Who is Doing the Lord’s Work?

Today, I came across Laura Leigh Parker’s missionary blog where she apologizes on behalf of missionaries and chastises them for how often there is a subtle (or sometimes not so) message in their communications “back home” about how they are ‘finally’ being the hands and feet of Christ now that they’ve left their secular job to enter the world of the full time Christian worker.

Parker expresses her regret at how such messages are self-elevating and in effect put down everyone holding down the fort and supporting those self same missionaries. To her, I express my deep, heartfelt thanks for her awareness, her humility to admit the issue exists, and boldness to confront it. Such an address best comes from someone in her shoes.

Sadly, I have been aware of the tendency since college. There, I was heavily involved in an excellent parachurch campus group throughout my studies. Yet, an integral part of my life story is a bit of rebellion and even resentment over the constant and not-so subtle pressure put on by the staff members for us to all go, or at least consider going into “full time Christian work.”

My actual, literal thoughts in those days were, “If all Christians went into full-time Christian work, who would run the post office?” It made me bound and determined not to go into full time Christian work, but to engage in such “FTCW” in the context of my secular, academic career.

Your Very Own Piece of the Gates of Hell

“Infidel” author and self-acknowledged Islam-born atheist, Ayaan Hirsi Ali recently wrote on Christian persecution in the Muslim world. Found on the Daily Beast website, Ali’s article may seem surprising. However, one of the reasons she has achieved such a high reputation globally is that her analysis seems to cut all ways. Her interest is for true tolerance—if we are going to advocate for religious freedom, it needs to be for everybody.

Ali coins the term “Christophobia” in response to the current politically correct war on Islamophobia in the West. She agrees that discrimination against Muslims is wrong, but asks why governments and the media are subsequently turning a blind eye to the intense persecution of the Church across the Muslim world. She proceeds to cite case after case in one nation after another where Christians are being murdered, raped, kidnapped, and so on by Muslim gangs and/or national governments.

Her stories are worth grieving over as brothers and sisters live and die in fear around the world, while we sit royally in our insulated, generally secure homes, worshiping openly in our churches. Such persecution is yet one more sin and atrocity in this fallen world calling for our collective attention, prayer and action.

Missional Community: Chemistry

One of the relatively new buzzwords in American Christendom is “missional community.” It is one’s sphere of daily influence. For academicians, it is often their department. The MC ‘movement’ seeks to help believers recognize the people around them everyday as their mission field, and to approach those circles as an embedded missionary.

Just as a missionary to a remote African village seeks to become part of the community first, to learn the language and customs, then integrate the Gospel into it, so should each of us. The advantage we have is that we are already part of that community. We are tied by threads of commonality, whether it is by vocation, hobby, family status, neighborhood, carpool, or whatever binds our various circles together.

Overwhelmed?

It is so easy to get overwhelmed with all of the problems in the world. Our politics, conflicts abroad, drugs, school violence and lockdowns, poverty, starvation, the sex and slave trades, religious conflicts (armed, verbal, legislative, etc.), and the list keeps going.

Jesus didn’t heal every sick person in Israel, much less the world, nor did He right every injustice around Him, but He confidently said that He had done everything He came to do.

For us, we aren’t God, so we can’t hope to solve every problem. However, I think the solution is to see what issues impassion you and prayerfully pursue those, and not feel guilty for not pursuing others. It is easy to be guilted by others’ passion, but resist. Many if not most of these problems are desperately real, and so be grateful and encourage others in pursuing their passions, and share yours with them. Just don’t be insulted or think less of them if they don’t jump on board with you. It goes both ways.

We will each have peace and encouragement, and more will be done as we mutually encourage each other while remaining focused on the tasks we’ve been given.

SDG

Fringe Benefits

Three days ago, I posted about an assignment I give where students write a one-page essay on “What I want to do with my life.” One of the fringe benefits is that since I frame it as a life essay rather than a career essay, we get to often go deeper than their 9 to 5 dreams and priorities. In particular, a few students each semester share how their relationship with Christ is a driving factor for them or some other reference to their faith.

