Lynn Green

Category: Economics

  • Jerusalem and Gaza

    Jerusalem and Gaza

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    As the national anthem of the United States of America is sung at the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, the death toll on the border between Gaza and Israel mounts.  I have been watching the ceremony and reports on the border deaths juxtaposed on two different screens.  Commentators generally give away their political leanings in the first one or two sentences of their report and those watching the embassy ceremony convey their approval via thousands of “likes” and “loves” on Facebook.

    As I take it all in, my heart is torn.  I have walked the streets of Israel and Palestinian territories, have been invited into homes for tea, met with mayors and local dignitaries and have been hosted by the Chief Rabbi and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem on the same day.  After all that, I cannot take sides and am convinced that God does not take sides.  As He said to Samuel:

    “I look on the heart…”  People are neither condemned nor redeemed on the basis of their race, nationality, gender nor any other group identity.  

    He knows each of us so intimately that he says the very hairs on our heads are numbered.

    I can assure you, as I am sure you would expect, that there are wonderful, kind people on both sides of the border and their most fervent hope is that there would be peace for their children.  There are others, on both sides of the border, who are fervent in their desire to wipe “the other” from the face of the earth.  Tragically, the latter has grown faster than the former in recent years.

    Is there any way forward?  Well, I have a wish.  It is not yet a hope and certainly not a confident faith, but it is a clear wish and that is a good place to start.

    I wish that systematic fear and racial hatred would be eradicated from Israeli life, especially from the military training, which all Israelis have to undertake.  Friends who have been in the military tell me that every young person is taught to hate and fear and feel superior to Palestinians.  I can understand how that could seem to be expedient for military service, but it is so destructive in the long term.

    I wish that Palestinians could learn that they have massive resources and that they can live for positive, achievable purposes rather than for vengeance and for retaking the land.  People, especially young people, are our greatest asset and the Palestinians have lots of them!  From the late 1940s until today, Singapore and South Korea represent what can happen to a nation that is poor in other natural resources, but rich in people.  Both were poverty stricken at the beginning of the 1950s, but both set their sights on making the most of their people and are numbered in the top thirty most prosperous nations in the world.

    The Palestinians are highly gifted people, with an unusually high percentage of very intelligent citizens.  They could accomplish so much if they turned their focus from victimhood towards creating a better future for their children—EVEN IF THE POLITICAL SITUATION DOES NOT IMPROVE.

    This is hard for the Palestinians because they have embraced Muslim leaders who use their religious texts for fanning the flames of hatred.  The current Grand Mufti of Jerusalem has quoted a saying attributed to the Prophet Mohammed:

    “The Hour will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jews will hide behind stones or trees.  Then the stones or trees will call:  O Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”  This kind of thinking is a manifestation of a very deep evil.

    In light of all this, can my wish begin to be a real hope?  Can it become a confident faith?  With God all things are possible!  Later this week, millions of Christians will begin 30 Days of Prayer to coincide with the Muslim fast of Ramadan.  (I will write more about that soon.)  When we listen to God and then pray as He leads us, it changes history.

    This volatile, dangerous, long-standing conflict can change!  Let us listen, pray and obey and then see what God can do.

    Lynn Green.

  • What’s really Happening in North Korea

    What’s really Happening in North Korea

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    Have you been watching the reaction to the unexpected events in North and South Korea?  Journalists and politicians have been arguing back and forth about who or what led to the unprecedented meeting between north and south.  None of them expected that Kim Jong Un would cross the border into South Korea, especially in light of the fact that, just a few weeks earlier, much of the world was expecting him to trigger another war and most alarmingly, to use nuclear weapons in anger for the first time in more than 70 years.

    But the steady progress towards official peace and even reunification continues at an entirely unexpected pace.  I notice that just a few days ago the North Korean regime changed their official time zone to match the South.  Until now, they had used even the clocks to demonstrate that they were completely separate and sworn enemies.

    When the great thaw came so suddenly, some figured it was due to the “diplomacy” of Donald Trump—that for the first time in decades, an American President might actually strike a devastating first blow to North Korea.  Others were quick to say (along the expected political lines of division) that Trump had nothing to do with it, but that it was due to economic hardship.  Others speculated that it was because China finally agreed to impose some sanctions and that threatened the viability of Kim’s regime.  Still others pointed to satellite evidence that the tunnels being used to develop nuclear capacity had mysteriously collapsed, destroying much of what they had gained.

