What New Invitations Are Emerging? Reflections from a Silent Retreat

[I'm currently on a seven-day silent retreat at The Hermitage in Three Rivers, MI. If you want to read more about what a silent retreat is, you can read my late husband's words about it here. I haven't had a week-long retreat since moving to Africa in 2005.  What a gift to be still and know that He is God!]

"What new invitations are emerging?"

This question greets me at one of my favorite sitting places on my silent retreat. 

At the start of my retreat, this question unsettles me. Do I hear an invitation? If so, what is it? If not, what does that mean? What if I don’t hear one the whole time I’m here? People expect me to “hear from God” in a place like this—but what if He is silent? What if I don’t do silence “right” and miss Him?

At the root of these questions lies fear. Fear that I’m not enough. Fear of failing. Anxiety about producing.

But slowly, as I enter into silence and redirect my eyes, ears, and soul, I hear Him.  Every time.  And I’ve been doing retreats on and off for nearly thirty years.  I don’t always hear what I want.  I usually come with an agenda of what I want to hear, and He gently moves my agenda aside and invites me just to be with Him, letting me know we can deal with “stuff” when I’m back in work mode. 

So, what new invitations are emerging?

This retreat has held an invitation to winter.

I usually take silent retreats in the spring, summer, or fall. Nature always plays a role in how I hear God. But this time, I wondered what it would be like to retreat in the cold, snowy winter—when stepping outside is less of an option.

Yet, as always, God has spoken through the winter landscape. The snowy paths, the stillness of the trees, the crisp air—all of it reminds me that He is present everywhere. It’s not The Hermitage that holds a special connection to God; rather, it’s that in this place, I slow down. I step away from distractions and listen.

How many moments do I miss experiencing God because I am too preoccupied with the calling rather than the Caller?

The invitation to winter is not new, but my understanding and acceptance of it are.

Just as trees go through seasons, so do we. Some trees require winter’s deep freeze to send nutrients to their roots and conserve energy for new growth. From the outside, they appear lifeless, but beneath the surface, quiet work is happening. It’s a season of rest—essential for survival and future fruitfulness.

Psalm 1 says that blessed is the one who is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season.  Even for this tree, there are seasons of winter, of deep freeze, cold, barren, dark, and dreary.  We are not protected from that season.  We are to go through it, understanding that something important is happening during that time.  Our roots go down deeper, and we realize we can flourish even in the winter.  While here, I read a delightful book from Brother Lawrence, who lived in the late 1600s and was converted simply by looking at a tree in winter when he was 18 years old!  The potential of that tree moved his heart to believe in God.

So I'm being invited to winter.

What invitations are emerging in your life? Are you in a season of rest, growth, waiting, or action?

I believe God is always speaking—if we have the courage and patience to listen.

I’d love to hear from you.

Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: The Need for Theological Education Reform

As is typical, the first part of a new year is spent reflecting on the past year. For DML, this means collecting all the data on the activities that we have engaged in and assessing both what went well and what was a challenge.

We continue to be very, very busy, and we are seeing good impacts from those activities! As you probably know, we work directly with churches and denominations, business leaders, and people engaged in every workplace.  

(Our annual report will be coming out soon, but here is a sneak peek at the numbers from 2024 compared to earlier years. We thank God for all of our partners who work together to help this message get out there!)

However, one audience we do not share as much is our focus on getting courses into Bible colleges, seminaries, and Christian universities, relating to workplace discipleship and breaking the sacred/secular divide.  This particular audience tends to move very slowly and with great difficulty, as any changes must undergo rigorous accreditation processes to add or change courses.  While that is the reason often given for the slow process, I think the challenge goes deeper than that.

Recently, I was reading a book called Our Secular Vocation by J. Daryl Charles. (I don't like the title of this book—it's confusing.  But that aside, it's a good book.)

He said this about this topic (emphasis mine):

Any emphasis on the priesthood of all believers that calls Protestants back to their roots and to the sacredness of work in the marketplace is scarcely to be found in seminary and divinity school coursework. Substantial curricular change would require institutional reform on a wide scale, reform requiring a different academic model. What is needed in theological education is nothing less than the transformation of its core components. Every course in every theological topic at the seminary/divinity School level needs rethinking to eliminate the perpetual "sacred versus secular" residue and to foster the integration of faith, work, and vocation in a holistic way. At the most basic level, among those things needing serious examination in terms of course content are the following: a theology of creation, a theology of work, human flourishing, a theology of vocation, the history of the sacred-secular divide, the Lutheran breakthrough of the 16th century, the importance of engaging competing worldviews, ethical and economic challenges of the workplace, a theology of stewardship, service toward the common good and community flourishing, and redefinition of "mission."