I am always thrilled with this, because since they bring it up, it becomes fair game for an open conversation between us, and it is usually mutually encouraging (Romans 1:12). They are excited to learn about an instructor at the big school who shares their faith, and I’m glad to be able to let students know where I stand, and hopefully it spreads to other students for their encouragement. They are especially encouraged that it is a science instructor who is a Christian because there is an attitude sometimes that ‘you can’t be a scientist and a Christian,’ so it is a relief to find out that isn’t true.

Requirements for a Faculty Ministry 1: Prayer

Today I was talking with a campus minister who works with our faculty group. He mentioned that his organization is going to focus this next year on prayer and evangelism in the various faculty ministries around the country.

Prayer is somewhat of a touchy subject for me. I have been blessed with several spiritual gifts, but prayer is not one of them. In other words, prayer doesn’t come easily to me and it isn’t the first thing I think of typically when I have a problem. However, that does not excuse me from doing it, and it is therefore a discipline I must challenge myself to develop. It is well and good for those with ‘the gift of prayer,’ and I ask any of you with it to lift university faculty up in prayer to the Lord fervently, faithfully, and frequently. (Preaching may be one of my gifts—three points all starting with the same letter—I’m golden!)

For the rest of us, which is probably a majority, we still have a responsibility to pray.

“It’s A Small World After All”

There’s an old, silly joke about an Earth astronaut goes into a bar on Mars and ends up sitting next to an alien from Neptune. The Neptunian turns to him and says, “Hey, you’re from Earth. Say, do you know….?”

The reason that’s funny is because of how often that sort of thing happens and you really do know the person they’re asking about. We joke about the ‘six degrees of separation’ and the Kevin Bacon game, because for a planet of 7+ billion people, it is amazing how small of a family we really are.

Dearly Departed

Tonight, I received and email from a member of our fellowship requesting to be removed from the email group as she is no longer with the university. In closing, she requested that we remember to pray for all retirees.

It is a profound request. As a ministry to employees of an institution, how do we treat those no longer with the institution, for whatever cause? Do they cease to exist? Do we rely on personal friendships within the group to keep us up to speed on things? Or do we keep them as part of our extended family and check up on them actively?

These questions are particularly poignant this week. As you may have read, Texas is very dry right now and having problems with wildfires. On Sunday here in Austin, a homeless man’s campfire was left unattended and blew out of control destroying at least 10 homes. One of those homes belonged to a retired staff member of our department. She and her husband were travelling and not around. There is nothing left except the slab and part of the chimney.

I hadn’t heard about her situation until I received an email from a staff member in the department calling for donations to help the couple get back on their feet. It made me grateful that people in my department watch over each other, even after retirement. If a secular department can do that, how much more the family of God?

{If you are so moved to want to help this retiree, email me at scholarredeemer@gmail.com and I will put you in contact with the person organizing the drive. I will also be contributing.}

SDG

Student Sabbaths

It just occurred to me that one way for us to demonstrate our faith to students, TA’s, and our research team is by giving them regular Sabbaths. As Christians, we are not under the Law, however, the Lord did teach the disciples and Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for us. In short, God created us with a need to rest and recharge, and dictated that it should happen weekly.

Today’s academic rat race pushes everyone to burn the candle at six ends. How can we creatively work our classes and research schedules such that we encourage those for whom we are responsible to actually take those breaks? At the very least, to take the breaks from the work we give them, as we have little control on their duties for our colleagues?

This thought occurred to me as I was contemplating the short holiday week we have this week. Often, faculty tend to have major assignments due the Monday after Thanksgiving, with the idea that the students can use that time to finish up. I’ve always tried to have things due before Thanksgiving, so they could then hopefully relax and enjoy their time with family/friends before the last push for finals. Furthermore, have them due on Monday rather than Wednesday. This way they aren’t pulling all-nighters then driving home across the state. (I did this preparing for my last final one semester and very nearly was in a bad accident. I woke up just before I drifted into another car. Praise the Lord!)

It really amazes students when we do things that take their situations into account. What a ministry opportunity!

SDG