from May 15, 2011 prayer update

Lesson 15 of the “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” class is titled “world Christian discipleship”. It is the final lesson and designed to draw the class members into a time of reflection regarding their personal response to all the challenging content they received during the first 14 lessons.

In this lesson I discuss the importance of personal response, review key concepts from the first 14 lessons, and define what a “world Christian” is. Most of the lesson is devoted to exploring 10 landmarks on our journey to becoming world Christians.

The 10 landmarks include:
1. misseo dei
2. live missionally every day
3. continually place yourself on the altar (family, career, free time, check book, …)
4. cultivate a wartime lifestyle
5. become a life-long learner about missions
6. become a global intercessor
7. find a like-hearted community and join it
8. participate in short-term missions trips
9. engage in David Platt’s one year experiment
10. discover and embrace your primary missions role (sender, welcomer, goer, or mobilizer)
Special emphasis and attention is given to the 10th landmark.

This spring I had the opportunity to teach this lesson with three classes: in Tyler, TX on April 25. In San Jose, Costa Rica on May 2. And in Fort Worth, TX on May 4. What a joy to see these students grapple with the long-term implications of living as a world Christian and seeking to identify next steps that God would have them take on their journey.

My time with the class in Costa Rica was especially meaningful as this was the first time Perspectives has ever been taught in this country. Costa Rica is a one of several Latin American countries that is rapidly becoming a sending country. With many of its workers going to serve among unreached peoples in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Middle East, where they are received much more positively than someone from the U.S.

I am grateful that this may not be my last time to serve in this beautiful country. I have been invited to return to teach again with their second Perspectives class this fall.