The challenge is not just adding a course, such as DML's "Church-based Business as Mission" course, but a much broader institutional reform to break down the sacred-secular divide.  

While we have seen great progress in the faith and work movement, it continues to be led by church members rather than church leaders. Relatively few participants in this movement are pastors or priests. This is in large part because theological educational institutions are not keeping up with the opportunity and potential of this movement.

In addition, for those pastors who are already leading churches, the great majority of pastors or church leaders have not spent a significant season of their lives working in the marketplace.  When the leaders can't identify with the challenge and the opportunity, 99% of members will continue to belong to churches that help them worship weekly but leave them unsupported for where they spend most of their waking time.  Many people ask our DML teams if pastors should be co-vocational - having a job in the marketplace and leading a church?  We say that it is not necessary (but may be helpful for a season).  But at a minimum, the pastor should spend time meeting with at least one member in a learning position every week, asking, "What is God doing in your workplace, and how can the church support you to join Him in that work?"

It is good to see this movement change and grow.  We are seeing more and more Christians grow in their understanding that their work can be an act of worship.  We are seeing more and more denominations open their doors and embrace the need for discipleship in this area, especially denominations in Africa.  

(Picture is from Emmanuel University in Malawi, which has adopted DML courses into its curriculum and has undergone accreditation.)

We continue to pray that theological institutions will begin to train and equip every pastor to know how to equip the priesthood of believers to view their workplace as a place for worship and mission.  Please continue to pray with us for a breakthrough in this area!

Common Grace/Work and Saving Grace/Work

I cancelled my trip to India for the month of February to attend to some family and personal matters.  It was a difficult decision, but I'm so happy to see the India teams stepping up to support each other and work together.

Over the past weekend, I made my third drive to Canada this year to help with the moving process of my mom, and while I drove, I listened to a podcast that was recommended to me by one of our leaders in Togo.  The podcast was on the intersection of faith, work, and life, something that I've spent the last twelve years immersed in, but I'm always interested in learning new ways to express the call to work in ways that will resonate.

The speakers introduced a theme of "common work" relating to "common grace," and then linked "saving work" and "saving grace."  It really resonated with me, so I'm sharing it with you, with my own spin on it.

One of the things that Christians believe is that there is common grace in the world.  By this we mean that God is good to all people, regardless of their beliefs.  This includes general blessings like sunshine, rain, food, and water.  Matthew 5:45 says, "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."  

Common grace leads to saving grace.  Saving grace is for those who claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior and leads to salvation and eternal life.  Common grace points us to an awareness or understanding of the goodness of God; saving grace is when we make a personal decision to accept and follow this God.

Strong's concordance defines grace as "the divine influence on the heart and its reflection in life." I like this definition as it is not just the acceptance of a blessing of grace, but it implies that we are blessed to be a blessing - it is to be reflected in our life.

So how does this apply to work?

God has called us to work.  Work is a gift.  Work is one of the purposes of our creation.  Every person, in every place, works.  Not everyone has a job, but there is work for everyone.  The work that we do is like common grace - we do our work for the blessing, or for the benefit, of the customer, business, the community, and the nation.  We seek to do our best, regardless of how we feel about the customer, the owner of the business, the government leaders.  We work for the common good. We are blessed to work, and it is then a blessing for others.  That is what we are to do as Christians.  We are to do our work as an act of worship - as unto the Lord and not for man.  Receiving this grace has an influence on our heart and it should reflect in our life.

But our "common work" can then lead to "saving work."  When we do our work with a MISSIONAL goal, to make disciples, we participate in the Great Commission.  We help people to know about Jesus, which can lead them to saving grace from our Lord and Savior.  People can come to know Christ through our work by being disciples and by making disciples. We integrate our faith and work. 

