Matt 24 Watch 16: Easter 1917 -- Vimy Ridge + 90, and associated history and issues

Easter Monday, April 9th.

Not 2007, but 1917 -- the coincidence of both day and date has set me to thinking . . .

5:30 AM, France. Vimy Ridge -- a strategic nine mile long escarpment long held by German invaders in France, having captured it in 1914 and held on to in the face of repeated French and British attacks that in aggregate cost something like 150,000 dead. But, ninety years ago today, it was successfully attacked by the now famous Canadian Corps in that nation's first major military action: an infantry assault during a snow-storm that swept up behind a creeping barrage of artillery with a few crucial tanks playing key tactical roles. (All of this sounds like a precursor to subsequent military history and techniques, and it is -- right down to today's "shock and awe.")

As the just linked CBC article notes:

. . . The fight to take Vimy Ridge cost Canada dearly, but it would become the cornerstone of the nation's image of its place in the world. In four days, 3,600 Canadian soldiers died [NB: compare this to the US Casualty total in Iraq after several years of police action and nation-building efforts, discounting the far lighter casualties suffered in the record-setting blitzkreig that led them into Baghdad on was it April 9th 2003, if memory serves?], another 5,000 were wounded. But the ridge was taken, much of it in the first day. The valour of the troops [four Victoria Crosses were won], the originality of the plan, the success where larger, more established armies had failed, all contributed to a new nation's pride.

The battle was hailed as the first allied success of the long war, achieved mostly due to the innovation of using a creeping, continuous massive artillery barrage to protect squads of advancing troops. Both sides used the tactic in future battles. [Read also here.]

A more accurate view, probably, would be that it was the first relatively low cost "British" attack with a notable success on its first day. For the Brusilov Offensive by the Russians, and several French attacks from 1915 on were arguably at least as successful. However, the success is noteworthy and the contrast to the 60,000 casualties on the first day of the attack on the Somme in July 1916 -- 20,000 of these being dead, is particularly telling. (It is worth noting that thereafter, whenever the Canadians went into line opposite them, the Germans expected to suffer a major attack, viewing the Canadians as special assault troops.)

Of course, 1917 was a pivotal year in general. From February on Russia underwent first a revolution then in November the Bolshevik coup, that precipitated the struggle with Communism that yet haunts the world, even more than a decade after the fall of the Soviet Union. France, launching its own attacks that were less successful, underwent large scale mutiny that nearly knocked it out of the War. The German return to unrestricted submarine warfare brought the United States, for the first time, into a major European War and into significant global engagements -- including the creation of the League of Nations, the precursor to today's United Nations..

Then, early in 1918, having knocked Russia out of the war and having in so doing sown the seed of the Communist revolution by conveying Lenin and others from exile across German held territory, the Germans switched their released troops from the east front to attack the allies in the West before the rising tide of American troops could decide the war. Thus, from March 1918 on a massive series of assaults brought the allies to the point where their backs were to the wall -- that phrase was actually used -- but the then lines held in the end. And, as the rising tide of American troops entered the lists, first in key defensive actions, then in the wave of follow up allied attacks it soon became apparent to their military leaders that the Germans had lost their final gamble. So, an armistice was signed that came into effect November 11, 1918, at 11:00 am, the Kaiser adn Crown Prince going into exile in Holland. (Reportedly, the Kaiser's first request was for a cup of good strong English Tea -- he was, after all, Victoria's grandson, and a cousin of both the British and Russian Monarchs. For, Queen Victoria had sought to establish peace in Europe by marrying her descendants into the royal families of that continent. One inadvertent consequence was the spreading of haemophilia across those families, as she was a carrier. One of those victims just happened to be the heir to the Russian throne, and that played a material part in the collapse of the Russian Monarchy - not least, thanks to the baneful influence of Rasputin, a religious charlatan who pretended to be able to cure attacks of bleeding.)

Under the armistice's terms, the German troops marched home in good order, then by and large disbanded. [Fighting continued in the East for years, in a confusing combination of civil wars, nationalist uprisings, external interventions and a general battle against Bolshevism.] Unfortunately, the memory of these troops marching home in good order contributed to the appeal of the legend that the German forces had been "stabbed in the back," and of course with resentment over the terms of the Treaty of Versailles -- milder than those imposed by Germany on revolution-wracked Russia at Brest-Litovsk! -- helped greatly with Hitler's rise to power.

War-weariness and shock over the millions who died -- too often so obviously to little or no military result -- in the war on the part of the French and British then made a fatal blend in the face of Hitler's fascist militarism and concept of a master race rising to power and in the process overthrowing lesser breeds. So, by failing to contain and resist Hitler and other aggressive forces stoutly in the 1930's, the world was convulsed by the second global conflict in a generation starting in 1939. Some sixty millions died -- the First war had "only" killed nine millions.

Subsequent to the second great war, the Cold war dominated the world scene for a generation, until st the turn of the 1990's a war-weary, soul-drained, economically stressed West saw the Soviet Union collapse. Some exulted in "the end of history" even as Samuel P Huntington warned on the clash of civilisations:

World politics is entering a new phase, and intellectuals have not hesitated to proliferate visions of what it will be-the end of history, the return of traditional rivalries between nation states, and the decline of the nation state from the conflicting pulls of tribalism and globalism, among others. Each of these visions catches aspects of the emerging reality. Yet they all miss a crucial, indeed a central, aspect of what global politics is likely to be in the coming years.

It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.

Conflict between civilizations will be the latest phase in the evolution of conflict in the modern world. For a century and a half after the emergence of the modern international system with the Peace of Westphalia, the conflicts of the Western world were largely among princes-emperors, absolute monarchs and constitutional monarchs attempting to expand their bureaucracies, their armies, their mercantilist economic strength and, most important, the territory they ruled. In the process they created nation states, and beginning with the French Revolution the principal lines of conflict were between nations rather than princes. In 1793, as R. R. Palmer put it, "The wars of kings were over; the wars of peoples had begun." This nineteenth-century pattern lasted until the end of World War I. Then, as a result of the Russian Revolution and the reaction against it, the conflict of nations yielded to the conflict of ideologies, first among communism, fascism-Nazism and liberal democracy, and then between communism and liberal democracy. During the Cold War, this latter conflict became embodied in the struggle between the two superpowers, neither of which was a nation state in the classical European sense and each of which defined its identity in terms of its ideology.

These conflicts between princes, nation states and ideologies were primarily conflicts within Western civilization, "Western civil wars," as William Lind has labeled them. This was as true of the Cold War as it was of the world wars and the earlier wars of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. With the end of the Cold War, international politics moves out of its Western phase, and its centerpiece becomes the interaction between the West and non-Western civilizations and among non-Western civilizations. In the politics of civilizations, the peoples and governments of non-Western civilizations no longer remain the objects of history as targets of Western colonialism but join the West as movers and shapers of history.

