This week in home school we have been studying Asia, and specifically China, during our missions and social studies/geography time.  I learned some interesting things I didn’t know.  It is so neat to learn as I teach my children.  I was not big on school as a kid, especially history/ss class.  I did well, but didn’t like it or learn much in those subjects.

One day this wk while I was on FB, I saw a post about some Christians in China being arrested.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2011/April/Beijing-Police-Halt-Unapproved-Church-Service/

I took advantage of this opportunity and we used this in our school lesson that day.  It worked in perfectly.  The kids asked lots of questions and it was neat to walk through that with them.

Right now with Easter coming up and all these churches here doing all the advertising, it got me thinking today.  On the radio an ad came on talking about something for a church or ministry, honestly I don’t remember, but it got me thinking.  Now, I have not done any specific reading or research myself yet.  But from what I have heard other people say, the church in China has grown tremendously in the past decade or so.   Now this is a place where it is illegal to be the church in many aspects of what it means to be the church.  There is a christian church there that the govt approves of, but it is controlled and has to obey certain govt rules.  Then there is the underground church.  These people must pray and worship and gather in secret as not to be arrested, beaten, or killed.  So in China, the church can not advertise.  Yet they are growing!!!  Not only that, but they have to hide from persecution on a constant basis, not really something that says hey come and join us, and they are growing!!!

How is this happening?  We here in America rely so heavily on advertisements.  We promote our churches, events, people, etc.  We tend to think that is what will help make God known to people.  If we didn’t think that, then why is the church doing it?  Now I am not putting down advertising, it is a great tool to be used.  However, should it be a main focus?  I wonder how much money is spent on advertising every year in the church?  What is that number percentage wise?  How does it compare to missions, benevolence, and education/training?  Now, I have no idea what these numbers are.  I am just asking, it is something to think about.  Yet, I wonder how we can be more like the church in China???  What is drawing people in there?  How are they evangelizing and advancing the Kingdom when it is illegal to do so?  How are they so effective?  Now again, I have no idea because I have not been there or met people from there or read a book or done extensive research… but I would bet a lot of it has to do with relationships;  people investing in people!  They can not rely on some sign, promo, flyer, bulletin board, etc to do the work for them.  Each person must actively work at engaging other people and investing his/her life into them.  How do we do at this as the American church?  How can we do it better?  What keeps it from happening?

Now I have a lot more thoughts to go along with this and other points about why I think they are so effective.  But I will save those for another post.  Just wanted to get some conversation rolling and some of my thoughts down and out on the table.  I will be doing some study on this when I have time.  It is very intriguing and will come in handy!

I saw a link from a friend and read the little post there and loved it and I wanted to share it here.  Here is a snip:

Missionaries understand that in order 2 reach a culture, u have 2 adopt cross-cultural mission methodology. U can’t stay in ur Christian social social circles & invite them in. You’ve got 2 move among them; get 2 know them well enough that u can begin 2 ask “What is church 2 these people?” and “What is Good News 4 these people?” The answers 2 these questions will determine the shape our ministry takes. – Alan Hirsch

http://www.themissionbook.com/become-a-missionary

Great questions to ask as we figure out how to engage the world around us now and in the future.
Chrissy

ok, yeah so life has been crazy.  I am still adjusting to our new lifestyle in homeschooling, getting my degree, planning our adoption, and taking care of everything else involving family and home. I have been posting on the adoption blog a lot but I have been neglecting this one.  However, I wish I would keep up with it better even when life gets crazy.  I am not use to being busy.  Things have settled down now, so that is nice.  Still much to do on my to-do list, but I had to stop and post today.  I read something the other day and it hit right where I think a lot; it was an article about community.  See link for article.

http://www.edstetzer.com/2011/04/guest-post-from-philip-nation-1.html

Anyway, I wonder how everyone else sees community too.  I have an idea in my head of what it looks like but I can’t ever seem to have it how I envision it to be.  I wonder if I am thinking of something that doesn’t exist or if most of the world does not really care much about it, or if I am doing something wrong or have the wrong personality type to create it, or if most people see things way differently than I do, is it just my culture and my ideas clash?…  So I ask this question… What is community to you?  Do you long for it?  What does it look like?  How do you create it?   Do you have it?  Do you feel it keeps evading you?