In DML, we often teach a quadruple bottom line (goals): economic, environmental, social, and missional.  But maybe this simplifies it to two:  work for the common good (which actually would include economic, environmental, and social) and work for the saving good (missional).  The work for the common good SHOULD lead people to the saving good or saving grace.  

I like the simplicity of this - we work for the common good...but we don't stop there...our goal is to help all those in our spheres of influence - our customers, employees, employers, vendors, colleagues and more - to learn about this amazing, loving, merciful God and Father, and to receive the saving grace that comes through Jesus.  

May your work be a blessing for the common good and saving good this week! 

Is the Church jealous of Jesus?

Over the Christmas break, I read a book called "Great to Good" by Pastor Jae Hoon Lee from South Korea.  This book was written in response to the book, "Good to Great."  In his book, Pastor Lee asks whether or not the church is jealous of Jesus (not in terms of zealous protection but in terms of envy).  That question perked my ears (or eyes?) up. 

What does he mean by this?  How can the church be jealous of Jesus?

He refers to the book of John, and how in John 3:29, John the Baptist portrays himself as the friend of the bridegroom - what we might call the "best man" today.  [John 3:29 - The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.] The role of the best man is to support the groom and focus attention on him.  The best man finds joy in witnessing the grooms' delight as he welcomes his bride.  If the best man seeks to overshadow the groom and catch the bride's attention, he becomes an adversary.

Pastor Lee posits that one significant factor contributing to the Church's decline in power and influence is its own jealousy of Christ.  This same jealousy manifested itself in the envy of Jewish leaders of Jesus' lifetime.  He writes, "These leaders, out of jealous desire to maintain religious control of their community, exerted pressure on Roman authorities and ultimately brought about Christ's crucifixion" (emphasis added). 

I think the key phrase that explains this position is "out of jealous desire to maintain religious control." It is so easy for the church to switch from being the best man and pointing to Jesus, to becoming an institution that seeks to maintain religious control. Rather, the church is to play a paradoxical role.  The more it grows and flourishes, the more it must diminish and deny itself. But unfortunately, that is often not the case with the church, nor with us as individuals.  Rather, the opposite takes place.  

A.W. Tozer writes in a book "I Call It Heresy," that we have a "widely accepted concept that we humans can choose to accept Christ only because we need him, as Savior, but we have the right to postpone our obedience to Him as Lord as long as we want."  Ouch. I take what I want, what I need, but I postpone my obedience for my own convenience.  

We do this as individuals, and we also do this as the church.  We get caught up in religion rather than following how Jesus lived, and we too end up crucifying Him again.

We see this in Judas, who was chosen and discipled by Jesus, walked alongside Jesus, and yet ultimately betrayed Jesus.  One of the key ways that the church shows its jealousy is by becoming an institution rather than a movement.  Institutions preserve culture, while movements create culture.  In doing this, the church as gathered in the building, believes that it is the body of Christ, not the people.  When this happens, it is not us who are being stretched, carrying our cross, hanging on the cross in the agony of conflict.  It is the "church."

As we constantly teach in DML, we need to remind ourselves that the church is never a place, but always a people.  

The church is never a fold, but always a flock.  

The church is never a sacred building, but always a believing assembly.

The church is who prays, not where you pray.

Luke 4:18-21 says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus has given us a command to love.  That is WHO He is.  Let us be the best man and let Jesus shine.  Let us be jealous of Jesus not in terms of envy but in terms of zealous protection of WHO He is and therefore WHO we are.

Hurry Up and Wait: Obituary for Peter Kranenburg, my father.

My father, Peter Kranenburg, passed away on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, in Holland Christian Homes in Brampton, Ontario at the age of 95.  I didn't know he was sick on Monday, but we received a call from the doctor on Tuesday morning that he was in respiratory distress and only had a few hours to live.  Michael and I quickly packed and jumped in the car for the 5.5-hour drive.  Sadly, four hours into our drive, my father passed away. 

Hurry up and wait.

