Our Need for Refreshing Prayer

Our church is in the middle of our Spring Prayer Refresher. Each of the words is useful in the life of our church.

Spring Here in Minnesota the last of the snow mounds have only inches remaining as the warm sun melts their cold peaks. Spring brings new life from the grass in the fields to the branches of the trees. As the days warm, we want our hearts to warm toward our God, his word, and his will for our church.

Prayer Moses prayed. Hannah prayed. Daniel prayed. Mary prayed. Peter prayed. The early church prayed, and our Lord Jesus prayed. We must make intentional effort for added seasons of prayer.

Jonathan Edwards of The Great Awakening fame helps us with why we should give these days to corporate prayer.

I have often said it would be a thing very desirable and very likely to be followed with a great blessing, if there could be some contrivance, that there should be an agreement of all God’s people in America, that are well affected to this work, to keep a Day of Fasting and Prayer to God; wherein we should all unite on the same day…Some perhaps may think it’s being all on the same day, is a circumstance of no great consequence; but I can' t be of that mind…It seems to me, it would mightily encourage and animate God’s saints, in humbly and earnestly seeking God, for such blessings which concerns them all; and that it would be much for the rejoicing of all, to think, that at the same time, such multitudes of God’s dear children, far and near, were sending up their cries to the same common Father, for the same motives.Jonathan Edwards, 1742

Did you catch Edwards’ words? “(Corporate prayer) would mightily encourage and animate God’s saints.” We want that in our church, right? We long for the encouragement of each other. We hope for each of the church to live the Christian life joyfully and robustly within our Christian community and to a lost world. Prayer is the catalyst for both.

Refresher Our church calendar gets full most years during the months of March and April. Regularly during these months, we welcome a guest team or itinerant ministry to be with us for a week of meetings. Usually, these weeks our wonderful and often, exhausting.

Like every other Christian church, the Passion Week, occurring during the months of March or April, is a major time in the life of our church. Our Good Friday and Easter Sunday worship calls together our collective energy and resources for the promotion of these two days. The emphasis can be draining.

The corporate prayer of our Spring Prayer Refresher is different. While it is true that prayer is hard work (Luke 22:44), prayer also refreshes the individual Christian (Acts 16:25; Matthew 14:23) and the church (Acts 2:42). I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say the common experience of us who participate in these days of corporate prayer is to feel spiritually refreshed but not physically drained.

I hope you will make every effort to come together for prayer. Let’s remember the teaching of Jesus, to pray always and not become discouraged (Luke 18:1).

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Will You Consider Christian Higher Education?

In 2018 across the United States more than 20 million students enrolled in nearly 4600 colleges or universities.

Like most everything else in the 21st century, education is changing, maybe not as fast as other established norms, but higher education is changing nonetheless. For example, there was a time when a student had to leave home to go to college or at least drive his beater Chevy across town to the local junior college. Not any more, now a student can sit in mom’s kitchen and take online classes leading to a four-year degree. Higher education has changed; some changes are for the good while others are not.

Amidst all the change, I still believe in the idea of Christian higher education.

It is hard to know exactly how many students attend Christian colleges or for that matter, how many Christian colleges actually exist, but we can make some observations. For example, Christian colleges are everywhere. You can attend a Christian college in Hawaii or Maine, and in every state between. If you want to attend a small school, there is California Christian College, a Fresno campus of 43 students. If a large school is your preference, there is Baylor University in Texas where more than 16,000 matriculate each semester. If you want to go away from home, you might consider Alaska Christian College. If you want to stay close to home in Minnesota, you can choose from Augsburg, Bethel, Crown, Gustavus, Northwestern, and many more that self-identify as Christian colleges. Of course, the names in this paragraph show how broad a spectrum “Christian” is when it comes to higher education.

Christian higher education can be very expensive. Because they are private colleges and universities, generally Christian institutions do not receive tax dollars to lower costs. If you want a Christian education, you will have to pay and pray. The cost of room, board, and tuition at my alma mater has risen nearly 400% since I enrolled in the fall of 1983, far outpacing inflation. Skyrocketing costs are the reality across the landscape of higher education.

Despite the changes and the costs, I still believe in Christian higher education. Three of our four children matriculated to a Christian university. The one who did not wanted to go to a Christian college but the opportunities for her were not the same as her siblings. I hope students and their families will consider the option of Christian higher education first. Here are a few reasons.

The Formation of a Worldview

College professors, textbooks, and fellow students shape how young adults understand their world. How a Christian interprets the culture and how a non-Christian interprets the culture is dramatically different. What happens on a college campus goes a long way to establishing how one makes choices, sets directions, and evaluates life. A Christian higher education serves the young student as he develops his worldview.

