Lynn Green

Tag: blog

  • Redeeming Cultures

    Redeeming Cultures

    Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash.

     

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

     

    Meeting the village idiots

    I first met Daniel and Fatima in a long jungle clearing that serves as an airstrip for a Missionary Aviation Fellowship plane flying me, a couple of my friends and our eldest sons into the depths of the Amazon on the Piranha River.  At that point they had been living with the Banawá, a small and endangered tribe for seven years.  Thanks to some remarkable persistence by this urban couple, the population of the Banawá had risen from just over fifty to nearly eighty people.  They were there patiently learning the language and customs and trying to fit in.  To do so, they had to become almost like little children in the eyes of the tribe as they learned how to hunt, gather, prepare food and eke out an existence as nomads in the Amazonian jungle.

    As they did so, their ultimate aim was to live out the life of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit in the hope that the tribe would one day come to worship their Creator and be freed from the terrible fears that drove their animist faith and so directly contributed to their dwindling numbers.

     

    An entire tribe changes

    After ten years had passed, Daniel and Fatima were encouraged to see a few people who seemed to have a change in their hearts, but they were still surprised and overjoyed when one day the tribal elders returned from an elder’s council with a message for the young couple.  They called the tribe together and in a time honoured tradition announced the important news to the entire tribe and in particular to Daniel and Fatima.  They explained that they had watched them over the years and had decided that their God was a God of true power and love.  Through an appropriate process within their tribe, the entire tribe decided that they would follow Christ.  So they had composed a worship song to the God of heaven and the Son, Jesus Christ, in their own tongue.  As they worshiped they demonstrated that which has been done thousands of times before–that God in Christ Jesus set out to redeem all cultures, not to impose one culture.

     

    Gentiles becoming Jews?

    The early Church faced this issue throughout the entire period in which the Gospels and Epistles were written.  We see that thread running through the narrative of every Epistle and popping up now and again in the Gospels.   It can be seen as a major theme in the book of Acts. 

    In Acts 15, the elders and apostles of Jerusalem got together and made a momentous decision. On the face of it, it looks as though they simply got together and decided that the Gentiles don’t need to be circumcised.  But the issue was much bigger than that.  They settled a question which got to the heart of the life and death of Jesus.

    Jesus came to redeem all cultures not to spread one culture.   

    For the new Christians who were from the party of the Pharisees the gospel was simply the culmination of Jewish culture. Now that it was complete, they were ready to spread it to the world.  But for the apostle Paul and the others, the gospel was God breaking out of Jewish culture in order that He might redeem all.        

    The Church still tends to lose sight of this essential aspect of the Gospel.  In fact, it’s almost inevitable that we will lose sight of this truth, unless we have deep humility and, wherever possible, fellowship with believers from very different cultural backgrounds than ourselves.

     

    Old perceptions die hard

    During the 19th century and first half of the 20th century most missionaries became known for exporting their cultures and lifestyle.  So African Christians, Chinese Christians, Indonesian Christians, indeed believers from hundreds and hundreds of cultural backgrounds all sang the same tunes, built the same kinds of buildings, and wanted to dress in the same way as the western missionaries.

    One of the biggest battles Daniel and Fatima and other missionaries like them have faced is that the stereotype continues.  In many cases, anthropologists, journalists and government agencies have failed to see how mission activities have changed.  Therefore, missionary activity means the destruction of important cultural heritages.  This couple and hundreds more like them went into the Amazonian jungle to seek out dwindling and sometimes lost tribes and did not carry with them plans for how the “natives” should dress, eat, build their houses, worship, etc.  They went with the simple message of Jesus Christ and let the Holy Spirit lead to the redemption of their host culture. By that, we mean turning their back on those things that were destroying them, but embracing all that was positive, admirable, helpful, and beautiful about their way of life. 

    You might be thinking, well, that is an interesting story, but it is well separated from me and has no application in my life.  I would suggest that it is a crucial issue for every Christian.  With God’s help and often with the help of believers from completely different backgrounds, we need to stand back and look at our own lifestyle through the lens of others and try to see how much of what we do is really Christian and how much of it is the Christianised aspects of our own culture. 