In 2010, my father's forgetfulness and dementia increased significantly.  That spring my first husband, Bob Reed, died very suddenly.  My dad was at the stage of dementia at that time, and he would write things down to help him remember; every time he read his note that Bob died, he was shocked and saddened.  Eventually we had to get those notes out of his hands as it upset him.  By the fall of 2010, his short-term memory was completely gone, and he yet he didn't know it.  Care for him became difficult as he was a very strong man and didn't always like being helped to change or shower.  He joined the Holland Christian Homes memory care unit at that time.  Fast forward to 2010 and COVID, which hit these homes very hard.  Right before COVID, my Dad wasn't walking but he still knew my mom and maybe a couple of others, and his very few words were usually, "Love you, love you, love you."  COVID shut his floor down for almost 18 months and by the time we could see him again, he didn't recognize anyone, didn't respond to voices, and didn't talk.  After a while, we were pretty sure he couldn't see or hear.  It was three years of simply existing in a wheelchair, being fed pureed food, and waiting.  

Waiting to see Jesus.  Waiting to be released from his still-strong earthly body.  It was difficult to see him linger, although we are thankful that he was not suffering (as far as we could tell).  

Dementia is a terrible thing and it is very prevalent in my family.  Makes me shudder for my future.  

My dad was a "hurry up" guy.  Breakfast was always at 7 am, lunch at noon, and dinner at 5 pm.  Sharp.  We were done with our meals by 15-20 minutes later, dishes done in the next 10-15 minutes. If there was too much talking, we were told "Spraak verbote!" (Dutch for "stop talking.") The whole process was 30 minutes.  Keeping time was very important.  

Quite the irony to go from a "hurry up" man to fourteen years with dementia.

You can read more about my dad in the obituary below, but since I view this blog as part of my personal journal, I want to share a couple of things here about him that didn't make the obituary.

My dad had a difficult life in many ways.  While the Depression and World War II had an impact on him, he was likewise challenged by emotional health issues (depression and anxiety), which followed him his whole life.  He could be both controlling and insecure at the same time.  That made for lots of internal conflict, as well as external conflict, in different parts of his life.

Yet for a man who could appear to be rigid and legalistic, there was within him an artist, a gardener, and a lover of nature.  And he loved his wife and children, imperfectly of course (as is the case for every person), but we knew he loved us.

As a pastor, he preached God's love and mercy.  He was criticized because he preached too much about God's love and not enough about hell & damnation; yet he found it difficult to personally accept God's love and to forgive himself for his own failings.  

But in this past week, we spent day after day sharing and laughing together as we shared family memories.

I'm thankful for my dad, and all the many facets that made him who he was.  I will miss (and have missed) his kind eyes, soft smile, gentle teasing, and singing voice.  I'm so thankful that he has been released from his earthly body, and I look forward to meeting Peter, the man (not pastor, father, husband) one day in heaven.

Obituary: Rev. Peter Kranenburg

November 7, 1929–January 7, 2025

Peter Kranenburg, aged 95, passed away on January 7, 2025, at Faith Manor in Holland Christian Homes in Brampton, Ontario.  He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Marrie (Quartel); his children: Liz (Rob) Bronsveld, Henry (Marnie) Kranenburg, Janette (Dale) VanderVeen, Yvonne (Brian) Schenk, and Renita (Michael) Reed-Thomson, along with twenty grandchildren, and 28 great-grandchildren.  He is also survived by his brother Henk, and sisters Nel and Gon.  He is preceded in death by his parents Hendrick and Elizabeth Kranenburg, brother Adrian, sister Co, sister Bep, and son-in-law Bob Reed.

Peter, born in Leiden, the Netherlands on November 7, 1929, immigrated to Canada after World War II at the age of 18, in order to go to Calvin Seminary.  He was ordained as a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church in 1957 and served in the following churches in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia:  Athens CRC, Westside Community Church Springdale, Ebenezer CRC Jarvis, First CRC Red Deer, Ladner CRC, Strathroy East CRC, Second Toronto CRC, and Grace CRC Chatham. Peter then served as a Chaplain in Queen Elizabeth Hospital and at Holland Christian Homes until his retirement. Peter loved his Lord and Savior, and it gave him joy to share about the love and forgiveness of Jesus.  He continued to do this work, even after his retirement, by corresponding with prisoners. 

Peter was a man of many talents.  He had a beautiful singing voice; he was an artist, painting in oil, acrylic, and watercolors; he loved to garden and excelled at growing vegetables and flowers of many types but had a special love for orchids.

Welcome, 2025! It's time for workplace rededication!

We are thankful to God for the ability to see a new year, and to continue to join Him in what He is doing to reclaim the redeemed marketplace!  And we are thankful for the partnership of many of you who join us in prayer, encouragement, and financial support, to make this possible.  

