Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS002804B
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00:19 Welcome back to Dublin
00:20 and more specifically to Phoenix Park. 00:24 This is a huge space, it was established in 1662. 00:28 It's home to the nation's president. 00:30 And it's the largest enclosed space of any park 00:34 in any of the European capitals. 00:36 It's five times larger than London's Hyde Park. 00:40 Well, next up we traveled to Silver Spring, Maryland. 00:43 Is it possible to continue thinking biblically, 00:48 even as you work across cultures. 00:53 I am Oscar Osindo. 00:56 I work for the Institute of World Mission. 00:58 Our responsibility is to help missionaries 01:03 that work overseas or work across cultures, 01:06 to be able to work effectively. 01:12 We are the people that God has called 01:16 to share the good news of the gospel 01:19 as it is in the Bible, 01:23 but as we take the Bible message 01:26 across cultures, 01:28 we meet obstacles because as we have mentioned 01:32 about culture, people read, 01:36 even understand from their cultural lenses. 01:41 That's why they do. 01:42 For example, 01:45 a missionary couple went to a place 01:49 where they were posted to work or sent to work. 01:53 And they were surprised the first Sabbath worship 01:58 that they attended. 02:00 They observed church members 02:04 greeting and kissing one another across gender even, 02:10 and they were so surprised 02:12 and so when they inquired to know 02:15 why these church members were doing so. 02:19 They were informed that one of the church elders 02:24 read in Romans, 02:26 Romans 16:16 02:31 that believers should kiss one another. 02:36 And so their response was, 02:40 they are observing a gospel command 02:44 of kissing one another. 02:47 This is just an example of how the Bible 02:51 is used and misused as people interact with the Bible from 02:57 their own social location, 03:00 from their own context through their own worldview, 03:05 that's how they see it. 03:08 These are some of the challenges 03:12 as a missionary you might come across. 03:18 How do you take this good news across culture? 03:25 It is stated that 03:27 there are three responses to sin. 03:31 Fear power cultures, 03:36 shame honor cultures, 03:39 guilt innocence cultures. 03:43 These are three responses to sin. 03:45 In the fear power, 03:48 these are cultures that live in fear, 03:50 fear of the unseen, fear of the unknown. 03:55 What do they need? 03:56 They need power to overcome, they need Jesus Christ, 04:01 they need a gospel 04:03 that will empower them to overcome their fear. 04:07 In the fear power context, for example, 04:11 we know that malaria 04:16 is caused by mosquito bites 04:20 that when we know, but in the fear power, 04:24 the question would be who sent the mosquito? 04:30 It's not what causes, but who? 04:33 That's the fear power. 04:35 Now in the shame honor culture, 04:40 people aspire for honor. 04:43 They avoid shame at all costs. 04:46 So what kind of gospel they want. 04:49 The gospel needs to be related to them 04:52 in a way that it covers the shame. 04:57 In the guilt innocence culture, it's about right and wrong. 05:03 So how can I, you know, in the guilt innocence culture, 05:10 how can I do away with the wrong? 05:12 How can I be declared right? 05:16 That's their concern. 05:17 So the gospel is understood in those terms. 05:21 And so as we relate the Bible, the Word of God, 05:25 across cultures, 05:27 we need to be aware that we speak to people 05:30 in ways that they will understand 05:33 in ways that the Bible will make sense 05:36 in their own cultural framework. 05:40 These are some of the things and many others 05:44 that we at the institute are concerned about, 05:48 how do we equip you? 05:49 How do we make you aware? 05:50 How do we prepare you? 05:53 And so missionaries come together bless us 05:56 and we have three weeks of learning together 06:02 to know how to process through these challenges. 06:07 And so, we invite you 06:13 to come to our Next Mission Institute 06:17 so that together, 06:19 we can share the unique Adventist message 06:24 to the whole world. 06:26 We look forward to seeing you at the Next Mission Institute. 06:48 Next up, we travel to Toronto, Canada, 06:51 to see work being done 06:53 among an often neglected group of people. 07:10 Neena does what most dog owners do. 07:12 She takes her dog out for a walk every day 07:15 to enjoy the outside air, 07:17 but things are a little different for Neena. 07:20 She relies on Fargo to get her out the door 07:23 and around the neighborhood safely. 07:25 He's her guide dog, 07:27 helping Neena navigate the streets. 07:29 Neena and her husband, Kevin, are both blind, 07:33 living in a Toronto high rise apartment building. 07:36 This Canadian couple lives in many ways 07:38 just like anyone else would. 07:40 They cook, clean, and do household tasks. 07:44 Neena runs an online business 07:45 selling handmade knitted clothing, 07:48 homemade soaps, and other accessories. 07:50 Each of these things are an artistic outlet for me. 07:54 I do the store 07:56 because I like to have fun with crafts. 