{"id":27,"date":"2006-11-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-16T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2009-08-16T01:15:02","modified_gmt":"2009-08-16T05:15:02","slug":"important-principles-in-missions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/2006\/11\/16\/important-principles-in-missions\/","title":{"rendered":"Important principles in missions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ian<\/a>When you face the impossible, you’re halfway there.<\/p>\n

David Lee reminded me of that important principle when I met him during my visit to Papua New Guinea last fall. <\/p>\n

David told me a great story about how he was finding it impossible to progress in his ability to learn and use the language of the Bena Bena people, among whom he was working. <\/p>\n

And when David turned the problem over to God, God had the answer. It was impossible, and realizing that got David halfway there – on his knees. Prayer got him the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

I had the privilege of sharing that story in an issue of NTM@work magazine.<\/p>\n

This week David reminded me of another important principle: Sometimes the only way someone else will step into a ministry God has for them, is for you to step out of it.<\/p>\n

David has used his understanding of the Bena Bena culture and language to teach them a series of evangelistic Bible lessons, which have resulted in a number of believers. He’s continued to teach, sharing lessons on eternal security and the function of the church.<\/p>\n

But something’s been missing: the function of the church.<\/p>\n

The Bena Bena believers “have not been keen to take on the teaching,” David wrote. (He’s Australian – don’t you just love the way Australians say things?) As much as he taught and encouraged them, they preferred to leave the teaching to David.<\/p>\n

So he went over two lessons in Acts with some key men and left on a previously scheduled holiday, expecting the believers to teach the lessons.<\/p>\n

You want to know what happened? So do I. So does David. But none of us will find out until David returns to the village until next week.<\/p>\n

I’ll let you know what happens, because that’s part of my ministry. Sharing stories of what God is doing is a great way to encourage folks to get involved, or get more involved.<\/p>\n

Want to help others have opportunities to get involved in the great things God is doing among tribal people? Then find out how you can more involved in our ministry.<\/p>\n

Pray >><\/a><\/p>\n

Give >><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God is doing great things, and a big part of ministry is giving others opportunities to get involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}