However we may wish to analyse and debate Huntington on points, he has plainly here hit on a -- note how he does not speak of "the" -- key issue, one that is now helping to driving the emergence of the global era. We may extend the theme to speak of a clash across worldviews, shaped by not only formal religions but also by the religion-substitute of evolutionary materialism and associated secularist progressivism.

Thus, we are back to the triangle of global forces we have so often discussed in this blog: [a] the increasingly dechristianised North, [b] the Islamists from the Middle East, and [c] the Southern Christian Reformation. In that context, we the peoples of the Caribbean are a front-line in the clash of the three forces, and have a great opportunity to contribute to the global spreading of the message of reconciliation and peace that a hurt, bleeding world so desperately needs to hear.

So, let us now move on from Easter ironies to the Easter Message:

2CO 5:17 . . . if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God . . . .

2CO 4:1 . . . since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Oh, that men would but listen!

And, Oh, that we the Christians of the Caribbean would stir to fulfill our potential and opportunities to reach out boldly, clearly and truthfully with the message of reconciliation! END

1 Chron 12:32 report, 39: "Money answereth to all things . . ." -- but, is that the whole story?

A few years ago, while working on projects and thinking about barriers to successful implementation -- a major concept in sustainable development work, I suddenly realised that "we don't have the money" isn't all that it is cracked up to be.

I will explain, through disguised cases. For, we all make mistakes, so the point is to learn the lessons, not to beat up on our favourite whipping-boy by playing that ever so popular sport, the blame-game:

CASE A: "Once upon a time," there was a project that would have addressed a major regional challenge in an innovative, and obviously financially attractive way - investors seldom see numbers like that. Funding was therefore secured on unheard of terms, with a generous contingency allowance. But, when the matured developed project was presented to the decision-makers in the situation, they balked and an office war resulted. The project has never been implemented, and it turns out that the underlying projections on how the market it would have taken advantage of were CONSERVATIVE. That is, the project proposal understated its viability!

CASE B: "Once upon a time" there was a project proposal, which was viable and highly needed. During the initial development and implementation, the main financial backer apparently saw someone else who he liked better, and decided to switch. The original proposers and implementers were left holding the bag. A few months later, when one of the original proposers went to a conference -- lo and behold -- "the new kid on the block" was using a very familiar cluster of equipment to try to implement the original idea, but unfortunately was plainly out of his depth. The original proposers were never adequately compensated for their effort to develop the project concept -- or for providing access to their network of contacts.

CASE C: "Once upon a time" there was a project proposal for which funding had been secured, and the initiative was not only obviously viable and manned by people who could have done the job, but was in a vital area. The decision-makers, embroiled in their own day to day challenges and full of questions, held off deciding until the project's sponsors decided to take their money elsewhere. The main challenge still lies unanswered-to.

CASE D: "Once upon a time" there was a major project for which funding within reasonable limits was simply not an issue, and which was actually being implemented, though it was in need of good ideas and champions to move them forward in the face of passive resistance to change. Someone was brought in. But, this idea champion soon found himself in a situation where the sponsor who recruited him for the project as well as the main "godfather" in high places, left the organisation. [Cf discussion of these terms and related issues here.] The now naked change agent was forced out. Later on, the very same ideas that were so "controversial," "overly demanding," "unrealistic," "unworkable" and otherwise contemptuously dismissed when he was their champion, had to be dusted off and implemented, not too long after he left -- oftentimes (but thankfully not always) without giving credit where it was due.

Notice how, in each case the "money problem" had been answered, but that just led to the next barrier on the track. So, we can see . . .

Take-home lesson, No 1: too often, "there's no money" is short hand for: "our priorities and agenda are different from yours." Indeed, sometimes, I have been led to wonder whether there is an alternate, worldly wise view of the classic Sunday School tale of David and Goliath: Saul should never have let David get a chance to "shine" -- that way he would never have become a threat.

THL, No 2: Projects have a cluster of critical success factors, CSFs for short. These are the several things that must be in place, or must be achieved or must be done well if a project is to work. So, we need to identify them and address them robustly if we are to be likely to succeed.

THL No 3: Something important will go wrong, so projects are inherently risky. That means we have to have contingencies for when things go wrong, and we have to be realistic on the chances that things can/will go wrong. Backup resources and alternatives are not luxuries. If you are an idea champion in a heavy office politics organisation, make sure you have enough sponsors in middle management to ward off routine interference with what you are doing, and enough godfathers at he top to ward off the heavy rollers who can easily crush you without a second thought. Keep your resume up to date, and keep your feelers out to detect job-loss warning signs.

THL, No 4: Trust and cooperation are hard to secure, and harder to sustain in the face of inevitable conflicts in the course of a project's life. So, trust-building, frank but truthful and respectful communication and positive conflict management approaches are vital. So is a sense of humour.

THL, No 5: Adequate money and other key inputs are plainly a major CSF, and are prone to be risky. If a project's goal is vital, fundraising needs to be robust -- from as many sources as possible. Also, it helps to have a contingency sum adequate to handle failure of the more risky founding sources. Likewise, we can often exchange money for time: a project that is not doable due to risky finances in a short framework, becomes much more viable if we slow down the pace and use the strategy of an army of infiltrating ants and worms, not a squadron of highly visible, expensive, easily targetted elephants.

Thus, we can see why GLI advocates the MVAT approach. For, networked clusters of small community based teams that undertake projects they themselves identify and see as feasible are in the end quite likely to succeed often enough to make a difference. The key idea being to start small, with high concept-low budget initiatives, then build up a track record of success and a network of sponsors and supporters that lay a foundation for more ambitious ventures, eventually across the world as God leads and opens up doors.

However, obviously, such a network still needs to raise resources, especially money; especially when we begin to consider projecting missionary initiatives across the globe. That brings us to Basic Fund-raising Ideas, 101, in a nutshell:

1] Some projects e.g.. conferences and courses) can be partly or wholly self-funding through fees and sponsorships (including voluntary or subsidised services and in-kind donations).

2] Income-generating projects e.g.. in crafts or construction or even cash crops) can be undertaken to fund the work. (A successful project can then be developed as a small business!)

3] The Tentmaking model of Acs 18 - 19 shows how such a small business (or a profession) can be used as an economic base for ministry. (Indeed, all believers should view their employment as a base for proportionate giving to/investment in God's work; i.e.. evangelism and life-transforming discipleship naturally build a skills, manpower and financial base for further ministry.)

4] Regular individual/group subscriptions, pledged sponsorships and matching donation challenges can be used, especially for long-term initiatives such as training and fielding missionaries.

5] A portion of the income to the local teams and wider network should be consistently set aside to build a long term endowment. [Maybe here, the Chinese example of tithing resources for full time ministry to global missions support can help us begin: if we cannot give 10% of already offered money, efforts, personnel and skills to the global mission of the church, then are we really following our mandate to disciple the nations?]

6] Prudent investment of the resulting endowment fund then yields a steady income base for further work.