    The point is we must be very flexible and teachable about those things that are not essential to the gospel.  We must be prepared to yield on them and to engage with people with other points of view–whether that’s about eating and drinking habits, political persuasions, fashion and dress-sense, social habits and manners.  And when we interact with people from other backgrounds, (and with the cultural variations that happen between generations) we must hold all the none-essentials very lightly.  That is the true nature of Christianity.  Jesus broke out of one culture, the Jewish culture, that he might draw the people of all tribes, nations and languages to himself.

     

    Jews and Muslims

    Unlike Christianity, Islam and Judaism have incorporated common laws and customs into the very fabric of their faith.  From a Christian perspective we think it must be possible for them, when they choose to live amongst Christians, to believe in their God and yet adapt to all the laws and social environment our nations provide.  But for a truly devout Muslim or Jew this is not really possible, their scriptures are law and customs-centred.  It’s not right for us to say that they are not religions of the heart, because they are.  But the strands of law, government, culture and even military are completely interwoven with their religion of the heart.

    We often call those Muslims who do adapt well to western culture “moderate”.  But for Islamists, those same people are apostates because they have abandoned the commandments of their God when it comes to many matters of law and customs. 

    Over the centuries, Judaism has learnt to adapt and has reinterpreted their scriptures, so Jews have managed to survive in global exile.  For the hundreds of thousands of fundamental Orthodox Jews re-gathering in Jerusalem the strands of government law, military and religion are all being woven together once again.  It is notable that, as this significant movement in Judaism has grown, its people tend to resemble Muslim fundamentalist more and more, at least in their habit of dress and the way they relate to “outsiders”.  In both cases there is very little sympathy or even social interaction with those who are not part of their movement.  Of course, we in the west do not feel directly threaten by that particular fundamentalist movement, so we don’t hear much about it.  But I find it helps to understand the deep similarities between those who seek to return to the letter of the Old Testament law and those who seek to return to Sharia.

     

    No excess baggage

    So what is the point?  Simply that we must humbly ask God for wisdom and keep a critical eye on our own perception of our faith when it comes to its cultural expressions.  Let us not package our nation, our patriotism, and our political convictions with the gospel.  And as we seek to be free from some of those things, let us also not go to the other extreme and embrace another culture with its laws and customs. 

    All Christians should have a deep desire to see the Jewish people come to faith in Jesus Christ.  The Apostle Paul tells us that when Jews are grafted back into the original vine alongside, we who are grafted into the original stump of Israel then it would be as “life from the dead” to the world.  That term is interpreted in many different ways by Bible scholars and I can’t tell you with certainty in detail what it means, but I do know it means a huge blessing.  However, it does not mean that Christ is reversing the decision of Acts 15 and drawing all believers back into Jewish culture or Israeli politics and military might.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is not about acquiring land in one small corner of God’s great globe.  It’s about the redemption of all people, so the great body of Christ maybe complete.  And it will only be complete as we see in Revelation 9:7:

    when people of every tribe, nation, kindred and tongue standing before the throne and worshiping the great God of heaven, to the grace poured out upon us through Christ Jesus.        

    Lynn Green.     

  • Message to YWAM During the Covid-19 Crisis

    Message to YWAM During the Covid-19 Crisis

    Photo by T Steele on Unsplash

    **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 read this teaching message from Martha during my last Facebook live-stream and several people wanted the written version, so here it is!)

     – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

    What strange times we are living in. As the corona-virus crisis started, our YWAM community was confused on how to pray. The crisis brought up a lot of questions: Is this a judgment from God on the earth? Is this the devil’s schemes to destroy all of our “God Plans” this year? Do we repent for God’s wrath to be averted? Do we rebuke the Enemy and the virus in Jesus Name? More importantly, where is God in the midst of this, what is He doing and how do we respond?

    As we prayed for clarity, we realized that this virus started as a result of man’s rebellion to authority and ultimately to God’s laws. It most likely started in what they call a “wet market” in the city of Wuhan where there was illegal buying and selling of live wild animals to be used in traditional Chinese medicine practices. There are two animals in particular who carry forms of this virus; the bat and the pangolin (an almost extinct reptile like animal) – both bought and sold for their supposed “healing powers”. There are strict laws against this behavior in China – but this market was operating illegally. Many of the pandemics that we have experienced over the last half of a century have come out of Asia and from these illegal practices.