In our workplace ministry calendar, January and February are the months where we ask every local church to do a business or workplace rededication.  This is a time where every person considers their workplace and asks God to help them fulfill HIS will in their workplace, as it relates to the three great directives from God and the quadruple bottom line.

So we pray together that God will help us to fulfill his Great Commitment Directive from Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 2:15, which brings us to an economic and environmental (creation care) goal.  How does God want me to contribute to the flourishing of my workplace and my environment in 2025?

We pray together that God will help us to fulfill his Great Commandment Directive from Matthew 22:37-40, which gives us a social goal of loving God and loving our neighbor.  What does it look like to love God and love our neighbor in our workplace?  What does righteousness and justice look like there?  How does love manifest itself?

We pray together that God will help us fulfill his Great Commission Directive from Matthew 28:19-20, which gives us a missional goal of being disciples and making disciples in every nation.  Who might God be prompting me to disciple in my workplace?  And as I prepare, am I acting as a disciple in order to be a good witness?

Rev. James Mwalubalile from the Tanzania Assembly of God church in Dar es Salaam (and a DML leader in Tanzania) held this service at his church yesterday and shared these pictures.  His members brought items from their workplace to lay on the alter and they prayed over them together.  They shared testimonies of what God is doing in their workplace and how they are joining Him.  

It's also a time to share laments of the challenges of doing work in places that are challenging, especially to our faith.  And it's a time to pray for those who are looking for a job, so that they too can contribute to the flourishing of their community.

And you can see that his leadership team are all wearing t-shirts that say "work as worship" on them!  

We are thankful for this happening across the 21 countries where we are working, and the many denominations who have said "yes!" to this needed area of discipleship!  

As you enter your work year, we pray too that you will see where God is working, and join Him in His goals for that place!  May you find joy and fulfillment as you contribute to the flourishing of others through your work!

From Malawi: "Living for Christ in the Marketplace"

This week, I received the 2025 theme from one of our partner churches in Malawi: "Living for Christ in the Marketplace." When I see that a church has set a year-long theme like this, I praise God for what He is doing in the marketplace!

What better gift can there be during Christmas then people being discipled to live as Jesus did, being a witness every day, in every way!

This outline came from Pastor Francis, with the City Pentecostal Church of Malawi. Their vision statement for 2025 is, "Empowering believers to embody Christ-like values in their workplaces, businesses, and daily interactions, becoming ambassadors of Christ in every sphere of influence."

They have selected these three verses to support this theme: 

Matthew 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden... let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Colossians 3:23-24: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men... You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Proverbs 22:29: “Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.”

 They have identified these thematic objectives:

1. Equip Believers for Influence: Teach practical and biblical principles for living out faith in professional and social spheres.
2. Foster Excellence and Integrity: Encourage Christ-centered values in work ethics, business dealings, and relationships.
3. Promote Marketplace Evangelism: Inspire believers to share the gospel through their actions and testimony at work.
   
4. Encourage Work-Life Balance: Help members integrate their faith with their professional and personal lives in a holistic way.

And these are the key pillars of the theme:

1. Faith at Work: Develop workshops and sermons on how to live out Christian principles in daily tasks and decisions. Explore stories of biblical figures who influenced the marketplace, like Joseph, Daniel, Lydia, and Paul.
2. Excellence as Witness: Teach the importance of excellence in work as an act of worship. Offer training on skill development and professional growth grounded in biblical values.
3. Ethics and Integrity: Highlight the role of integrity in building trust and reflecting Christ. Discuss real-life challenges like honesty in finances, workplace conflicts, and ethical dilemmas.
4. Evangelism in Action: Encourage creative ways to share faith in the marketplace (e.g., mentorship, acts of kindness, prayer groups). Provide resources on starting workplace Bible studies or small prayer groups.

Great stuff!  So practical and applicable to every believer in every workplace!

For me, this is a gift, all wrapped up in a beautiful vision of members being change agents on the front lines, reconciling people to Christ through their work.  

What a gift to the world, through Christ, that can keep on giving!

Please join us in prayer for this church, and so many others, who are seeking to help the church be the church every day of the week!

From DML, we wish you a blessed Christmas!

