Serving with Eyes Wide Open

This past Tuesday, I had the joy of being at a gathering of church leaders convened by World Relief to talk about Haiti and an appropriate response from the church. Aside from the sharing of those who are on the ground in Haiti, the highlights were hearing David Livermore (author of "Serving with Eyes Wide Open") and Brian Fikkert (author of "Helping without Hurting" and a former UMD prof).

Here's a summary of some of what they shared. I'll do Livermore's today and Fikkert's tomorrow. I found it deeply insightful.

Livermore: 5 Guiding Principles for Formulating a Response to the Situation in Haiti
1. Center of Christianity - following the research of Phillip Jenkins, Livermore noted that the center of Christianity is no longer in N. America and the West. There are vibrant Christian communities in places that need our help. If we attempt to do missions thinking we are the orthopraxical norm, we will embarrass ourselves and cause more trouble than aid.

2. Motivation - often, short term missions are billed as an adventure or fun, or some sort of self-fulfillment motive drives our efforts. We need to rethink the role of suffering in our missiology.

3. Urgency - Americans carry with us a "can-do" spirit of ingenuity and urgency. We want to do something, and we want to do something now. Often, that sort of Promethean spirit trumps long-term sustainability for local indigenous churches. We must remember that most often the people we serve know what they need better than we do. We need to take the time to listen and learn before going in and "fixing" things.

4. Money - who really is poor? Because we define poverty primarily as materialistic deprivation (something Fikkert addressed), we think of the solution as material. We come back from missions trips saying, "I realized how blessed I am..." Such a condescending attitude reinforces a superiority complex and an imperialistic attitude when it comes to serve. Do we look for wealth in the cultures we are going to serve? Do we enter into the mission field recognizing that we ourselves are poor in very different, but significant ways?

5. Bible - this has to do with contextualization. Do we think that as an educated Westerner we have the monopoly on how a text should be interpreted? How can theology be globalized? How can we learn from the biblical interpretation of other cultures?

One more thing: Livermore presented a compelling motivation for why short-term missions are important. He suggested that what people do on a short-term trip is not nearly as impactful as what they will do when they return home, and that they need to go on a short-term trip in order to gain a vision for what they need to do at home. Thus, the debriefing of a mission trip is hugely important because it connects our experience over there to our lives here. This could be through advocacy, mobilization, or launching into other cross-cultural missions opportunities right here on our doorstep.

My takeaway is further conviction that every Christian should go on an international short-term trip at some point in their lives. The reasons for this are that we will see how the North American church needs the global church (as well as how the global church needs the North American), we will get a taste for what God is doing in the world, and we will begin to embrace a global vision of the Church at large.

Hmmm...I wonder where all the money went

Recession, really? As the hallowed June 15 date to pre-order your IPhone 4 has passed, it has left its wake of cyber confusion, computer breakdowns, and disgruntled consumers. It seems that no matter how bad the oil spill is, no matter how crooked Wall Street may be, nor how many bailouts we may need to be a part of, one thing will remain true - we as Americans will always find a way to spend, shop, and get what we want, when we want it.

This article is a stern warning to me to fight gadget-lust among other things. It seems there's always something newer, something better, and it seems like Apple's always connected to it in some way. I wonder if Paul's words could apply here “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything."Paul is talking about the new life that the Spirit gives, and I believe it's a relevant word for me today. If my appetite and my cravings grow out of control, it means that whatever I am craving is mastering me - be it Apple, IPhone, power, sex, approval, whatever. I look at the culture in disgust that as we are facing unprecedented debt, global poverty, and a huge disparity between the wealthy and the marginalized, people so badly want a $200 phone that networks, computers, even cyberspace itself comes crashing down. The worst part is that I am just as part of the problem, so I really look at myself in disgust as well.

Lord, give me deeper affections for you. Grant me a greater passion for things that moth, rust, technological  obsoleteness, and chronological snobbery can't touch. Be my Master, only you. For your kingdom's sake, amen.

Human Trafficking Report Card

I just read an evaluation of the 2010 U.S. Trafficking Report that was released today. It underscores how big of a problem human trafficking really is. Amidst all of my excitement over the World Cup, I am deeply saddened to think about the human trafficking trade that will reap huge monetary benefits from the crowds of fans gathering in South Africa. Even ESPN has a report about this. In a sidebar, they even have a definition of human trafficking.

