It all started at the helm of our second semester. Sri Lanka 2010. God
put a desire in my heart to co-lead the trip. It was a long process,
leading up to the trip. There was much anticipation. Excitement.
Assurance. Frustration. Doubt. Worry. Questions. Reassurance.
Weariness. Reliance. Amazement. Preparedness. Unpreparedness. And then
we hopped on a plane. all 8 of us. From the airport to the end of the
trip I was on an emotional roller coaster. There were periods of
irritation I had as a leader. Testing of character. Perseverance.
Wondering. Learning. Lots of it. Loving. Applying. Transformation. I
won't forget our hosting family. Pastor Adrian who took us in. His
wife, who cared for us and cooked for us. Their son who spent time
discussing with us the challenges of the Sri Lankan people and the reconciliation issues the youth are overcoming. Their
daughter who sacrificed much family and friend time to be with our
team, lead us around, translate for us, keep us alive. I won't forget the kids at the farm whose lives were living testaments to the grace, power, and faithfulness of God. I cannot possibly forget the conquering joy that these kids displayed despite unimaginable pasts. I knew I would learn from my experiences and the teachings throughout the trip, but I was never sure how much I would learn from my time spent with the kids. I learned a lot from them. I will never look at complaining the same. I won't forget our driver, who was kind meek, steadfast, and loyal. I won't forget
the ladies at Ape Kedella who cooked and cleaned up after our messes,
and showed us hospitality. I won't forget the Australian pastor and
the two guys from Bangladesh who shared stories with us and answered
our questions. I won't forget the leaders of Ape Kedella, who were
always so kind to us, who always had a smile for us. I'll be forever
indebted to those in Sri Lanka who poured so much into our lives most likely often
without even knowing it. It was the people here who so radically
changed my world perspective on doing ministry and church altogether.
I will never think of faith in the same light again. God remains always faithful. I will faithfully live out my thanks to the significant people I built relationships with in Sri Lanka, and I will live out my thanks to God for allowing me to spend an entire month in Sri Lanka.
"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Final Days
I never posted on the happenings of my last week in Sri Lanka, but wish to do so now. My last week in Sri Lanka was incredible partly because the week in itself was filled with more life lessons and partly because I was able to reflect back upon my time in Sri Lanka. As I wrote down in my journal that day, I wrote this: "As I write now, I'm a few hours from leaving the Ape Kedella farm for the final time. The last few days have been incredible. Playing Jenga with the sick kids in the boys home. Helping the kids with their English, and attempted to help them with their math, but that didn't work out so well! One of the things I wanted to do was to help the kids pronounce their r's. The R is one of the letters and sounds in the English alphabet that Sri Lankans have a particularly difficult time in pronunciation. Later in the day we went outside and played some more games with the kids, I continued teaching some of them how to throw the football, which we enjoyed. Last night was a significant highlight. I was able to have a time of good discussion with one of the Discipleship training guys at the farm. We shared our testimonies with each other, and I was really blessed in hearing his story.
Earlier in the day the team and I had prepared and been planning for our skit and the puppet show we were going to perform for the kids at night. In the evening the kids had prepared skits and dances for our team in appreciation for the time we spent with them. After we had finished with the skits we had planned, we all had a feast together. Some of the boys pulled me over to their table, I really enjoyed eating with them, and simply being able to see their joyful hearts. After our feast we had a time of dancing together. I'm really going to miss the kids here, the people here, the farm, Sri Lanka, the memories".
On Friday we said bye to all the girls and boys. There were tears, and we all left with heavy hearts. Pray that God would continue to be a refuge for these kids. Pray that He would restore them and heal them. That He would place godly people in their lives to disciple them, and love them consistently.
"Church was incredible this morning. Observing the Sri Lankans worship God filled and overwhelmed me with praise and gratitude to God for allowing me to witness members of the body of Christ faithfully praising Him. When I got up to share my testimony of experiences, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Sadness that we'd soon be leaving. Gratitude for such hospitality, love, care, and humility shown to us by our hosts. I scrapped what I had prepared to say and just spoke from what God had place upon my heart that morning. God is faithful. When I had finished, the pastor along with the elders and leaders of the church gathered around us and prayed for us. The pastor prayed for each on of us individually. I remember some of his prayer for me. He prayed that God would reveal His plans to me. That God would grant me dreams and visions. And that God would speak through me. When the pastor had announced that he would pray for our team, I could not hold back tears. Tears of gratitude and tears of joy that God would even allow me to receive His love through His people in ways that I had never before experienced. "
Later that night we attended a house church, which was also a great blessing. I was able to experience the structure of the house church and understand the significance and effectiveness of house church's. The pastor of the house church spoke on the importance of fellowship with God paired with responding to the transformation and renewing of the mind that happens when reflecting upon the heart and character of God. Response to the transformation God brings comes through actively loving people. The pastor brought a bicycle to illustrate his message. The front tire was fellowship and time with God, and the back tire represented living a life filled with actively loving people.