The Adventure of Becoming

This week I turn 56 years old, and I finally know what I want to be when I grow up! 

Well, maybe it's more accurate to say that "I now know better who I am," as I'm not planning on changing anything with this realization.  

And the funny thing is that apparently, I have come full circle.  

When I was young, I wanted to be a social worker.  That is what my first degree was in, and that is what I did for the first sixteen years of my working life.  But then I moved to Liberia and got involved in business development, while still doing community development.  I then dropped the community development and moved fulltime into business development.  Felt a bit like a fish out of water.  

In 2013, I began to bring the message of business development into the church and found myself teaching at seminaries and mostly speaking to pastors and denominational leaders.  I usually would start my self-introduction by saying that "I'm not a pastor."  Felt even more like a fish out of water.

Over the years, I often struggled with the fact that I was working primarily with three groups of people (pastors/church leaders, businesspersons, and missionaries) and I didn't identify with any of them!  [While many missionaries say they wanted to be a missionary since they were a child, it wasn't even on my radar until I was 36 years old!]

But this last year confirmed to me that I am, and always have been, a social worker.  The goal of this social worker is to see people flourish and poverty alleviated.  That passion is driven by my faith which says that ALL should flourish, regardless of race, tribe, or creed, for the glory of God...and that the need is urgent.

Why am I telling you this story?  Good question.  Give me another minute and I'll get there.

When I married Bob Reed, attending Madison Square Church in Grand Rapids, I was exposed to the challenges of racism.  As a Canadian, it was not something I was aware of growing up.  Bob and I decided to live a life that would seek to be good neighbors to those suffering under the weight of racism, and for me, also wrestling with the accompanying poverty that comes with racism.  We moved into our church neighborhood and the community development organization, Restorers, was started in partnership with five neighborhood churches and a great team of neighbors linking arms to work together.  We lived and worked there for seven years.

Then Bob had a burden for Africa. I resisted it for a number of years.  But when Restorers was ready to be turned over to other leadership, I agreed to go on an exploratory trip to Liberia.   Upon seeing the devastating poverty there, as a result of a 15-year civil war, Bob and I prayerfully decided to move there with Hannah and Noah.  Through a path that is much too long to write here, I found that business was the best solution for long-term alleviation of poverty.  I did that directly for the next seven years and furthered my education (MBA and PhD in sustainable development) in this regard. Then, DML was born out of the need for ongoing discipleship for the workplace, leading to the next twelve years.

And now the reason for this tome.  

My husband Michael has been working with Christian theologians and authors for the past four years relating to the plight of the Palestinians. As he is an AMAZING supporter of my work with DML, I told him a few months ago that I would support him if he wanted to do something related to this passion of his. That led to us attending a conference last week in Southern California, put on by the Network of Evangelicals for the Middle East (NEME), entitled "How American Christians Should Respond to Palestine and Israel."  

And my heart was broken again by what I heard and saw.  I know I have a lot on my plate with DML, but as my heart broke and my anger was stoked, I again saw that the root of who I am as a social worker. I get angry at injustice and inhumane treatment of humanity.  I learned about my own uninterrogated assumptions regarding Palestine and Israel. 

[And of course, it made me realize that there are countless uninterrogated assumptions that I hold!  In some ways, there is safety in that.  If I truly knew the depth of human depravity relating to every issue, my heart couldn't hold it.]  

So my question to God over this past week has been, why this issue at this time?  Am I supposed to do something with it or is it just Michael's issue?  In the past, Madison's issue became my issue.  Bob's issue became my issue.  What about now?

As I've started reading books written on the history of Palestine and Israel, I feel, at the very least, I need to share what I'm learning.  

It is for this reason that I have kept the "Reeds in the Wind" blog and not given it up to only focus on the DML blog.  The Reeds in the Wind blog was started by Bob in 2005 (formerly called Reeds in Liberia) and it allowed us to chronicle our life journey, being blown in the Wind that is the Holy Spirit.  We've been able to share not just our ministry journey, but our family and faith journey as well.  

So I'm going to write a three-part blog on this particular issue.  This is NOT a DML issue.  This is a "Renita the social worker issue."  I hope that makes sense.

Part one of this blog will look at the actual historical formation of the country of Israel and the interaction with Palestine.  Part two will be to examine the role and beliefs of Christians in relation to the formation and the current situation.  Part three will examine the current war between Israel and Palestine and how Christians should respond.

