I find myself in too many weird situations and conversations to think I’m smart enough to respond appropriately each time. Fortunately I’ve been mentored by amazing people who showed me how to reuse wisdom, reapply previous lessons learned in new and different contexts. Thank God for His Holy Spirit!
“The most intelligent people can extract the most knowledge from a single event, regardless if the event is positive or negative. Presumably, the newly acquired knowledge when applied is transformed into wisdom that can be “reused” in new contexts. Intelligence is certainly rooted in experience, but more importantly in the ability to extract valuable information about people, events, attitudes, behaviors, etc., from those experiences.” ~Matthew R. Kutz, “Toward a Conceptual Model of Contextual Intelligence: A Transferable Leadership Construct,” Kravis Leadership Institute, Leadership Review, Vol. 8, Winter 2008, pp. 18-31.
I wear many different hats within NZ and internationally. I want to be consistent no matter whom I’m with or what my role is. That requires an understanding of who God is and what He has done in Jesus, who I am in Christ, an awareness of and differentiation of I and Thou , the Holy Spirit at work around me….Perry Glanzer of Baylor University defines wisdom: “Wisdom involves the skill and knowledge necessary to piece together a good life among disparate identities..”
So please pray that I pay attention, that I speak only when necessary, that I serve wisely, knowing I serve a God who has the big picture in focus and a long term plan for lovingly reconciling and redeeming His creation.
In May we held a 5-week series for outsiders, those who might believe but still have questions or don’t see how all the pieces fit together. We met at a local café. Reuben taught the series and I led table discussions. Fascinating and challenging questions arose. Fortunately I’ve learned that I do not need to answer each one. See FaithLIFT below.
One of my partner churches is doing a Flat Jesus project to help their children get a better grasp of the everyday reality of the lordship of Jesus. So I was asked to print out and carry around a Flat Jesus, taking photos in the places I go. Amazing conversations have arisen as people here what I’m doing with this paper doll Jesus. I even put a beanie on him as it is winter here. He also has a dirty robe and darker skin than some might expect. Check out the photos.
I recently spoke with an Iraqi young lady at Massey University. I hope to continue that conversation. Pray for Zahra. It’s complicated being a young person in a new culture.
I have visitors here from USA. Dr Jody Owens and his family from Johnson University are here to contribute to leadership development and encouragement at both Shore and reChurch in the South Island city of Christchurch. And Rebecca Linsenbigler who is on her way back to the US after 10 months in Papua New Guinea with Pioneer Bible Translators.. I’m happy to have great conversations with Rebecca about reentry, missionaries and God’s call to be abnormal for His sake.
I’m mentoring a new Christian chaplain at Auckland University of Technology, a place where we’ve had Muslim, Buddhist and Universalist representation, but no Christians. The opportunities in the city centre are numerous!
I had two retreats for Shore Community Church in June. Sometimes it’s a matter of reframing things and providing vocabulary for people to then move forward.
Lord willing, I’m going with a group from Shore, co-led by Shore’s Reuben Munn & CCU/Johnson Univ’s Dr. Mark Ziese, on an educational tour of Israel in July. I’ll then do an excursion on my own to Ephesus since I am flying through Turkey anyway. This is both a shared experience with church members here and a refresher to mark my 30 years in overseas ministry, having gone to Zimbabwe in 1984. I’ve been economizing to make this trip possible. Good thing I like eating local foods and traveling by bus, a step above camel class!
In the meantime, plans are underway for FaithLIFT 2014 at Shore. The general idea is honoring questions, though not necessarily answering them. People are often uncomfortable with unanswered questions, so they apply answers that may not actually fit. The process of a person arriving at answers they own themselves takes time and energy, but the results are often better than a tidy disembodied systematic theology. Pray for the development of our 4 week series.
And for Peace Week at Massey University in September, and the national chaplaincy conference is in Auckland in November. I’m organizing a training component of that conference to certify chaplains in Critical Incident Stress Management, a helpful skill set in light of major earthquakes, campus violence and general disarray of our ministry contexts.
You know I’m grateful for your partnership. It’s all kinda daunting, unless I keep my eyes on Jesus and know you are cheering & praying.
Sincerely,
Jill
