midway...thirdway

Midway

Saint Paul, Minnesota has long been recognized for its neighborhoods. The city has been called "fifteen small towns with one mayor", owing to the neighborhood-based life of much of the city. Midway is one of these neighborhoods, which derives its name from being midway between the downtowns of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. This neighborhood was established in the 1880's and continued to develop through the 1930's.

St. Paul is home to the largest urban contingent of Hmongs (formerly of Vietnam) in the United States. A significant number of both Hmong and Somali refugees live in the Midway area. Hamline University is also located in the neighborhood, and nearly a dozen other educational institutions are close by, which draws learners from nearly every state and from over 30 countries.

St. Paul is known for its citizen activism and Midway is no different. Numerous civic groups address local issues from urban greening to engaging youth and elders.

Interesting observation - while visiting Midway in May, I noticed that some of the intersections in the neighborhood had huge paintings in the middle of them. I found out that a group called Paint the Pavement is responsible for the initiative of “street paints.” The aim of these street paints is to develop relationships and social networks; creation of a community gathering place; calmed traffic; crime prevention; and, a local neighborhood identity.

A fun fact about Midway - Peanuts cartoonist, Charles Schultz, came from this neighborhood.

Third Way

It is into this neighborhood called Midway that God is leading our family to “pitch our tent” for the next season of life. We will join a missional community, who call themselves Third Way. The name of the community comes from the teachings of Jesus to express God’s love at all times by choosing new creative responses to the brokenness in our own lives, and the brokenness we find in the world. This means we are always looking for the third option in a world of violence and withdrawal.

Third Way is also experimenting with different ways of living out the shared life of community, and they are asking hard questions about what it means to contend for your neighbors. Whether they are running their coffeehouse, Groundswell, or working with Somali refugees, this community of 30-40 people seeks to be a redemptive presence in the Midway neighborhood.

We desire to use our gifts to assist in the shaping of a dynamic, creative, healthy community. We hope to help expand Third Way's mission in and around Midway, as well as network with other missional communities in the Twin Cities. We trust that this is the beginning of a journey that will surpass what we can think or imagine at this time.

New Global Love Economy

I'm reading a book at the moment where the author ponders the metaphors Jesus would use if he lived in this day and age. I found the following to be very insightful and descriptive of the challenges we face in our world today:

Jesus might confront the global prosperity crisis by announcing the new global love economy...Our current prosperity system, as we shall see, is amazingly powerful - growing more so every day - yet it is unsustainable long-term, an example of self-delusion and denial about our creaturely limits that may be on of the most striking characteristics of modern times...

Socially, in this economy we consume time and produce fatigue, consume art and talent and produce entertainment and amusement, consume work and leisure and produce paychecks and heart attacks. And ultimately we consume communities and produce extended families, consume extended families and produce nuclear families, consume nuclear families and produce individuals, consume individuals and produce consumers, and finally consume consumers themselves and produce disembodied fragments called "wants" and "needs" and "markets" and "segments" and "anxieties" and "drives" that the economy consumes and excretes and reconsumes in a kind of cannibalistic ferment or rot. In the process, we commonly produce successful megaconsumers of unimaginable wealth who are more or less bankrupt in compassion for their poor neighbors. And in a stroke of suicidal genius, we simultaneously produce poor people whose greatest dream is to be like those megaconsumers who don't care at all about them.

That's why if Jesus were here today, I imagine he would speak frequently of the new global love economy of God - not an industrial economy, and not an information economy, and not even an experience economy, but a wise relational economy that measures success in terms of gross national affection and global community, that seeks to amass the appreciating capital of wise judgment, profound forethought, and deepening virtue for the sake of rich relationships. (Everything Must Change, p. 130-131)

The author is not asking us to remove ourselves from the reality of the world in which we live, and live in some "pie in the sky" place of religious irrelevance. Rather, I think he is encouraging us to engage the world in the most relevant of ways. In ways that truly reflect the reality of the God's kingdom and His heart for humanity.

August Newsletter

Dear Friends,

As we begin to move toward Minnesota, we want to paint a clear picture of our transition within CRM. Our new supervisor, Gary Mayes, is the Director of ChurchNEXT, which is a collective of CRM ministries based in the U.S. We have asked him to give his perspective on our new role, as well as the new context in which we will be working. The following is Gary's letter:

Dear Friends of Bryan and Daleen,

By now I am sure that you know about the big transition that lies ahead for the Ward family. I wanted to write and tell you what this transition means for the rest of us. Having known the Wards for years, I am very excited about what they will bring to a new place in this next chapter.