I think that an excellent place to begin is the creation of a regional Internet-based "college without walls," one that will, God willing, focus on helping the people of God and churches across the region build up knowledge, skills and capacity to nurture disciples, train people in ministry and undertake the mandate of gospel based transformation of the nations, here in our region and onward across the world, especially inthe 10/40 window. To that, DV, let us next turn. END

1 Chron 12:32 Report, 38: 'Full Hundred" -- mobilising all of God's people under our mandate through the "fulness" theme of Eph 1 - 4

Astute readers will have noticed that, over the past few days, I have only spoken in terms of so-called "full time" [FT] workers in the mission of the church in and from the Caribbean.

Thus, so far we have developed an estimate of FT missions potential: [1] 1 in 100 as FT, this being [2] tithed to the overseas mission field, and [3] backed up by finances from within the region estimated at at one percent of the annual income of Christians across the region (using numbers of evangelicals as a crude proxy] and matched through extraregional partners.

However, this "misses" 99% of Christians in the region, and in light of the fulness theme in Ephesians 1 - 4 and related biblical teachings, we now need to bring in the 99%, to make up the "full hundred."

First, Eph 2:8 - 10:

. . . it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

This immediately of course embraces the process of repentance, renewal and transformation through basic discipleship under the scriptures in the power of the Spirit, through the working of the church. It embraces the world of life-transforming moral growth: virtues tied to love, truth and purity. Witness to our Lord and answering questions on the reasons for our hope and more are included. But, equally, there is an individual aspect to the challenge: each of us is called, gifted, prepared and placed in the body of Christ. This comes out in 1 Cor 12:

1CO 12:7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good . . . 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines . . . . 1CO 12:14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many . . . . 1CO 12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"

In short, each of us has a role to play in the church and the unity is just as important as the necessary diversity of functions and roles. Building on this, we see the overall goal and strategy -- through what can be called the operational form of the church's mandate:

. . . [God] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment -- to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

(. . . He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe [panta -- all things].) It was he who gave some to be apostles . . . prophets . . . evangelists . . . pastors and teachers to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ . . . . speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together [i.e. united!] by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

I pray . . . that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand . . . And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills everything in every way. [Eph. 1:9, 10, 4:9-16, 1:18-23, NIV.]

As our Risen Lord works to fill all things with his glory, he sends out his church among the nations, starting with what would be FT and/or "tent-making" workers: missionaries/apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. These work to equip all of God's people so that we can all fulfill our own roles in the body, as it grows up in the image of its Head, through the truth in love as each of us does his/her work.

In practical terms, that means that we must first take a hard look on the different spheres of life -- individuality, family life and sexuality, education, business and work, arts and entertainment, sports, media, politics, community institutions etc -- in our communities:

1] If this "thing" were full of Jesus' grace and glory, what would it look like?

2] What does it look like now?

3] What can and should "I" or "we" do about it under God -- thus promoting repentance, renewal, revival and reformation?

Now, of course, one man's repentance and reformation is another man's rebuke. So, such initiatives will inevitably be resisted -- we are dealing with spiritual battles here, which must be bathed in prayer and the leading and anointing of God. And, yes, prayer and waiting on God's leading and anointing are extremely vital practical steps!

(NB: it is worth noting here, that one of the subtler reasons for sponsoring FT workers and associated ministries in our communities and on overseas mission fields is that that financial independence helps to protect such workers from economic retaliation for daring to speak God's truth to sinful, resentful centres of power. So, generous giving to such initiatives is one of he key ways to walk in good works laid out in advance for us. [I must pause and say a hearty thank-you to those who financially support those who labour in such retaliation-prone areas of service.])

That brings us full-circle to the first several MVAT action-steps, as we have discussed in this series already -- we are making progress through spiral learning loops here:

1] For such a time as this: our opportunity

2] Getting started: pulling together a circle of interest, discussion, study and prayer

3] The Antioch Timeline challenge: it's high time . . .

4] Working together: principles for working together under God, across our diverse church theologies and traditions . . . .

9] Getting organised: pulling together an MVAT team

By working through such a process, you should have a circle of committed believers, who, through prayer and God's leading and anointing, have identified local strategic points for action, have carried out awareness and activation seminars and have organised coordinated and supported action teams to carry the work forward. Such believers, of course may include some FT workers, but in light of the above, it stands to reason that most will not be FT workers.

Many may have but little experience with organising, coordinating and implementing projects. So a bit of a primer on basic planning and management will be helpful, also an overview on working in and leading small/cell groups, and especially a bit of exposure to Project Management 101 in a nutshell:

a] GAR: this is not just the name of a common fish, a local favourite here in Montserrat. Here we are thinking in terms of: GOALS, ACTION-STEPS, and input RESOURCES that allow us to achieve the goals.

b] GOALS: In light of opportunities and threats [or at least challenges], and our strengths and weaknesses -- the SWOT factors -- what are some desirable and achievable targets for the action team over a given period? What deliverable results will allow us to see that we have achieved the goals?

c] ACTION-STEPS: To reach to the goal starting from where we are, certain practical things have to be done in a coordinated, timely manner. For instance, a project plan may have to be drawn up, funding and other resources may have to be obtained, promotional work may have to be done, and a lot of other specifics that depend on the precise nature of the project. Coordination meetings are all but inevitable. And, more.

d] RESOURCES: Certain inputs are required to sustain the activities and yield the deliverable results as outputs that show that the goals are being achieved. Money, effort and time are three major examples.

"GAR" is therefore a useful summary of the key steps involved in carrying out such a project.

Next time, DV, let us begin to look on the vexed issue of fund-raising. END

1 Chron 12:32 Report, 37: Start (small if necessary), but . . . please . . . start!

Going back to 1 Chron 12:32, we may read of the two hundred "men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do."

Q: Why was this noteworthy?

A: Because, the coronation of David as King over all Israel was at a turbulent, confusing time, at the end of a civil war while also fighting off deadly invaders from outside. But, by recognising the prophetically anointed David as the founder of a new Dynasty, the foundation for two generations of greatness were laid. Thus, the men of Issachar were noted for their ability to spot and take advantage of a key opportunity in the mids of a confusing situation -- the essential point of strategic insight.

Similarly, in our time, there are many challenges, hurts, clashing voices and worse, too often leading to confusion and paralysis.

For instance, many of us in the Caribbean are caught up in the debt trap: inflation eating a hole in our salaries or wages or profits, stiff mortgages, car loans [even as the price of new or even "deportee"/ "Internet" cars soars out of sight], the prospect of College loans, or having to pay off student loans, or worse. And, that is the more prosperous classes who are often living "month to month." For vastly many more Caribbean people [and not just in Haiti, Guyana and Jamaica], as Dr Mark Figueroa of UWI Mona Campus has said, their daily focus is "the dinner problem," i.e. will they find enough to have as much as one decent meal today -- living "hand-to-mouth."