Our last day in Sri Lanka, Monday, we spent packing, last minute gift shopping, and we had lunch and dinner at the pastors house. The senior pastor invited over some of the church elders and leaders for our lunch, and they prayed for us.
God is incredible. And my thanks to Him and the people of Sri Lanka cannot be carried out through words. Words can never express my true thanks. I must live out faithful to God, transformed and renewed in my mind with new perspectives and stories of God's power coming through in countless lives. God is faithful
Earlier in the day the team and I had prepared and been planning for our skit and the puppet show we were going to perform for the kids at night. In the evening the kids had prepared skits and dances for our team in appreciation for the time we spent with them. After we had finished with the skits we had planned, we all had a feast together. Some of the boys pulled me over to their table, I really enjoyed eating with them, and simply being able to see their joyful hearts. After our feast we had a time of dancing together. I'm really going to miss the kids here, the people here, the farm, Sri Lanka, the memories".
On Friday we said bye to all the girls and boys. There were tears, and we all left with heavy hearts. Pray that God would continue to be a refuge for these kids. Pray that He would restore them and heal them. That He would place godly people in their lives to disciple them, and love them consistently.
"Church was incredible this morning. Observing the Sri Lankans worship God filled and overwhelmed me with praise and gratitude to God for allowing me to witness members of the body of Christ faithfully praising Him. When I got up to share my testimony of experiences, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Sadness that we'd soon be leaving. Gratitude for such hospitality, love, care, and humility shown to us by our hosts. I scrapped what I had prepared to say and just spoke from what God had place upon my heart that morning. God is faithful. When I had finished, the pastor along with the elders and leaders of the church gathered around us and prayed for us. The pastor prayed for each on of us individually. I remember some of his prayer for me. He prayed that God would reveal His plans to me. That God would grant me dreams and visions. And that God would speak through me. When the pastor had announced that he would pray for our team, I could not hold back tears. Tears of gratitude and tears of joy that God would even allow me to receive His love through His people in ways that I had never before experienced. "
Later that night we attended a house church, which was also a great blessing. I was able to experience the structure of the house church and understand the significance and effectiveness of house church's. The pastor of the house church spoke on the importance of fellowship with God paired with responding to the transformation and renewing of the mind that happens when reflecting upon the heart and character of God. Response to the transformation God brings comes through actively loving people. The pastor brought a bicycle to illustrate his message. The front tire was fellowship and time with God, and the back tire represented living a life filled with actively loving people.
Our last day in Sri Lanka, Monday, we spent packing, last minute gift shopping, and we had lunch and dinner at the pastors house. The senior pastor invited over some of the church elders and leaders for our lunch, and they prayed for us.
God is incredible. And my thanks to Him and the people of Sri Lanka cannot be carried out through words. Words can never express my true thanks. I must live out faithful to God, transformed and renewed in my mind with new perspectives and stories of God's power coming through in countless lives. God is faithful
Friday, July 9, 2010
Faithfulness through Suffering
Last weekend was hectic for our hosts here in Sri Lanka. Monday through Thursday an Asian Access conference was planned and annually a dearly loved professor from Gordon-Conwell, Dr. Gary Parret was planning to teach. On the way to the airport in Korea the bus he was in attempted to dodge another car but instead hit the barricade on the side of the road and fell 30 feet. 12 people were instantly killed including a close friend of Gary's and the rest of the people were critically injured. Gary was rushed to the hospital and had sustained multiple broken bones, a punctured lung, and some brain damage which may result in some memory loss. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10498724.stm
Please continually pray for his healing and the comfort of his family who has joined him in Korea.
