Trying to follow

I figured rather then write, I wanted to ask some questions. I’ve had a discussion recently concerning short term missions and I wanted to hear some of my readers opinions. I’m curious what everyones take is on the issue of short term missions, global missions, western missionaries, etc. So, here are my questions:1. What do you think about short term missions? Do they do more harm then good, or vice versa?

2. Have you heard of indigenous missionaries? If so, what do you think of them?

3. On a Biblical level, what do you think a typical (U.S.) Christian’s role is as it relates to the ‘Great Commission’?

4. Do you think ‘Western’ Missionaries bring more ‘colonizing’ then they do ‘evangilizing’?

I know these might be leading questions in some ways, but I wanted to give an indication of the angle I’m looking at them from. Feel free to disagree with any or all, or critique the premise. I’d just love to hear your thoughts.

Any questions for me?

Thanks for all the feedback on the last couple house posts everybody! I’m realizing there are quite a few more interested parties then I originally realized. I mentioned earlier that one of the reasons we are excited about doing this, and taking seriously paying off our debt, is that we want to have an opportunity to serve as an example to others of taking debt seriously and paying things off. The ultimate goal for us, is to live on only what we need (more discussion here later) and to continue to even after we’ve paid off all our debt. I’m excited to see the amazing good that can be done with our resources once we are no longer enslaved to our lenders.

This is going to be a relatively short post because I need your opinions mostly. I’ve thought about this before a little, but haven’t come to any serious conclusions. Here’s my question. As a Christian, how should we properly discuss our finances? On one hand I’d love to be totally transparent about it all, because I think our ‘taboo’ nature about finances is what gets many of us in a heap of trouble (and as Aaron said, we want the church to be open about their finances, we should too, we are the church after all). On the other hand, there’s that whole, don’t let your left hand know what your right is doing, etc. Thus the dilemma about how to discuss our finances, paying off debt, giving, setting an example, and still honoring God in it all. So, the question:

What is the appropriate way for me to follow Christ and discuss my finances with the general public (i.e. on this blog)? 

Dear Greg (or Gary, sorry I can’t remember) and others,

I met you briefly at Peavey Park in South Minneapolis last Wednesday. I was hanging out with some punk-rocker anarchist folk, eating dinner with homeless and having an all-around good time. You came by and politely offered us flyers to an event for youth you were having in October. You were kind and cordial and I appreciated listening to the conversation between some church-goers and anarchist, two groups I thoroughly enjoy hanging out with that tend to have some nearly polar opposite values.

The flyer you handed out was impressive. Glossy on both sides and well designed, it advertised a big event for middle school kids and their parents. If the gloss wasn’t enough, the flyer was even more enticing by offering free hoodie sweatshirts for every kid that came and $6 for every parent that brought their kid. Free money and clothes, my initial thought was it’s brilliant marketing. Credit card companies offer free stuff all the time to get people signed up, and you were giving the exact types of things the people your targeting actually want. I was impressed because you had said you surveyed people in the neighborhood and the largest response you had was that people wanted something safe and fun for their children. Your are meeting a need of the community. Meeting the communities needs with brilliant marketing and large events, I have to say I was impressed. But, then I started getting uncomfortable.

I wasn’t quite sure what this discomfort was, until you left and the folks I was hanging with started talking. They were on to your scheme, they were skeptical of your ‘evangelism’ and ‘preaching’ tactics, and they hadn’t even been to your event, just had seen many others like them. That’s when it occurred to me, you weren’t sharing the ‘gospel,’ rather you were treating Jesus like a commodity, you were in a business venture.

Someone once said, “What you win them with is what you win them to.” The means (your party) are inextricably tied up in the ends (believing in Jesus) that you hope to accomplish. Your desire to have this event and ‘win people to Jesus’ will more then likely win them to a Jesus other then the Jesus I see plainly in the bible. If someone chooses to sign-up at your event, they are more then likely going to be choosing to follow the ‘jesus’ you’ve displayed to them. They’ll choose to follow the Jesus of free hoodies and free money. Jesus, from what I can tell, never enticed people to follow him. It wasn’t ‘come follow me, and I’ll give you a free pair of sandals.’

I worry that those you entice to following ‘Jesus’ at your event, will start off with such a skewed picture of what this ‘Jesus’ character is about that they will never really be able to see clearly the real Jesus we meet in the gospels. I worry that when the free money and clothes stops coming, they’ll get tired of following this ‘Jesus.’ They’ll stop following your Jesus, which I don’t think is the same as the real Jesus we encounter in Scripture; and my fear is that if they stop following that Jesus, like so many, they’ll stop looking for or considering Jesus all together.

Please consider your event, your marketing, and your Bible, I think you’ll find there is some tension there that needs to be reconciled. I think you all are doing a great thing, listening to the community, trying to meet the needs of the community, pointing to Jesus as a source of hope and truth; I think your hearts are in the right place, which is why I felt it was worth the time to encourage you to think hard about how your are bringing people to the faith. May God be with you and may your efforts be blessed.

in Christ,

Ariah Fine

While talking about the computer software, there are two types, application and system software. Different software tools are being used in development of application software. Now days, large number of companies is working to develop mobile phone software and anti virus software, as demand for these software are very high in market. A large variety of software data is available on different sites as well.

