Mission Mind of the South

            Bosch emphasizes the importance of future missions by demonstrating the shift of missions to the “South,” that is to say Asia, Africa and Latin America. Because these parts of the world have not experienced a lot of European influence in the ways of missions, these parts of the world are looking at missions with a fresh perspective. The South is focused on the “gospel of the kingdom” instead of the “gospel of salvation.” This implies that the gospel is to be taken all over the world instead of used just to save people who are like us. Another emphasis from these mission thinkers is that of the regular people serving as a witness. It does not require a minister or clergyman to bring the news of the kingdom of God to the world. I think that these ideas will continue to grow in importance as the church of the South continues to grow.

Definition of Missions

            I think that Bosch’s definition of mission is so broad because there are so many ways to do mission for God’s kingdom. God gave each person unique talents and abilities, which leads to the conclusion that he has a unique design for each person to fulfill his mission. Different personalities and skill sets will be effective in different places and ways, but can work together to further God’s kingdom. Some people will excel in evangelism, while others will have a passion for justice or liberation. Christians that love to serve will do so, and those who can effectively plant churches will. My personal definition of missions is similar. Missions is anything that Christians do in the will of God to affect others positively in his name.

Which has more value, Cross or Resurrection?

            The cross is an important part of the salvation story, but without the resurrection, the cross would have been in vain. Acts focuses more on the resurrection because Christianity is a gospel of hope and life. These aspects are only available if Christ not only died, but rose again. By Jesus dying, he was sacrificing himself in our place of sin. By his resurrection, he showed the victory he had over sin and death. The true battle of sin was not won merely by Jesus on the cross, but by his resurrection and conquering death itself. This is the power of the gospel, which is demonstrated throughout the mission stories of the book of Acts.

Honest Photography - part 2

         

            I chose these pictures because a lot of this trip was about service to the missionaries of the community. The intentional message is that we did a lot of physical “dirty work.” The possible unintentional message might be that we had no interaction with the people of the nearby village. The so called heroes of these pictures are both of us working. It shows that we did a lot of cleaning and labor. The pictures do not show the time we spent with the people of the country, but they show the focus of our trip, to help the missionaries better serve the people they were trying to reach.