Sparks Ministry

Here is a link to the SPRC newsletter written by the pastor, Max Tixhonov:  http://news.jesus.kiev.ua/

The next missions conference on our schedule is in Pittsburgh, PA, at First Reformed Presbyterian Church.  Steve and I will be there March 27-29 participating in the conference and getting the chance to catch up with one of my college roommates.  You can find more information about the conference schedule from the church’s website.

Steve and I had a good time in Tulsa.  It is always interesting to see how different churches structure their missions conferences.  At Christ Presbyterian in Tulsa, they do their conference over the course of 3-4 Sundays rather than one intense long weekend of activities.  The nice part about this approach is that it tends to give individual missionaries more time to talk about their particular ministry.  Also, it probably has less risk of burning out the congregation on missions activities!

One interesting thing – besides my presentation – was that we heard from an MTW missionary in Chile who is working on a Ph.D. involving personality types and missiology.  Most of us have had some exposure to some kind of personality test and seeing how that helps (or hurts!) us as we interact with people with different personality types.  It was intriguing to me to think of that on a more global level.  Cultures have their own personalities and when we minister in a culture, we minister through our individual type and through our home culture type.  The challenge is to recognize the aspects of both our own personality and that of the other person or culture which reflect Christ and learn from and use them.  On the flip side, the effects of the fall are also seen both in our individual personalities and in the “personality” of any culture and we need to recognize that as well.

That explanation may be confusing, but here is one simple example.  I am very task oriented.  That helps me fit well with an American culture because here in the U.S., task orientation is valued.  In Ukraine, relationship orientation has a higher value than task orientation.  Completion (or not!) of a task is usually not the most important thing, but rather it is the time spent getting to know someone.  So, the question is which of these is more Biblical?  Which is a better reflection of Christ?  After living and working in Ukraine for a few years, I have learned to slow down and enjoy the chance to stop and have a cup of tea with someone, even if the “work” isn’t done.  Now that I’m in the U.S., I find myself out of step with things here because it seems like everyone is in a rush and no one has time to sit and chat.

The extension of that example relates to how a ministry plan would be designed for Ukraine.  As task-oriented Americans, the entire structure and way that we plan can be affected by this emphasis to the point that we bring a structure that isn’t really helpful in Ukrainian culture.  We may plan for results and timetables while they may prefer to build more relational structures that aren’t as measureable.

It’s a very interesting idea and I’ll be thinking about it more.  Another good reason to participate in your church’s missions conferences – you just never know what you might hear that will challenge you!