Abesim Update

As soon as we turned off the paved main road in Abesim, we were in the Third World: potholed, rutted red dirt track, old buildings with scabrous, faded paint or (if made of mud brick) crumbling walls, women bending over wood-heated cooking pots, and children everywhere. Here is a rough-hewn table with a few hot red peppers for sale; there is an open-air woodshop where a man makes small stools, smoothing and fitting the wood pieces by hand. The center of activity seems to be a local “restaurant,” a lean-to with a cooking pot balanced on three large stones. Apparently, the corn meal mush is quite popular with the locals, because there’s a line every time we pass by. Everyone is curious about the car slowly staggering through the mud puddles, and they stare when they see the passenger is a white man. It’s as if we are a one-vehicle parade, so I smile and wave to the children who look back wide-eyed. Some of the younger children wave back, but a few hide in fear because they have never seen such a funny-colored man before.

The Agape Evangelical Church of Abesim is located at the end of the track – a nice cement block building with a tin roof. The school they have started is down the hill behind the church – I can see some of the 250 students in their red and blue uniforms as they play at recess. While there are many denominations in Ghana and some are quite wealthy, the AEC has its largest constituency among the poor and the illiterate. Both the church and the school are educational centers, meeting the spiritual and educational needs of the people around them. They are a living example of the kind of holistic ministry that the CEDI conference was designed to encourage, and several of their key leaders were in attendance last week in Accra. At their request, I’m here to teach the leadership of the Agape Evangelical Church about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and their use in the church.

The AEC has been going through something of a Reformation in the past five years as some of the younger leaders have begun to push for a Bible-centered approach to doctrine. Some of the leaders have been attending the EPI conferences in Sunyani and, earlier this year they asked us to help train the denominational leadership. Chuck Emerson and Allen Monroe taught them on Romans in February, and the response was enthusiastic. But the leaders felt, because of the rampant abuses of prophecy and tongues that exist in Ghana, they needed some clarification in this area of spiritual gifts.

The conference ran Tuesday through Thursday from 9 am to 4 pm each day and we had about 75 men and women in attendance. It was hot and humid in the building, even with the ceiling fans, and I guzzled bottled water regularly. But the presence of the Holy Spirit among us, guiding our discussion, was so exciting and energizing that I hardly noticed the heat. They were excellent students: listening, taking notes and asking penetrating questions. As we worked through the Scriptures on these issues, I identified abuses on both sides – those who misuse the gifts as well as those who ignore them as if they don’t exist. The Bible’s clear teaching helped them to sort through issues like the baptism of the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit, the nature and use of Spiritual gifts and the unity in Christ’s body that they are designed to produce. I encouraged them to interpret their experiences on the basis of what the Bible says and tried to give practical, Biblical answers to their many questions. God graciously provided wisdom and insight into the Scriptures, teaching me even while I was teaching them! It was an amazing time.

I left the notes with them, and they finished the conference determined to implement the Biblical teaching on spiritual gifts in their own churches. I have no doubt that this was a divine appointment for all of us, and that these truths will shape the beliefs and practices of this rapidly growing denomination. Thank you for your prayers. I am not able to do this work without them.

And so I come to the end of another teaching trip. I begin my trip home this afternoon. God has blessed my time in Israel and Ghana far more than I ever anticipated, and I trust that Christ’s Kingdom has benefitted as well. I’m already planning to return to West Africa in late August, to do some more training of EPI national trainers. Please pray for safety as I travel and for wisdom as I prepare the curriculum for August. Thank you again for partnering with us in this ministry.

Grace and peace,

Dan.

Accra, Ghana Update

The room was stifling – the air conditioning wasn’t working and it was about to rain. Perspiration seemed to be dripping from my elbows, my shirt was soaked, and it was difficult to pay attention. And it was only 10:00 am! Looking around at the other 30 participants in this session, I could see that I was not the only one struggling. So, we opened the windows, and as the wind whipped the curtains and the raindrops spattered, we pressed on in our discussion of small business principles. With the rain came a measure of cooling, and the break time brought coffee and a meat pie (heavy pie dough with “mystery meat” inside), and we were able to refocus.

It’s the beginning of the rainy season in Ghana – a time when you’re thankful for AC as much for the humidity as for the heat. I arrived here last Sunday night after a long trip from Israel. It was good to see Sam Oppong waiting for me outside the airport and, 23 hours after I left Jerusalem, it was good to see a bed too! The conference was held in Accra, so we drove 15 minutes to the hotel and I was able to crash. Thank the Lord for a safe trip and thank you for your prayers.

