'Mission belongs to God'
Boomers bear witness, leave the rest in God’s hands
by Ryan Miller

Nazareth Village presents the world and time that Jesus knew. Visitors are invited to imagine life as shepherds, woodworkers and farmers. Photo: D. Michael Hostetler

Inside Israel’s Nazareth Village, marks from loafers and hiking boots overlap footprints from first-century sandals and flocks of sheep. Wrists sporting Timex watches pass over tools from two millennia past. In a matter of hours, visitors can see, smell, taste and touch Jesus’ world.

"Physically, you’re looking at the farm, the houses, the people, engaging life at the time of Jesus," said D. Michael Hostetler. More importantly, an hour spent at Nazareth Village creates a shared context for relationships to grow.

Jesus, Hostetler said, told stories that transcend time and culture, but each lesson emerges from his community and worldview. Immersion in that first-century, Middle Eastern culture exposes deep lessons of life not immediately evident to children of the West and the 21st century.

God grows the church by Ryan Miller Many practitioners of accompaniment ministry downplay their responsibility for bringing others to Christ. Instead, they teach and live according to the Gospels and allow God to work through them and through the believers around them. "One might postulate that the evidence of the ‘success’ of our style would be that no one would identify either us or our style as the reason for their transformation," Keith Kingsley said. "Success would rather be measured by discipling and discipleship that happens largely by indigenous people, churches and means." Gretchen Kingsley added: "We all have planted or watered the seeds, but God is growing this church on the hill." — Photo: Wayne Gehman/Mission Network Help out $250 helps translate the Bible into the indigenous languages of Argentina. Contribute to project #0703.

"When you step into the context, your eyes are opened to the world that Jesus knew and related to. You discover additional insights," Hostetler said. "When people come into the village, [they] are approaching Jesus from the same vantage point."

Baby boomers, the experts tell us, are consumers of the world. Because they grew up trusting no one over 30 (though the oldest are now 60), they must experience something for themselves before they commit to believing or supporting a mission or cause.

Boomers tend to see the world as shades of grey, so much so that they tend to challenge any generalization about their generation, pointing out exceptions to every rule, including any idea of how this generation approaches mission. Still, most yearn for personal connections and, as the first generation to edge toward postmodern thought, value others’ beliefs.

Nazareth Village employs Christians, Muslims and Jews in their re-creation of first-century life. The groups function as a trusting community—one that firmly bears witness to Christ’s ministry while respecting the religious culture of others.

"Jesus listened to the people he was trying to minister to and then addressed their needs...When you talk about winning someone for Christ, the idea suggests there’s a loser, and I don’t think that’s what Jesus is about," Hostetler said. "You don’t have to be a Christian to benefit from what Jesus had. We invite people to discover it and leave it in God’s hands."

Hostetler’s words echo the philosophy of Donna and Loren Entz, workers in Burkina Faso since 1978. For the last 18 years, they have practiced a ministry of accompaniment with the Samogho people in the village of Samogóhiri. Through translation projects, they hope to saturate the village with God’s word in the Samogho language, and allow God’s spirit to work through the Scriptures.

"My job is to love people, respect people. It means finding creative ways for them to have access to God's word. It means being concerned about their basic needs, whatever those are," said Donna Entz. "The conviction to make a religious change, that’s really left to the Holy Spirit. Mission belongs to God."

In the Argentine Chaco, evangelists from generations past preached the gospel to the Toba, Pilagá and Mocoví peoples. Today, workers such as Gretchen and Keith Kingsley walk with the believers of the region as guests and learners.

Mission, to Keith Kingsley, involves the redemption of all people, but redemption does not equal homogenization with North American ideals.

Kingsley believes that, in some manner and measure, God is present with and revealed in every people through their particular culture and history. “God’s truth was here long before we came,” he said.

"We aren’t called to Argentina to be experts," added Gretchen Kingsley. "We’re called to walk with the Toba."

Hugo Diaz, a Toba zonal pastor, told the Kingsleys he was not interested in groups coming to teach the Bible to the Toba. "We want you to come so that we can read the Bible together," he said.

In North America, mission supporters also seek connections and relationships. Within the Patagonia Mission Partnership, representatives of Arm-in-Arm, a group of individuals and Illinois Mennonite Conference congregations in central Illinois, regularly visit partners from Argentina’s Patagonia region and host the Patagonians in Illinois.

“It connects a personal relationship with the activity you are supporting,” said Jeanne Birky, one of the Arm-in-Arm leaders. “Once we have visited the mission outreach plants they have in various places around (Argentina), we can say, ‘I know them. I was there. How exciting.’”

Highlights

Highlights

Return to Beyond Ourselves—Winter 2006