I was amazed at the response to the news from the Pastor and the congregation here. There was mourning, and there has been passionate prayer and intercession for Dr. Parret, and they have continued to trust in God in the midst of the pain. I was blessed by the faithfulness and decision from Pastor Adrian to still hold the Asian Access conference.
On the first day, I learned of how we as Christians are to compassionately love the poor. In the session we studied the parable of the Samaritan and the man who was robbed and beaten alongside the road. As pastor Adrian said, the poor are not held in poverty because of a lack of wealth, they are held by poverty because they have a mindset of rejection. He told a story of how he once was given money from a missions organization to give to a group of people called the untouchables in Sri Lanka. By night time, everyone in the village was drunk and they had slaughtered their chickens for a feast. Learning from that experience, he then took various people out of the village, separated them, put them into a home with new clothes, new names, and connected them with a local church. To this day, almost all of them have been successful. Some are pastors, some are chefs, and some are businessmen. Part of escaping poverty is restoring a sense of dignity, worth, and identity.
This past week I was extremely blessed to be a part of an Access conference which occurs about once every three months. Pastor Adrian De Visser is the South Asia president for Asian Access, and so whenever a meeting is held, it often takes place at Ape Kadella. Asian Access is a ministry that gathers together pastors from all over the nation and for a period of four days, the pastors discuss church issues and challenges and are trained by various scholar practitioners from around the world who are also involved in the organization. The ministry has been expanding to different nations all over Asia and is currently in Mongolia, Japan, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, and four other countries. Asian Access is looking into spreading the ministry to involving Myanmar as well. There were two guys representing Bangladesh trying to get a feel for the ministry and looking at having the ministry started in Bangladesh. I really enjoyed conversing with these guys from Bangladesh and hearing their stories. It was an incredible experience to simply sit under, ask questions, and learn from so many pastors leading their church's in the midst of persecution. On Wednesday the president of the ministry arrived with a friend and a native Sri Lankan who is currently pastoring a church in Austrailia and helped in mentoring pastor Adrian. I specifically enjoyed asking questions, conversing, and learning from the Austrailan pastor. My eyes have really been opened through my experience here of holistic ministry. The Sri Lankan doing ministry in Australia said he was really struck by what he had heard at a hillsong conference years ago. "Would the city be hurt and at a loss if the church were to suddenly disappear?" Since then, the church has created a daycare in which many parents in the city have enrolled their children into. Everyone in the church is involved with multiple small groups throughout the week. One of the small groups is a Bible study. The church has also provided various other small groups which have different topics that nurture fellowship. One small group gathers to dialogue and share on world war II war strategies. Once a year, the church also renovates a local public school, paying at least $100,000.00, with no strings attached or catches. These different public schools have now begun asking the church to provide school chaplains. "Our people built a center which is not the church, but they, the church, meet inside the center". The Church allows the city to use the massive center for many of its typical events. This is long term relational church, aimed at nurturing the process of discipleship. The pastor shared with me a certain scale. The scale goes from a negative 8 all the way to a positive 8. The pastor remarked that for those who are at a negative 8 response to the Gospel message, the aim is to bring them to a negative seven, six, and so forth. A theme I consistently heard throughout the week was "process". Discipleship is a "process". I gained tools from these Asian Access classes centered on compassionately reaching the needs of people through a creative viewing of each different cultural atmosphere. Most of all, our time in ministry must be rooted in a deep and daily reflection on the heart of God, we must live out of the overflow of our devotion to God. When we become distracted and pulled away from the heart of God, ministry simply becomes another avenue wherein we seek to fulfill our desire for affirmation. The pastors were warned against doing ministry and serving for the uplifting appraisal of the congregation rather than the glory of God.
The team and I have continued spending time with the boys at the boys home and have enjoyed getting to know them better and are not looking forward to leaving these kids who have become attached to us, and us to them. The opportunity to learn from these kids and their joy in the midst of a painful past has continued to be a blessing. The opportunity to bless these kids with love and a genuine heart of compassion has been incredible.
Please continually pray for his healing and the comfort of his family who has joined him in Korea.
I was amazed at the response to the news from the Pastor and the congregation here. There was mourning, and there has been passionate prayer and intercession for Dr. Parret, and they have continued to trust in God in the midst of the pain. I was blessed by the faithfulness and decision from Pastor Adrian to still hold the Asian Access conference.
