Participants: Gary Krause (Host), Cheryl Doss, Rick McEdward
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS000031
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00:01 Understanding other cultures and world religions,
00:03 education in India and a family with mission in their genes, 00:07 all that and more coming up 00:09 right here on "Global Mission snapshots" 00:23 Just before He went up to heaven, 00:25 Jesus gave us a command. He gave us a mission. 00:30 Jesus said, go. 00:33 "Go unto all the world, telling them of His love." 00:38 This is our mission. This is our "Global Mission." 00:48 Hello and welcome to Global Mission Snapshots. 00:50 I'm Gary Krause. 00:52 If you have ever traveled to another country 00:54 you know there are often 00:55 major differences in language and culture. 00:58 Those differences impact our ability to shop, eat, socialize 01:03 and most important our ability to share the gospel. 01:07 Today we will be talking with Cheryl Doss, 01:09 director of the Institute of World Mission. 01:12 Every year Dr. Doss and her team train the Adventist churches 01:16 international mission workers how to be more effective 01:19 when they are living and working in other cultures. 01:23 We will also talk with Dr. Rick McEdward, 01:26 director of the Global Mission Study Centers 01:28 about how to communicate with people 01:31 whose understanding of religion is totally different to ours. 01:35 Where do you even start 01:37 if they don't believe in the Bible or in God? 01:41 But first up, let's visit a family with a heart for mission 01:45 who have passed on the spirit of service to their children. 01:56 As a physician, as you are trained, 01:59 your primary goal in training is to take good 02:02 medical care of people to make sure 02:04 that their health is cared for in a proper way. 02:08 But as time is gone by I realized that, 02:11 that's really not the primary issue. 02:13 That my primary goal is to give people to Jesus and to know Him, 02:19 and so I began to see medical practice 02:23 as a tool to lead people to Jesus. 02:26 And so I tried to focus on somehow 02:30 using our medical practice not only as a tool to help people 02:34 have a healthier life until recover from disease 02:37 but even more importantly to come to know 02:40 the one who can provide eternal life. 02:44 Greg, our oldest he always wanted to be a physician. 02:48 He has ended up being trained as a surgeon and served overseas 02:51 and many different places most recently in Cameroon. 03:01 I would say it was probably somewhere in high school 03:03 that I decided I really wanted 03:05 to be a missionary and specifically a physician. 03:14 I guess it was in medical school in Loma Linda, 03:16 where it was really solidified and I choose to be part of 03:19 the Deferred Mission Appointee Program. 03:27 I did three and half years of residency 03:30 in family practice training and haven't seen anything here 03:34 that I ever saw in family practice training. 03:39 As a missionary my goal is too pronged, 03:41 I mean of course I'm a physician so I want to aspect, 03:44 I want to reach their physical needs 03:47 but more importantly we need to reach their spiritual needs. 03:51 And there are certain people at the hospital 03:54 that we've been able to minister to 03:56 and we have seen people who've had tetanus 03:59 who have been sick in hospital for many weeks 04:04 and then for a long recovery period after that. 04:07 And with time and praying every single day with them, 04:11 they have come to know Jesus and give their heart to God 04:15 and I think that's the most encouragement 04:17 is individual lives have been changed. 04:27 Cristy, our middle daughter also wanted to be a physician 04:31 since she was young and served in Malamulo Hospital in Malawi. 04:47 I love the chance to come to a place 04:52 and care for people who know what we are really caring for. 04:57 I find that intensely satisfying 05:01 and I think that's why I've always wanted to do this. 05:03 If you stop working at home, your patients get upset 05:07 and they go see someone else. 05:08 Here people die and I think that's what 05:11 I find truly gratifying about being here. 05:15 I feel like it touches into what Jesus talked about 05:19 when He saw the multitudes and He had compassion on them. 05:22 I think that's really what it comes on to for me. 05:26 We always think of blessings 05:27 as being safe or happy or things like that. 05:31 But I think you can be blessed 05:32 by loneliness and by being homesick. 05:35 I think God Jesus will bless you in a different way 05:38 and by being here I'm getting to be molded by God 05:43 and you don't often get to see that very clearly in your life. 05:50 Heather, our youngest has taken a different track. 