Human trafficking usually begins with a false promise of an opportunity.**

Through coercion or deception, and sometimes force, traffickers lure people into exploitative situations. A person does not have to cross a border into another country to be trafficked. In fact, in South Africa, internal trafficking is as much a problem as, if not more than, external trafficking. According to the U.S. State Department's most recent (2009) Trafficking in Persons report, "The government of South Africa does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, however, it is making significant efforts to do so."

Will you join me in taking a moment to grieve, pray, and mourn for the least of these who are oppressed and taken advantage in this way? Will you get angry and feel the heart of God for these voiceless slaves? A phrase that has struck with me from my Hebrew classes is "ad-matay Adonai?" (that's just my own loose transliteration). It means, "How long, O Lord?" I think about atrocities like this, and then I think about the innocence of my own sons. I would be beside myself (homocidally) if it were my own kids, how much more is God angered that his image bearers, especially the children, are oppressed in this way? As I think about this, the doctrine of God's justice actually brings comfort and hope, not in a condemning way, but in a vindicating way. The brothels may be hidden from our sight, but they are not from God's. Kids may be moved invisibly across borders, but God sees and He will not let it go unaddressed. This makes me cry all the more, "ad-Matay Adonai"!

Why the World Cup reminds me of Heaven (and no, it's not just the international flavor)!

It seems that every four years, I have this inner turmoil that is brought on by the greatest sporting event in the world. Growing up as the son of immigrant parents, I experience what most _______________-Americans (insert ethnicity of your choice) feel at international sports competitions be it the Olympics or the World Cup. Who do you root for? I've had friends ask me this hesitantly trying to be as sensitive as possible. They don't want to make me feel un-American, yet they don't want to just ignore my ethnic heritage. In fact, I think most _________-Americans feel this confusion, yet few will admit to it.

The tension is that in every way I am American except for the fact that my parents and thus my ethnic heritage are Korean. So as much as Korea is sometimes a mystery to me, I still feel this attachment to my traditions and my roots, and sometimes I feel as though my roots are what really distinguishes my journey from other Americans. So I root for South Korea. In addition, there is a communal spirit that being American misses. Maybe it's because of the 'melting pot' nature of what it means to be an American vs. the homogeneity of being Korean, but there's something so natural and life-giving being with other Koreans as you cheer (in distinctly Korean ways complete with timed rhythmic hand claps), dress in red, and celebrate together. Imagine a rowdy gathering for the Blackhawks as they won the Stanley Cup, but on a larger scale like a nation or a people group. That's the connectedness and pride you feel when rooting for Korea whether or not other Koreans are in the room.

At the same time, I'm here in the U.S. It's my life, and it's my home. It's more of a home to me than Korea will ever be (even having lived in Korea for just over a year), and so I cheer for the U.S. Perhaps there's also a 'rooting for the underdog' allure that I like, but for whatever it's worth. I cheer for the U.S. whether or not other Americans are in the room.

The tension comes when Korea plays the U.S! The last time that happened (that I can vividly remember) was in 2002 when the U.S. played Korea to a 1-1 draw. You can only imagine the turmoil I felt during that game. Let's just say it was the most exhausting game I've ever watched - rooting for both teams.

This tension that I feel reminds me of my true citizenship. Paul speaks about it in Phil 3:20 - "But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior." All of this tension reminds me of the tension I ought to feel here on the earth. In reality, though I am a citizen of the U.S., I am a citizen of a heavenly kingdom, a kingdom that is moving forward and outward reclaiming land under its rightful king, inaugurated by its rightful Lord, Jesus.

It plays out like this: though I live in the U.S., I still have a tug for the Motherland. Though I live on the earth, I still have a share in the kingdom. I live on the earth, and in a certain existential measure, it IS home. So I work and take part in this world, rooting for its renewal and remaking all the while cheering and rooting for my deeper attachments. Every World Cup, I am reminded of this tension that while I live here, my attachment, my roots, are in another place, and I long for that place. I can't wait for the day when the two become fully one with no more tension, no more confusion, no exhaustion!

Until then, I'll keep wearing my Copa America U.S. Jersey, and my South Korea jersey...just not at the same time.

The question of character formation before heaven

"Character - the transforming, shaping, and marking of a life and its habits - will generate the sort of behavior that rules might have pointed toward but which a "rule-keeping" mentality can never achieve. And it will produce the sort of life which will in fact be true to itself - though the "self" to which it will at last be true is the redeemed self, the transformed self, not the merely "discovered" self of popular thought...In the last analysis, what matters after you believe is neither rules nor spontaneous self-discovery, but character." - N.T. Wright, After You Believe