I don’t usually delve too deeply into my personal life on this blog, though most of what I post is a reflection of personal experience and thoughts, but I wanted to take a minute to sort of reflect on where I (and my family) are at this moment.

I have been married for 4 years, 3 months, 5 days and about 12 hours (isn’t that cute?). I’ve been a father for just about 3 months now. We’ve recently moved to a new big city where we don’t know many people (though we have family fairly close) and we are looking to purchase a home and plant ourselves in the community. We are about to start a stage in our lives where school (and the debt that comes with it) is a thing of the past and ‘real world’ careers and life are on the horizon.

The scary thing about this moment, this new phase of life and journey, is that this is about the time that people expect us to ‘grow up’ and leave our ‘idealistic’ visions of the world.  It’s a dangerous time, maybe one of the most dangerous times in our lives. It’s almost like we are at this crossroads with two very clear and distinct paths ahead of us.

The well worn path is that of the ‘American’ dream. It’s been walked down by the majority of people we know and interact with, supported and valued by nearly everyone we meet, including in the church. It’s comfortable, it leads to fulfillment of desires for things I want (at least I feel I want them each time I see that commercial), and it will lead to approval in the eyes of those around me if I am successful. No one will look at me cross, and few will rebuke me for tossing aside my previous convictions, they’ll call it ‘growing up.’

The other path is small and over grown, it’s been traveled by few and my attempt at discerning the direction of the sign is even questionable. I see few in the society around me, and fewer in the ‘church’ walking down this path. It’s questionable, it makes me second guess my choices, it carries with in no prestige, and there seems to be little support. People, friends, family will question our choices, rebuke us for our ‘mistakes’ and look at us cross for years to come. Yet, I can’t help but reading the Bible, trying to follow Jesus, and see it as clear as day pointing and directing me down this path.

In a couple weeks Mindy and I are going to the CCDA Conference in St. Louis. It will be a rare opportunity for us to meet and listen to others who have traveled that narrow path. My prayer is that it will be an opportunity for us to build a shared vision that is strong and unwavering for this next stage of our journey. I am so grateful that I have a strong and wise spouse to take this journey with me.

p.s. Know anyone in St. Louis with a spare bedroom?

I’ve mentioned before that everyone (especially guys) should be reading Ms. Magazine. The main reason is that it brings up a lot of issues that need to be addressed that aren’t being mentioned in major media. Issues such as sex discrimination, abuse, mistreatment, and the wage gap. These are issues that should be dealt with in our society, and particularly in the church.

So, how can we as a church begin to address these issues? I thought I’d start by taking the six points from an article entitled, Mind the Wage Gap, from the fall 2005 issue of Ms. and discuss these as they relate to the church, rather then to the individual reader.

1. Document
2. Do the Research
3. Collaborate
4. Learn to Negotiate
5. Talk to the Boss
6. Celebrate!

1. Document- As I said in an early post on the wage gap, I think there is some compelling reasons to make our salaries known. Particularly the fact that keeping it a secret has kept us from addressing the fact that women make 70 cents on the $1 that every man makes. I’m not sure of the most appropriate way to do it, but I think we should have more open conversation and documenting of what we are making in our churches. This has other implications, but as it relates to the wage gap, knowing what others in your field make will help you be aware of if you are being unfairly paid. Documenting also means letting it be known when you feel you were mistreated or unfairly dealt with as it relates to your wage. If any place should be a safe haven and a place to share those things, it should be the church.

2. Do the Research- This also deals a lot with investigating wages within your field and if you are being appropriately paid. Doing this research individually is fine, but I would imagine a church would be a wonderful central location for the results of research concerning wages could be held.

3. Collaborate- Caring after the orphans and widows has to do with a lot more then providing them clothing and shelter (though that’s good too). Sunday School and Soup Kitchens are good things, but wouldn’t it be amazing to see the church as a collaborating force to ensure women were treated and paid fairly? If ever a person would be distressed, it’s when they are being discriminated against, harassed, paid unfairly, or worse. The church, as a unified body, is just the sort of location and group to help address these sorts of situations.

4. Learn to Negotiate- Again, what better place to learn this then in the church. At the least, Churches should be resources centers for this sort of information. If someone had concerns about their unfair treatment at work, the church should be able to provide contact information and resources for learning how to negotiate, rather then just an offer to pray for the person.

5. Talk to the Boss- Probably the most intimidating and daunting task of the six steps for most people. Especially for single-income households, talking to your boss about your pay, or any acknowledgment of being unsatisfied with work, can be a very scary task as there is probably a great fear of getting fired. Once again, the church has an important role in this step. The churches role is to be a supportive and loving body in the midst of injustice. So, not only do we help empower and prepare people to ask for equal wages, we are also there to support them should their demands be met with resistance. It’s much easier to stand strong against mistreatment and discrimination if you have a loving supportive community around you.

6. Celebrate!- I’d urge churches to have Wage Parties, or maybe Against Injustice parties. When my house mate paid off his last school loan and became debt free, we had a celebratory party. It was a beautiful thing. Like a celebration after finding a lost coin or sheep, we should celebrate when unjustly stolen salaries have been given back. The church should be a place of praise and celebration, for fair wages as much as anything else.