    As this virus has been unleashed on the earth – of course the Enemy is loving it! Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy and he is always attacking God’s agenda! But in the midst of this God is still on the throne! Psalm 93:3-4, “The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted their voice; The floods have lifted up their pounding waves. More than the sounds of many waters, Than the mighty breakers of the sea, The Lord on high is mighty!” He is not caught unaware. He is EVER PRESENT and He is using this time for His purposes.

    So, what is GOD doing? And what is our response? I believe there is not just ONE thing, I think there are multiple things He is doing.  But, I wanted to submit to you FOUR THINGS that I believe He is doing and how we can respond in this time.

    1. A CALL TO REPENTANCE. It’s a time to repent as a human race for ignoring the laws of God and bringing destruction upon ourselves. Yes, the virus, but also in other areas where our nations have strayed from God and His Law: In my own country, the USA, since abortion was legalized in 1973, we have killed over 60 million babies. Globally we have experienced the war against the sanctity of marriage. In the West particularly, the homosexual agenda has succeeded in legalizing same sex marriage and pushed for the acceptance of transgender rights and gender fluidity. We have globally walked away from God and his Truths. This time is a wake-up call! And what about our own lives? This is a time to ask God: what is it in my own life that you want to put your finger on in this time? Where are the areas where I have personally strayed from your ways? It’s a time of heart searching and examination. A time of evaluation and pruning. He is cutting away the old ways and the diseased areas of our lives that new growth can come.

    As our YWAM Community began to take our position in repentance, the Lord used several Scriptures to guide us: Numbers 16:41-48 and 2 Chronicles 7:14.

    2. A CALL TO REST. A few years ago, I was reading in Matthew 24:38-39 where Jesus is teaching about the End Times and he says, “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.” As I read this, a huge banner appeared in my mind stretching over this verse that said: The Power of Distraction! They were so busy with eating, drinking, getting married – the things of this life, that they missed the Kairos Moment of God!

    We get so busy, our lives are filled with meetings, schools, conferences, traveling… and even though we are doing all of these things for God, we can become so tired and lose the passion for which we started all those things. I think one thing God is doing in this time is saying, come away with me. Come to a time of rest. A time of quiet. A time of solitude.

    Solitude is one of the Spiritual Disciplines. We have been reading the Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. In the chapter on solitude he says, “Don’t you feel a tug, a yearning to sink down into the silence and solitude of God? Don’t you long for something more? Doesn’t every breath crave a deeper, fuller exposure to his Presence? It is the discipline of solitude that will open the door.”

    This time is an invitation to solitude, to rest, to re-calibrate of the rhythms of our lives.

    3. A CALL TO RESTORATION. I’m sure you’ve all read the articles about how this time is giving the earth a chance to heal. I’ve seen pictures of the Himalayan Mountains on Facebook. Apparently, they haven’t been seen this clearly in over 50 years. The canals in Venice are clear. The quality of air over our cities has improved drastically – our environment is healing.

    Restoration is happening in families. I read a testimony of a believing family in Wuhan. Their lives had become so busy, they hardly spent time together. The parents hardly knew their children. Then they were locked down for months together in the home and they got to know one another again. They had time to share deeply. They began to grow in love again – she said it was the best time their family had ever had.

    We are re-connecting with loved ones. FaceTime calls and Zoom have helped us connect with parents, friends and relatives. Marriages are being worked on! Being in quarantine brings up a lot of our weaknesses and deficits. We are face to face with all of our “stuff”! It’s a time to take a raw look at our relationships and to reconcile, to heal. God is using this time to heal relationships all over the world.

    4. A CALL TO READINESS. God spoke so many things over the year 2020 globally. It was to be a year of breakthrough, a year of acceleration for the Kingdom of God. And now, seemingly, this has come to a halt. I believe that God’s word is still true. This will be a year of Acceleration and a year of Breakthrough, but it looks different to what we thought… he is giving us time to get ready for a great harvest! In Darlene Cunningham’s message to us, she relayed the story of when they had to send all of the students home from the Kona Campus. She said as they sent the students home she was thinking, wait, this isn’t what’s supposed to happen, the waves are receding. But then she remembered that often as waves recede, they come back even stronger! A greater wave is coming after this!