This week I was a student instead of the teacher - attending the very first Christian Economic Development Institute (CEDI) to be held in West Africa. The conference ran from Monday morning through Saturday morning and we were busy all day, every day. CEDI is the brainchild of the Chalmers Institute for Economic Development, based in the Chattanooga area, and provides training for Christians who want to minister to the needs of the poor. Those who attended this CEDI learned about Microfinancing and Microenterprise Development as ways to assist churches to extend the Kingdom of Christ by ministering to the poor in their communities. Of the 120 participants, there were representatives from 14 nations – most from West Africa, but also from Uganda, Malawi and Rwanda in East Africa. Add the teachers (“facilitators” as they are called here) from the U.S. and Kenya and the representatives of the five cooperating/sponsoring agencies and it was quite an international gathering. All the meetings were in English (difficult for our brethren from Ivory Coast and Senegal), but the accents varied as widely as our countries of origin. What a fascinating experience!

By God’s grace, and at the request of our national leaders here, EPI helped make the initial contacts that lead to this conference. And seeing the results that came from it, I’m very thankful we did. This CEDI not only provided practical training in how to minister to the poor, but also grounded that training on a Biblical understanding of the root causes of poverty. So, rather than just throwing money at the problem, believers will know how to create self-sustaining economic development while sharing the gospel and bringing about reconciliation. We western Christians often have a tendency to think our responsibility to our brethren in the developing world extends only to teaching them to understand the Bible. That view bypasses significant portions of Scripture that require us to minister to the whole person, just as Christ did. Churches in Africa and other poor areas of the world are often hindered by their overwhelming poverty from becoming self-sustaining and from carrying out the Great Commission. This conference provided the kind of training that our African leaders have been asking for. They see very clearly that the African church must minister holistically (i.e. to the whole person) if it is to have any deep and sustained impact on African culture. Theology without practical application does not change lives or transform cultures.

Thanks to all of you who prayed for this conference. The feedback on the CEDI was very positive. I believe that its effects will be profound and long-lasting. The leaders here are already planning for another one in Ghana next year, along with one for French speakers as soon as the curriculum can be translated. Because of your generosity, we also were able to provide scholarships so that three of our key Nigerian leaders could attend. They returned home intending to teach their own CEDI in Nigeria in the fall. God is working in Africa and this is all part of the process. Praise God for the privilege of being involved in this event!

This coming week, I will head to Sunyani to teach a conference to the leaders of the Agape Evangelical Church. They have asked me to give them some Biblical instruction on the gifts of the Spirit and how they are to be used in the church. I hope to do this in the context of finishing the instruction on Romans that the EPI team began in February. Please continue to pray for safety and for God’s wisdom as I teach.

Grace and peace,

Dan.

Israel Update #2

This picture was taken in Wadi David at En Gedi, Israel.

As I drove past the modern hotels and shopping district of West Jerusalem, I wondered what I would find on the other side of town. I was following the route mapped out by the GPS system, on my way to the Dead Sea and the oasis of En Gedi. I entered the double tunnel that carries traffic under Mt. Scopius and emerged in another world: This was the Arab section of town and it’s noticeably shabbier. The hotels and glittering stores were gone and the building boom that has hoisted construction cranes all over West Jerusalem seems to have bypassed this part of the city. Just a few more kilometers down the road to Jericho, and I was in a third world country – treeless desert with Bedouin shanty/tents, camel rides for tourists and obvious poverty. And ironically piercing this almost lunar landscape, plummeting down through the barren hills, ran a busy, new 4-lane expressway. The contrasts in Israel can be startling at times:

· T*Two Muslim men performing their afternoon prayers on the front lawn of the YMCA on King David St.

An * An all-vegetarian Sbarro Pizza next to a Burger King without cheeseburgers: kosher cooking forbids mixing meat with milk products like cheese.

· * *A young lady enjoying a day at the beach carrying a well-worn military issue rifle.

It’s a fascinating country, not easily reduced to a few pat clichés. In addition to the contrasts, there is a social complexity in Israel that seldom makes it through the sound bites we hear in the U.S. Israelis come in different shapes, colors, cultures, outlooks and religions – rather like Americans. On any street in Jerusalem you are likely to see Hassidic ultra-orthodox with their side curls and black hats, tattooed secular Jews in t-shirts or halter tops, visiting American kids with the New York accents – each boy with a little skullcap carefully pinned to his hair, Muslim women in their long dresses and headscarves, young soldiers (male and female) armed and in uniform, and backpacked, camera-snapping tourists from all over the world. There seems to be tolerance toward virtually everyone - even the Jews can’t tell you what constitutes a Jew! That makes the hostility toward Jewish believers in Jesus Christ saddening.

I continued this past week teaching the class on Hebrews through Revelation. It was a wonderful treat to see the response to the Word of God. Wednesday night, as the week before, I taught the entire congregation along with the students. At that point we were in James and, since Pastor Sam requested it, I make some rather pointed applications – including some comments about “the demons also believe and tremble.” The response was good, all except one couple: the young lady kept interrupting: laughing and making loud comments. She eventually got up and left. The next night, the students told me that her name was Vika and she was very troubled. She had told someone that night that she couldn’t stay in the room because I was talking about her, and what I was saying was true. But by God’s grace, Friday night both she and her boyfriend, Sergei, professed faith in Christ! The Word of God is powerful.

