RMNi Blogs
What about April?
“Do you know someone who needs this?” I was talking on the phone to a friend who is very active in serving the community. Her office was putting together a wonderful Thanksgiving basket, and she was wondering if I knew a family in need. My heart was warmed by the thoughtfulness, but as I hung up I wondered, “What about April?” I began to think about our churches and how we get excited about doing special projects during this season. That’s a good thing. But what about April? Don’t people need to eat in April? Or February or May?
We must be careful about taking a project approach to our ministry. We cannot be content to do just enough to make us feel better that we did a good deed. That shows concern but not commitment. Just as when we work we want a regular paycheck, the work of ministry requires regular giving to the church and from the church. As we come to the end of one year and start to plan for the next, let us think about how we can move our home and global mission from a project to a passion, something that we are committed to every month of the year, including April.
- By Roshell
How's Your Church's Mission Swagger?
Have you ever shown up at an event and found everybody was really dressed up, except you? Or perhaps someone showed up at the door of your home unexpectedly and you were not properly dressed to answer the door. That's an awkward feeling!
If Jesus were to knock on our door today and invite us to the Annual Missions Banquet, would we be dressed and ready to go? Would our churches show up at the event grossly underdressed or well suited for the occasion? What do you think of Dr. Johnson’s take on this question?
I see African American mission efforts in a light similar to that of the narcissistic emperor from Hans Christian Anderson’s tale who hired a tailor to make him some fine clothes. Everyone in his fiefdom was afraid to speak against this ruler. His tailor weaved him a fine suit of clothes made of nothing. The emperor was very impressed by his fine figure, and went on to parade his naked frame in public completely oblivious of his nakedness. … No one would dare tell him he was naked except one bold little boy. This brought much shame of the emperor, but it did awaken him to his brazen, egotistical ways. The black church in America, like the emperor, has no clothes when it comes to mission work overseas (Making the Blind Man Lame, Dr. Michael Johnson, p. 19).
As an African American missionary, Dr. Johnson has great reason for this perspective. Over his many years of missionary service as a surgeon in Kenya, the folks on the mission field keep asking him, “Where are the African American brothers?”
I have been to lots of African American churches of various denominations. And I know that we know how to dress up and look good for service. But, when it comes to Great Commission service, do we have our swagger going on, as the young people say these days, or are we underdressed?
- By Roshell
It's not about the money
How are we to reach those living in countries which restrict missionary access? One approach is business as missions (BAM), or as it has been traditionally called tentmaking. Tentmaking may often be understood to refer to the economic factor: a missionary being financially self-supporting. However, tentmaking is not about money! It is about God and finding new ways of revealing God’s glory to the ends of the earth.
Jesus says, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) Jesus is still seeking fishers of men; some are to leave their nets, and others are to bring their nets with them! Business as missions is a wonderful opportunity for those looking to use their skills and talents to reach the otherwise inaccessible unreached. It is using daily-life strategies to tell people about Jesus, giving the lost a good look, and often a first look, at who Jesus really is.
To find out more about or prepare to engage in business as missions see Patrick Lai’s most helpful and practical book: Tentmaking: Business as Missions
- By Roshell
Our First Annual Mission Conference - A Great Success!
From the Pastor’s Desk: Rev. Dr. Clifford E. Jones (Opelika, Alabama)
This weekend has been a historical one here at Greater Peace Missionary Baptist Church, as we hosted the First Annual Mission Conference. It has been an exciting time from Friday evening to the present. Someone might be thinking why is it so important to host such a Conference. It is important because we need to understand God’s view on mission. God is interested in all of mankind to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The only way that will be done is for people to hear and understand the Gospel. Listen to Jesus’ words as expressed in The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20. He said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” The charge that Jesus gave His disciples is “TO GO!”
- By Roshell
Pace Ministries - Dr. Dorris Ngaujah
I have been in Kenya 14 years now. My current title is Assistant to the Director and Founder of PACE Ministries. I do a lot of things, but teaching is probably my best description. I help with staff chapel as well as lead the Sunday worship and teaching for our primary and secondary students. I have a hand in developing partnerships; I mentor students. Our ministry sponsors two schools and I am a part of the administrative team.
- By Dr. Dorris Ngaujah
The Widows of South Sudan
South Sudan is the world’s newest country, having gained its independence in 2011. Sadly, in that short time it has become a study of a nation’s collapse.
Though South Sudan is oil-rich, pervasive corruption and nine years of tribal warfare have left it the world’s poorest country. Heavy inflation has critically reduced food production, leaving 7 million people on the edge of starvation. Almost 60% of the population are refugees of one category or another.
I will turn our attention to the widows of South Sudan. We know God’s eye is on the fatherless, so his compassion touches the widows who hold the fatherless. They are the ones left with babes in arms, with makeshift “homes” in the vast UN camps, with distress for their own safety, and grief for the losses which their children suffer.
The following analysis will reveal how widows suffer the most and in the worst ways.
- By Tad de Bordenave
Jesus: Lord, Locked and Loaded
Was Jesus packing? I only asked because inquiring minds want to know. Was He strapped? Was the Lord carrying a concealed weapon? Was the Christ armed? I know these may seem like heresy and to say the least undignified questions. However, the matter came up as I was reading a passage of the Bible that referred to the advice the Lord gave to His
disciples, just shortly before His arrest. Here it is as recorded in Luke's gospel.
Lu 22:36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Lu 22:37 For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.
Lu 22:38 And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.
Now I have not had the privilege of Biblical study in a seminary. I have yet to hear a sermon preached on this. I have read a few commentaries on this passage. To say the least, I am as confused as ever.
- By Michael Johnson
Is it time yet?
In the early 1980's I sat on the forth row of my college church. Little did I know that a young lady would speak that day and share words that would change the course of my life forever. It must have been providence that our paths would cross at that moment, for I’ve never seen her again, yet her message haunts me even to this day.
She was just returning from a short-term mission trip to South Africa. In that day, she had to be declared an “honorary white” to travel and minister with her colleagues. What really struck me was this comment: she said some South Africans were resistant to accepting the gospel message because they had never seen a Black missionary spreading the news. Hearing that, I was knocked out of my comfortable space as I soberly realized that our absence on the mission field was actually hindering the spread of the gospel. Since that time, one of my great desires has been to see more African Americans respond to the Great Commission.
What is so exciting is that these days, our involvement in cross cultural missions seems to be growing. I have been overjoyed meet other African American missionaries. I have been Excited (with a capital E!) to talk to several this year who are preparing for long-term assignments in other parts of the world. I believe God is moving and stirring us up! I have long awaited such a time as this. Could the time be now?! One pastor said, "Only God can make a wave, let's just be ready to ride it!" Do you see a wave of the Spirit moving among us?
- By Roshell
Ashamed to Die
“You should be ashamed to die until you’ve made some contribution to mankind.” So spoke the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he quoted his predecessor pastor, Rev. Vernon Johns, of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. In the 21st century, taking the gospel of Christ to all the world is the greatest contribution to mankind that the African American Christian community can make. If we don’t make this a priority, we should surely be ashamed to die.
- By Michael Johnson
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