05:54 She really was not interested in medicine, 05:56 which was fine with us, so she trained as a teacher 05:59 and taught elementary school for many years 06:01 and now is married to a pastor, and she and her husband 06:06 are pastoring four churches in Kansas 06:09 and I guess I see that, she is just as much a missionary 06:13 as our other children because she is there helping people 06:17 study the gospel, just in a different form. 06:19 I mean that is God's mission 06:21 to go over and help people wherever we are, 06:24 whether we are here in the U.S. or whether we are out of U.S., 06:27 go and help people and teach them about the Lord 06:30 as well as helping their physical well beings. 06:34 ( praying in foreign language ) 06:41 There are certain people that I felt I have made 06:46 a real difference in their life both in a physical aspect 06:51 and in being able to have the chance of witnessing to them. 06:57 Since I have been here probably the verse that comes to me 07:00 the most to me is 1 John 3:18 and that says, 07:05 "My dear brothers, let us not love in word 07:08 or in tongue but in deed and in truth" 07:11 and that's really what I have been talking 07:13 to my employees here about. 07:14 Let's love in truth each other our patients, 07:18 let's really share what God is like here. 07:23 Donna and I have learned to pray for our kids a lot. 07:26 We say Lord, we can't take care of these kids, 07:28 we can't provide for them, You are gonna 07:30 have to take care of them, I'll over-do in Your work. 07:33 You go to the point where you realize, 07:35 Lord, they are Yours they are not ours. 07:37 They never will be ours they have always been Yours. 07:40 And you let them go that doesn't mean you don't miss them, 07:44 that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, 07:45 that doesn't mean you don't miss family times of them, 07:48 special occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas 07:50 or you know Easter or things like that are family, 07:54 traditions that you realize that they are doing something 07:58 far more valuable that's eternal. 08:19 I'm delighted to welcome my friend and colleague 08:22 Dr. Cheryl Doss who is director of Institute of World Mission 08:25 for the Seventh-day Adventist church. 08:27 Cheryl, thanks so much for joining us. 08:29 Institute of World Mission, 08:31 briefly what is it, what does it do? 08:33 Its main responsibility is for the training 08:36 of the missionaries of the General Conference centers. 08:38 You still send missionaries? 08:39 Oh, yes. I know that question, that's very painful to me. 08:44 Some people don't realize it but yes, we do. 08:46 At least 100 families go out a year, often more than that 08:50 and there is probably between 715 to 1,000 at anyone-- 08:54 missionaries at anyone time in the field. 08:57 Now why do they need training? 08:58 They don't just go out in faith and-- 09:00 Yeah. Hopefully they do go out with faith, 09:03 but as you can imagine moving a family overseas 09:06 is a major adjustment time, major transition for families. 09:11 Most of them go as married couples 09:13 with children aged from tiny babies to teenagers 09:18 and sometimes several children, and this always quite an issue 09:22 just they are moving a family within a home country. 09:24 Not only taking them to a foreign country, 09:26 foreign foods, foreign-- a new language, 09:30 a new living environment and work and all the rest. 09:33 And it gets even more complex 09:34 when you think about how different each family is. 09:37 Well, that's a wonderful thing 09:39 about the General Conference Mission Services that it truly 09:43 does send missionaries from everywhere to everywhere. 09:46 The last mission institute we held in Brazil last month, 09:51 had 14 families from 12 different home countries. 09:55 Six different continents 09:56 who represented at that mission institute. 09:58 Different languages, they come with different skills, 10:01 of course they go out to do different types of jobs. 10:04 But most are highly qualified professionals 10:07 going to do our specialists type work where they go. 10:10 Doctors, dentists, church administrators, 10:13 teachers and professors and so agro workers and so on. 10:17 Can you introduce us to some of the missionary families? 10:21 Yes, I can, you know, there are so many 10:24 I hate to pick any one out. So I will just kind of take 10:27 a smattering from the last mission institute. 10:30 We had a family there, the Lichtenwalter family 10:34 who had spent 27 years 10:36 pastoring a church in Berrien Springs, Michigan. 10:38 And now, Larry is going out to be the theology dean 10:44 there at the school as they try to develop 10:45 their theology program at Middle East University. 10:48 So going to a Muslim context, moving with his wife 10:53 and leaving their children at home, 10:54 this is a major transition for a family. 10:56 Where is the university? 10:58 In Beirut, Lebanon. 11:01 Another family at the other end of the family spectrum 11:05 came with very small baby just four months old. 11:09 And they are serving in Colombia. 