First, indulge a little background. I believe we live in a pregnant moment of history where the U.S. is now one of the world’s strategic mission fields. The culture is racing headlong into the secular post-Christian reality that pervades Western Europe. Established churches are struggling and church plants are failing at an alarming rate. Over ½ of all congregations in North America did not see one person join through conversion last year. I know of one denomination that invested ten million dollars to launch 40 church plants to have only one succeed. Barna research reports that only 3% of 16-29 year-olds in the U.S. have a positive view of Christianity.

It is into this vortex, we are deploying Bryan and Daleen. We have asked them to help us pioneer new ways of planting and forming churches in this emerging mission field. They are instrumental to an R&D initiative that is exploring new methods, new strategies, and new ways of bringing the Gospel to life among people who are beyond the reach of—and even hostile to—traditional expressions of the church. My prayer is that in addition to reaching people for Christ we will successfully incubate pioneering efforts like this so that in years to come, our cumulative experience will be a goldmine for church planters and church planting movements on a broad scale.

We believe the church is God’s primary delivery system for hope and healing in a lost and broken world. However, this land that many of us call home cries for leaders who are courageous enough to find contextually appropriate ways to deliver the timeless truth of the Gospel.

Bryan and Daleen will work alongside Third Way, a creative young church planting community in St. Paul, Minnesota. In this role they will bring all of their experience from NieuCommunities. And, I have asked them to bring their cross-cultural sensitivities as a resource to sharpen the global work of the fifteen teams and initiatives that form this piece of CRM called ChurchNEXT.

Because you know the Wards, you understand why I am so enthusiastic about having them in a role like this. What I also hope is that for their sake and for the sake of the Kingdom, you would partner with them generously as they step into what might be the most complex and important mission field of their lives.

Grateful, for you and for them,

Gary Mayes, Director of ChurchNEXT

Sports

Most people in America don't know about the sport of netball. I didn't either until my daughter, Zoe, started playing several years ago. Some people describe netball as "basketball without dribbling," which is close, but doesn't capture the actual differences and nuances of the game.

Wikipedia describes netball like this:

Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. The sport shares many similarities with basketball, having been derived from early versions of women's basketball. It developed as a distinct sport in the 1890s in England, from where it spread to other countries. Netball is popular in Commonwealth nations and is predominantly played by women.

Games are played on a rectangular court divided into thirds, with a raised goal at each short end. The object of the game is for teams to score points by passing a ball and shooting it into the opposing team's goal. Players are assigned "positions" that define their role within the team and restrict their movement on court. During general play, a player with the ball can take no more than one step before passing it, and cannot hold the ball for longer than three seconds. Goals can only be scored by the assigned shooting players.

Zoe's position is one of two shooting players on the team, and she had many games this season where she was the high scorer for her team. Although she has done quite well in netball here in South Africa, Zoe is looking forward to playing some typical American sports like basketball and soccer. Kyle is looking forward to playing football and baseball in place of rugby and cricket.

We look forward to this next season of life as we prepare to transition back to the States later this year. We hope that sports will play a significant role in helping our children to make new friends and enjoy life in America.

May Newsletter

I don't mind stealing bread
From the mouths of decadence
But I can't feed on the powerless
When my cup's already overfilled

“Hunger Strike” by Chris Cornell

For years, the words to this song have haunted me. Nearly 20 years of living overseas in Russia and South Africa has opened my eyes to those I call the powerless. Not that I wasn't surrounded by such people in America, I just didn't see them so clearly. This powerless-ness can come from a lack of opportunities or resources, but it also stems from a lack of love, respect and dignity. And, even more than a lack of money, a lack of these things can be a deep burden that eats at the spirit and diminishes hope.

Africa

Over the past 12 years I have been learning about the history of South Africa specifically, and Africa in general. The history of Africa is complex, bloody and, quite frankly, sad. The atrocities that this continent has endured are countless. Unfortunately, much of the pain has come at the hands of Westerners, even missionaries.

In his book, Eye of the Needle, South African author, Richard Turner, writes:

One specific characteristic of "white culture" is a major determinant in the conflict system: the drive to accumulate wealth and the drive to seek personal satisfaction in the consumption of material goods, rather than, and often at the expense of, relations with other people. While this continues to be a dominant cultural trait, the details of the conflict may change, but the essentials will not.