We wrapped up on Saturday – Shabbat. I preached again in Tel Aviv in preparation for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. It was a blessed time of fellowship with these dear believers. I then drove about ½ hour to Petach Tikva to finish the course. After 5 hours of teaching, we were all exhausted. But we were able to cover most of the material and they grasped it very well. After a short night in Jerusalem, I was back up at 3 am to drive to the airport to catch my flight to London and then to Accra.

I thank the Lord for the opportunity to spend this time in Israel. Both the teaching and the touring were encouraging to me – En Gedi was particularly awesome. Thank you also for your prayers. I am in Accra for this week, attending a Christian Economic Development Institute. More on that later.

Grace and peace,

Dan.

Israel Update #1

The picture is the ascent leading to Wadi David, David's hiding place in En Gedi on the Dead Sea.

It felt like coming home. After all the hurry and concern over the trip and making sure all the details were covered, I found myself driving over the Galilean hills and down into the bowl that holds the Sea of Galilee. And it was the strangest sensation of having been there before. The brown boulder-strewn hills looked for all the world like the region in Eastern Washington where I grew up. It was the same desert heat, the same startling blue of water in an arid region, echoing the cloudless blue sky. It could have been a slice of America: the boats and jet skis on the lake, the crowds of people on the rocky beaches, the restaurants and the tourist shops were all familiar. There were differences, of course. The pungent odor of sage brush was missing and there were palm trees in the place of scrub willows. Instead of wheat fields, there were acres of bananas and citrus fruit – each field laboriously cleared of the rocks that walled its perimeter. The signs were all in Hebrew (with English subtitles) and the prices in sheqels (about 3.5 to the dollar). But the similarities were astounding.

It also felt like home because I’ve spent my entire life hearing these names and many years studying about events that occurred in these locations. The opportunity to see the land first hand will be an invaluable aid to my Bible teaching.

Some other impressions from these first days in Israel:

1. It’s SMALL. From the surrounding hills, you can easily see from one side to the other of the Sea of Galilee. Tiberias, Magdala, Chorazin, Capernaum and Bethsaida are all within an 8 mile radius. Galilee to Jerusalem is a 2 ½ hour drive. And virtually everything Biblical in Jerusalem is in walking distance. But that leads me to my second point…

2. It’s HILLY. Although the Mediterranean coastline is flat and there are some valleys scattered about, a lot of the country is mountainous. I simply wasn’t prepared for the amount of walking up and down and then up again that you encounter in Jerusalem. It makes for stunning views but can be quite tiring. This is also the reason why, no matter where you are traveling from, you “go up” to Jerusalem.

3. It’s OLD. Of course, every place of religious significance has some kind of structure built on it. And the structure you see is probably the third or fourth such structure on that site. The archeological sites are fascinating and in a place like Meggido or Hazor, you can literally see thousands of years of layered construction.

4. It’s REAL. This is where it all happened – the Bible stories, that is. Although it can be difficult to see past the 2,000 years of religious overlay, these are the actual sites where Abraham, David and Christ lived and died (and, in the case of Jesus Christ, rose again). And with a little imagination, you can visualize the events that are so familiar from your Bible reading.

5. It’s NOISY. My first hotel in Jerusalem was on Jaffa St. near the Old City. The traffic and noise from the street continued virtually all night long. So many people in such a small area. And the parking costs were high. The Lord provided much quieter (and less expensive) accommodations last Tuesday – a hostel run by the Seventh Day Adventists that is just across the street from the famous King David Hotel. It’s still within walking distance of the Old City, and I can park for free!

But, although I’m thankful for the time I’ve had to see some of the sights, I’m actually here to teach a seminary class: a survey of Hebrews through Revelation. I began that task on 28 May, after I met my translator, Yulia. We drove down from Jerusalem to Petah Tikvah, near Tel Aviv (a little over an hour from Jerusalem). There we met with a group of Russian Jews who are believers in Christ. I was there to teach the seminary students, but the congregation used the class as a substitute for their mid-week meeting. So, I taught through the first 4 chapters of Hebrews to a group of about 40 people. (By the way, the translation is not into Hebrew but into Russian!) The class met again on Thursday evening as we continued our study in Hebrews.

Today is Shabbat (the Sabbath, or Saturday) and I drove into Tel Aviv to preach to another Messianic congregation – again, mostly Russian. It was a good time of fellowship and a blessing to be able to preach the gospel in Israel, the place where the gospel was first preached. It is also a blessing to be involved in equipping men to pastor Jewish churches in Israel. I believe that Romans 11 teaches that a day is coming when God will send revival among the Jewish people. Some of these young men may be the instruments of that movement of the Spirit. After a wonderful lunch of swarma (like a gyro but much better), the class resumed this afternoon and ran for over 5 hours. In the next update, I’ll tell you a bit about the situation in Israel.

Grace and peace,

Dan.