11:13 And they have another little boy, Vanston Archbold 11:19 and his wife Ketsia and they had been there for short time. 11:25 Actually, they came originally from Columbia 11:28 but immigrated to the U.S. and so having spent 11:31 many years in the U.S. now as young people growing up there, 11:36 they are going back to this country 11:38 to a rather mission post on an island off the coast. 11:42 And so this is another kind of adjustment. 11:45 Often times, missionaries find that returning to a home country 11:48 can be more difficult than the initial going out 11:51 into a host country. That's interesting. 11:54 We had families from Australia that are serving in the islands. 12:01 Families from Africa serving in other parts of Africa 12:06 and so it's a wonderful mix of people 12:09 that we put together at the Mission Institute. 12:11 Yeah, well, Cheryl, you are training for how long? 12:15 How long is their training? 12:16 It's a three week training program 12:18 and one of the things we do is, 12:21 we hope to kind of model in the institute 12:24 both the attitudes and the experiences 12:26 that people will face when they get out into the field. 12:29 Because it's not enough just to think about something 12:33 logically one must be able to 12:36 actually practice what one learns. 12:38 And so we ask the group to mix themselves up 12:42 by different nationalities, by different types of profession, 12:45 by work assignments and family age groups, 12:50 some experience overseas. 12:52 And then we set learning tasks. They set tables 12:55 and we set learning tasks for them to discuss together. 12:58 And I think one of the most beautiful things for me is 13:02 to watch these families from so many different places 13:05 come to really love and appreciate each other. 13:07 So little peace of heaven. At the last institute I had one, 13:12 one table there was a family from Norway going to Israel, 13:16 a family from Albania in Australia going to Fiji, 13:21 and a family from Zimbabwe serving in Tanzania. 13:25 Towards the end of the institute one of the woman at that tables 13:29 was with one of the other woman, 13:31 the African and one of the European woman 13:34 and they were sitting, walking along and 13:37 the European woman said to me, I would never believed you 13:41 if you told me that we would be best friends 13:43 at the end of three weeks. Is that right? 13:45 You know, so they can pray for each other, 13:47 they can support each other. 13:48 And I always say if you can learn to love somebody 13:51 from another culture while at Mission Institute 13:53 then probably you know at least it's possible 13:55 to do that when you get out there. 13:57 Yeah. Now do you ever have somebody come to training 14:02 and you decided well, you know, recommend, we actually 14:04 don't think that you are well suited for this assignment. 14:08 That's not really our responsibility, but we do 14:11 what we do at Mission Institute is try to empower people 14:15 for whatever assignment God has called them to. 14:17 We have a psychologist who comes to every mission institute 14:21 and interviews each family if there are needs, 14:24 particular family needs that they want to talk about with her 14:27 they can do that, they can raise the issues. 14:29 And we have seen families greatly blessed. 14:35 Marriages improved and so on during Mission Institute. 14:39 One of the journals I read the Fact Institute at the end, 14:43 the woman said, this institute has brought me closer to God, 14:47 than I ever thought possible. Fantastic. 14:49 Cheryl, thank you for you and your team 14:51 doing at the Institute of World Mission. 14:52 Thanks for joining us today. And thank you 14:54 to the missionaries who are willing to go. 14:56 Exactly And viewers at home, please pray for Cheryl 14:59 and her team in this very important work 15:01 and thank you for your continuing mission offerings 15:03 that make it possible 15:05 for missionaries to go out into the field 15:07 and don't forget to pray every day 15:10 for missionaries serving the Lord. 16:00 My guest is Dr. Rick McEdward, 16:02 who is the director of the Global Mission Study Centers 16:05 and works in the office of the Adventist Mission. 16:07 Welcome, Rick. Thanks, Gary. 16:08 Briefly describe the Global Mission Study Centers? 16:11 Well, there are six study centers, 16:14 these six study centers address understanding for Adventist, 16:18 the various world religions and also urban setting. 16:22 So there is different to all religions, 16:24 we really haven't done much in addressing our faith to, 16:27 so it's trying to help people understand 16:28 and be a positive witness. 16:30 Now, Rick, 16:32 when we look at the history of the Adventist church, 16:34 most new members have come from among anamist 16:38 or among from other Christian believers. 16:43 How well equipped are we, 16:44 I mean how well trained are we 16:46 to be able to talk to people from other religions? 