The Roes Garden

As I grew up, the sign to the right hung next to our back door.  I saw it every day on my way to school, work and play.  It was a constant reminder about why God has us where we are. (and for many, their mission field isn’t even out the door but within their home). So I blame my parents for why we are missionaries in Europe.  However sometimes we think that the mission field is always off in Africa or Asia or somewhere else.  But the reality is God calls each person who is a follower of Christ to be His witness in different “fields”.  In Acts 1:8 (NIV), it says “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

To the people He was talking to, Jerusalem was located right out their back door – where they went to school, worked, and played.  These were the people that they interacted with on a daily basis whether it was who they bought their groceries from or other parents at their kids sporting events.

Judea and Samaria was the surrounding area – like your county, state or country (depending on where you live and how big a place it is). These are people you actually have to make an effort to interact with.

“to the ends of the earth’ – well, you can guess who these people are.  They are the people whom you may never interact with or that God might call you to pack up and go live out life with.

I believe every follower of Christ is to be a witness to all three “fields”.  How we are to be witnesses differs based on how you are called.  In your Jerusalem, you may be called to be a loving spouse, a firm parent, a great friend and listener, or a person who serves others through physical acts of kindness.  In your Judea & Samaria, you may be called to be actively serving the poor in areas you wouldn’t normally drive through, or maybe you are called to be a person of influence that can change laws or create environments for people to be able to fully live or maybe you’re just suppose to stop and help the person whose car has broken down on the side of the road with a smile the whole time. And “to the ends of the earth” maybe you’re called to actually go as a short-term, mid-term or long term missionary or maybe you are called be a sender of people through prayer, encouragement and finances.  So ask yourself, how is God calling you to be a witness in all the mission fields?

As I’ve mentioned before, I love to watch the yearly Eurovision Song Contest since moving to Europe.  It’s not that there’s great quality music or something really moving about it – it’s just a lot of fun to see different takes of music all come into one place.  Last night was the finale and it was invaded.  In the 2nd out of 25 songs, a man jumped on stage and “tried” to be a part of the performance.  It was rather a lot of fun to watch and unlike sporting events, security didn’t just run onto the stage and taser him but did get him to leave the stage where he was quickly escorted out.  (here is a YouTube clip of it all and the invasion happens at about 1:08):

Now here’s the interesting thing that bring this back to what it is I do – do you know how fast this information got out to those that weren’t watching?  Within seconds, Tweets were going out and a few moments later we were able to watch it again on YouTube.com .  This morning I awoke to find out what happened to the invader (he was arrested) and what his real name was and that he does this all the time in mainly sporting events (bet he knows how to out run a taser now and avoiding a tackle).  Even his Wikipedia page was already updated with last night’s antics.

[Update:  Switched to another copy of the video as the other one died - plus here's a link to the whole show available until June 19th]

So I guess my question is that if something as benign as jumping on stage can make its way around the globe so quickly – why do more important messages about things like hope and love seem to take so much more effort? (or only seem to come to me in emails with some fluffy Powerpoint attached?)

While I was at The Anchorage Project, we talked a lot about living incarnationally and missionally as a form of church planting.  You see, in the end, The Anchorage Project is about planting churches whose people are about living transformed lives rather than just having their ideas changed about God.  As we talked, Joe (the director) told me a story that someone else had told him last year:

When young children are showing the aptitude to become chess masters, they sit them down and show them all the chess pieces, where they sit on the board and how they move.  All the pieces except the Queen (if you don’t know chess, the queen is a very powerful piece that can move in all sorts of ways).  As they play people and learn the strategies of chess, no one gets to play with a queen.  They learn all about chess and develop strategies using the full abilities of all the different pieces without being dependent on the queen.  Once they have come to a point of mastering these strategies, they are thrown for a loop when their next opponent comes in and has a queen and they still don’t.  They must continue to play without a queen while their opponent gets to use this very powerful piece.  They must continue to play until they develop an understanding of how to use all the other pieces strategically to still win the game – even against their opponent’s queen.  It’s only until they continue to play other players who have a queen and win repeatedly that they are awarded a queen to then play with.

In the church planting context – you might consider the Queen to be Sunday Morning.  In the past, many churches have started with a Sunday morning only to be try and make Sunday morning do everything – build community, discipleship, worship, etc.  Sunday is weighed down and if there’s something wrong with Sundays, then the church doesn’t make it.  But what if in our church planting strategies, we start out not dependent on Sunday mornings.  While Sunday mornings can create numbers quickly, many sitting there are only keeping the pews warm.  What if we instead concentrate on the different aspects of church and only introduce Sunday mornings once these other things are in place?  What kind of life transformation would happen then? Anybody out there seen this lived out and would like to comment?