The Benefits of Christian Community

Not every student at every Christian college is true disciple, just like our churches. However, a genuine Christian college makes much of the Christian community. The college chapel hosts preaching that encourages, challenges, corrects, and informs. Dormitory life can be a place for genuine discipleship as believing women and men share life together, living out the one another statements of the New Testament in close quarters. While online dating sites mitigate the necessity to physically go where other single Christians are, finding a spouse on a Christian college campus may be second only to finding a spouse in your own church.

The Potential for the Local Church

Every study on what happens to high school students in the church when they graduate reports a shockingly high number who leave the church during their college years. The church is losing its college students. Can an education at a Christian college protect against this? There’s no guarantee, but one would hope it would.

God’s plan for the work of the gospel is not the Christian college. God’s plan for the work of the gospel is the local church. As a pastor my hope would be that Christian colleges would serve the local church by providing additional training to the students we send to them, so that when they return to us, they commit themselves to the work of the gospel in the local church according to their giftedness and skills.

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I speak from a voice of experience. Brenda and I know the challenge to Christian worldview the educational experience at a non-Christian university presents. It is a big deal that required weekly and sometimes daily conversations with our college student. There can be no exaggeration how dangerous the constant attacks on the Bible and on the Christian lifestyle can be to a young Christian woman or man. The choice to choose a secular higher education must be made understanding the risks.

Our student who did not have the privilege to attend a Christian university expressed over and again over the course of her college career the longing for Christian community. Her siblings told her of their chapel and classroom experiences, and she met their Christian friends. Her non-Christian college could not provide a similar atmosphere.

One final word, not everyone can or should pursue higher education. For those who do, an education at a Christian college may not be the right option. I respect that. Yet, in the changing world of higher education, I still believe in Christian higher education and thank God for the possibilities that education affords.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Jesus Christ Exalted in the East - India Trip Tidbits

For security reasons, I purposefully limited my stories from India while I was in country. The situation there is vastly different than my previous visit in 2010. Christianity Today reports on the growing opposition to Christianity at the highest levels of government.

Radical Hinduism and Indian nationalism are driving factors in the increasing levels of unrest and instability Christians face…one of the fastest and most intense increases seen.

India’s Hindu nationalism has been growing since the election of nationalist Narendra Modi to prime minister in 2014, and was highlighted by the election of nationalist president Ram Nath Kovind last summer.

Under Modi, religious freedom violations against Christians—such as social exclusion, abuse, and imprisonment—have spread unchecked. In 2017, Open Doors counted more than 600 persecution incidents, though “most cases actually remain unreported, so the true number is much higher,” the organization said. (At the same time, Compassion International’s 589 Indian centers serving 145,000 children were shut down without explanation.)

Local authorities now feel empowered and emboldened to act against Christianity, local churches, and any and all outside or western influences in local churches or parachurch ministries. For example, if a local church applies for a building permit, the only way the permit will not get lost is if a bribe accompanies the application, and that still may not be enough to keep the project moving forward.

Officials are constructing Hindu temples funded by the national government at a furious rate. Where a strong non-Hindu influence exists in a village or community, officials build the places of idol worship across the road or on an adjoining property to the Christian church. From there they can disrupt the gatherings of the local church.

Thankfully and by God’s grace, I did not experience any opposition, but my hosts were careful not to create situations where problems might arise. I did not preach at any open air evangelistic meetings or in places where there was not a trusted, established church and network of Christian leaders. My hosts purposefully darkened the windows of the car so as to conceal my white skin.

At 1.3 billion the population of India is nearly four times that of the United States. The overwhelming majority bows down to idols of varying shapes and sizes. Most of the populous knows nothing of the saving grace of God by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The Deceiver has convinced the masses that Christianity is a Western religion. Of course, this is a lie, one of untold numbers of lies the Wicked One uses to keep humanity in darkness.

Christianity is an Eastern religion. We in the West are the outsiders. We experience this over and again in our preaching and study of the Bible. Western preachers spend so much time in sermons explaining ideas in the text that Indians and others from the East know intuitively.

For example, a local church pastor in India spends virtually no time explaining the idea of head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11 (see the picture to the left). He simply reads the text and makes the applications to his local church. When a pastor in America or other parts of the West preaches 1 Corinthians 11, he will spend a significant amount of his sermon explaining the idea before attempting any application. The same is true for texts that allude to sheep and shepherds, the comparisons between wheat and chaff and the blowing wind, David’s seeing Bathsheba from his rooftop, and so many more.