    The Scripture that God has given our YWAM community in this time is the parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25:1-10. The essence of the story is that the bridegroom WAS coming. It was a time of expectancy and waiting. It was a pause, a rest, an invitation to wait! Five did not bring enough oil, five did. Then the time of breakthrough happened, the bridegroom came! They got up to trim their lamps but five did not have enough oil – they weren’t ready. This time is an invitation to readiness. Trim your lamps, renew your resource of oil, tend to your inner life, let your roots go deeper, draw into the Lord, rid yourselves of all that keeps you away from Him. Call out those little foxes that are ruining the vineyard – get your lamps ready for the breakthrough that is coming.

    There is an invitation from the Lord in this hour. An invitation to repentance, rest, restoration and readiness. Take time to embrace the invitations. Make room in your schedules to respond. Let’s not miss this moment.

    Martha (working in the Middle East)

  • Inaccessible Truth

    Inaccessible Truth

    Photo by Moja Msanii on Unsplash

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

    A few years ago, Marti and I were invited to meet and talk with the Cardinal of Vienna.  Bruce Clewett a YWAMer, had become close to the Cardinal and had extended the invitation to us and another friend.  We walked to the Palace in the centre of Vienna and were met by one of his assistants who told us we would have 15 minutes.  Everything was formal until the Cardinal appeared, shook our hands warmly and began the conversation by telling us when and how he was filled with the Holy Spirit as a young trainee priest.

    More than two hours later, we were still enjoying very friendly conversation despite the assistant poking his head through the doorway every few minutes.  Before leaving, I asked a sensitive question, after first saying he didn’t have to answer what I was about to ask.  I said, “This has been such a wonderful, easy evening of fellowship around our love for Jesus; are there other senior Catholic clergy who would have been comfortable with this evening?”  Without reservation he named a few, starting with Jorge Bergoglio, Cardinal of Buenos Aires—now Pope Francis.  When he was in Buenos Aires, he was also close to, and remains close to, Alejandro Rodriguez, the YWAM leader in Argentina.

    A GREAT ARCHBISHOP

    On a similar theme, the Canon Residentiary of Coventry Cathedral came to our YWAM base in Harpenden to teach on our reconciliation courses.  Then he was appointed Dean of Liverpool Cathedral, at which point he hosted a YWAM meeting when Loren Cunningham was visiting the UK.  We had a relaxed and very enjoyable dinner in his home and there was no doubt about the depth of his faith, his joy and his remarkable abilities.  Not many years later, he was announced to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury—at which point he also agreed to be Patron of YWAM in England.

    This is not really an exercise in name-dropping; My aim is to make it clear that I know that these two men have a strong, Biblical faith.  Each of them has been working hard to move their Church towards living, outworked faith in Jesus and I am both pleased and amazed to have seen this wonderful development.  But it is very hard work and I doubt that either of them is overjoyed to see the progress they have, or haven’t, made. 

    NO REAL THREAT

    The truth is not a threat to the kingdom of darkness if it is inaccessible.  The offices these two men hold require them to appear almost entirely in formal and carefully managed situations.  They must wear clothing that no one else wears.  Not to put too fine a point on it, they often wear funny hats that you never see on anyone else and the cassocks they wear are more like dresses than the clothes men usually wear.  They often address us from the grandest and most historic buildings, surrounded by priceless works of art.  They must preside over ceremonies that must seem like mumbo jumbo to anyone without an education in the practices of the formal churches. 

    The Archbishop still conducts friendly evangelistic dinners in Lambeth Palace.  On those occasions, he is a wonderful host and shares the Good News about Jesus naturally and confidently.  But we, the public, only see a carefully managed man who seems to have little in common with us.

    A SCANDALOUS MISREPRESENTATION

    The media and entertainment world don’t often give any exposure to the Christian faith these days, but when they do, they like to focus on the “professional Christians”, who dress funny, seem rather stiff and distant and, in the media narrative, often turn out to be hypocrites.

