Mind the Gap

The Gap is a place we've all been before. It's that moment in between steps. Your weight is not being held by your back foot, nor is your front foot providing stability. As we walk or run the gap last for only a millisecond.

In life we experience gaps as well. It can be frightening. It's wobbly and unsure…but it's good.

We learn more about ourselves in the gap than we ever will on stable ground. It's in the gap that we truly discover if our identity is in Christ. We can't truly understand God's grace and the Holy Spirit's power in our lives unless we are willing to experience the gaps He calls us to go through. Then we truly understand that even on the "solid" ground, He is the only true stability in this world.

Currently, Katy and I are in the gap. Let me be clear, we are not searching for the next step. We can see it right in front of us. Nor are we going back to the one before it. We can see it behind us, where it should be.

We are waiting for the Lord to do what He's promised to do. Then we will be on the solid ground of the next step. Until then, we are enjoying the wobbly, scary, unsure gap.

I'm not writing this for you to pray for us to leave the gap. I love this. Waiting on God is freeing.

I'm writing this to challenge you. I encourage you to follow where God leads, no matter how big the gap looks. He will carry you through and you will be more sure of yourself and of God's grace and love for you than ever before.

Trust me. Take the step. It's worth it.

Controversial Quotes

Here are a few potentially controversial quotes from books we've been studying. These books have challenged the way we think about theology, leadership, and ministry.

• "...the critical factors for leading cross-culturally are Christ-centered learning and trustworthy covenant-centered leadership...cross-cultural ministry requires a commitment to entering into a culture, beginning as a learner.”
• “...leadership is how one lives within a structure, respecting the people, accepting their differences, and engaging them in ways that inspire trust and transform yet sustain relationships and structure.”

Lingenfelter, Sherwood G. Leading Cross-Culturally. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

• “Good leaders are fervent disciples of Jesus Christ, gifted by the Holy Spirit, with a passion to bring glory to God. They use their gift of leadership by taking initiative to focus, harmonize and enhance the gifts of others for the sake of developing people and cultivating the kingdom of God.”
• “They […church leadership seminars] often claim they are teaching the ‘biblical model’ of leadership, not realizing that the way they read the Bible is already influenced by their cultural theories about leadership.” 

Plueddemann, James E. Leading Across Cultures. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2009.

• “Only by recognizing that cultural blindness is the rule, not the exception, and that our philosophies are our windows onto the world, can we free our fellowship and our theology from the bondage of our cultural philosophies and worldview.”  

Lingenfelter, Sherwood. Transforming Culture: A Challenge for Christian Mission. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998.

Re-Learning Leadership

Over the past year Katy and I have been privileged to attend three graduate level courses in Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Anita Koeshall, who has been doing student ministry in Europe for over thirty years, arranged these classes for European missionaries interested in learning more about cross-cultural ministry.

In these courses, we've learned tools to help us contextualize the Gospel, communicate more effectively, and develop leadership within our culture of ministry. It has been challenging for us to separate ourselves from our "default" culture and begin to see Irish culture through a fresh lens.

I, personally, have been challenged in several ways. I've found that my views on theology and leadership were, in reality, American twists on biblical principles and not in themselves biblical. I've learned that every culture needs to be redeemed...no one culture fully displays the Kingdom of God on earth. I've learned that in ministry, I must lead people not to my culture, but to my Christ.

It is of the utmost importance, no matter what ministry or culture we are in, that we assess ourselves on biblical truths, learning what aspects of our culture reveal the Gospel and what aspects must be redeemed by the Gospel. 

Katy and I are so thankful for Dr. Anita Koeshall, Dr. Beth Grant, and Dr. Alan Johnson teaching us andCTS for hosting us. We've learned more about biblical leadership and cross-cultural ministry in these classes, than we have in our entire lives.