DML Global Summit: Revival and Reformation in the Marketplace

I'm preparing to head out on Saturday for a one-month trip, starting in Uganda for two weeks, then Singapore, Malaysia, and lastly South Korea for the Lausanne Congress.

While the majority of my travel typically centers around me meeting with teams in their locality, every two years our teams gather together for community, fellowship, learning, and sharing.  So while I've been preparing for this trip, I am also actively working on the upcoming DML Global Summit in November.  In 2022, we gathered in Tanzania (team picture from that summit is below) and this year we will gather in Ethiopia, with the theme: Revival and Reformation in the Marketplace. 

This is a big ministry opportunity and here's why: 

DML is now eleven years old and this year has seen significant growth for our ministry.  We see the ripples of the message going out to more and more countries and denominations.  So far in 2024, we have started work in Benin, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Pakistan, and Guinea, and soon will start in the DRC and Trinidad and Tobago.  The connection through the Lausanne Congress is opening more doors for partnership with the Congress’ emphasis on the workplace.

This is exciting!  We knew that this growth and expansion was coming, and we have been trying to prepare for it as best we can.  Therefore the opportunity to gather together in person to discuss best practices and lessons learned, as well as to pray together in person, have communion together, laugh, and cry together, is very important.  

We have seen a sharp increase in ownership of this message by our teams, as they implement this message in their own homes, communities, and churches, and as they take their own initiative to carry this message further in their locations and spheres of influence.  

Our call is to join God in what He is doing in bringing revival and reformation to the Marketplace.  He is doing this work!

 

Our mission would not be possible without the prayer and financial support of committed partners like you. We thank God for your faithful support.

Our Summit is planned for November 2-9, where we will be gathering 50 ministry partners from thirteen different countries.

We invite you to participate in this summit through prayer and potentially sponsoring one or several of our partners. The per-person cost for the summit (which includes airfare and travel, visa, lodging, food, etc.) is $800.  Should you desire to sponsor a team member for this year’s summit, feel free to give online or by sending a check to DML at PO Box 231, Sparta MI 49345. Any support, both prayer and/or financial, is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Lighting the Way: Misgana’s Path to a Brighter Future

This week, I want to share an inspirational story from our partner in Ethiopia.  It's not unusual for us to share stories of how business skills help to alleviate poverty, but this story also tells what can happen when denominations allow their pastors to be co-vocational.  Often members can't afford to pay their pastor a living salary, but denominations want their pastors to be fully focused on the ministry.  Pastors then struggle to survive and feed their families.  But when churches recognize that almost every person in the Bible worked in the marketplace in addition to spreading the gospel, they begin to see that the two can actually work together, and not necessarily be in conflict (hence, "co-vocational" as opposed to "bi-vocational").  Stories like this inspire me and I hope it will do the same to you as you do your work as an act of worship this week!

My name is Misgana. I am a resident of Jinka Town in Ethiopia. I am married with one child. I have been a full-time minister for 10 years and my monthly income was around four thousand birr (about $37). Three years ago, I was one of the trainees when DML training was given to 200 people at Tena Adam Local Church in our town.

After the training, I took time to think and pray, and I decided to start a metal welding and manufacturing business. Over time, this work started becoming effective. As my income increased, I opened a merchandise store for my wife and got her to work. I am currently employing four people in my business! We are able to eat 3 times a day, which was never possible before. For more than ten years I have been struggling, but now, with the light given to me by DML, I have found the ability to buy a motorbicycle and run my ministry and business successfully. 

Because the church leaders have taken the training with us, all those who used to prevent us from getting involved in business have now cooperated so that I and other fulltime pastors can be blessed in everything. I used to rent a lamp for 20 birr ($0.20)for the house I live in but the owner would come and take the lamp back whenever he wanted it. We were not allowed to use pans and stoves in our house. But now I can afford to put in an electricity meter and we are getting full electricity service in our home.  

We used to carry water from the river. But we have been able to install a water pipe and we stopped going down to the river. The water is able to come to our house. This has greatly reduced the daily pressure on our family. I was also able to renovate my house to a better condition than before. In addition to this, I have bought a piece of land as well as different machines for the business. Based on what I learned about saving from DML, I was able to save 120,000 birr ($1,125) to buy a 3-legged Bajaj vehicle.

I am leading a happy life in my locality, not only with my ministry and business, but also with my money as I can give better tithes and various gifts to others. May God bless the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church and DML for bringing this important lesson to us.

Finally, I thank God that I stand here today to witness the beginning of this change for those who have not started like me. 

Impacts like this could not happen without the generous support from friends like you and we appreciate you this day!

If you would like to join us to help others like Misgana, please click here for more information.

Understanding "Blessed are the poor"

This past week, Pastor Isaiah, our DML leader in Burundi who was visiting us in Grand Rapids, shared more about the impact of forty years of war in Burundi.  He shared that when the war broke out in the early 1970s, the church was still very young.  The first genocide killed most of the pastors and all the missionaries were evacuated.  This left a significant leadership vacuum in the church.

Because of this "brain drain" (which often occurs in wartime), many false teachings crept in.  

One false teaching that has lasted to this day is that you must be poor to go to heaven.  To be rich, therefore, means you will not go to heaven.  Because of that, people are afraid to be successful.  And that means that you do not work, you do not create or innovate.  He said that people will even let some crops spoil or not process them due to that fear.

Suddenly, the understanding of this majority Christian country that also bears a significant challenge of poverty, begins to make more sense.  

Where does this false teaching come from?  There seem to be two key texts:

Luke 6:20: Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the Kingdom of God.

Matthew 5:3:  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

I can see how it could be confusing and it is not teaching that is unique to Burundi.  In the 12th and 13th centuries, poverty was the goal of many.  But there was a lopsided view toward wealth and an exalted status for those who were poor.  

The Bible does teach us to be content.  Our hope and our identity are not to be found in material things, power, or position. The Bible does teach us to be willing to give up ALL things to follow Christ - we are owners of nothing but stewards of everything.  And the Bible does tell us that the poor may be richer in faith.

But these texts do not imply that being poor is therefore a good thing or that it should be our goal. Poverty is often the result of injustice but it is also equated with laziness in the book of Proverbs.

Rather, the Bible over and again tells us to work diligently and that the reward is often greater wealth.  With that wealth, we are encouraged to be generous - to help those in need.  Poverty does not mean an advantage - rather it is a disadvantage that God meets with His love.  

Deuteronomy 8:18 reminds us that wealth creation is a command from God and a confirmation of His covenant.  We are not to forget that it is a gift from Him and therefore an opportunity for more stewardship - wealth management in God's way.

The idea that many are languishing in poverty as a result of this false teaching is very sad.  Intentionally reducing oneself to poverty keeps us from providing for others.  As we often teach, there is no wealth to be shared unless it is first created.  

We continue to be so thankful for our partners and supporters who are seeking to correct this message and equip the church to do work as an act of worship, to the glory of God!