Lately, i have been too involved in my family affairs, so much so that i need to take a break from writing. It was a period of great trials, yet of great rejoicing too. But the output of this episode are anxiety, frustration, helplessness, confusion and despair as i drift along with the unpredictable current. Fortunately, the winds of hope, anticipation, joy, encouragement, support and peace are still blowing within me, enabling me to sail my entire family safely towards the shore. We have not reached our final destination yet, but we are hopeful that everything will be on track to mark a marvelous voyage experience. Do pray for us as we continue to experience divine intervention in our family. Thank you.
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Simplicity is beaut.
People often lose sight of the core issues at hand when they dwell too much in the complex particularities of their tasks. For example, corporations tend to spend millions of dollars to engage consultants to resolve the huge chunks of inter-twined cobwebs found in their normal operations. In promoting specialization, they somewhat miss the bigger picture, that is, their core business visions.
Every organization, therefore, has an impetus need to derive a good framework with which all current and future operations can adhere and conform. Such a system, when well executed, would prevent the accumulation of legacy dust and give rise to new innovation frontiers.
At this juncture, i want to propose a feasible evergreen framework that would include a cyclic equation consisting of two key elements - persistence and consistency. In essence, it is a synergy of active and passive mode of operations, designed to produce remarkable and sustenance results in the long run.
Persistence has to do with pursuing actively things that correspond to your values and goals. In utilizing appropriate methods and techniques, you are determined to achieve the desired outcomes no matter the cost. Some failures during this long process are acceptable to gain valuable insights for improvement feedbacks on your current approaches. Creativity is the norm for such an experimental setup. Ultimately, when the desired state is attained, there would be a rich collection of lessons learned for future reference.
Consistency is a passive mode of verification that all proven solutions are still as effective as before, even when the problems at hand may have mutated. In today's fast changing global climate, solutions of yesterday may cease to be antidotes for tomorrow. It is, therefore, very important for people or organization to ascertain constantly whether the current processes are still relevant or whether they have to be replaced by new and better alternatives.
I believe such a dynamic combination of persistence and consistency will almost ensure that a system continues to evolve and adapt, producing effective outcomes in her stated visions and goals.
The Bible tells us that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Heb 13:8)
Yet the same Jesus also mentioned to His disciples that, "And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. (Luke 5:37-38)
Unmistakably, Jesus never change. He need not, because He is the perfect Son of God. But we need to change because we have not attained perfection yet. This is the process of sanctification. Furthermore, the world we are living is also undergoing a face lift. With new issues like terrorism and global warming ascending to the top of our human agenda, we better be ready for an extreme makeover. What is effective for us in the past may not hold true in the distant future.
Therefore, the Church can consider to adopt the above-mentioned evergreen framework in fulfilling the Great Commission given by Jesus Christ. For over two thousands year, plenty of mission and evangelical tactics and strategies have been devised and implemented to advance the gospel. Yet, in recent Centuries, the conversion rate of Christians have gone down to a slump, as compared to earlier periods. Why is this so? Can we identify the root problem of this decline? Can we say that God is no longer interested in this BIG salvation task? No, of course not!
What have changed (or for that matter, lack of change) are actually ourselves, Christians, or on a macro term, the Church. Internally, our humans' weaknesses have allowed bureaucracy and traditions to hinder the advancement of the gospel. Externally, globalization has introduced new hurdles like consumerism, elitism, new age movement, post-modernism, financial-freedom-craze, information (overload) economy, and so on so forth. The Church just are not moving fast enough to adapt to the new economy.
Indeed, we can do with a persistence pursue of effective channels and methods of advancing the Gospel. With an attitude of experimentation, Christians should be courageous enough to explore new means of reaching to new people, new methods of preaching to the unsaved and new mediums of building the Church. We should ask ourselves. Must it always be the western Christianity's doctrines and liturgies? Why can't we appropriate the Word of God in the context of the places we evangelize? Look at what the western Europe has become in terms of their spirituality, when in fact, they were the champions of Christian evangelism for the past ten Centuries. By following their footsteps, are we also destined for spiritual decline in the distant future? When theology cannot meet the modern challenges, should we drop our faith to pursue the worldly attractions? Of course not! We should all the more persevere and rethink about our Christian theology.
"We may know in part now but there will be a time when God's people will understand in full."
Christian theology should not cease, but through an active process of reflecting and contemplating, be able to picture God better in all His magnificent glory and majesty.
Yet, this active process of pursue should not exceed the pace of our modernization. We need to have a consistency plan on how to implement and document the most effective evangelical solutions of our times. Through a process of sharing and collaboration, churches can come together and advance the Gospel in one accord. No longer will there be any meaningless denominational disputes or rivalries, because we have learnt to appreciate the true one body of Christ. Mega-churches, with all their rich resources, should assist the smaller ones to grow in faith and in spiritual gifts. Traditional churches, with their renowned doctrines and heritages, should share with the newer ones in order to appreciate the invaluable Christian inheritance past down from generations to generations. Through continuous process of check-and-balance, churches can mold one another to eliminate their blind areas and create new Gospel territories. Instead of the individualistic pursue, Church can now have a communal type of synergy, which is fueled by the same Holy Spirit, to enable Christians to make Jesus' disciples from their hometown all the way to the ends of the earth.
I believe that this proposed evergreen framework, when well-executed, can continue to spiral itself to greater height, reaching an unseen climax in the history of Christianity. This i pray and dream for Christ.
To God be the highest glory forever and ever! Amen.
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