16:49 Even in countries that are majority from another faith 16:53 honestly, we still focus our efforts on Christians, 16:57 Christian groups and we really haven't done much 17:01 in sharing our faith in a positive way 17:03 with these other groups. 17:05 What a challenge it is 17:08 because we are tend to use a message that is-- 17:12 that is really geared for sharing with other Christians. 17:17 Right, now, somebody might be viewing this and saying, 17:19 well, this is all very interesting 17:20 but I never planned to travel overseas 17:22 that's not an issue for me. 17:24 Well, you know, the great part of that is 17:26 you don't have to go overseas 17:27 to find somebody from another religion. 17:31 If there are 37 million immigrants 17:34 even in the country of United States 17:37 there are 14 million 17:40 non-Englishspeaking households in North America. 17:44 There are three quarters of a million students 17:48 from other parts of the world who may speak English 17:51 but come from other religious backgrounds 17:53 so you don't have to look very far 17:55 to see that there is people from other walks of life 17:58 even our next neighbor and that's true of United States, 18:02 it's certainly trip to Canada, parts of Europe 18:05 any where, where people flock too for 18:07 both economy and education. 18:10 There is gonna be opportunities that we haven't taken. 18:12 And some of the statistics show that 18:15 people from other world religions feel that 18:19 Christians are in a different world to them 18:22 here in the Untied States. 18:23 They don't have any contact. 18:24 They don't have any friends with any Christians. 18:26 Yeah, it's amazing to think that 18:29 in places like Europe, United States, 18:31 that around 70 percent of those 18:34 from a Hindu background have no Christian friends. 18:38 Now, 65% of those from a Muslim background 18:41 don't know one other Christian person. 18:43 So I mean we are talking about a stat that are shaming to us. 18:46 Yeah, so we might meet them in a store 18:50 they may be cleaners at a laundry, 18:53 they may be driving a taxi, they may our dentist 18:56 but we don't make friends with them. 18:57 That's right, and I think that--that shows us 19:01 that we may be reluctant based on may be stereo types, 19:07 may be other reasons 19:08 but we don't know how to build those first few bridges. 19:11 Okay, so, one of the viewers says, 19:14 okay, I see the importance of this 19:16 I have a neighbor from a different religion, 19:19 I don't know where to start. 19:20 Well, the easy place is- where my family started 19:24 we have neighborhood that has a wide variety of people in it. 19:28 We are in a urban setting and we have neighbor from Kuwait, 19:32 we have neighbors from Taiwan, we have neighbors from Africa, 19:35 so we have a wide variety 19:37 and you know, my wife and kids they just said, 19:39 well, let's bake some bread, mom. 19:41 And they went holiday time or anytime and they delivered 19:45 loaf of bread to various people in the community. 19:48 And you are telling me just earlier that 19:49 how you made contact with your neighbors from another country. 19:52 Well, we just gotten back from a trip to Thailand. 19:54 I traveled there for my work and this particular trip 19:57 I took my family along. 19:59 While we were there we thought of our neighbors, 20:02 we picked up a few things that would be special. 20:04 We asked in Thailand, what would be special? 20:07 And when we come back we went pay them a visit. 20:10 And as we gave them just a few little bag of things 20:14 as they unpacked it I saw tears well up in the ladies eyes, 20:21 saying I haven't seen these things for 20 years. 20:24 These are special to me, 20:26 and we formed a special bond of friendship through that. 20:29 So Rick, what are some of the principles 20:31 that we should keep in mind when we are talking with people 20:34 when come from a different faith, tradition? 20:36 Well, you know, first of all 20:38 love covers a multitude of friends, right. 20:40 So I think we ought to practice 20:42 the gift of love and hospitality. 20:44 You know, inviting somebody to your house, 20:46 loving them in someway that's the obvious one. 20:49 Second is may be we don't understand, 20:51 but may be we can listen and learn. 20:53 If we try to tell before we accept, 20:58 before we even understand who people are. 21:01 Then we make the first mistake and that is 21:03 we are not willing to allow somebody to share their heart. 21:07 I think there is a third one and that is pray and pray 21:13 not only for them but pray for the right opportunity 21:17 for you to share of whatever witness now. 21:20 Whatever witness is complicated, 21:22 it's not so simple with just everybody 21:24 but you want to have the right timing 21:26 and you don't want to be preaching at people 21:28 you want to share with them. 21:30 So, you are talking about a testimony, 21:33 a personal testimony? 