May 2020

From the beginning, God desired for the earth to be full of people who worshipped him, who came to him in the right way. The Garden of Eden and the temple are both examples of God creating a way to approach him. It reminds us that God has not forsaken his plan.

From creation to new creation, God provided a means by which he could be approached. When Jesus died, the temple was torn in two and now he is the final sacrifice and the way to God. Jesus will be worshipped by all nations and when we seek to live our lives to reach the nations with the Gospel, we are finding ourselves in God’s trajectory—we are his people who reach out to the nations through his church.

When I was in Thailand almost exactly a year ago in late May 2019, I spoke with a missionary who has been working in Northern Thailand for over 25 years. One piece of advice he shared with our team was that if you are going to engage with the Buddhist worldview, you need to clear, simple and talk about Jesus. I think this short video and article, helps with all three.

We know the pitfalls of reading into a passage what’s not there. At the same time, we need to know the whole story, so that we can see what is being built upon by successive Biblical writers. After all, the Biblical books after Genesis are written in light of what was written already.

In this video, Scot shows how understanding the metanarrative of Scripture impacts interpretation of details, not adding new meaning, but showing the significance of what is already there.

Our own Emily Loggen writes about three homeless men who possessed peace and contentment. Nomads, prisoners and itineraant preachers. That’s who Abraham, Paul and Jesus were.

In this last of 3 introductory episodes we sit down with Paul Mac who along with his wife Linda worked among the Ata people in Papua New Guinea (See the Ata Story). We ask the question:

In the process of church planting, how do you go about building a ministry team that will replicate and disciple others to see that the work is passed on?

The Holy Spirit inspired Biblical authors to develop themes throughout the Bible that tie the whole of Scripture together, across books, geography and time.

In this video, Scot introduces one such theme: the Creation Mandate. God told Adam and Eve to fill the earth with people who would worship Him. Instead, they end up rebelling. God’s plan is not thwarted though. He plans to fill the earth with people who know him and have a relationship with him. And so He raises up someone, the Lord Jesus, to restore creation to what it is supposed to be, tying Scripture together.

Missionaries often start their journey into ministry with high expectations. Chief among them is a hope for fruit from their labors. However, it doesn’t take long for some to realize their dreams may not instantly translate into reality.

Should we see the Bible as one grand narrative? Or is that superimposing our agenda on it?

We know that the individual books of the Bible combined represent a cohesive story. In this video, Scot demonstrates how understanding the whole story impacts the way we interpret the details.

With all that has changed in the last couple of months, and all that will likely change in the upcoming months, it makes it hard to plan anything, especially an event where we can all be together. With that in mind, we are still planning our Saturday 27 June Workshop at our CrossView office and a fellowship dinner on Friday 26 June. While we pray we won’t have to, our planning will allow us to fall back to a virtual online meeting where we can still learn together. ... read more

In this COVID19 period of home lockdowns, working remotely, Zoom meetings and trying to keep on top of everything, when everything has changed, it’s easy to lose sight of your goals. What to focus on when life is complex is a challenge, but an important skill for cross-cultural Gospel Workers and Church Planters. Paul Mac reminds us to stay focused on the big picture and long-term goals.