I recently received an e-mail from a pastor inquiring about our doctrinal beliefs as an organization. It brought up some important questoins I feel may not be adequately addressed on our website or materials, so I have posted the questions and responses below. It is a nice continuation of my previous blog “The Why Behind the What”. I have removed names and locations to protect the identity of the sender. We always welcome questions about our ministry, so please contact us anytime.
Hello,
My name is ?????? and I am an associate pastor in ???????. I was introduced to your ministry through family, was given your information pamphlet, and have read through your website and a newsletter. It sounds like you are involved in exciting work as you minister in Camaroon! As I looked through your information, I had a couple of questions that seem pretty basic, but nonetheless important.
These questions have to do with doctrinal beliefs. Since the heart of the healthy church is sound doctrine, I was wondering about your basic beliefs in God, Sin, & Salvation. What role does meeting felt needs have in advancing the Gospel? What part do people play in evangelizing and receiving the Gospel? How does the Word of God and the Holy Spirit fit in? I ask these questions because in our day (at least here in ????? and I assume everywhere) the Gospel is under attack and needs to be clearly defined because souls are at stake!
Thank you,
???????
Greetings ??????
I appreciate your interest in our ministry and also what appears to be a desire to keep us accountable for what God has entrusted to our care with this ministry. I’ll begin answering your questions with a few disclaimers and then attempt to share how our experience translates into the doctrinal issues you bring up. Please understand I am not a student of theology nor have I attended seminary; I am an engineer gone missionary with a desire to share the Good News in the Gospel message in both word and deed in places where truth and action are most needed. I believe God exists, He sent His Son in human form for forgiveness of sins and in Jesus Christ, and him alone, we may find eternal life. I would add that your questions are far from basic in that there are many schools of thought on the role of felt needs, people, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit in furthering the Kingdom of God. Many books have been written addressing these questions in various forms. I can only answer them in light of what God has placed on my heart regarding my role in fulfilling His purpose of restoring His Kingdom and redeeming His people. I am motivated by a sense of having a purpose in this plan, and that purpose is reaching Unreached peoples in word and deed.
I believe as Christians we all have two basic roles. One role is as a servant with Christ as our example -servant that is to love our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). Our second role is that of a steward; caretakers of the creation He has made. In all we do, it is to the glory of God to praise Him. These roles play out in very different ways depending on our various God-given gifts, resources, passions, etc. For myself, it is a passion to provide clean drinking water and living spiritual water (John 4) to those who lack access to both. I believe the Gospel message is a fusion of the spiritual and physical needs of man. We cannot simply speak of salvation in Jesus Christ and ignore the material needs of those who lack basic necessities. (1 john 3:17-18). Likewise, we cannot simply provide for the physical needs of people without sharing the truth that motivates to overcome poverty, injustice and inequality. We know faith without works is dead but also know we are not saved by works (James 2:26, Eph 2:8-9). However, we were created to do good works (Eph 2:10).
As you may have read in our brochure, I do not believe a positive, lasting change can occur in the external human condition without an internal transformation (Romans 12:2). That transformation occurs when the truth of the Gospel is heard, believed and confessed. I could go to Africa and provide for the physical needs of the same people simply for the sake of providing for their physical needs, but what I may end up doing is enabling a sinner to sin better! Demonstration of the Gospel must be accompanied by proclamation of the Gospel. The satisfaction of felt needs accomplishes two things. First, it obeys Christ’s command to love one another and provide water, food, shelter, clothing and visitation of those in need (Mt 25:40). The second thing the meeting of felt needs accomplishes is development of a relationship that provides a platform for sharing the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).
We are all members of the body of Christ (Romans 12:4-8), and, as such, we all have various roles to play. I regard my role as a bridge builder. By this I mean I build bridges to unreached communities by developing relationships with people by providing for very real needs in their lives. I may not be the individual who evangelizes that particular community or plants the church, but we partner with those who do help fulfill those roles as different members of the body. We would be foolish to think we are there to do all those things on our own.