21:34 Actually I think a testimony of what God is doing in you lately 21:38 is one of the most powerful stories you can tell. 21:41 I like to use that because people often are looking 21:45 for an answer for something in their lives 21:47 and if you say well, God did this for me, 21:49 they might say well, tell me about your God. 21:52 Now, not everybody will say that 21:53 but there is a chance to build that friendship that way. 21:56 And you can't argue with somebody's experience 21:59 if you talk at the level of concept that's one thing 22:01 but when you share your experience that's true for you. 22:04 Its absolutely true and you know 22:07 what I find is that lot of people will say 22:11 they are open to praying, after you share you experience 22:13 because they have needs in their lives too. 22:16 Exactly. Rick, thanks so much for sharing with us today. 22:19 And viewers at home, God may be calling you to make, 22:24 take that step of contact with some of your neighbors, 22:27 people that you meet everyday. 22:28 It might be in your street, it may be at school, 22:31 it may be work whatever it is take time to pray and say Lord, 22:36 how can I be Your instrument in this situation. 22:40 How can I stop from this keeping to myself 22:43 and build a bridge of love to these people? 22:45 Pray please for the Global Mission Study Centers 22:47 they have a tremendously challenging task 22:50 to find ways, methods, models for us 22:53 to be more effective in our mission 22:55 in sharing with our brothers and sisters around the world. 23:31 Each day after classes, 23:33 students at Lasalgaon Seventh-day Adventist school 23:36 carry out assigned duties around the campus. 23:55 This work program can be found 23:57 at Seventh-day Adventist schools across India. 24:02 Ever since we started the school system 24:04 we introduced the work program. 24:07 And there are students would refuse to do 24:09 certain kinds of manual work. 24:12 Agriculture, yes fine-- I wouldn't mind being 24:16 involved in growing plants, growing vegetables. 24:20 That's a very dignified work 24:22 but to sweep the hostel, clean the toilet, 24:27 do some other kind of work no, no that's not mine. 24:31 That's menial. 24:32 That's not for my status in the community. 24:36 So this has been the division, you know, 24:40 but the Adventist system has somehow 24:42 broken this in our schools. 24:45 Work, any work is God's gift to us. 24:49 God has given us gift of work. 24:53 Take care of the earth. Be stewards of the Earth. 24:57 So that philosophy that whatever you do 25:00 you are a steward of something. 25:02 Whenever a student gets goes through that manual labor 25:06 he becomes more mature, more responsible, 25:09 and ready to take on the world when he leaves the school. 25:14 This focus on strong work ethic has made Lasalgaon School 25:18 an attractive place for parents to send their children. 25:22 The shortcoming of this school is 25:24 we have insufficient classrooms. 25:27 We have very big playground, but we don't have science labs, 25:32 we don't have physics, chemistry and biology separate labs 25:37 which is a essential part of a growing school. 25:42 In the early years of schooling 25:44 if a parent likes to look at value education, 25:49 will my boy, will my girl 25:51 turnout to be the very finest in character? 25:54 When it comes to character 25:55 Adventist education are the best. 25:58 But then when they come to a higher level of learning 26:01 late in high school, people are looking 26:04 for excellence in academic learning. 26:11 Lasalgaon currently has classroom facilities 26:13 for grades one through ten. 26:16 The school needs to build more classrooms 26:17 to be able to accommodate grades 11 and 12. 26:21 If this school opens 11 and 12 26:24 we would like to study here only 26:26 because outside we don't get chance to go for 26:28 church and other activities as we do here. 26:33 Because of your financial support 26:34 of the world budget and mission offerings, 26:37 a new classroom block 26:38 including new physics, chemistry and biology labs, 26:42 will be constructed on the Lasalgaon school campus. 26:45 Your offerings are building more than classrooms. 26:48 They are building a future for these children 26:51 for mission in India. 26:55 Thank you for your support of the mission 26:57 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. 26:59 To find out more please visit adventistmission.org. 27:09 Every three months Adventist Mission produces 27:12 an inspiring collection of video mission stories 27:16 and reports for the Adventist Mission DVD. 27:19 If you live in North America and you'd like to receive 27:21 a free sample copy of the Adventist Mission DVD 27:25 then call or visit our website and ask for a sample 'AM DVD' 27:31 or ask for offer number 303. 27:34 Please remember to clearly state your name, 27:37 your full address and be sure to mention 27:39 the Adventist Mission DVD or offer 303. 27:44 For the office of Adventist Mission, 27:46 I'm Gary Krause and I hope you can join me next time, 27:48 right here on "Global Mission Snapshots." |
Revised 2014-12-17