    I suspect that some of all of the factors just listed might have contributed to the great thaw, but that none of them were causative.

    An Israeli friend of mine says, “The destiny of nations is not to be found in the visible majority, but in the redeemed minority—even though it might be very small.”  In other words, a few people obeying the Holy Spirit can make all the difference.  The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the believers in Ephesus that, “God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all things for the benefit of the Church.”  (Ephesians 1:22).

    We don’t often see the truth of this scripture worked out, so we might well ask if it is really true, and if it is, how can we see it work?  Experience over recent years leads me to believe that we can see this authority in action when two conditions are met:  first that we seriously depend on the Holy Spirit, listening and sacrificially obeying; second, that we allow him to work deeply within us until we, the people of God, come to the depth of unity that Jesus describes to his disciples in John 17:21 – “I pray that they may all be one, just as You and I are one…” And that means oneness across all the usual dangerous human divides.

    In recent years I have experienced this extraordinary unity on several occasions, with Germans, French and English; with Jews and Arabs, with Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, with French and English Canadians and many other often toxic divisions.  It is an “end times move” to unite the Bride of Christ and is, as far as I know, unprecedented in history.

    Now, in the past few months on two occasions believers from many nations have convened believers from South and North Korea.  In the first one, some of the expected tensions and even anger boiled to the surface.  But God is in this—not only was it the right thing to do; it was in God’s time.  Timing is important!  The Holy Spirit melted hurt and hardened people and they embraced one another.  (None of us should underestimate the size of the cultural and economic gulf that has grown between these two nations during the past 70 years.)

    When that first meeting was over, the Holy Spirit spoke to those who convened and said, “The work has not been completed yet; gather again!”  They obeyed sacrificially and gathered again, only weeks after the first one.  Once again the Holy Spirit moved very deeply, resulting in a depth of family love that none had ever experienced before.  At the conclusion of that event, there was a sense that God had done what He wanted.

    And, that very week, the political chasm began to be bridged.  I can’t prove that the meeting of the “redeemed minority” was the primary cause of the beginning of the peace process, but that is what I believe—and no one can say that it had no effect.

    After all what does the Word of God say?

     

    “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.  Therefore put on every piece of God’s armor…”

    I believe it!

    Lynn Green.

  • Politics

    Politics

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    “I’m white, therefore I am a racist.  I am male, therefore I am a misogynist.  I speak English, so I expect everyone to speak my language.”  Really??  Am I personally guilty because of the group or groups others say I belong to?

     

     

  • Financial Integrity

    Financial Integrity

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

     

    Leadership Letter from Lynn Green about Personal Finances, February 2007:

    Dear Sisters and Brothers,

    For the past couple of years I have been hosting and speaking at Base Leaders’ Training Weeks. I think they are a lot of fun. I really enjoy meeting with base leaders from different nations and continents, learning about their joys and triumphs, struggles and disappointments and helping them find a way forward. As a result of listening to these leaders, I am beginning to identify some common and widespread issues we are facing.

    Recently a base leader asked, “What do you do when one person from a staff couple takes a job to supplement their income and then the other member has to take responsibility for child care? We end up having just one person on a part -time basis and yet we are housing an entire family. How do we respond to this?”

    I could readily understand the question because I see this issue cropping up all over the world and it can dramatically change the dynamics of a YWAM base. In practical terms, it can lead to less ministry happening in and from the base simply because you don’t have the same man-power available. It can actually be more damaging than that, but it will take me a bit to explain.

    I joined YWAM when I signed up for a School of Evangelism in 1969. I loved that year in the SOE! The best part of it was living in an old hotel with a bunch of other young people (especially one particular young lady whom I married before the year was out) and with Loren and Dar. We saw them relate to one another as a married couple and then as parents. I still have warm memories of Karen and, later, David Cunningham bedded down in little sleeping bags in the lecture room in the evenings. There was no doubt at all that the entire family was called into missions! From the very beginning, they demonstrated that single people, couples and families are all welcome in YWAM and that God has put a special anointing onYWAM to welcome families in ministry.

    A number of years after my first experience inYWAM, a young couple by the name of Dale and Carol Kaufman were at the newly established base in Kona. It was the summer of the Olympic outreach in Montreal and Dale was deeply disappointed because he had no freedom to go to the outreach. Their disappointment was turned to an adventure and the birth of a new ministry, King’s Kids. Over the years God would use it to mobilize thousands of children and then families into outreach together. I personally know many families who would say that their family came to deeper togetherness and spiritual maturity as a result of outreaches with KKI and, as far as they are concerned, their children are serving God today because of KKI.