Recently, I got to spend nearly 2 weeks in Dublin, Ireland for two different reasons:  the first part of my trip was to a training time with the authors of Tangible Kingdom as we talked about living “incarnationally” and “missionally” in the European context.  I had read the book a few weeks before coming and having this time with other people (both Americans & Europeans) discussing things was really mind-blowing.  We really started to talk about what this looks like in several of the different cultures we work in and how we can encourage and promote Christians living in these ways.

The second part of the trip was working with a family that lives it.  I blogged a little bit about The Anchorage Project yesterday but living around Joe, the director, was really expanding what I had discussed the week before.  This was taking things beyond book knowledge and I have to say, I loved it!! Now it wasn’t anything about the conditions – I’ve been in a lot worse places but we had a lot of cold, wet walks by the river, it was 12-15 hour days working on the computers, equipment was late arriving, and they had recently painted our B&B room which freaked my sinuses so I was having nose bleeds.  (However, we did get the Irish Breakfast every day that we worked there – not heart-healthy though – see the right side photo).  It was working at The Anchorage Project putting in an Internet Cafe and Wifi Hotspot that I got to see many of the principles we had talked about living.

One night Joe was running a time for some of the kids in the neighborhood but an older gentlemen stopped by and I spoke with him.  He spoke with such a thick Irish accent I wondered if we were speaking the same language (in case you’re wondering – we weren’t.  I think we might have better been off if we had been speaking German).  In the end, I caught that he wanted me to tell Joe that he had stopped by.  He said his name (which I had to ask him a couple of times to repeat because of the accent) and he finally said, “Just tell Joe – He knows me!” He said it in such a way as if he felt that he and Joe were best of friends.  When I talked to Joe about him later, I found out their relationship wasn’t that close but Joe makes everyone he meets and interacts with feel like he really knows them.  I think that’s the thing.  He takes the time so that people feel connected with him.  It’s not that Joe doesn’t have things to do; he’s actually extremely busy with The Anchorage Project and his family (small Irish family with 5 kids) but he still takes the time so that people know they are important.  I want this to be a part of my life.

Recently Jim and I were able to spend time installing an Internet Cafe as a part of The Anchorage Project in the inner city of Dublin, Ireland. The director there is an Irishman named Joseph Donnelly who grew up in this part of Dublin and can tell stories of what its like to live in this area. He knows it; he lived it. He knows there’s a loss of hope in his town now more apparent than ever as the recession is taking a nasty toll on the economics of Ireland.

Several years ago, the board of directors of an old mission house approached Joe and asked if he and his wife could do anything with the old mission house to change the neighborhood. This is the same mission house that Joe as a teenager vandalized and threw rocks at before having his life transformed by God. The Donnelly’s idea was to use the mission house to now bring hope into the neighborhood. Their mission was that hope is comprised of four aspects: beauty, children, community, & justice. This old mission house is now called The Anchorage Project.

Beauty is being lived out through the use of plants and birds that are sold through the Anchorage Project. They train people on how to take care of these plants and birds, and while it can seem strange, all sorts of people from little old ladies to tattooed young men come to the center waiting for their flowers.

Children are cared for through the Anchorage during the children’s morning programs and special events that happen in the neighborhood. Parents see the joy that the kids have and the sense of play that is inspired at the Anchorage. Through their children’s eyes, they have a sense that things will be alright.

Community is beginning encouraged as the Anchorage Project starts a cafe which includes the Internet Cafe. This is a safe place for people to gather. They can come in and have something to eat and drink, sit around and chat with friends, get on the Internet, socialize or just talk with one of the people working there. Those who serve in the café aren’t there for a job but are wanting to care for people living and working in the neighborhood.

Justice is the final aspect of bringing hope and all the other parts play into it. Almost every part of beauty, children and community has a small fee, such as the flowers are sold or time purchased on the Internet Cafe computers. They are priced to be inexpensive to the community but they do create a revenue source so that every year the neighborhood, via the Anchorage Project, is able to give  help to in places like Africa, Southeast Asia or Eastern Europe. Hope is found in the realization that even though they don’t have much, they are still able, as a neighborhood, to help others.

So how do computers help bring hope to the inner city? By being a part of an overall plan, computers and technology can further the vision and mission of ministries. The vision of a computer center, as part of the café, continues to build a sense of community by getting people out of their homes and together. It also meets a real need by tapping into an opportunity for people to have access to the internet, for everything from research to communication. A way for this poorer neighborhood to have a greater variety of tools to make their lives better. And this is all done in the name of Christ and for the purpose of exposing others to HIS Kingdom.

We were delighted to share in a small part of what The Anchorage Project is doing to impact their community and the world.