You ask the role of the Holy Spirit. I believe it is the Holy Spirit that reaches these people while using us as an instrument of God’s will. We don’t know what impact the installation of a water well or implementation of a clinic may have on the hearts of people. We don’t know how God will use those who partner with us as we visit villages where the name of Jesus is unknown or misunderstood. We can only move forwardly boldly in faith knowing that we are to follow his command as laid out in the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20) to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teach others what he has commanded us.
I do know that our presence alone has aroused curiosity in many people we have encountered that opens a door when they ask us what would bring us to such a place when we could be somewhere else where life is not so difficult. Why would we come to Africa when we could be in America? It is then we can tell them about the love of Christians for them and the love of Christ. These are challenging tasks in a Muslim ministry, and the Gospel message must be shared gently and in love while seeking common ground between the two faiths. This is why we seek partnerships with those who are better prepared to disciple and teach. These include other missionaries as well as nationals who have converted from Islam to Christianity.
My wife and I were deeply impacted by a visit to the U.S. Center for World Missions in 2007 when we took a course called Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, which addressed ideas such as unreached peoples and transformational development. Their definition of Unreached peoples was focused on the use of the Greek word ethne for nations, which does not necessarily refer to a political nation state but instead is defined by people groups united by common languages, customs, etc. Dr. Ralph Winters believed that these people groups should be our focus in the Great Commission knowing that the Gospel of Kingdom will one day be a testimony to all the nations (Mt 24:14) and one day a multitude of peoples from every “tongue, tribe and nation” will stand before our Lord in worship (Rev 5:9).
I believe this view provides focus to the mission at hand, but I also believe the definition of unreached peoples includes other brothers and sisters is Christ who lack basic physical necessities that hinder their ability to seek God because they are seeking food, water and shelter. I also believe that unreached people can be fellow workers who have to take resources away from their existing ministry, say Bible translation for example, because they are also lacking access to basic necessities in their community, such as clean drinking water. We strive to work in all these realms where the Gospel meets at a crossroads of physical and spiritual needs.
Currently our ministry focuses primarily on a people group called the Fulbe, or Fulani, of which there are approximately 20 million in number across Sub-Saharan West Africa from Senegal to Cameroon. In Cameroon alone there are nearly 1.5 million Fulbe of which less than a hundred are Christian, and I have met many of these Fulbe Christians. We partner with other organizations, like World Team and the Baptist General Conference (now Converge Worldwide) to bring the Gospel to this people group in both word and deed. We are the bridge builders to communities that would otherwise remain unreached without a legitimate presence brought through the installation of water wells, appropriate technologies and health education.
Concurrently we assist other Cameroonian ministries, like a school for disabled children in Bamenda, where neglected, abused and abandoned are brought into the school to be taught the love of God and other skills by Cameroonian workers. We also assist other missionaries involved to other ministries, like Bible translation, who have needed our assistance in providing clean water at their compounds. Our current focus in on our “Pick a Project Campaign” where we have identified specific needs with specific people in specific areas that require sponsorship for completion. I would encourage you to look at our Pick a Project brochure (also available online at www.transformationalministries.com). I would also suggest you read our most recent newsletter, also available on the web site, that has an article called, “The Why Behind the What”, which was written to address some of these questions you have brought up in a general , but personal, sort of way.
You will also read in our newsletter that we plan to take a 3-month trip with our newborn from June to August prior to our departure in September for Cameroon. It is our hope to meet with people like yourself during this time to share our vision with others and seek ministry supporters for our projects. If you feel our doctrinal views fall in line with those of your church, we would welcome the opportunity to share as we pass through ?????? in June. In the meantime, my wife and I will be preparing for the birth of our first child next month and our return to Africa.
I hope I have adequately answered your questions. If I may, I would also like to pose a few questions of my own. From whom did you learn of our ministry? At what church are you the associate pastor, and do you have a web site? What is you missions involvement as a church and what role do you feel missions play in the Christian life? What is your personal experience in this area?
I agree that the Gospel is under attack and always has been and always will be (Mt 24:9). It is essential that we keep one another accountable for the truth that has been revealed to us.
I look forward to your response and thank you for the opportunity to review some of these important questions in my own mind and heart.
