so long . . . farewell . . . auf weider–ummm . . . wiedersch . . . good-bye!

As you may have noticed, we have not done such a great job of keeping this blog up-to-date. We have decided that we are going to “retire” our “office blog”, a bit wiser for the experience. (we have learned, for example, that it’s always wise to ask “why?” before starting a new online endeavor!)

You can still keep in touch with us, however, in the following ways:

• sign up for email updates from CRWM
• read our missionaries’ blogs
• become a “fan” of Christian Reformed World Missions (but hey, you’re already a fan, right?) on Facebook (click the button below!)

 

• read our Summer Mission Program blog

. . . and stay tuned for more ways to connect with us!

Thoughts? Comments? Let us know what kinds of information you would be most interested in hearing! We want to hear from you!

And thanks for reading!

Depu-what?!

“Home Service” . . . “Deputation” . . . a friend of mine even had a family member who referred to it as “the dog and pony show” . . .

I came across this post today from a CRWRC person, and got a kick out of her idea of calling it “detox”. But I also like the way that she captures the struggles that people who live and work cross-culturally have to define what “home” is.

Our “MK’s in the making” heard a story during orientation called Grandfather’s Journey that I thought captured this ambiguity perfectly. In that faltering way I have when talking to young children about huge theological concepts that I can barely get my mind around myself, I tried to connect this concept of not knowing where “home” is with what the Bible tells us about this world not being our home . . .

I’m not sure I succeeded in communicating this to them, but I do try to console myself (and those whose concept of “home” is even harder to define than mine is) with the fact that our true home will be in heaven.

And although I have no theological training, and therefore don’t have any idea whether this concept of mine is truly biblical, I like to tell myself that heaven will be the place where everything we love about each of our “homes” will always be with us, that our homesickness will be no more.

Until that day, may we all wander well on whatever roads God may lead us down . . .

MK’s in the making!

At our orientation for new missionaries this year, we had a series of sessions for the children of some of our missionaries. One part of this “training” was offered by our Missions Resource Consultant, Bill Thornburg, and his wife Sandy. (Bill and Sandy also lived in Nigeria as missionaries with their own children.)

There was a great deal of fun had by all!

(above and below) dressing in traditional Nigerian garb and playing instruments . . . 

Field trip to the John Ball Park Zoo . . .

Mary S. shows off her face painting

The whole gang–

Standing, from left to right: Bill T., Ellie K, Rebekah VZ, Will VZ, Nick K.

Seated, from left to right: David S, Isaac S, Mary S, and Jamie K.

The zoo was a big hit, but the water balloons even more so!

Will God survive the Information Age

I read this post on Collide magazine’s blog. I encourage you to read their post for the lyrics of “Letter from a Concerned Follower” by David Bazan.

The song talks about our advancements with technology, and how we cannot keep up. The song poses the question of whether or not God can keep up with our evolution. Of course we assume these lyrics are meant somewhat as a parody, however, they do serve us in missions and as Christians a reminder.

One commenter on the post offers this insight, and some points to ponder, may this be our reminder:

“You raise a good point: would we be surprised to know that God already understands our technology and the technology we haven’t even invented yet? God doesn’t NEED us to translate him to a new generation.

He just wants us to be faithful to him in the midst of it.”

Internet Evangelism Day

Just 9 days until Internet Evangelism Day on April 27, 2008.

We cannot not do a better job describing IED than the people at If Jesus Had A Website, so we encourage you to read this post.

effects of the E age

We live in the E age, the electronic age… And its an exciting time indeed…

We are working full steam on all the behind the scenes “stuff” for our Summer Mission Program.  This year (in Canada) we E mailed churches to let them know of the appointments, asking the churches to support and commission their “young person.”  Maybe you are thinking, “emailed,” big deal… But for CRWM it REALLY is a big deal. This might be the first year we have done that!

So why do a post about it? Its just so neat to see that within about 36 hours 3 churches have already responded… If I had MAILED them, they wouldn’t even have arrived yet…

Don’t let anyone try and tell you that paper is better – granted, it has its place, but welcome to the “E” age, and enjoy the 21st century!

“How many pairs of shoes do you own?”

When I lived in NYC, a local magazine had a feature that highlighted local folks and their individual fashion style. The set of questions included “how many pairs of shoes do you own?” I was never selected for an interview, but I always had the answer to that question ready, just in case anybody ever asked . . .

Megan Ribbens, who along with her husband Mike serves with CRWM in Nigeria, sent along a BBC article about people in that country who are “rubbish scavengers”, attempting to find useful things to sell among the piles of garbage.  One photo in particular really struck me . . . here’s a quote:

This is Abdullahi. The 15-year-old has brought a haul of rubbish to sell.

He hopes to make between 40 and 50 Naira ($0.42) for half a day’s scavenging.

In his haul is a single flip-flop.

Decent sandals are cleaned up and re-sold. Shoes that are beyond repair are shredded up and bought by upholsterers for stuffing leather footrests bought by visitors to the Kano tannery nearby.

I was struck by this (convicted?), and it just reminded me again of how working for an international agency has changed my perspective . . . and how far I still need to go.

So . . . how many pairs of shoes do YOU own? 

What do we do with our spare time?

Online social networks are “communities” of people who share interests and activities… Many of you know what they are, many of us use them, daily – MySpace, Facebook, to mention a few. Check out the full explanation at wikipedia…

Studies have shown some amazing trends in the growth of social online networking – the number of hours spent online is phenomenal. 

Mashable Social Networking News has many articles, but a few of key interest:

• Global Growth ( July 2007 )
• Global Popularity ( Feb 2008 )

Leaves the question – what does this mean for missions? Leave us a comment!

Is an Open Source CMS for you?

At the Internet Ministry Conference I attended back in Sep 2007 I took several workshops about open source CMSs.  The best way to share those notes with you is to direct you to the original session notes.

A summary to walk away with…

Why Open Source?

• Cost – Hey – you can’t beat free (sometimes)
• A wide variety of pre-built themes and plugins at no cost or very little cost.
• Runs on Apache/PHP/MySQL
• A CMS helps force you to do good planning ahead of time
• Support comes from thousands of users, not just a company (that can be good or bad…)

The Big Four

• WordPress
• Joomla
• Drupal
• MODx

Looking for some open dialog on the topic?  Want someone to bounce ideas off of?  Contact me!

Ready, Set, Draw!

 

Our annual poster contest is on now!  Some things to note:

• The contest is open to children of basically all ages
• The deadline is mid April
• Some winning entries will become bulletin covers
• Winning entries will receive a prize
• All entries will receive a participation gift

Get your pencils sharpened today! For more info visit our website.