On the first day, I learned of how we as Christians are to compassionately love the poor. In the session we studied the parable of the Samaritan and the man who was robbed and beaten alongside the road. As pastor Adrian said, the poor are not held in poverty because of a lack of wealth, they are held by poverty because they have a mindset of rejection. He told a story of how he once was given money from a missions organization to give to a group of people called the untouchables in Sri Lanka. By night time, everyone in the village was drunk and they had slaughtered their chickens for a feast. Learning from that experience, he then took various people out of the village, separated them, put them into a home with new clothes, new names, and connected them with a local church. To this day, almost all of them have been successful. Some are pastors, some are chefs, and some are businessmen. Part of escaping poverty is restoring a sense of dignity, worth, and identity.
This past week I was extremely blessed to be a part of an Access conference which occurs about once every three months. Pastor Adrian De Visser is the South Asia president for Asian Access, and so whenever a meeting is held, it often takes place at Ape Kadella. Asian Access is a ministry that gathers together pastors from all over the nation and for a period of four days, the pastors discuss church issues and challenges and are trained by various scholar practitioners from around the world who are also involved in the organization. The ministry has been expanding to different nations all over Asia and is currently in Mongolia, Japan, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, and four other countries. Asian Access is looking into spreading the ministry to involving Myanmar as well. There were two guys representing Bangladesh trying to get a feel for the ministry and looking at having the ministry started in Bangladesh. I really enjoyed conversing with these guys from Bangladesh and hearing their stories. It was an incredible experience to simply sit under, ask questions, and learn from so many pastors leading their church's in the midst of persecution. On Wednesday the president of the ministry arrived with a friend and a native Sri Lankan who is currently pastoring a church in Austrailia and helped in mentoring pastor Adrian. I specifically enjoyed asking questions, conversing, and learning from the Austrailan pastor. My eyes have really been opened through my experience here of holistic ministry. The Sri Lankan doing ministry in Australia said he was really struck by what he had heard at a hillsong conference years ago. "Would the city be hurt and at a loss if the church were to suddenly disappear?" Since then, the church has created a daycare in which many parents in the city have enrolled their children into. Everyone in the church is involved with multiple small groups throughout the week. One of the small groups is a Bible study. The church has also provided various other small groups which have different topics that nurture fellowship. One small group gathers to dialogue and share on world war II war strategies. Once a year, the church also renovates a local public school, paying at least $100,000.00, with no strings attached or catches. These different public schools have now begun asking the church to provide school chaplains. "Our people built a center which is not the church, but they, the church, meet inside the center". The Church allows the city to use the massive center for many of its typical events. This is long term relational church, aimed at nurturing the process of discipleship. The pastor shared with me a certain scale. The scale goes from a negative 8 all the way to a positive 8. The pastor remarked that for those who are at a negative 8 response to the Gospel message, the aim is to bring them to a negative seven, six, and so forth. A theme I consistently heard throughout the week was "process". Discipleship is a "process". I gained tools from these Asian Access classes centered on compassionately reaching the needs of people through a creative viewing of each different cultural atmosphere. Most of all, our time in ministry must be rooted in a deep and daily reflection on the heart of God, we must live out of the overflow of our devotion to God. When we become distracted and pulled away from the heart of God, ministry simply becomes another avenue wherein we seek to fulfill our desire for affirmation. The pastors were warned against doing ministry and serving for the uplifting appraisal of the congregation rather than the glory of God.
The team and I have continued spending time with the boys at the boys home and have enjoyed getting to know them better and are not looking forward to leaving these kids who have become attached to us, and us to them. The opportunity to learn from these kids and their joy in the midst of a painful past has continued to be a blessing. The opportunity to bless these kids with love and a genuine heart of compassion has been incredible.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Healing and Newness
It's been quite a long time since I last posted, and the past two weeks (almost) have been very eventful. I have been challenged mnentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Over the past weekend, the annual youth camp at Ape Kadella was held and more than one hundred youth from all over the nation attended. I was able to meet a wide variety of people, some could speak decent english, and others could not. It was a moving experience, to witness brothers and sisters from an entirely different culture come before Jesus and worship Him. The topic of the camp was focused on challenges the youth face, and emotional healing was emphasized. In Sri Lanka, many of the youth are looked down upon and as a result they often look in the wrong places to fill their need for acceptance.