We are also in the midst of a confusing era as environmental panics sweep the world, e.g. over claimed human contributions to global climate change and associated scientific and policy debates, agendas and initiatives. A global conflict between the West and militant, surging Islamism dominates headlines, even as media figures spin, highlight or suppress the news from the fronts in the struggle to serve their own ideological agendas. Here in the Caribbean, we see a triangle of global forces in contention: (a) De-Chistianisation from the North, (b) Islamism from the Middle East, (c) the ongoing surge of Christian reformation in the South.

In the midst of all of this turmoil, confusion and pain, Solomon's 3,000 year old counsel speaks, with telling force:

PR 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

PR 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

PR 3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.

PR 3:8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.

PR 3:9 Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;

PR 3:10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.

Surely, if we are to soundly understand our times and understand what we are to do, and walk in the right and blessed path, we must heed this voice.

Similarly, let us listen again to Mordecai's counsel to his ward, Esther, in the face of an irrevocable decree of genocide against the Jews in the Persian Empire:

EST 4:13 . . . "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

For, despite our many confusions, fears, challenges and even predicaments, we the people of God in the Caribbean have never been so well-off, so educated, so free to travel and initiate actions on our own behalf. Multiply that by our strategic potential under God for the mission of the church in and from the region, and we come to the decisive questions: Why not now? Why not here? Why not us?

Q: But, what can we do in the here-and-now?

A: Many things -- as was discussed a few days back.

Q: But, how -- given our resource, focus/vision and cooperation/unity challenges?

A: First, we must think along the lines of the even- more- challenged but oh- so- dynamic Chinese church -- an army of ants and worms that together can accomplish much, one tiny step at a time. Second, if we accept that God has called us forth for such a time as this, then we can seek a vision on his way forward. I believe we have outlined some of that already, starting with the many local projects just pointed to. Third, we need to recognise that we in fact have a lot more potential capability and resources than we think. Then, we can address the issue of how to go about planning, funding and implementing such local and then international projects.

As a first step, let us now take a leaf from the sustainable development movement, and briefly explore the concepts of strategic planning through comparing business as usual [BAU] vs alternative paths [ALT], and associated capacity-building through what we could call Nehemiah projects.

So, let us turn to Strategic Planning 101 in a nutshell:

1] Accepting the need to change: Whether as individuals, families, organisations, businesses or communities, we always have a strategy: we are deploying means to get to ends. The question is what means, and to what ends, why? Too often, the answer is "business as usual," in the short-term interests of the powerful in the situation -- often without realising where that will lead in the long run. It is therefore always useful to pause and ask, where will we end up, given our situation and trends? In this regard, Jesus' warning about gaining the whole world but losing our very souls, takes on cutting force. It is fair comment to note that by and large, we simply are not doing well enough to be satisfied. [And, are we really confident that on a certain day, we will hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant . . ."?]

2] PESST and SWOT factors: Realistic plans start by scanning our environment and assessing our potential. What are the relevant PESST factors and trends -- political, economic, socio-cultural, spiritual and technology-and-science? What about SWOT -- our strengths and weaknesses, in light of opportunities and threats lurking in the PESST factors and trends?

3] Robust vs brittle strategies: A robust or sound strategy builds on our strengths. It uses them to (1) exploit opportunities, (2) counter threats, and (3) compensate for (and where possible, correct) weaknesses. In so doing, it reckons with the fact that sometimes, trends are not easily predictable, so it may be wise to look at optimistic, intermediate and pessimistic scenarios. A robust strategy will be resistant to uncertainties about the way things will turn out. By contrast, a brittle strategy usually thinks in terms of just one scenario, often, that things are going to go on pretty much as they are. Or else, it may construct a rosy vision of how "our" particular movement is going to dominate the future. (The case of Paul at Fair Havens, Crete in Acts 27 should serve as a salutary warning to such folly. Cf the post series starting here.)

4] Comparing BAU and ALT strategies: BAU as a rule serves the short-term interests of the dominant power groups, and may exploit the lack of a voice of marginalised groups to mislead or even oppress them. A serious look at PESST SWOT and brittle vs robust strategy issues will as a rule expose BAU as highly brittle in our age where change seems to be the real constant factor. That means we need to look at what a robust alternative could look like and then consider the comparison between where BAU is likely to end up, both here and hereafter, and what a robust alternative credibly would lead to -- given Haggai and Psalm 127:1 as we looked at a few days ago.)

5] Changing from BAU to ALT: Step 4 has a name: "gap analysis," i.e. identifying the gap between where BAU is likely to end up, and where a robust -- thus, sustainable -- alternative will credibly go. But, is that enough to motivate change? As a rule, no: very few people are sufficiently confident and have the resources and power to make drastic changes on mere analysis. So, we need to begin small and see what happens with the new way, then as we see and learn from points of success and failure, we can begin to adjust. Then, when we are satisfied, we can scale up. Indeed, the list of local projects from a few days ago accommodate this pattern of demonstration projects and then absorbing lessons as we scale up. [It is also probably part of why we see in Acts 1, that Jesus speaks of going first to Jerusalem, then Judaea, then Samaria, then to the ends of the earth.] Start small, here and now, in short.

6] Organising a cluster of "Nehemiah projects": We can take a leaf from Nehemiah, as was recently discussed on the MVAT steps 2 and 3. Namely, he organised the overall initiative as a cluster of projects done side by side by different groups, working together. Modernising the idea, we come to the Project Team or "Matrix" organisational strategy -- using resource units to supply what is needed for project teams to carry forward the projects under the overall goal. Then, coordination requires working with the resource team leaders and the project team leaders in a steering group. (NB: This gives a voice at the top to the innovators, who are too often blocked, frustrated, stifled or silenced and even slandered in the typical power-pyramid style organisation; which emphasises the power of routine business as usual. For more details in a step by step format, cf The MVAT Kit steps 2 - 4.)

7] Exploiting a Breakthrough: When, God willing, a notable success has been achieved and lessons have been drawn and learned, it is wise to pause and reflect, celebrate and project corporately or even publicly. This provides an occasion for igniting a fire of renewed vision and hope, that can trigger momentum towards transformational change in the church and wider community, i.e. repentance and renewal often leads to revival and reformation. Certainly, that is what happened with Nehemiah and Ezra, as we may read from Nehemiah 8 on. Similar points can be seen in the life of the early church as seen in Acts, and in the history and cycle of annual festivals for Ancient Israel. Then, we can move on to a higher level of strategic action, God willing.

