Mark is Teaching Me a Lesson

As I was preparing this morning for another day of transition to life in West Africa, I studied Mark 6. Beginning in verse 30, I read about Jesus feeding the 5,000, then later in verse 53 when Jesus and the disciples landed in Gennesaret, I noticed how the people chased after Jesus. What was their motivation? Was it to learn from and experience Jesus or was it to selfishly obtain blessings from him (food, healing, etc)?

I read these passages several more times and continued to dwell on this question,  Sadly, from my reading, it appears that many of them pursued Jesus thinking only of themselves.  In a way, I cannot blame them.  I'm sure some of them were dealing with chronic hunger.  Others were living lives of physical pain and sickness.  Jesus offered them a solution to the problems of this time in their lives.  Many others, however, saw a free meal or an easy fix for their naturally aging, deteriorating and self-abused bodies.

In a way, I see similarities in how the people where I am living typically view Western missionaries/tourists/business professionals. Most are not starving or lame.  Yet they unabashedly ask for handouts (even when their brother beside them is quietly suffering).  My temptation is to become jaded against their (seemingly) selfish pursuits. However, in the examples from Mark 6, Jesus never scolded these people for pursuing his blessing. Instead, he generously provided food for the thousands who gathered around him and he willingly healed all who touched him. This has great implications for how I act and react toward the people around me.

• When do I teach people to fish and when do I simply give fish? 

• How do I best reconcile the western view of money and possessions with with the African view?
  

• How do I intentionally avoid falling into the Messiah delusion and begin thinking that I am superior to them?

• How do I sort though people who truly need immediate help and those trying to take advantage of my dedication to following Christ's teachings?

• How do I continue loving those trying to trick and mislead me?

Your thoughts?

Transitioning

I'm currently going through transition on many levels. I'm moving from a 17 year career in the secular business world to a BAM environment. For my entire career I worked for companies with formal policies that generally said, “No religion in the workplace.” Before and after becoming a follower of Christ, I was told that there was no safe way to discuss my faith at work. During annual diversity and/or tolerance training, we were instructed of the risks of offending people of other faiths, or even people with no faith at all. When I became a Manager, this training involved the negative legal and career implications of discussing my "private" faith with employees. For the most part, I'm sorry to say, the scare tactics worked. I would limit discussions to only those who I knew were "safe" (aka: out of the closet).

However, when I submitted my resignation a couple months ago, I decided to come clean regarding my faith and mission. When I met with my General Manager and the plant HR Manager, I explained the concept of Business as Mission and shared how my wife and I had been praying for an opportunity like this. When employees in my department asked, I shared a similar story with them. Some of them (including the HR Manager) responded by dropping the F-Bomb, asking, “Why again would you take your children to a war-torn country?" Others would say things like, "That's nuts... that's crazy!" I just responded by smiling and saying, "Yes...yes it is." In the spirit of Isaiah 6:9, they didn't get it.

However, other employees came to me offering encouragement. Some would share about the great opportunity I was giving my children. Others would spur me on regarding the eternal value of my future work. On my last day at work, I even had an employee come in my office and tell me (not ask me) that he was going to pray for me. So right then and there, he stood in my office doorway and blessed me with a beautiful prayer of commission. Before I leaving my previous company, God gave me incredible opportunities to share my faith in Jesus, His provision, and His protection.

Now I'm facing the transition of fully integrating work and faith. I'm excited by this challenge, but still figuring out what it will look like. In my previous life, my faith and work were safely segregated like two glasses of water. At first, I thought I could integrate my faith and work in this new BAM opportunity like adding ice into water. That way, my faith was still perceptibly separate, but really, really close to work. However, as I pondered the issues in Liberia regarding similar segmentation of not only work and faith, but Christian faith and tribal religion, I knew this approach fell short. In reality, I need to integrate like hot water and tea (or coffee, if that's your thing). My faith and work need to be integrated to the extent that they are completely and perfectly blended to an inseparable level. Discipleship of employees will need to happen every hour of every day. My faith in Christ will need to as public as my business card. The truth of Scripture will need to drive all of my decisions.

In theory, this may sound great. However, I need to implement these ideas in practical, tangible ways. The question is how?

This is where you come in. I would appreciate any ideas that you have, whether they're tried-and-true methods or not. The soap box is yours.


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