Mission: "Nuances"

...theological, ideological and culturais!!! 

For the time being, these reflections will be designed only in the Spanish and Portuguese languages, focused mainly for the Latin American context. 

Purpose of "Nuances"

This series of reflections addresses the different "nuances" of some themes. Particularly of theological content, but also some that are ideological and cultural. Aiming to motivate, to the recovery of the old and good habit, almost forgotten nowadays, of reflecting and meditating, before giving an opinion or acting with respect to a specific topic or polemical situation.

We see with concern that, nowadays, when talking about practically any subject, there is an "extreme and automated polarization" in the world society, which no longer allows us to hear the other. In this way, a fanaticism towards my own opinion is encouraged, preventing a natural and healthy development of mutual learning when exchanging points of view.

A collective irritation is growing, generating a kind of "war" for personal preferences and ideologies is accentuated, encouraged to a great extent by social networks and the media in general, where each one positions himself in a certain place, for his own preferences or interests and attacking the other, often without necessarily thinking in depth, if the arguments he is defending, have true sustainability.

Unfortunately, it is not different within the Churches or Christian circles, causing much harm to the body of Christ.

Let it not be misunderstood! To position oneself as a Christian is not only an option, but a duty. In this aspect, the Lord Jesus Himself took to the extreme some decisions that we must make regarding Him and His Gospel: "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, pours out" (Matthew 12:30).

Nuances, it is not a question of being lukewarm, but rather about reflecting in some depth on what the different important aspects of a subject are in themselves. And then yes, to position ourselves with firmness, but also with understanding and self-awareness, in favor of Christ and not in favor of my preferences, interests or personal ideologies.

EMPHASIZING once again,that the main objective of these reflections is not to make a deep theological study of each theme, but to make the exercise of reflecting on the different aspects of the themes themselves, and then look and see where we believe our Lord Jesus is positioned in each theme.

Or, better said: not where our Lord Jesus is positioned, but where each theme aligns with what our Lord Jesus wants and has already established for His kingdom!

If we 'stop the ball', raise our heads, look and listen carefully, many times we may be surprised how wrong we can be in some issues, regarding our Lord and the feeling of His Holy Spirit.

The themes that we will touch on are RANDOM THEMES that we have collected in our missionary journey and that are loaded with "nuances" and serve well for the purpose of making these exercises of non-fanatical reflections.

We thank you for your prayers for this work! 

The resources

With which biblically healthy variants is a ministry and the mission entrusted to the Church supported?

This missionary workshop has been meditated and worked on for some years now, to try to be useful in raising awareness in the churches that require it, about the importance of working on this specific theme of the Bible.

Focused especially at South American leaders, pastors, missionaries or simply mature Christians in the faith,who are in charge, or who pretend to be in charge of a project or ministry and are faced with the hard reality of the lack of resources to carry out the work entrusted to them.

In the more than 15 years of ministry outside our native country, Argentina, we have had hundreds of conversations with young people, adults and elders, theology students, leaders, pastors, missionaries who, when talking about their projects and missions, often we noticed a common factor among many of them and it was that the lack of resources had prevented them from carrying out their ministries well or had stifled projects for which they understood that the Lord had called them.

In this context, a couple of questions arise emphatically:

The God who created the heavens and the earth, does He not dispose of resources to sustain the work that He entrusts to us?

Is there something in our ministerial gear that is hindering the birth and healthy development of our mission in this area?

When we study these questions in depth and this whole subject in itself, in the light of the Word, we find that God definitely does not have lack of resources for the works that He entrusts to us. As we can see in Matthew 17, as well as in many other texts, if necessary, the Lord draws resources wherever he wants, because they all belong to him.

...go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." (Matthew 17:27)

We also realize that there are not only one or two possible spiritual and technical causes that hinder our work as a church in this area. Rather, it is complex, like the "gears" of a machine, which needs to be well coordinated in order to function correctly. Several failures, big and small, at different points, can be the cause of the whole machinery stopping. Or just a small failure.

SOME TOPICS OF THE WORKSHOP ARE:

1) MISSIONS

- The general mission of the Church and the specific mission of each Christian.

- The different contexts of the missions.

- The importance of the skills, talents and gifts acquired or received for the mission.

2) RESOURCES

- Who sustains missions and how does it happen? Beyond the unshakable principle of faith.

- With what variants, with healthy biblical foundations, is a local, regional and/or international ministry sustained?

- The simple but fundamental technical details that can stop much of the Church's functioning in this area.

- How and where do I begin to look for resources for my specific missionary project or for the projects of my local Church?

- "Egos and Alms." Among other corrosive defects of leaders, pastors and missionaries, regarding this subject.

- "Arrogance and ignorance". Among other corrosive defects of the Church in general, regarding this subject.

- The serious consequences for the Church, of a bad biblical teaching, regarding this subject.

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION! This workshop is not developed on the basis of a "financial business psychology", or an "earthly gospel" based on economic prosperity here on earth. Rather, it is done with new-testament biblical zeal and care. We understand and are careful of the uniqueness and sensitivities of this subject matter in the churches and beyond.

Neither is it made by ministers, who never had financial needs for their mission, but on the contrary, many times in our ministerial walk, we also had different types of needs in this area and we were faced with the task of having to answer with sincerity the questions formulated above and to look for the fault in the gear of our missionary machinery. 

We thank you for your prayers for this work!