I hope you will join me on this journey.  I'm not an expert by any means.  I will provide some book recommendations, articles, and links for you to do your own exploration should your curiosity be piqued.  I would welcome your feedback as well as we journey together!

Not everyone will be an entrepreneur. But everyone should be entrepreneurial.

There are some sayings that I run across now and then that stick.

One such saying is that "not everyone has a job, but everyone has work."

Another saying is that "not everyone will be an entrepreneur, but everyone should be entrepreneurial."

We are made in the image of a creative, working God, who is innovative and entrepreneurial. While many of us may never start a business or be called an entrepreneur, we are all to be entrepreneurial in how we work. This means that we are to look at how we can bring creativity and problem-solving skills to our workplace - wherever it is that we spend our time. And this means that we must be in a posture of learning and creativity.

At our recent Global Summit, we declared 2025 to be the Year of Entrepreneurship and Agriculture - in other words, YEA 2025!  Regarding entrepreneurship, many of our partners are receiving invitations to speak at denominational youth conferences.  The young adults in the majority world (ages 18-35) are facing significant unemployment, despite having university degrees.  We have access to millions of these young adults through our denominational partnerships!  In fact, one of our key leaders in a very large denomination is now the leader of young adult ministries, opening the door for us to break down the sacred secular divide in significant ways.

The impact study that we just concluded with 500 marketplace ministers across ten countries tells us that for every business trained, five jobs are created!  This is an increase from last year's impact study which showed two new jobs created for every business trained.  This is truly exciting as it means more people can care for themselves and their families and find their way out of poverty.

Imagine the potential if every young adult is trained in entrepreneurship?  The median age in Africa is 19.2 years old (compared to 38.5 years in the US and 44.5 years in Europe).  Imagine if every young adult understands that they can be job makers, not just job seekers?  That they can bring solutions to problems, for the flourishing of their communities and nations, and not just work for money?  That they can have a Biblical worldview towards work, doing their work with excellence and integrity, while loving their neighbor and being mission minded?

Are you ready to say YEA 2025???

This Tuesday is Giving Tuesday, and we have a donor who will match all gifts given in the last six weeks of 2024, up to $25,000.  Will you partners with us to reach this goal so that we can move into 2025 with strength? With your partnership, we will have the ability to bring this message to 21 countries, through 28 partners.  To be a partner with DML, please click here for more information.

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!

On Being Selfish: From Mission Field to Mission Force

This past week, I was privileged to speak at a missions conference in Tennessee, where I was reminded again of the incredible work that is being done in so many places of the world by ordinary people seeking to bring the love of Christ and the gift of grace to ordinary people in difficult circumstances.

While I struggled with some of the language around "mission" and "missionaries," I resonated with the speaker who said that representing Christ is "not a mission should you choose to accept it; rather, it is your identity."

Too often we still find that the language around missions includes the idea of a few people "going" to a place far away, yet all of us can be on mission every day of the week, as we meet people who might never step foot into a church and people that the pastor may never meet. 

I was reminded that while the USA is still the country that sends the highest number of missionaries globally, it is now also the country that RECEIVES the highest number of missionaries globally.  

In many places, the mission field has become the mission force.  The global south has more Christians than the global north.  The face of Christianity has moved from being a white Western male to being an African female (more women are Christian than men, and highest number of Christians are found in Africa).  

But I loved what one speaker said in talking about the US culture as it moves toward being post-Christian:  We must go to the nations so that they will come back to us when our Christianity has become "something-like-Christianity."

What a powerful statement.  

As the majority world moves from mission field to mission force, we find ourselves, in North America, moving from mission force to mission field.  

The quote below from A.W. Tozer reminds us that Christianity will always "reproduce itself after its kind." Who we are is what we will spread.  We must be careful in this.  He goes on to say, "The popular notion that the first obligation of the church is to spread the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false.  Her first obligation is to be spiritually worthy to spread it."  While one could say that we can never wait until we are worthy (but through the grace of God), the argument of living of striving to live lives of integrity and wholistic discipleship needs to be beyond our words to our actions.

In another book I was reading this week, Leading Well in Times of Disruption, the writer said, "People are unreached because God’s people are unsent.  The unreached are not unreachable…but sometimes the unsent are not sendable.  We lack character formation."

