In a recent open letter to ministry parents (especially missionary parents), my friend Bret Taylor issued a warning against losing sight of your children amid the tasks of ministry. Here is my open response. Dear Bret, I want to thank you for writing your open letter to Ministry Parents. I have vivid memories of sitting in my living room talking about this very thing. You had come at my invitation to speak at the youth camp of the MK Youth Group I led in Costa Rica. We talked long into the night, and not without tears. Your letter takes me back to that room. These two things I took away from the letter: when the mission becomes more important than the family, it has become an idol; and the way to gauge if this is happening is “not because you said it – but because they felt it.” In this open letter, I’d like to address each of these, both as a friend and as a recipient, being a "ministry parent" myself. First, the matter of ministry being more important than family...
It is the regular experience for TCKs/ATCKs. It is, in a sense, what makes the TCK. It brings confusion and tears, mixed loyalties and overcommitment. It is the wish, the desire, to belong. To belong is a profound and human need. But those things that heigten this need in the TCK practically define largelly shape what a TCK is. Many TCKs spend enough time in their formative years to conform significantly, in thought patterns and values, to a society that is visibly, politically, culturally, and linguistically different from them and their forefathers. What are the odds of their really belonging there - in one generation. And yet, the experience shapes both their mind and affections, and (as many know), the TCK may feel more at home in their host country than in their passport country. But in significant ways they still do not belong, for belonging is more than an internal identification - it involves the acceptance among the people that is unlikely to happen in such a short ...
Read Jeremiah 11:1-8; 16:10-15 Consider The indictments against the chosen people only intensify after chapter Jeremiah chapter two. Their evil has long enough been a stain not only on the earth, but against God whose name they bear. God will be faithful to his word, and there will be no escaping the promised judgments. In today’s world, the word ‘faith’ has become a harmless word, stripped strength and substance. When something goes wrong, we ‘have faith’ that things will turn out right. But why? What basis is there for such a claim? Faith is a word that demands a foundation. If my wife tells me she will buy milk at the store on her way home, I can have faith that she will – because she has proven herself trustworthy and has given me something in which to trust (the words she spoke). If she did not say anything about buying milk, I would have no grounds to trust that she will buy anything whatsoever, regardless of how trustworthy she is – because she has not given me a ...
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