There are many good things to observe about the church in India. They sing like you can only imagine. The buildings are full for Sunday gatherings and special events midweek when the American comes to visit. They listen intently to the preaching of the Word of God for more than one-hour while sitting crossed-legged on concreate or marble flooring.

But the church of India has significant weaknesses too. The church is highly susceptible to false doctrine. Many of its pastors have only basic Bible training. The church members must resist the love of the world and the fascination with Bollywood, the largest film producer in Indian, an industry that puts out more films than any other in the world, nearly 2.5 times the number produced by the United States.

The contribution of our church to the work of the gospel in India is small in total dollars. We support four mission works across the country at a total of less than $5,000. Maybe we will be able to do more. While the number is not significant, the impact of the gospel in India is significant.

I met generational Christians and a woman recently converted from Hinduism. Her husband remains unsaved. I met fathers attempting to lead their families in the worship of the living God and away from the worship of idols made by man’s hands.

I met children orphaned or impoverished who live in the children’s homes we help fund. In these homes, they receive provision and protection and are learning of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Many of them have professed faith.

I met college students whose life goal is to return to their villages in rural India, villages where two-thirds of the population of India live. Away from the megacities of Mumbai and Delhi are villages of thousands with no light penetrating the darkness. Our giving, our prayers, our sending of pastors to encourage and train contributes to the expanse of the gospel.

There is more to tell, but be certain, Christians in India need your prayer support. And be certain, God is using your giving to expand the work of the gospel in India.

Today’s Lunchtime Musing will not appear on social media for reasons stated above. Please be careful how you share the contents.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

Alike In So Many Ways

Indian Christians are like Christians from the United States. They are born sinners in need of a savior. Like us, they believe lies about God, about the creation, and about themselves. They are distracted by the world and can love the world like we do. When they neglect their Bibles, they wander in darkness.

Indian Christians like Christians everywhere love to sing. Their songs have different words but the same themes: God’s grace and mercy, Christ’s death and resurrection, the Church, expressions of commitment, petitions for intervention, thankfulness for blessings, and hymns of highest praise. They sing about the cross and forgiveness, hope and assurance.

As we do, Indian Christians gather on the Lord’s Day, greet each other warmly, listen attentively to the preaching of the Word of God, and give generously to the support of the gospel and its expansion.

Unlike us, Indian Christians do not need explanations of some Bible ideas like many western Christians do. For example, no Indian pastor has to explain the meaning of “are like chaff which the wind drives away (Ps. 1:4)” or “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27). They know from their earliest days what this means. Most of them have seen it first hand or have engaged in the practice. Sermons need not be long on explanation but can be powerful in application.

A trip to the East asserts once again that Christianity is not - in any way, shape, or form - a western religion. Christianity’s imagery, landscape, and characters are eastern. Western minds gain much from visits to the East, conversations with eastern Christians, and sharing in the life of the church in the East. I rejoice at the opportunity.

To paraphrase Paul, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ like a garment. There is no Indian or American, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Though not Indian, throughout the last year, our church prayed for 40 African members. That prayer remains my hope for our church. African Christians live all around our church building. They have left their home country to come to the United States. When they left their country, they left their Christian communities. They need a new one. Could our church be their church too?

I hope and pray.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.

India

Sensory overload was the phrase I first used to describe my experience in India when I traveled the country for nearly one month in 2010. More than 1.3 billion people occupy a landmass one-third that of the United States. Sights, sounds, and smells grow beyond what most westerners experience on a daily basis.

My visit to India takes me to Hyderabad, a metropolitan area of more than 9,000,000. In Hyderabad our friends and gospel partners, Solomon and Sandyha Raju serve the Lord in a Bible college, local churches, a children’s home, and mercy ministries. When I arrive Thursday morning, my task is to train seminarians, help local pastors, and encourage Solomon, Sandyha and their family.

I ask for your prayer support. Would you pray for physical health and strength? Beyond the actual travel to the other side of the globe, I will hit the ground running when I arrive. The meetings with students and pastors to train them in the work of the local church and the evening gospel meetings will put a strain on my voice, body, and mind. I will need the Lord’s strength to complete the tasks.

Would you pray for salvation of people? I will, without question, preach to people who do not know the good news of Jesus Christ. We read in Romans that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Will you ask God to save people?

Would you pray God encourages the Christians I meet? I want to lift the spirits of our mission partners. I want to help the dad trying to lead their families. I want to show the children and students the joy of following Jesus faithfully. I want to lend a hand to the pastors who fight discouragement, who wonder if God is blessing their small congregation, and for whom the pressures of life a real.

I look forward to telling you about my trip both when I return and at points along the way.

As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.