In this context, it is well worth looking again at the raw potential capacity we have, as was summarised a few days ago:

. . . Say that we can have 1 in every 100 Christians [just counting the 8 million or so evangelicals] as a full-time worker, and that we target tithing that number to the mission fields beyond our region. Counting just the claimed eight million or so evangelicals across the region, that would give us 72,000 full-time workers in our region, and 8,000 mobilised for the mission fields of the 10/40 window and elsewhere. In army terms, that's nine or so "divisions" at home, and an expeditionary "division." [But as Paul more than proved in Acts, a well supported "platoon" of say 20 - 40 can be more than enough to be a very effective missions force in any given targetted region or community! Maybe, even a "squad" -- or, thinking in Cavalry, tanker or air unit terms, a "squadron" -- of 5 - 12; which is in fact about the scale of Paul's missionary teams. (Of course, we aren't out to shoot people, just to love them. Love is far, far cheaper -- and in the end, more effective, too -- than war.)]

How could we fund such a division-strength global "expeditionary force" of missionary workers?

Per capita incomes are of order US$ 2,000 - 5,000 across most of our region, so the "evangelical regional product" in our region is maybe of order US$ 10 billions. One percent of that is US$ 100 millions, and a tithe of that would give an annual potential regional missions budget of US$ 10 millions. With reasonable matching funds from partners across the world, that could go a long way towards supporting serious initiatives with both people and money. (And, with a shared vision, we probably would be far more generous than that.)

In short, an "army" of Caribbean "missionary ants and worms" -- ever notice how we hear folk sayings about suicidally uncooperative "crabs in a barrel" but never any such sayings about ants in a barrel? -- can do a lot more than we think.

We have more than enough raw capacity to transform our region through God, and to make a material contribution to the global mission of the church.

So, again, let us consider: Why not now? Why not here? Why not us? END

UPDATE, Apr 4: minor adjustments.

1 Chron 12:32 report, 36: On building houses . . . and on creating an "army" of worms and ants

As we think about initiating truly sustainable and practical "mission to and from the Caribbean" projects in communities across our region and beyond, we first of all must put our priorities right. For, as Haggai warned the people of God in his generation -- on why their apparent prosperity seemed so brittle and futile:

HAG 1:2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "These people say, `The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built.'"

HAG 1:3 Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"

HAG 1:5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

HAG 1:7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD. 9 "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands."

That sounds a little close for comfort in today's Caribbean!

Maybe, there is more to our region's economic woes than meets the matrerialist's eye, then? So, too, we can see the searing force of the song of ascents sung by the returning exiles, in Psalm 127:1, which (ironically, given what Haggai had to warn more or less the self same returned exiles some years later!) begins:

PS 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

Of course, we have glossed over a major gap: an individual or family often has enough resources to build a house or start up a business, but (with extremely rare exceptions) no one individual or family can [re-]build a Temple.

That gap is what this post adresses.

As, the vital issue is: how can we mobilise such a critical mass of the community of God's people across our region, as can begin to fulfill our potential?

A book just in -- thanks to the kind gift of a certain brother over in Florida; God bless him, his family and a certain highly favoured cat! -- brings forward a crucial idea from the Back to Jerusalem movement of the Chinese church: an army of worms. In their words:

Sometimes it seems as if a lot of mission effort consists of "elephant" plans -- huge and grandiose strategies . . . But it is easy for border guards to detect an elephant . . . . [W]e believe God wants to send an army of insects and crawling creatures . . . We don't have a lot of money or any grandiopse plans. But we are an army of little ants, worms and termites who know how to work underground, because that is how we have learned to work in China . . . . little worms and ants can go anywhere . . . [Hathaway, Yun, Yongze, & Wang, Back to Jerusalem (Carlisle, UK: Piquant, 2003), pp. 90 - 92.]

This -- as the authors take time to point out -- is all in line with an astute biblical observation by Agur:

PR 30:24 "Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:

PR 30:25 Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;

PR 30:26 coneys are creatures of little power,
yet they make their home in the crags;

PR 30:27 locusts have no king,
yet they advance together in ranks;

PR 30:28 a lizard can be caught with the hand,
yet it is found in kings' palaces.

In short, the joint combination of a great many tiny efforts has a cumulative effect that can be astonishing. This of course is exactly what happened with Nehemiah when he mobilised the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem: what had lain in ruins probably for generations, was rebuilt in fifty-two days [Neh. 6:15.]

So, we can see a challenge: a heavily persecuted, largely underground Chinese church with far fewer per capita resources than we have here in the Caribbean is seriously targetting mobilising, sending and supporting at least 100,000 workers as a missions force, i.e. as a tithe of their full-time workers. Can we even begin to come close to thinking like that? Can we actually develop a self-sustaining, practically achievable strategy that would yield similar results, relative to our own scale as a region and to our huge strategic potential?

I am confident that we can do just that.

For, just as a thought experiment, let's do what Physicists call a Fermi calculation based on educated guesstimates that may tell us a bit about the possibilities we can unleash.

Say that we can have 1 in every 100 Christians as a full-time worker, and that we target tithing that number to the mission fields beyond our region. Counting just the claimed eight million or so evangelicals across the region, that would give us 72,000 full-time workers in our region, and 8,000 mobilised for the mission fields of the 10/40 window and elsewhere. In army terms, that's nine or so "divisions" at home, and an expeditionary "division." [But as Paul more than proved in Acts, a well supported "platoon" of say 20 - 40 can be more than enough to be a very effective missions force in any given tartegtted region or community! Maybe, even a "squad" -- or, thinking in Cavalry, tanker or air unit terms, a "squadron" -- of 5 - 12; which is in fact about the scale of Paul's missionary teams. (Of course, we aren't out to shoot people, just to love them. Love is far, far cheaper -- and in the end, more effective, too -- than war.)]

How could we fund such a division-strength global "expeditionary force" of missionary workers?

Per capita incomes are of order US$ 2,000 - 5,000 across most of our region, so the "evangelical regional product" in our region is maybe of order US$ 10 billions. One percent of that is US$ 100 millions, and a tithe of that would give an annual potential regional missions budget of US$ 10 millions. With reasonable matching funds from partners across the world, that could go a long way towards supporting serious intiaitives with both people and money. (And, with a shared vision, we probably would be far more generous than that.)

In short, an "army" of Caribbean "missionary ants and worms" -- ever notice how we hear folk sayings about suicidally uncooperative "crabs in a barrel" but never any such sayings about ants in a barrel? -- can do a lot more than we think.

Next time, let us begin to explore how we can begin. END

Blog visits 7: On The Problem of Evil, over at Barbados Free Press

It is unusual for me to post twice in a day, but this one is important enough to do that.

I often visit over at other blogs, e.g. I am now having a now fairly extensive visit to Uncommon Descent, even though I am quite uncomfortable over some language used by one of hte blog principals just now. (This blog deals withtthe Intelligent Design controversy, and related matters. But that is for another day . . .)

A few days back, I was asked to take a look at a disinformation-laced comment over at BFP, to which I responded. On a follow up visit, I found that someone else had thrown out the following in a string of comments starting here:

Seriously, why do people waste time believing in religion? I can’t bow to any God which allows such suffering to continue . . . . i can blame god and i do blame him for our stupidity. How and why does a supposedly perfect god make such imperfect people??…..then your going to convince yourself a such powerful being didn’t know this was going to happen before he made the first man? . . . . man fears anything he dosent understand…..God is just a figment of something man made up so he can rest what he dosent understand on. [Verbatim excerpt, pardon the uncorrected typos -- I am not the only one who struggles in that dept, even through a spell checker.]

