Zopf. It's a braided, dense white bread that is traditionally made on a Friday or Saturday and eaten on Sundays. From what I've read, it may be similar to or the same thing as Challah. It's just mouthwatering.

And since one part of being a missionary or a resident in another culture involves doing your best to learn about the culture and adapt to its ways, learning to make this bread seemed like a good way to appreciate this culture in a more up-close way. :-)

I was fortunate that my Swiss friend, Cornelia, knows how to make this and offered to show me how. One evening she walked me through the process and allowed me to practice the braiding technique in her kitchen. The next week, I tried on my own and it was a rousing success! I made it again last weekend, and I must say, Zopf makes an incredibly rich French toast, too. :-)

The ingredient list is short, and making this is actually not too difficult, although it is time consuming and makes a mess. It's worth it: the outcome is a little piece of heaven.

(Makes 2 large loaves)

Ingredients

1 kilo (2.2 pounds) of white flour

250 grams cold butter (1/2 cup

3 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 block (42 grams or 1.5 ounces) yeast (in the refrigerated section)

0.65 liters of room temperature milk (0.7 quarts)

1 egg

1. Crumble the yeast into milk and whisk until blended

2. Pour the flour into large mixing bowl and add sugar and salt.

3. Cut in cold butter (you can use room temperature butter, too)

4. Pour in the milk and stir until a dough forms, pulling away from sides of the bowl.

5. Dump dough onto floured surface and knead 5-10 minutes, adding more white flour as kneaded so that it becomes elastic and no longer sticky.

6. Place dough in a large bowl and set in warm place to rise for 1 hour. Dough should double in size.

7. Return dough to floured surface and cut into quarters. Roll out two pieces into long cords.

8. Follow the weaving procedure on this website, www.about.ch/culture/food/zopf.html.

9. After two loaves are formed, cover on a baking sheet for another 15 miutes.

10. Beat one egg in a small bowl, and use a basting brush to brush egg onto the top surfaces of the loaves.

11. Bake in the oven at about 200 celsius (about 400 F) about 30 minutes, or until the bottom of the loaves are hard when you tap them. Enjoy!

He KNOWS

In what I think of as Stephen Lawhead's pinnacle novel, Byzantium, Aeddan was a young, inexperienced monk in Celtic Ireland, chosen for the prestigious post of helping to carry the Book of Kells to the pope in Constantinium, in hopes that the Eastern Pope, during a time of divided Christianity, would offer protection for the Celtic Christians, who were experiencing pressure from Rome.

Along the pilgrimage, Aeddan and his companions were captured by crude, violent Vikings from the far north, and experienced many sufferings, persecutions and the loss of many of their gentle companions. Somewhere along the way, the Vikings were also taken captive, and similarly abused, beaten and pushed near to death. Many of them died.

In this unexpected turn of events, captives and captors became equal, so that Aeddan and his former captors were forced to work together to survive, and through these trials, they even became dear friends.

But it was because of all this suffering that Aeddan lost his faith in God. How could a God who is supposedly good allow so much evil and pain? Only when his Viking friends questioned him on points about his strange and foreign God, because they knew he was a priest in another religion, did Aeddan reluctantly answer their questions. He didn't know how to tell them he didn't believe the Bible stories himself anymore.

After all their adventures ended, and Aeddan came safely back to his monastery in Ireland, and the Vikings returned home to their northern forests, Aeddan gave up the cloth, but found himself in misery, lost, without a purpose.

He was surprised then, when suddenly a Viking ship was seen off the coast, and his friends rowed up onto the shore. Gunnar, his closest friend among the Viking men, grinning, exploded with what he thought was the good news that he and his companions were going to worship Christ now, and to build Him a church in their village. They had come to ask the monastery to send a priest back with them to teach their families and friends about this new God.

Aeddan was deflated. He had to finally admit to his Viking companions that he no longer followed this God.

In the final pages of the book, the two men sat side by side to talk. Gunnar sadly reports that his beloved wife and many family members died of a fever while he was gone.