07:59 Neena and Kevin met at Camp Frenda, 08:01 an Adventist summer camp that opens its doors 08:04 to the blind community for one week each year. 08:06 It was sponsored 08:07 by Christian Record Services at the time. 08:10 Neena and Kevin's love for Jesus grew 08:12 and they both were baptized. 08:14 During the same time, 08:16 they fell in love and eventually got married. 08:19 Despite becoming part of a church family, 08:21 the reality of their daily challenges 08:23 still exist. 08:25 I think a lot of people just don't know how to relate to us 08:27 and a lot of people are afraid to even talk to us. 08:30 And so sometimes they just don't know 08:32 how to approach us as people, 08:34 and a lot of times we feel left out. 08:38 In 2007, they were part of the founding team 08:40 to start a new Adventist congregation 08:43 with the Ontario Conference. 08:45 They rented a conference room 08:46 in a local hotel in Scarborough, 08:48 a suburb of Toronto, and began meeting once a month. 08:52 This gathering came to be known as Hope Vision Fellowship 08:56 and was designed to welcome the blind community. 08:59 Momentum built over the years and they formed a core group, 09:03 with new visitors coming through the doors regularly. 09:06 There's a lot of hopelessness throughout the blind community. 09:11 I like the name of our church, Hope Vision Fellowship. 09:14 And that's basically what we are. 09:16 We hope and we do have a vision, 09:19 and our vision is to see blind people get saved 09:21 and the blind people come to know Jesus Christ 09:25 and find healing and hope through His wonderful grace. 09:29 In 2016, Global Mission helped to support this group, 09:33 and that same year Hope Vision Fellowship 09:36 was recognized as the first Adventist Church 09:39 for the visually impaired in the North American Division. 09:42 Since then, they've started meeting 09:43 in their own church building, 09:45 opening the door for more possibilities. 09:47 Members like Kevin and Neena are actively involved 09:50 in sharing Jesus' love with the blind community. 09:54 There are a lot of blind people that really need this hope 09:57 and they need this nice time away from the stuff 10:01 that they deal with every day. 10:03 And they need sort of a slight refuge. 10:06 That's my heart where I wanna make people 10:09 help them feel that way, like they matter. 10:12 Most of the people who attend are not Adventist, 10:15 but come because they feel safe here. 10:17 They come from different religions 10:19 and socioeconomic backgrounds. 10:21 This congregation is not just focused 10:24 on meeting the spiritual needs of its community, 10:26 they also are aware of the physical needs. 10:29 Pat, one of the founding members, 10:32 makes sure that people are well taken care of 10:34 by creating food care packages for people to take home. 10:38 As most of them can't afford 10:41 some of the basic necessities of life, 10:43 let alone a little bit extra and some of them 10:47 have to rely on food banks anyway. 10:48 So this is one of our reaches as well. 10:51 I mean, this is sometimes 10:53 the only way of getting their food. 10:54 Knowing some of the stories of some of the ones 10:57 going to actual food banks, they get pushed to the back, 11:01 they can't see, they don't know where they are. 11:04 And the one time I was helping a girl clean out her cupboard. 11:08 She had 25 cans of expired spaghetti sauce 11:13 and no spaghetti. 11:17 So this is just helping. 11:19 Thanks to your prayers 11:21 and contribution to Global Mission, 11:23 churches like this are planted in new areas 11:26 and among unreached people groups. 11:28 I wanna thank God from the bottom of my heart 11:31 for the Adventist Church. 11:33 It was through the Adventist Church 11:36 that I found Jesus, 11:38 it was through the Adventist Church 11:40 that I experienced His love, 11:42 and it's through the Adventist Church's help 11:45 and that made me the man I am today. 11:47 Thank you for supporting Global Mission. 12:18 Well, thank you so much for joining us on Mission 360. 12:21 And I hope that you've been challenged 12:23 and inspired by what you've seen and heard. 12:26 I hope that you've enjoyed our 360-degree view of mission, 12:30 including the mobile center of influence in Hungary, 12:33 the work among blind people in Toronto. 12:36 You know, there are just so many needs 12:38 around the world today. 12:39 And particularly as we see 12:41 our big mission field of the cities, 12:43 we see tremendous challenges, 12:44 but I wanna thank you so much 12:46 for your continuing support for mission, 12:48 through your prayers, 12:50 through your finances because it's your donations, 12:52 it's your prayers, it's your involvement 12:54 that make it possible for us to start centers of influence 12:57 in urban areas around the world. 12:59 It makes it possible for us 13:00 to plant new groups of believers 13:02 among new people groups. 13:04 Well, for Adventist Mission, I'm Gary Krause. 13:06 And I hope that you can join me next time 13:08 right here on Mission 360. |
Revised 2020-08-14