Often, we tend to ignore such challenges to the faith here in our region, or at most to respond at a personal relationship and needs level (as did someone else in the blog thread).

While such responses have their palace and indeed our veridical personal encounters with and experience of God in the face of Jesus under the promises in the Bible are a powerful -- and in fact, properly speaking, unanswerable -- warrant for our faith, such may not carry great force with the sort of skepticism, rage and dismissive contempt we see here.

So, I took up the issue, for the record, as follows:

Hi all:

I see the good old problem of evil came up.

Professor Alvin Plantinga’s remarks on the free-will defense, as summed up in desperate brevity here, ever since the 1970’s, are the context for any serious onward discussion of that issue.

Let’s just sum up a major thought in a tight little ball.

Start with the point that virtue is a moral issue, e.g we cannot love unless we have minds of our own. To have a world in which real virtue is possible, real choice has to exist. So, abuse of choice is automatically also possible. Thus, the existence of evil is a twin to the existence of moral good and nobility and the beauty of the queen of the virtues, love.

Thankfully, in love, God has given us a way of penitence, forgiveness and restoration to the good, and indeed a Saviour. If we choose the way of the right, however much we stumble along the way, he will happily receive us. If we choose instead to selfishly reject the truth we know or should know, and follow evil, then that is obviously our own fault — and it is we who are to blame for the consequences. [Cf Rom 2:5 - 11 for a brief summary.]

Such consequences — as in the case we are discussing — often very predictably fall on innocents like both the children in the bomb-car, and bystanders harmed by the terrorists who were misusing the name of God. Even greater blame attaches to those who brainwashed, trained and equipped the terrorists.

But since, as Solzhenitsyn pointed out, the line between good and evil passes not between nations, classes and religions etc, but through each human heart, let us start with our own penitence and persistence inthe way of good. Then, we will see clearly to help our brothers and sisters across the world with the sawdust in their eyes.

Finally, we can trust that in his own good time God will wrap things up perfectly well enough. Judging by the signs of our times, that could be real soon.

Maranatha!

Grace, open our eyes — and soften our hearts

GEM of TKI

Just thought this might be helpful to others out there, who just might be struggling with this biggie issue.

Drop me a line if you need more on it. (Follow up the link to a lecture on Arguents to and against God first, though . . . it may help you quicker than I could come back to you..)

God Bless. END

1 Chron 12:32 Report, 35: Getting down to business -- developing and doing gospel-based projects in the local community

Over the past several weeks, we have been looking at mobilising ourselves as the people of God under the mission of the church in, and from, the Caribbean:

1] For such a time as this: our opportunity

2] Getting started: pulling together a circle of interest, discussion, study and prayer

3] The Antioch Timeline challenge: it's high time . . .

4] Working together: principles for working together under God, across our diverse church theologies and traditions.

5] The Wilberforce principles: what worked before can work again . . .

6] The Wilberforce model: how he led a reformation.

7] When change is not progress: the balancing point.

8] The Olaudah Equiano story: drawing on a culturally close exemplar

9] Getting organised: pulling together an MVAT team

Now, we need to draw on all of these strands, as we look at the initiation of projects on the ground. So, we move on to the MVAT Startup Kit, step 5.

First, what sort of projects can we do? Of these, there is an almost endless variety:

Missions awareness, prayer, action and support workshops can be developed and held in churches and even schools and community centres.

A study, prayer and action group for people considering the call to the missions field can be established, as a start-point for sending and supporting short- and long-term overseas missionaries.

A "One-Stop Missions Shop" can be set up in a local Christian bookstore, as a permanent point of contact on missions activities, opportunities and information. ["Kit" available.]

Training seminars on how the gospel speaks to core cultural issues and challenges can be used to spark specific projects that respond practically to such concerns. ["Kit" available.]

Key apologetics issues -- especially those tied to Islam, secularism and neo-paganism in the postmodern globalised age -- can be studied and a series of articles developed and published in the press, to give a sound Christian alternative to the public.

A mini-thinktank and advocacy group can be set up to study and respond to mission-relevant apologetics, development, public policy, law and international issues -- including how the Christian Faith promotes good government and good citizenship, current events, bringing reconciliation to the Middle East situation, the Suffering Church, and more. Position papers and policy proposals can then be published as a guide to local and regional decision makers.

A small business development workshop can help Christians enter into and shine a light in the business world, as well as developing a base for funding missions projects. [Training Programme available.]

A Christian Community College can be launched, to address educational and skills needs in the church and wider community, based on the life- and community- transforming power and relevance of the Christian worldview. (This coud perhaps start out as a mini cybercampus using Internet resources and a cluster of PCs with some mentoring and tutorial support in the local church and/or community, to support distance education. Later on, such a cluster of mini cybercampuses and full campuses might become affiliated with the emerging regional Christian University being developed on the basis of the established JTS/CGST in Jamaica.)

An Arts ministry group can be developed, with foci on drama, dance, poetry, writing, the graphics arts and the Internet. Such a group can then address the range of cultural concerns, showing through Spirit-anointed art forms how the Christian Faith can bring blessing and transformation to the Caribbean.

A Family Life Transformation ministry group can be started, to address the single biggest cluster of core concerns in the Caribbean.

Gospel-based community upliftment initiatives can be launched. (Existing projects could be studied for startup ideas.)

And many more . . .

In short, there are many things we can do, starting right where we are, and right now, and targetting clear goals through specific action steps that use modest and accessible resources.

Next time, DV, we will take a look at how such projects can be practically organised and strategically planned, in light of some notes here. (After that, equally DV, we need to look at fundraising. Then it will be time for looking at International projects.) END

Matt 24 Watch, 15: Kathleen McGowan -- the Dan Brown effect mutates and metastasises

A few weeks back, about the time when the brouhaha over the Cameron video came up, I was browsing the stacks in the local public library. While doing so, I ran across Kathleen McGowan's recently published The Expected One, intended to be book 1 of a trilogy. [NB: I have seen a claim that it reached No 13 on the NYT bestseller list, so it is plainly worth at least a passing glance, if only to understand what becomes popular today, why.]

So, I borrowed it, and have been wading though it -- it is a sad, painful read.

Thus far, I see that it seems the author believes herself to be a descendant of the marital union between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, basing this on visions she claims to have had, and on various folk tales and legends that she claims constitute “proof,” though not "academic" proof. An exchange with Ms Diane Sawyer during her ABC TV interview is quite revealing:

Sawyer: "For everybody who says, a novel, fine, write a novel, promote a novel. But there’s no proof here. There’s really no proof either of Mary Magdalene and Jesus being together."

McGowan: "That’s absolutely untrue, there’s all kinds of proof."