    Jesus was so very different from all this.  He completely avoided all the professional religion of his day.  There was just one thing that made him stand out—WHO HE WAS.  He didn’t need or want to dress differently.  He did not have servants surrounding him and keeping other people away.  There were no crowd barriers and he did not confine himself to religious buildings. 

    THE CHURCH BECOMES SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE

    For more than three centuries, the Church largely followed in the pattern Jesus established.  But, in 326, the soon-to-be Emperor of Rome, Constantine, had some sort of conversion experience and by the end of his life eleven years later, he had elevated the leaders of the Church to positions of formal social power.  We have never fully recovered from that.

    I certainly don’t stand in judgment against the Pope, or Archbishops, or Cardinals or Bishops of Vicars—or celebrity preachers!  But they are trapped in a world that looks like it has little relevance to the daily lives of most people. That serves to make the Good News seem irrelevant.

    HE WAS INCARNATE AND WE INCARNATE HIM

    Ordinary Christians hold the key to solving the problem of accessibility.  “We” are the ordinary people, who dress like anyone else, who live in ordinary houses, cook our meals, do our laundry, go to work (when allowed to!) raise children—but we have a true faith that makes us very different—or certainly should do.

    Perhaps a testimony from Wuhan, ground zero of the Covid-19 virus, will illustrate.  From about 1950, the Christian faith in China grew at the greatest rate ever known in human history.  For every believer in 1950, there were probably more than a 1000 by 1995.  Then the government relaxed its persecution of Christians.  Pastors became more powerful; church buildings sprang up across the nation—some of them big enough to qualify as cathedrals—and the conversion growth slowed down.  After two decades of greater freedom, the government focussed pressure on churches; their buildings were torn down.

    Then the virus hit Wuhan and some of our friends there were very ill.  They grieved and prayed over their city in their isolation.  But they also rejoiced that something in the spiritual atmosphere had changed.  People in their thousands sought out Christians to find out why they were not afraid, why their lives radiated peace.  The number of Chinese people becoming Christians grew dramatically again.

    TRANSFORMING THE ORDINARY

    The TRUTH becomes accessible again when ordinary people live Christ-like lives; when they meet to support each other, to care for others in need, to pray together, to absorb truth from the Scriptures together. 

    Undoubtedly, some of the very large congregations meeting in church buildings in other parts of the world will survive this crisis, but many will not.  Although congregational meeting can be encouraging and large worship celebrations can be uplifting, we might be at turning point when these are no longer the primary expression of Christian faith.  If we become more known for meeting together in neighbourhood groups, sharing our joys and pains together, reaching out to our neighbourhoods, loving the lost and needy, searching the Scriptures together, learning to be open and transparent, becoming more loving and kind—then we might see the kind of growth that Christian saw in the early centuries and has seen again in China.

    Let’s pray and work to make the truth accessible!

    Lynn Green.

  • The Hare with the Amber Eyes

    The Hare with the Amber Eyes

     

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

     

    THE HARE WITH THE AMBER EYES
    By Edmund de Waal


    Rothchild, Ephrussi – two powerful banking families but only one of those names is widely known today.  Why?  How did two Jewish families, one from Frankfurt and the other from Odessa in the Ukraine become so powerful in international finance and political matters? 

     This fascinating book, which follows the rise and demise of the Ephrussi family, was recommended to me by my friend Albert Joly.  The author is a descendant of the Ephrussi family and a renown artist.  Marti and I read it on holiday a few years ago and couldn’t stop talking about it.  The Ephrussi family gained a monopoly on wheat from the Ukraine in the late 1700s.

    From that base, they went into banking and were architects of the modern banking system.  Within two generations they had homes and banks in the most influential capitols of Europe, were patrons of the great impressionist artists and friends with heads of state across the continent. 

    All that began to change in the 1930s.  Both families were primarily based in Austria and had been donors to and supporters of the government.  When Hitler rose to power, the Rothchild’s began moving assets to Switzerland and other nations but the Ephrussi’s were sure they would be safe.  You can guess why their name is not known today.

    The title of this book might have piqued your interest, but I won’t produce an explanation here. Just read this wonderfully creative, brilliantly written, history of some of the greatest power brokers in history.