"Full time" ministries

Having been involved in one of micro-churches and their network and ministries, I have begun to think that disciple-making requires "full time" engagement. And this "full time" does not mean 9-to-5 or more than 8 hours per day. It literally mean full time, and you need to contribute all of your time.

Today's church is highly institutionalized and professionalized. It is required to have completed advanced education to become a pastor. A church needs staffs for administrative tasks and to take care of its building. And words like "full time" and "part time" are attached to ministers and staffs alike. Apparently there are "certificate" of baptism for members and when moving membership between churches, there needs to be transaction.

Jesus told his disciples "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19 NIV)

There is not such things like "full time" or "part time" in disciple-making  There shouldn't be. Whether you are on or off, in up time or off time, Christians are witness to the world and tasked to make disciples "full time". Not just Sunday morning. Not just during service or even mission trip. Any day, any time.

Church is a community of believers. It is not about buildings nor about how services is good or sermon is appealing. It is about engagement to one another. Not about how you connect with other members on Sunday, but rather every day. Not about spending a couple of hours in Sunday morning in one building and sanctuary, then saying each other "have a nice week." It's about "hi, what's going on?", "How can I pray for you?", "Anything I can do for you?", "Let's hang out."

In Acts, there is a description of the earliest church.

"Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:46-47)

They meet and shared meals every day, not just on Sundays. They engaged each other "full time."

I hear description of modern church as a "country club of Christians" frequently these days. To certain degree, I agree with it. Somewhere you have to dress up nicely. You may be welcome at your first service at the church, then nobody talks to you after 2nd or 3rd visit.

Church sometimes labels first-time attendees of the service as "guests." It sounds nice but I think it's a very offensive word. A guest is usually a visitor who do not come back some time soon or ever. So, when church addresses the person who attended the service for the first time as a guest, it can be taken as saying "thank you for coming, but we really like the way we are now, so don't come back if you are going to change it."

I'm not saying having a building or trained teachers or ministers is a bad thing. Nor institutionalizing a church. It can enforce the ministries and help respond to complex issues presented today. But, it can also be distraction from disciple-making and "full time" engagement.

Appreciation of originality

I was upset when I was watching my favorite Ghibli movie, Porco Rosso, with my friends. In Japanese original version, after Curtis, Porco's rival, shoots down his plane after its engine stops and picks up a part of plane on the sea, he says it's going to be a great souvenir to his mother in Alabama. In English-dubbed version, Alabama is replaced by Texas. Why did they do that? Why not just keep Alabama? Sure, Texas may be more famous and popular than Alabama, but is that a deal big enough to change?

I prefer subtitle to dubbing when watching movies in foreign languages. I like the authenticity. Even long before I came to the U.S. and improve my English, I always watched movies like Titanic, the Matrix, Star Wars with subtitle.

It seems in the U.S. people do not appreciate originality as much. Look at Japanese restaurants in this country. Most of them are stake houses. You rarely see them in Japan. Japanese food is not about the performance of throwing a chunk of meats up in the air or making fire on the flattop. There are restaurants that set up flattops in front of guests, but it's for serving food before getting cooled.

In Japan, when you want to eat sushi, you go to a place that serve sushi. if ramen noodle, go to a ramen restaurant (Ramen food market is very intense in Japan by the way). If tempura, go to a tempura place, and so on.

I understand "stake house" is more marketable to Americans and Japanese cuisine may be too various to serve in one restaurant. I don't think one restaurant cannot serve sushi, the best known Japanese cuisine while also serving less famous dishes like okonomiyaki or Japanese curry rice. 

Even sushi is different. California rolls is more liked than nigiri of raw tuna or salmon. I know that raw fish can be hard for some people to eat. But, instead of thinking Japanese is weird for eating raw fish, people should be educated and know that raw fish can taste great.

I do actually like Japanese  stake house. I think it's creative and obviously it's successful. But, at the same time, I want people to learn what it came from, what authentic Japanese cuisine is.

Same with movies. even if you don't understand Japanese, you should be able to catch the emotion and feeling behind the voice. That's why I like subtitle rather than dubbing that can change what it says or take away something important.

Drug free

Can we, as human being, be drug free? That question popped up in my head today as I was watching a news during my lunch.

It was the news on CNN that FDA told doctors not to prescribe large dose of a particular drug. One guy in the deli asked me if I think it's crazy.

I'm not a specialist and have no clue about this drug. Certainly I do not have answer for this guy. But, my general stance is that the less drug, the better.

I know that some people need to take medicine constantly, and I understand that. I am thankful for the pain killer after my surgery to take out wisdom teeth. I am thankful for anesthesia. But, didn't we used to go without those drugs for a long time in the past? We didn't need government to tell what drug you can or can't take.

Now we have issues with drug addiction, allergy, complication... I feel like human has become so dependent on those substance that it began to control our lives instead of us controlling it.

Although I appreciate the pain killer (vicodin), I'd never liked it. It made me dizzy and made it hard to focus. When I got out of it a week after surgery, I started to have headache because my body became addicted to it. When I had sinusitis (inflammation of prenasal sinuses), I was prescribed antibiotics, but it took away my appetite.

Luckily, I don't have any allergy other than some pollen (which caused sinusitis). But, I just wonder why human began to have all kinds of allergy. Is it because of all the artificial substances (artificial flavor, sweetener, etc)? Did people in the early age, like pre-industrial age, have the same allergy that we have now or is it something we developed recently?

Modern medicine may be helping us to live longer. Or maybe it means that we've become lazy and dependent on drug or supplement. (I've seen articles saying that it's more effective to take nutrition from food than from supplement.)

Considering all the issues that drugs are creating, I think that ultimate goal of medicine is to make people healthier without relying on drugs.

Looking back 2013

On New Year's Eve, I was with friends and talking about best things and worst things in 2013. In my case, the best thing is that I graduated, and the worst thing is that I graduated. Sounds interesting, right?

I didn't imagine to do graduate study when I started college at JSU. But, now I have both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Now I can do research with statistical analysis. I learned nonprofit management and fundraising.

But, now I'm stuck and have no idea of what path I should take. I spent the second half of the year just searching for an opportunity with no success. I have had a couple of interview either over the phone or face-to-face toward the end of the year, but I closed the year with no clear sight of next step.

In terms of career development, 2013 saw no progress. Yes I graduated, but now what? And the question remains unanswered. 

I have added Ph.D. as another option. I don't know if academia is right for me, and I've never thought it would be. But, as I researched for my graduate research project, I enjoyed finding data and running analysis.

I think my faith was tested during the time of hardship. For the first time in my life, I left stranded. God pushed me into a dark hallway with many doors and I couldn't see far. As I was entering a room close to me, He closed. I tried another one, and He closed it again. It's like he is telling me not to trust my eyes, but Him. I started seek more words from Scripture.

I hope I have more clarity in 2014. But I also want to be hungry for God's guidance and His words.