Hopefully you have been keeping up with your Love Does reading every day of 10 pages (honor system) and have been enjoying the stories from Bob's life about the love of God that meets us and calls us to do stuff. The reason why we wanted you three to read Love Does was because I thought that it perfectly captured the simplicity of what we are trying to communicate as an organization. That us doing "stuff" shouldn't be limited to only when you leave the country for a formal mission trip,but that our Creator calls us to do love everyday in the same manner that we would if we were in Africa or India, and that this mindset should be carried on to the marketplace. So with that, continue reading, applying, processing the stories that you read about and how it connects to faith because we hope that you can use the stories for the Choong Hyun project, or during debrief.
Now enough yabblin, here's the question that I promised, due Tuesday noon 12pm: (comment below)
What is it about Bob's stories that give us a clearer understanding of missions in the marketplace? (Or do they?)
I think Bob's stories show us a lot about being this missionary in the marketplace. Just like how he isn't telling us how he's evangelising everyday to his friends, he tells us stories about love. For example, when he talks about the wedding cake that fell on the ground, he shares on how we are just like the cake that fell on the ground. We are these broken people and sometimes filled with these little bits of gravel. In the midst of all that, he relates that God looks at us like that and shows how he still uses us even if we are dirty. Just like Anya said too, we don't have to push the Gospel everyday, but instead we have to show it through our actions. With that, love does.
ReplyDeleteIn every story that Bob tells, the events are ordinary and everyday occurences that turn into bizarre stories. I think that is because of Bob's strong mindset of how when we love, we should DO. Because he has such a strong mindset in Christ, he is able to love unto others in any mundane situation. I'm sure that the people who encounter Bob appreciate his actions even if they may not have been necessarily evangelized by him. Just the fact that they can note something different about him is enough to make a change. Bob's ingenuity and originality sets him in a place where he can be said to be serving missions in the marketplace. He "does" love everywhere he goes.
ReplyDeleteGreat posts guys, and I totally have to agree with everything that you said. Because I think in such a simple realization, is that what missions is? Making disciples, yes. But discipleship starts because love, I mean real crazy radical life changing love that seriously only comes from God alone, this Love changes everything, and it changes everything by DOING stuff. And that's what missions, I think anywhere is, to lovelovelove the things that have been created by God, no matter how broken they are, because our Creator has loved us so intensely first when we were broken. And maybe, this can come to a question of why there aren't things happening in our community right now, because our love isn't doing stuff. I remember a friend once said/asked "if your church was no longer present, would the people in your community notice?" and that was such a huge conviction, because it shows and tells me that my church isn't doing enough love in the right and necessary places, and that maybe this is also a reflection of my own heart.
ReplyDelete