The camp was intense and it was packed. There were multiple sessions each day, followed by group times and games. On thursday the game time included an obstacle course where we climbed a cocunut tree and grabbed on to a rope. We pulled ourselves along the rope and underneath waited a pond to swallow those who fellow in! Another highlight in the camp was observing and participating in the worship/song time. Apparently I dance well in Sri Lanka!
The camp culminated with the last sessions taking place on Sunday, wherein Adrian De Visser spoke about the power of healing and restoration found through Jesus Christ. There were about 40 in the camp who had yet to place their hope in Christ, and just about all of them went forward, indicating a desire to be healed in the power of Christ. Many of the youth in Sri Lanka have come from a Buddhist background.
At one point it became evident that one of the guys had been demonized. When pastor Adrian prayed for him, it was as if the demon inside shuddered in fear, the guy put his arms over his face and shrunk back. After some intense prayer, the teenager was delivered as he was able to speak freely the name of Jesus Christ. Please keep him in your prayers. I was excited at being able to make some friends through the camp, and certainly hope to keep in touch with them.
During this past week we have been painting and spending time with the boys and girls of Ape Kadella. It has been an incredible experience for me to see the joy that these kids have found in Christ, and the hope that they have discovered. At times, I have felt emotionally sick, thinking of the past lives many of these kids have lived through. Most of them have been sexually abused, and most of them are under the age of 10. I have found a verse that has been quite applicable to these kids and their experiences. In one of his letters, Paul writes that our present suffering and hardships canin no way compare with the future hope and riches laid up for those who have followed Christ. When I focus on how much transformation these kids have gone through in Christ, I find much joy. Pray for these kids.
This weekend we have traveled down south to Pastor Adrian's church. In a few minutes we will be going to a high school where Thillini's brother Prashan will be speaking. On Sunday we will be going to church.
Please continue to pray for the work of God's hands through His people here in Sri Lanka. Pray for our team. Most of us have been sick already, and one girl we had to take to the doctor, but she will be fine and is already feeling better. Pray for defence against the oppositions of the evil one. Pray that we would be filled with joy and that we would experience the full presence of God. Most of all, pray that we along with the Disciples of Christ in Sri Lanka would be glorifying God.
The camp was intense and it was packed. There were multiple sessions each day, followed by group times and games. On thursday the game time included an obstacle course where we climbed a cocunut tree and grabbed on to a rope. We pulled ourselves along the rope and underneath waited a pond to swallow those who fellow in! Another highlight in the camp was observing and participating in the worship/song time. Apparently I dance well in Sri Lanka!
The camp culminated with the last sessions taking place on Sunday, wherein Adrian De Visser spoke about the power of healing and restoration found through Jesus Christ. There were about 40 in the camp who had yet to place their hope in Christ, and just about all of them went forward, indicating a desire to be healed in the power of Christ. Many of the youth in Sri Lanka have come from a Buddhist background.
At one point it became evident that one of the guys had been demonized. When pastor Adrian prayed for him, it was as if the demon inside shuddered in fear, the guy put his arms over his face and shrunk back. After some intense prayer, the teenager was delivered as he was able to speak freely the name of Jesus Christ. Please keep him in your prayers. I was excited at being able to make some friends through the camp, and certainly hope to keep in touch with them.
During this past week we have been painting and spending time with the boys and girls of Ape Kadella. It has been an incredible experience for me to see the joy that these kids have found in Christ, and the hope that they have discovered. At times, I have felt emotionally sick, thinking of the past lives many of these kids have lived through. Most of them have been sexually abused, and most of them are under the age of 10. I have found a verse that has been quite applicable to these kids and their experiences. In one of his letters, Paul writes that our present suffering and hardships canin no way compare with the future hope and riches laid up for those who have followed Christ. When I focus on how much transformation these kids have gone through in Christ, I find much joy. Pray for these kids.
This weekend we have traveled down south to Pastor Adrian's church. In a few minutes we will be going to a high school where Thillini's brother Prashan will be speaking. On Sunday we will be going to church.
Please continue to pray for the work of God's hands through His people here in Sri Lanka. Pray for our team. Most of us have been sick already, and one girl we had to take to the doctor, but she will be fine and is already feeling better. Pray for defence against the oppositions of the evil one. Pray that we would be filled with joy and that we would experience the full presence of God. Most of all, pray that we along with the Disciples of Christ in Sri Lanka would be glorifying God.
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