Sawyer: "Tell me."

McGowan: "It’s just not the traditional academic proof . . . . I set out to find proof that had not been written down. My work took twenty years because I spent so much time in the cultures, the folklore, the living traditions of this marriage and their children."

Sawyer: "So you’re say–you’re saying that the proof is in the persistence of the stories that have been passed down?"

McGowan: "Absolutely, and the endurance of these cultural traditions. But there’s all kinds of historical proof, you just have to dig to find it, and that’s what I did as I put all of that together in this book." [HT: Newsbusters]

In short, legends and stories, in Mrs McGowan's opinion, are proof enough to make major adverse claims against the historic Christian faith and its scriptures.

Further to this, as part of the "evidence" she cites, the book's chapters are typically headed by long citations from the alleged lost book, The Arques Gospel of Mary Magdalene, The Book of Disciples. In the text, she also has her revealer of the secrets of the Cathars speak of a gospel penned by no less than Jesus himself [!], which is stated to be the basis of the Cathar teachings and the trigger for the crusade and massacres against them. These books appear to be artifacts of her imagination, and/or the murky world of legends she seems to inhabit, as they are evidently unknown to the world of scholarship.

The novel itself is about Maureen Paschal, a red-headed [it's important!] feminist journalist and her vision-driven journey of discovery in the murky world of Catharism and two alleged ancient hidden and/or lost Gospels allegedly suppressed by the Roman church. It can most accurately -- and charitably -- be described as a thinly disguised fictionalised fantasy pseudo-autobiography. (I am not sure if this is a new genre that is emerging; more or less, my life as I wish it to have been, turned into a novel that reveals my view of the world's hidden truth, suppressed by evil conspirators..) Thus, what Dan Brown said of his fictional heroine, Sophie Neveau, we see here Mrs McGowan saying of her red-headed heroine and herself. As a USA Today article (complete with a picture of the red headed author standing in front of a church door and sporting near-Jesus-style long hair) reports:

Kathleen McGowan, novelist and self-proclaimed descendant of a union between Jesus and Mary Magdalene . . . says she's ready to cope with people who think she's crazy or a heretic . . . . her powerful literary agent and the editors at New York publisher Simon & Schuster . . . are throwing their weight behind her autobiographical religious thriller The Expected One, out July 25, with a sizable first printing of 250,000 copies . . . .

"I certainly expect there to be a backlash," says McGowan, 43, a Little League mom from Los Angeles who with her husband, Peter, has three sons: Patrick, 16, Conor, 12, and Shane, 4. "But I have the support of my family and friends and that's what I draw from." . . . .

McGowan says her book is not a Da Vinci Code knockoff.

"Everyone's going to think I'm on The Da Vinci Code bandwagon, but I'm not," says McGowan, who began working on her book in 1989. The Da Vinci Code was published in 2003 . . . .

Simon & Schuster is spending $275,000 to promote The Expected One and is sending the author on a cross-country tour beginning Aug. 3 in Los Angeles. But when it comes to McGowan's claims about her own bloodline (which she mentions in the novel's afterword), the publisher is treading lightly, with no plans to promote the author's personal story.

"It's an interesting back story, but we're marketing this fabulous novel," says Trish Todd, editor in chief at Touchstone, a division of Simon & Schuster.

Todd says she has no problem believing McGowan's claim that she descends from a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. "Yes, I believe her. Her passion and her mission are so strong, how can she not be?"

Indeed, that is the vital issue. And, while it may be painful to look such a grim warning in the eye, it is wise for us to heed Solomon:

PR 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death.

PR 14:15 A simple man believes anything,
but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.

PR 14:18 The simple inherit folly,
but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

PR 14:25 A truthful witness saves lives,
but a false witness is deceitful.

Harvard's Simon Greenleaf, a founder of the modern theory of evidence, adds, in his now classic survey on the evidentiary credibility of the biblical Gospels:

Every event which actually transpires has its appropriate relation and place in the vast complication of circumstances, of which the affairs of men consist; it owes its origin to the events which have preceded it, it is intimately connected with all others which occur at the same time and place, and often with those of remote regions, and in its turn gives birth to numberless others which succeed. In all this almost inconceivable contexture, and seeming discord, there is perfect harmony; and while the fact, which really happened, tallies exactly with every other contemporaneous incident, related to it in the remotest degree, it is not possible for the wit of man to invent a story, which, if closely compared with the actual occurrences of the same time and place, may not be shown to be false . . . . in the testimony of the true witness there is a visible and striking naturalness of manner, and an unaffected readiness and copiousness in the detail of circumstances, as well in one part of the narrative as another, and evidently without the least regard to the facility or difficulty of verification or detection . . . the force of circumstantial evidence is found to depend on the number of particulars involved in the narrative; the difficulty of fabricating them all, if false, and the great facility of detection; the nature of the circumstances to be compared, and from which the dates and other facts to are be collected; the intricacy of the comparison; the number of intermediate steps in the process of deduction; and the circuity of the investigation. The more largely the narrative partake[s] of these characteristics, the further it will be found removed from all suspicion of contrivance or design, and the more profoundly the mind will rest in the conviction of its truth.

In short, deception is exposed by want of coherence and correspondence between what is said and the material facts, but "simple" (or, naive and undiscerning) persons will too often fail to take the time to distinguish between what they feel or hear from those they look up to and what is credibly so. So, let us first go to the hinge of facts on the early history of the Christian church. For, Paul Barnett, in his classic, Is the New Testament History?, provides a much better place to start than with visions, untraceable books and legends, by giving us a resume of the consensus view of early non-Christian sources from late C1 to early C2, on the roots of the Christian faith and its characteristics:

On the basis of . . . non-Christian sources [i.e. Tacitus (Annals, on the fire in Rome, AD 64; written ~ AD 115), Rabbi Eliezer (~ 90's AD; cited J. Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth (London: Collier-Macmillan, 1929), p. 34), Pliny (Letters to Trajan from Bithynia, ~ AD 112), Josephus (Antiquities, ~ 90's)] it is possible to draw the following conclusions:

1. Jesus Christ was executed (by crucifixion?) in Judaea during the period where Tiberius was Emperor (AD 14 - 37) and Pontius Pilate was Governor (AD 26 - 36). [Tacitus]

2. The movement spread from Judaea to Rome. [Tacitus]

3. Jesus claimed to be God and that he would depart and return. [Eliezer]

4. His followers worshipped him as (a) god. [Pliny]

5. He was called "the Christ." [Josephus]

6. His followers were called "Christians." [Tacitus, Pliny]

7. They were numerous in Bithynia and Rome [Tacitus, Pliny]

8. It was a world-wide movement. [Eliezer]

9. His brother was James. [Josephus]

[Is the New Testament History? (London, Hodder, 1987), pp. 30 - 31.]