"But everyone dies, and I will see her again in heaven, heya?"

Despair cast its dark cloak over me, and I said, "You see how unreliable this God is, and yet you still want to build a church? Truly, Gunnar, you are better off without it."

Gunnar regarded me in disbelief. "How can you speak so, Aeddan -- especially after all we have seen?"

"It is because of all we have seen that I speak as I do," I retorted. "God cares nothing for us. Pray if it makes you feel better; do good if it pleases you, but God remains unmoved and unconcerned either way."

Gunnar reminded Aeddan that his people have long prayed to gods who did not see, hear or care.

"But I remember the day you told me about Jesu who came to live among the fisherfolk, and was nailed to a tree by the skalds and Romans and hung up to die. And I remember thinking, this Hanging God is unlike any of the others; this god suffers, too, just like his people."

"I remember also that you told me he was a god of love and not revenge, so that anyone who calls on his name can join him in his great feasting hall. I ask you now, does Odin do this for those who worship him? Does Thor suffer with us?"

Aeddan was stunned at this interpretation of the stories he had told Gunnar, who continued, "Do you remember when the mine overseer was going to kills us? There we were, our bodies were broken, our skin blackened by the sun -- how hot it was! Remember?"

Gunnar went on: "I was thinking: I am going to die today, but Jesu also died, so he knows how it is with me. And I was thinking, would he know me when I came to him? Yes! Sitting in his hall, he will see me sail into the bay and he will run down to meet me on the shore; he will wade into the sea and pull my boat onto the sand and welcome me as his wayfaring brother. Why will he do this? Because he too has suffered, and he knows, Aeddan, he knows." Beaming, Gunnar concluded, "Is that not good news?"

This passage is why I rank this among the very few books that have changed my life.

We Western Christians talk often of something we call the "Problem of Suffering," or the "Problem of Pain." In our affluent culture, we can afford to avoid all kinds of everyday pain that is a way of life in developing nations or among the poor. Because we can, we try to.

If we are sick, we can go to the doctor and get treatment. Not always can our human medicine fix every problem or dull every pain, but we can get rid of a lot. If you have ever experienced a brief time of life-stopping pain, either a back spasm, a migraine, a cyst, a urinary tract infection; if you have ever had a bacterial infection that you could quickly treat with a visit to an urgent care center and a trip to Wal-greens or some other ubiquitous pharmacy, has it ever crossed your mind what you would do if suddenly all those treatments we take for granted didn't exist?

Imagine if we didn't have access to medicine for migraines, or back pain; imagine if we couldn't put antibiotic fluid on an open cut that had been exposed to soil or a contaminating agent? What would you do if you had a severe bladder infection and no means to treat it?

Much of the world lives with these periodic or chronic physical pains everyday. Some of it is not life-threatening; some of it is. People around the world have learned to live with pain.

In affluent countries, like everywhere, we also experience the unavoidable pain of tragically lost loved ones, divorce and broken relationships, abuse, sexual molestation, even less "serious" but equally painful experiences as teasing and rejection in school, failed dreams, lost jobs, lost homes, lost pets.

Just because we are affluent doesn't mean we don't suffer. Our pain is very real, but we have ways of dealing with it. We have counselors. We have the advantages of understanding some levels of human psychology and how to more effectively deal with traumas and damaged emotions than if we did not have what knowledge we have. We have mood-altering medications such as anti-depressants, anti-anxiety pills and more -- which recent studies show we are taking advantage of in greater and greater numbers.

When we experience natural catastrophes such as tornadoes and earthquakes, the pain of devastation and loss is very real, but government programs, insurance companies and teams of volunteers swoop in to clean it up and make it disappear as fast as we possibly can, paying out checks for what damage can be measured in dollars, and then rebuilding.

My point is not to say that affluent Western Christians don't experience suffering and pain. We do. What I'm saying is that culturally, we are oriented toward doing everything we can to make it stop. That's why we see counselors, spend time listening to friends; that's why at the very first pang of pain or ache, we pop painkillers or call a doctor's office for an appointment.

