Mongolia Outreach

A couple of weeks ago I joined the Gobi Mission Mongolia for the second time. For more than a decade Don and Charlene Woods have regularly been leading mission teams into the Gobi desert to share the love of Christ.

On my own "Journey of Becoming" they are adding story after story that shapes me as a disciple. I don't know of any other person in my life that serves those who can't help themselves with more love, passion and humility as the Woods. Consistantly they seek for ways to bring relief to handicapped children, families that live in extreme poverty and to support Christian workers that built up the church in the Gobi desert. They don't just talk about the love of Christ, they live it.

On our last trip we visited families with disabled children in the Ulaanbaatar ger district to discern relief efforts, supported orphanages, helped churches in the East Gobi and taught at the Frontier Mission School. Join us in prayer for setting up a handicapped children's camp in the Northern Gobi in the coming year! If you are interested to know more about the work in the Gobi, visit: http://www.gobimission.org

Imitate me

"The Great Omission" by Dallas Willard ends with the following paragraph:

"All that is needed from us to change things - whether in the church or in the world - is sustained apprenticeship of individuals to Jesus, the Savior of the world so loved by God. Our directions "as we go" are clear: to be disciples - apprentices - of Jesus in Kingdom living and by our life and words as his apprentices to witness, to bring others to know and long for the life that is in us through confidence in him. It's all true. It works. It is accessible to anyone. And there is nothing in the world to compare. That's all."

How serious do we take the call to disipleship; to becoming an apprentice of Jesus? When I became a Christian in the year 2000 it truly was a radical shift in my life. I was fully aware that I was going against everything my culture and environment was telling me... but soon the depth of what being an apprentice of Jesus meant to me faded. I remaind an apprentice of this world more than an apprentice of Christ.

In sharing the life of Christ-disipleship with uni students here in Hong Kong I am consistantly reminded of this experience. Yesterday I had dinner with a student from the Mainland who became a believer just two months ago. As we shared life his deep desire for whole life transformation was obvious, but at the same time the challanges are starting. His parents and friends challange his new-found faith...reminding him that it is more important to study hard, get a good job and have a lot of money. It's ok to "have a religion" - just don't make it a part of your life that actually challanges what is "REALLY important".

...but I think it is not only the "world out there" that challanges true discipleship. It is also the way we - the believers - offer interpretations of disipleship. Looking back at my own experience this is a common picture of disicpleship I have been offered: go to church on Sunday, maybe a small group during the week, read the Bible and pray on your own...

Here is the punchline... If you were asked how to be a Christian disciple, would you be comfortable to say: "Imitate me!"?

One thing these new believers are lacking are examples of true disipleship that show them first hand what life in Christ is all about. Are you a mentor to a younger believer? When he or she imitates you, will he imitate the life of God who became flesh?

Turning Points

On our life journey we make countless choices. Most of them are (or at least seem) not very imoprtant -- others are pretty significant. I think the choices we make are decicive in the journey of who we are becoming. They determine what we will spend out time with, the people we surround ourselves with and they show the priorities we set in our lives.

I made one of these choices that feels very significant this past January. Walking through the Forbidden city in Beijing Matt shared much about his heart for Chinese university students, his ministry philosophy, his values... and I thought "that's what my heart beats for; that touches the core of who I want to become". I can only imagine the impact this decision will have on who I am becoming. There is no doubt that God will transform and shape me more into the person he wants me to be through this choice. It will have a significant impact on what I will spend my time with, the people who will surround me for the coming years and how I will set my priorities.

I am so grateful to God that he cares about me so much that he actually wants me to change who I am and that he is full of grace when I fall short of who I am supposed to be. May we all have the courage to become who we are intended to be!

A New Context

As our team is preparing for a new part of our journey I am using my time to read A LOT. I haven't read that much since I left seminary in the US and I enjoy it thoroughly. Do you know the feeling when you discover one of these "nuggets of wisdom"?

Carl Raschke is one of the writers I love reading. Consistantly I feel like he puts into words what I can only feel in my gut without knowing how to articulate it. In his book "Globochrist" he talks about how "the historical Roman and Germanic epistemologies that inform so much of Western theology just will not work in Asia". Out of my own experience I simply have to say "Yes!". I do acknowledge that some connections can be made -- we do live in the time of Globablization... but Western epistemolgies will fall short of penetrating the core of Asian culture - we need to contextualize much deeper than we often feel comfortable.

A few weeks ago a friend said to me "I believe you really know whether your church has an impact for Christ when your church would disappear and people who are not inside this particular church community would really miss it". Does our church have an impact on society? the community? individuals outside our protected community? It made me ask what it really means to contextualize our faith; and to live a missional life myself...

Pray for our team... to be ready to be formed by His Spirit; to leave our wisdom behind; to learn the context we are in; and seek His guidance in how to make Him known...

Postcard from Hong Kong -- Part 1

Dear friend,
over the past couple of years I have travelled and lived in various countries and whether you are in Hong Kong or not, you have become a fellow traveller with me. Our journeys have crossed and have become connected for eternity... so this part of my blog is meant to give you a glimpse into my life in Hong Kong.
When I look out of my living room window this is what I see. It reminds me of my home in Germany -- mountains and trees in a city of 7.5 million people! -- not what you may have expected, right?!
by grace alone, Maik

75 Days

75 days till August 3. My anticipation of that day is sometimes overwhelming. At times it's just mundane situations as traveling on the MTR or buying a local snack at a street store when it gets me: "Just a couple more weeks till the team gets here!"... and I wonder which of the team members will like the HK food; and who won't... who will freak out being on the MTR feeling like a sardine; and who will love being surrounded by all these people.

I recently read a collection of essays by Leonard Sweet called "The Church of the Perfect Strom". In one of the essays it says "it's not just about the journey or the destination; it's about those with whom you travel". If there is one thing I would have to mention about what counts for university students of this generation, it's relationships. Genuine and authentic relationships that break through the barriers of culture, doctrine and systems. I am simply excited about the people "with whom I will travel"; people that are leaving everything behind to serve the One who longs to be in relationship with us all; people that get ready to move to this part of the world to transform this generation of university students through the love of Christ. And that's what the journey is all about,

...it's about us becoming him.