Thanksgiving: Scientific Facts About Gratitude

Recently some of the DML leadership team spent time looking at an article that discussed some scientific facts about gratitude.  This was not an article written by a Christian (as far as I know) or by someone who referred to the Bible verse which says that we are to be "grateful in all things."  

The author gave the following facts:

1. Gratitude is good for your cholesterol and lower blood pressure.
2. Gratitude can improve your sleep.
3. Grateful people spend more time exercising.
4. Females are more grateful than males, from an early age onward.
5. Gratitude can help you achieve your goals.
6. You can overdo it - which is explained by saying that if you view it as a chore, it might not have the positive effect. 
7. People are less likely to express gratitude at work than anywhere else.  Only 10% of people say thank you to their colleagues on any given day, and 60% of people never express gratitude at work.

Some of these can generate some interesting conversations around the Thanksgiving table this week - for example, thankfulness relating to gender - what about cultures or people groups?  Are some more thankful than others?  Is it related to contentedness or simply politeness?

But it is the last one that caught my attention - our lack of gratitude at work.  At DML we have seen the impact of seeing work as worship, understanding that work is not drudgery or a mere means to get money (which is never enough!).  When work is understood as a gift, that we have been created to create and to do work that contributes to flourishing of all, it can help us do a 180-degree change in our attitude about work.  And when we understand the positives of gratitude, we recognize that it is not just good for our colleagues and customers, but also for our own health!

I encourage you to ask these questions around the table this week:

1. What are you grateful for at work?
2. What is God doing at your workplace?  Where is He at work?
3. How can you join Him in that work?

Happy Thanksgiving from the DML team, for whom I am so grateful!  Allow me to share some pictures of our summit that convey the joy and family atmosphere that we have, hoping that it will put a smile on your face as well!

On Having Two Wings

I returned home from Ethiopia on Saturday, grateful for traveling mercies for our whole team, and for the opportunities to join God in His work!

Last week the DML Ethiopia leader, Yoseph (pictured between board member Letta Jean Taylor and I), relayed the following story in his talk on generosity:

A 74-year-old man went to the doctor as he was having difficulty breathing.  The doctor checked his lungs and told the man that he would need to go on oxygen.  As the medical system was one where you have to prepay for services, the doctor told him it would cost 5,000 birr (about $42) for one hour of oxygen.  The man began to cry.  Concerned, the doctor asked whether the man didn't have the money to pay for the oxygen?  The man replied, "No, it's not that.  It's just that I am realizing the gift of having breathed for free for 74 years!"

What a beautiful response by this man!  We too need to be reminded that not one of us have paid for our hands, for our feet, our ears, our eyes.  This, Yoseph said, is the beginning of understanding generosity.  When we know the gifts that we have been given, and why we have these gifts (blessed to be a blessing), we understand that a healthy person both gives and receives.  

It is like flying with two wings - one is for giving and one is for receiving.  You can't fly properly with just one wing - you will go in circles and crash.  Every organ of our bodies understands this.  It's impossible for you to say that you will receive oxygen and refuse to give carbon dioxide.  It is impossible to eat and not have bowel movements.  These are natural cycles! We need to understand this for ourselves and also for those around us.  

God is the author of generosity.  And Yoseph reminded our team that this is not a subject that we teach - it is a life that we are to live.  If we are not generous in small things, it will be difficult to be generous in big things.  

In DML, we ask every church to teach three things: a healthy theology of work, wealth creation God's way, and wealth management God's way.  Last week, in Wolaita, Ethiopia, we met with 50 pastors and church leaders (see picture).  This is an area that has 1,500 EKHC local churches (Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church), with more than one million members!  The leaders who gathered are just a few of those implementing a workplace discipleship ministry in their church. I was blessed to hear testimony after testimony as to what happens when these three things are taught.  Personal income growing, church income growing, more missionaries being sent out, more people being reached for Christ.  The church is teaching wealth creation and at the same time, teaching stewardship and generosity, so that the increase is not just going to help one family but to be a blessing to more and more.  

It's amazing what happens when every person understands that they are part of the priesthood of believers!  

I am so thankful for the Kale Heywet Church and the work that they are doing throughout their 11,000 churches and twelve million members to increase Christian influence in all of society!  And one of the strong members of the DML team, Yonatan Simon (pictured next to me), is also the leader of the Youth Ministry, with a mere 6 million members (aged 18-35) and he is eager to get the message of entrepreneurship out to them.  The opportunity to teach work as worship is immense and we thank God for it!

DML Ethiopia Team (zonal leaders/trainers)

DML Global Summit 2024: A Journey of Fun, Fellowship, Worship, and Wisdom

We had an intense but amazing week together in Ethiopia.  We are so grateful for your prayers!  

We laughed a lot (see pictures!), cried together (not pictured), played together, and iron sharpened iron. 

I was asked how this summit was different than the one in Tanzania in 2022, and I think the key difference is two-fold:  

1. 
   The family/community of this group has grown even deeper over the last two years as we continue to pray together three times a week.  There is a depth in the relationships that is born out of that prayer time that allows for immediate closeness despite only seeing each other in person every two years.  
2. Ownership of this message, and calling in delivering it, is growing and deepening.  We can see how the Lord is working in a number of leaders who are willing to take this message beyond their borders and beyond their comfort zone.  The Holy Spirit is sending out laborers and we are thankful to be witnessing that work!  At this Summit, we commissioned our Ambassadors-at-large, our International Chaplain, and other key DML leaders.

The highlight of every summit is hearing the "country reports" where every partner shares what is working well and where there are challenges.  It is always amazing to hear the creativity of how people are disseminating this message to the Church and beyond, reaching business leaders, employees, governments, educators, orisons, health sectors, police, and more!  But we also looked at where we encounter barriers and discussed how to overcome them.  Some of the barriers are the prosperity gospel, the fear of wealth creation, the structure of an inward-focused church, church-program mentality (as opposed to a disciple-making mentality), and more.  

We had good diversity in this group, beyond 15 nationalities:  denominational leaders from many denominations, NGO leaders, pastors, businessmen/women, and educators, and generational diversity. We had DML board members present as well as partners from Asia for the first time.

Our recurring chant was, "How many are we?  One!" as we learned again what it means to move in one accord as the global church.  We reminded each other that we are not to "major on the minors" but stay true to the message God has given us.  

We reminded ourselves that "a persecuted church will survive, but a church with a compromised gospel will not." 

We spent a day touring Addis Ababa and learned about the wonderful and complex history of this beautiful city.  We then had a wonderful cultural dinner together, eating Ethiopian food, listening to Ethiopian singers and watching traditional dancing.

On Saturday, most of the team headed home, except for a few of us who went to Arba Minch to do some visiting of businesses and churches there.  I will move to Wolaita on Monday (while the balance of those here head home) to do a training of trainers for our course called, "Economics of Hope" with some of the many, many DML trainers that are across the country of Ethiopia.  

Speaking on behalf of the global DML team, we are so grateful for every person who supported this endeavor and made it possible.  We are grateful to you!