When a loved one dies or is torn from our life, our friends and family members are oriented toward helping us heal and move past it. We pray for healing. We pray and try to make the bad feelings stop.

And so, perhaps the one advantage that people in developing countries have over us is that they have learned to dwell and live in suffering and pain. They have learned to take it for granted. They have come to understand that suffering is part of life.

And in this way, they can not only accept a God who suffers too, but they can find immense relief and peace and joy and hope in this knowledge.

For us Westerners, I believe the suffering God is often a stumbling block. A God who allows suffering leads us to question His character and His goodness. Because we, in our Western orientation to ending pain as quickly as possible, assume that to be good -- and to have power and resources -- means God should do the same.

But what if that's not how God is oriented? What if one of the central joys of our Gospel message is that our God is one who has suffered? That our God can understand our pain because He has experienced the greatest pain of any conscious entity in the universe? He has not lost just one or two loved ones. He has lost billions. He has not been rejected by some people. He has been rejected by billions. He is forced to watch his living loved ones self-destruct in the most horrible ways, blind to the hope and joy and peace that He offers, and -- indeed -- the healing.

Our God suffers. He has suffered, He suffers now and He will continue to suffer.

His suffering is not forced upon Him, either. While we cannot avoid pain in this life, He can. For God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the worst suffering imaginable -- no, beyond our imagining -- has been a choice. And that choice has been 100% on our behalf. Because God wants to know what it is like to be us. And He wants to know that because He wants to be there in suffering with us.

This concept of simply dwelling in suffering is not something I could understand until 2010, when I came with Andrew to Europe, leaving behind our familiarities, our families and support systems. I quickly became very sick. After seeing doctor after doctor after doctor and finding no answers, getting test after test after test that showed nothing, and therefore having no knowledge of what to do to get better, I realized I had no recourse but just to dwell in a season of sickness.

One difficulty with being sick for several months, with no hint as to when it may end, is that it brings depression. You begin to wonder and lose hope that you might feel better. You can't go to work normally, you can't make plans with people in case you relapse and have to cancel, and you sense or assume that people won't want to spend time with someone who is depressed and sick. So you fall into some level of isolation.

There was added stress from my American cultural orientation that whispered to me I needed to force a positive, happy attitude on myself, and not let this problem get me down. But I knew I would be lying to myself and others. I didn't feel positive or happy or hopeful. I felt depressed.

That's when God seemed to be saying to me that I needed to just stop trying to feel better, both physically and emotionally, and that I just needed to accept some suffering for a while. Strangely, this harsh-sounding message did not feel cruel to me. In fact, it gave me a great sense of peace. I felt God saying that it was OK for me to hurt, and that it was OK for me to feel bad. It was time for me to simply experience this without my end goal involving doing whatever I could to make it stop.

After this experience, I have begun to have the faintest glimmer of understanding about suffering. Not much, because in 2011 I mysteriously got better. I have some theories as to why, but nothing concrete that I can "prove." My point is that while I have not suffered much compared to many people in this world, God showed me a little something about suffering: that He understands. That He wants to ENTER into suffering with me, and He does so out of His own experiences of suffering -- more suffering than I will ever experience or comprehend.

I also understand a little bit better that as a follower of Christ, I am called to enter into the suffering of others. While I think all Christians have a desire to bring an end to suffering and pain in any way that we can, and I still think we should do all we can toward those ends, I also think that first and foremost, before trying to prescribe solutions and raise campaigns and dole out advice to end all the world's forms of suffering and pain, we need to simply enter into it with others. We need to just BE with them in their suffering. That is what God did for us in the shape of Jesus Christ. FIRST, he ENTERED into our suffering on earth. The death and resurrection came AFTER that.

This is why I love more than ever, Gunnar's words in Byzantium: "He too has suffered, and he knows, Aeddan, he knows. Is that not good news?"

Isaiah 53:2-4, 7, 12c

New International Version (NIV)

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

-- Gina Pottenger