The pattern in these corroborating sources is instantly familiar; that is, the NT accounts plainly fit into a recognisable historical pattern of facts credibly established through a range of quite early non-Christian sources on the C1 origins, claims and spreading of the Christian movement; though of course the primary Christian sources give far more details than one would expect from sources that mention such facts in passing as they go on to make their own points. That corroboration should not be surprising, given that (as Barnett goes on to observe, pp. 37 - 41) in the very first cluster of writing sub-apostolic church fathers -- Clement of Rome [c. AD 96], Ignatius [c. 108] and Polycarp [c. 110], 25 of the 27 books in the New Testament are cited or alluded to, as authentic and authoritative scripture [only the two rather brief works, 2 Jn and Jude, are not cited or alluded to]; so the subsequent textual history of the NT documents begins in the 90's, i.e. within living memory of the Apostles, and it continues in an unbroken chain of custody to the origin of printing.

The core testimony of that New Testament, traceable to the mid 30's AD, and preached all across the Mediterranean world starting right next to Jesus' empty tomb in Jerusalem, is this:

1CO 15:1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you . . . . 1CO 15:3 . . . Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 . . . was buried, . . . was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and . . . appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

1CO 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

That is the record of those who were there, many of whom died for their witness. The Apostle Paul, who wrote down this witness in 55 AD, some ten years later went on to warn in his last Epistle, just before he was killed, that:

1 Tim 4:3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths . . .

Peter, one of the 500 eyewitnesses, also wrote, as he approached the end of his life in 64 - 65 AD: 2PE 1:16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

So, whose report will we believe, why?

And, if one chooses to disbelieve the testimony of the C1 church, how will s/he then answer to the Morison Challenge:

[N]ow the peculiar thing . . . is that not only did [belief in Jesus' resurrection as in part testified to by the empty tomb] spread to every member of the Party of Jesus of whom we have any trace, but they brought it to Jerusalem and carried it with inconceivable audacity into the most keenly intellectual centre of Judaea . . . and in the face of every impediment which a brilliant and highly organised camarilla could devise. And they won. Within twenty years the claim of these Galilean peasants had disrupted the Jewish Church and impressed itself upon every town on the Eastern littoral of the Mediterranean from Caesarea to Troas. In less than fifty years it had began to threaten the peace of the Roman Empire . . . . Why did it win? . . . . We have to account not only for the enthusiasm of its friends, but for the paralysis of its enemies and for the ever growing stream of new converts . . . When we remember what certain highly placed personages would almost certainly have given to have strangled this movement at its birth but could not - how one desperate expedient after another was adopted to silence the apostles, until that veritable bow of Ulysses, the Great Persecution, was tried and broke in pieces in their hands [the chief persecuter became the leading C1 Missionary/Apostle!] - we begin to realise that behind all these subterfuges and makeshifts there must have been a silent, unanswerable fact. [Who Moved the Stone, (Faber, 1971; nb. orig. pub. 1930), pp. 114 - 115.]

This challenge is easy to duck, but not so easy to answer. So, indeed, whose report will you believe, why? END

1 Chron 12:32 Report, 34: Steps Two & Three -- getting into action

If we are to be effective for God in the Caribbean and beyond in our time, we have to not only start by catching a vision and sharing it among a circle, but we need to become active on the ground as God leads us, even in the face of possible misunderstanding and hostility, perhaps even slander or worse.

That brings us to the second and third steps in the Missionary Vision and Action Team [MVAT] process.

So, following up from the first step of seeking God togetner, discussed a little while ago, we need to see how we could organise ourselves for effective, God-directed action on the ground. In that process, it is helpful to look at the example of the 18th Century Evangelicals, who began as small circles and isolated groups, who then dared big things for God and saw dramatic results: revival, and even reformation. Similarly, there is a whole series of Transformations videos on how the church has seen spiritual breakthroughs, in surprising places such as Cali, Columbia and Fiji. (Whether or not we agree with all that has happened in the 18th Century awakenings or in more recent and current situations -- and remember, true revivals are as a rule a blend of the glory and the shame -- that is at least a possible place to begin from, reflect on, and learn lessons, drawing out a challenge to seek God-blessed breakthrough in our own communities.)

But, beyond such historical or current examples, there are relevant biblical cases (which make for quite eye-opening and highly motivating Bible studies, too). Among these, an excellent place to start is with Nehemiah:

1] Learning of the plight of God's people, he was concerned. So he prayed then obtained support, authorisation and resources from a key powerbroker, the king. [Ch 1.]

2] On going to Jerusalem, he quietly surveyed the scene then called the people together, giving them hope and a vision of the way forward. [Ch 2.]

3] He organised the work, delegating manageable tasks to specific groups and their leaders. [Ch 3.]

4] As challenges, opposition and crises arose, he stood on his strengths and made sure he was not distracted from the main task in hand. [Chs 4 - 6.]

5] When the project was finished -- very quickly -- time was set apart for celebration and worship, with the help of Ezra, a key spiritual leader. Revival broke out. [Ch 6:15 - 7:5, 8:1 - 11, & 8:13 - 9:38.]

6] The project and revival then triggered waves of national renewal and reformation that continued for centuries. [Chs 8 - 13.]

Of course, we should adjust such a strategy to match our own circumstances. For instance, if we have started with a prayer, study and discussion circle of concerned believers, then that puts us into a situation where it is natural to think about an initial project, and to organise for action. For the sake of argument, let us use the idea of doing an awareness and action seminar, organised by the circle acting as a work team.

Such a team probably could include at least the following:

1] Chair: coordinates and is the public face and voice of the emerging local MVAT initiative.

2] Projects Coordinator: organises and manages the seminars and other projects as they come online through the action teams. [Also, Vice-Chair.]

3] Secretary: correspondence, minutes of meetings, periodic reports on progress/gaps relative to
plans; also sees to correct procedure, records and protocol.

4] Treasurer: manages and helps raise funds, providing transparency over finances.

5] Partners & Public Relations Officer: promotes good relations and collaboration with partners, and outreach to the church community and wider public.

Such a team can accomplish a surprising amount of work, once organised.

Now, let us assume that the initial project is to host a weekend workshop event in which people from the church and wider community sit down together to watch the Amazing Grace movie together, and discuss it, then organise some initiatives to follow up on this.

Perhaps, this could be through an evening event in a church, school or community hall, where the movie is shown, and a panel leads off a discussion focussed on Wilberforce and Equiano, with parallels to our own situation highlighting the three tidal waves vision and our opportunituies to strategically contribute to the church's mission in and from the region over the next several years. It would be natural to make provision for people to sign up for follow up workshops and teams that emerge from those sessions.

Thus, in an amazingly short time, we could organise a MVAT for action in almost any local community across the region, i.e. we are looking at "step 4" in the MVAT process. Beyond that, it is natural to work on local projects, fund-rsising and international projects, which would require regional networking. So, in short order, a pretty serious initiative couls be up and running all across our region. That brings us back to the basic question and challenge again:

Why not now? Why not here? Why not us? END