    YWAM may not be unique in this calling but we are certainly unusual. Traditionally, most mission organizations were not family oriented. From time to time we still meet missionary children who had very painful experiences in boarding schools or because their parents were not allowed to have more children due to the policy of their mission. Times have changed, thank God! When Darlene Cunningham and a team from the Global Leadership Team first started working on the values of YWAM, they noted how God had led Loren and Dar at the beginning and how much He had blessed families in YWAM and that is why we included the following value:

    YWAM recognizes the value of the family. We affirm the importance of fathers, mothers, and children all sharing a call to missions and contributing in unique, complementary and vital ways. We support the necessity for each individual family to be a strong and healthy unit. (Deuteronomy 4:9-10, 40, 6:6-7, 32:46; Proverbs 31; 1 Timothy 3:4)

    Being a YWAMer is not a job, it is not a part-time calling and it is not a calling for just one member of a couple. Now, before anyone reading this gets tempted to be defensive, I want to say clearly that we are also not a rule-based movement. There will always be exceptions to the norm and many of those exceptions will be wonderful! We will not start making rules that both members of a marriage or all members of a family must always be full-time staff with YWAM.

    That is, however, the norm that God used to start YWAM, and we are most anointed by God when we stick closely to the values that He established at the beginning. So, I am saying that we are very likely to lose some of our power and distinctiveness when we allow another approach to become the norm.

    The base leader I referred to earlier went on to ask, “What do you do when the person with the employed spouse is on your leadership team?” I suggested that, in this case, the example they set will multiply quickly and in a short time you will have only a few full-time staff available. He nodded his head sadly and said, “That’s exactly where we are now. How do we get back to where we started, with all full-time people living at the base?”.

    There was no easy answer to that question. The road he described is a downhill road—easy one way but a battle the other. It’s much better to not go down it in the first place. If you and your base or team have not walked down that road – don’t start now! If you have, then start addressing the issue in prayer. If you went down that path without thoroughly seeking God first, then you will probably need to start with repentance. Don’t condemn anyone, but do ask God how to get back to the place of full anointing.

    You might also need to ask God’s forgiveness for misusing his gifts. For example, if you live in a YWAM property that was purchased (or is being purchased) by gifts and income from staff, students and other donors then you are, in effect, living in subsidized housing. The money was given to the vision of YWAM—taking the gospel to the whole world—not to provide housing subsidies for Christians in paid employment. You may have inadvertently allowed an unethical situation to arise. That needs repentance and a commitment to make the hard choices to get back to the place of obedience.

    A shortage of money is often the reason why someone who is in YWAM decides to find a job. I know there are occasions when God has led some of us to take a part-time job or to take a full-time job temporarily. But that is relatively rare. Very often, in the face of financial shortages, we are tempted to take matters into our own hands and provide for ourselves through a job. But another one of our values states:

    YWAM is called to practise a life of dependence upon God and His people for financial provision, both corporately and individually. (Phil 4:6-7, 10-20; 3 John 5-8).

    It is not unusual for God to use financial shortages as a way of getting our attention so He can say something very important to us. When we decide to go out and meet the need ourselves, we could miss God’s purposes.

    Like any seasoned YWAMers, Marti and I have experienced long periods of very little financial support. We have also had some financial crises, both personally and in the various teams and bases we have led. Our experience is that God always used those times to produce breakthroughs in us or in our team/ community.

    This life of dependence upon God and His people is a wonderful adventure. Sometimes it is very testing, but as we learn to wait on God, hear His voice and obey, we live a great life. If this is a hard area for you; if you have struggled with unbelief about money; if you think it is much easier for some people than for others; or if you think faith for finances doesn’t work where you live—do go back and study the scriptures. See what Jesus promised in Matthew 6 when we ‘seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness’. You might also find a copy of Loren Cunningham’s book, Daring to Live on the Edge ($5.99 at YWAM Publishing); it will certainly build your faith.

    Remember, when we obey God and live by the values He has placed in our foundations, then His power is more active in our lives and our circumstances. That is how we can fulfill the promise Jesus made;

    “anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12).

    May God pour out His power on you and through you as you obey His word!

    In His Peace,

    Lynn Green.

    Source – http://ywampodcast.net/shows/teaching/lynn-green-financial-integrity/