May God help us to send the 99% of Christians who work in the marketplace.  May God help us to be sendable.  May God help us to do discipleship that will lead to people of integrity - living on the outside what we proclaim on the inside.

From the book, Of God and Men, this quote from A. W. Tozer

The task of the church is twofold: to spread Christianity throughout the world and to make sure that the Christianity she spreads is the pure New Testament kind....

Christianity will always reproduce itself after its kind. A worldly-minded, unspiritual church, when she crosses the ocean to give her witness to peoples of other tongues and other cultures, is sure to bring forth on other shores a Christianity much like her own....

The popular notion that the first obligation of the church is to spread the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false. Her first obligation is to be spiritually worthy to spread it. Our Lord said "Go ye," but He also said, "Tarry ye," and the tarrying had to come before the going. Had the disciples gone forth as missionaries before the day of Pentecost it would have been an overwhelming spiritual disaster, for they could have done no more than make converts after their likeness, and this would have altered for the worse the whole history of the Western world and had consequences throughout the ages to come. (page 35-37).

Two wonders I confess: My worth and my unworthiness

This year, I had the opportunity to travel to a few countries that were new to me.  During those visits, I learned about the history of the country, as well as the history of Christianity.  In the sharing, I often heard about "colonial masters" who usually arrived at the same time as the missionaries.  The descriptions of both are rarely positive and some of the negative impacts continue to this day.  The idea that the work of those "unfurling Kingdom hope" is always positive is naive at best.  

However, in my last two trips, I've heard a lot of positive things about missionaries and what they have done.  This was especially true in South Korea, as they relayed the story of the history of Christianity through a beautiful drama during Lausanne.  It touched my heart to hear the story, and it helped to bring healing the term "missionary" for me.  I add that to my experience in Indonesia, as I heard the stories of the first missionaries who arrived in very difficult circumstances and sacrificed so much to share the gospel.  I get to work from the legacy of what they have done.  I am so thankful for that.

And all of that contributes to my understanding of this line from a song which I heard first at Lausanne:  

Two wonders I confess:  My worth and my unworthiness.

Indeed.  These words have captivated me and have kept me pondering over the last two weeks. Two wonders that are both true yet opposite.  How can this be?  What a mystery. What a wonder. 

My worth:  I am made in the image of the God of creation.  I am not an employee but a co-creator.  Jesus has paid the price for my sins and calls me friend.  All of that worth comes without me doing a single thing!  Understanding my worth doesn't come easy - I have to remind myself of this. I am invited to live it out, walking in obedience and faithfulness, seeking to grow in the fruits of the Spirit as I do so.

My unworthiness:  This is often much more apparent to me. I was born white in North America, living a life of great privilege that was built on the backs of many who suffered.  My ancestors did things to people that bring me shame to this day.  I am petty, self-absorbed, easily irritated, and impatient. 

How can this be?  Only God.  Only God can take someone so unworthy from an unworthy culture and unworthy ancestry to make a wonder that is able to join in the work of the most High God, with titles like "ambassador," "saint," and "priest."  

And for the missionaries who have gone before, who continue to go out, and who will go in the future, the same two wonders apply.

Only God.  

I am grateful.

The song, by the Gettys:

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=05jKxv8ApuI

My Worth is Not in What I Own

My worth is not in what I own

Not in the strength of flesh and bone

But in the costly wounds of love

At the cross

My worth is not in skill or name

In win or lose, in pride or shame

But in the blood of Christ that flowed

At the cross

I rejoice in my Redeemer

Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul

I will trust in Him, no other

My soul is satisfied in Him alone

As summer flowers, we fade and die

Fame, youth, and beauty hurry by

But life eternal calls to us

At the cross

I will not boast in wealth or might

Or human wisdom's fleeting light

But I will boast in knowing Christ

At the cross

I rejoice in my Redeemer

Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul

I will trust in Him, no other

My soul is satisfied in Him alone

Two wonders here that I confess

My worth and my unworthiness

My value fixed, my ransom paid

At the cross

I rejoice in my Redeemer

Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul

I will trust in Him, no other

My soul is satisfied in Him alone

I rejoice in my Redeemer

Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul

I will trust in Him, no other

My soul is satisfied in Him alone