I don't want to oversimplify Africa's struggles and challenges by blaming everything on “white culture.” I do, however, as a white man, want to own up to a cultural trait that seems to pervade our society. A trait that lends itself to conflict, exaltation of self and holding others down.

dec·a·dence

1. unrestrained or excessive self-indulgence.

2. moral degeneration or decay.

3. the act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state; deterioration; decay.

Although I see decadence as being an ever-increasing trait of our culture, I would say that entitlement is the daily form most commonly lived out. And entitlement has even seeped deeply into the Church. Entitlement is sneaky and can slip into our lives almost unnoticed. It woos our heart to demand what we want because we feel like we deserve it.

Working with NieuCommunities for the past 10 years has helped me to look at my life and its effect on others, both locally and globally. One thing I have really appreciated about working with 20-somethings is that, although they struggle with entitlement, they are asking some tough questions:

• How does my lifestyle affect the lives of others either locally or in other parts of the world? For instance, do the products I buy come from a sweat shop or from child labor? How do I support free trade so that locals in poorer countries can make a fair wage?

• How can I bring the reality of God's kingdom in a tangible way to those who live around me? What does it mean to be the Good News?

• In what ways can I give to the powerless that shows respect for the person and helps to restore dignity to their life? Other than money, what do I have to give to those in need?

In our current global economy, such questions are necessary, even if they make us uncomfortable. Like no other time in history, our daily choices have a far-reaching effect on countless others. My hope is that the Church will choose to live counter-culturally. That we will choose to live in a way that brings good news to the afflicted, binds up the brokenhearted, proclaims liberty to captives and sets prisoners free.

With my cup overfilled,

Bryan

somebody might wave back

seven o'clock in the morning
I'm riding the overnight train
I got ten tons of luggage
but I left it behind when I came

I look at my watch
it says September seventeen
we're riding through some place
where I've never been

and I'm waving through the window as we go
somebody says, 'what are you waving at?'
but what do I have to lose?
- somebody might wave back 

Somebody Might Wave Back, The Waterboys

The following is a "lesson" that comes from the rough and tumble world of elementary school. Actually, I've had similar experiences in adulthood, but 4th graders are less sophisticated. Okay, sometimes they are just as sophisticated, but they wear less masks and, therefore, the "lesson" is easier to see. Where was I? Oh yes, trying to explain the world of a 4th-grader.

Okay, so two years ago my son, Kyle, was having some problems with a boy named Johan. This always baffled me because Kyle and Johan seemed to have many shared interests. Anyway, the gist of the story is that Johan and another one of his cronies used to tease Kyle until he would break down and cry. For some reason, it is fun to see your fellow classmates cry when you are in 4th grade. After graphing out the teasing occurrences and determining the correlation coefficient, I determined that this was happening often enough to warrant a trip to see the principal. And, nothing like a talking to from the principal to bring an end to a situation.

That was all two years ago. This year Kyle and Johan are in the same class. And, guess what? Yep, good friends. It is Johan, who is often in the same study group as Kyle (by choice mind you). It is Johan, who has invited Kyle away for the weekend to celebrate his birthday. And, it is Johan, who was first to offer help with getting Kyle from class to class while Kyle is on crutches after his surgery.

I have found that it is often the people that I butt heads with the most that I later end up enjoying the most if given the chance. I'm not sure how Kyle and Johan became friends, but I suppose it started when one of them took a leap and pursued the other. It might have been a seemingly insignificant leap, but it was enough to turn the tide of a relationship gone awry.

Observing this new relationship between Kyle and Johan has made me wonder, Who in my life might wave back if I would just venture to wave?

Polarized Society

The events of the past few weeks show just how far South Africa still has to go as we move and work toward a society that reflects the Rainbow Nation. Race relations are tense as a result of a couple of events. Recently, the leader of the ANC's (the ruling party of South Africa) Youth League, Julius Malema, publicly sang the "Shoot the Boer" song (click here - and scroll down to find lyrics to the song). A Boer is another word for an Afrikaner, which means "farmer." My wife, Daleen, is an Afrikaner. Then this past weekend Eugene Terre'Blanche was hacked to death on his farm. Terre'Blanche was the founder of an extremist white group called the AWB (Afrikaner Resistance Movement).

Events such as these don't help us to heal from our divided past, but rather open old wounds. They heighten tensions between races, which has led to several bomb threats in and around Pretoria. One of the bomb threats was at the mall where we normally shop, and another was at a bank in our suburb. As far as I know, no bombs went off and no one was hurt. And, unfortunately, this is not the type of press we need just before the Soccer World Cup that will take place in South Africa in June/July. South Africa is a beautiful country with a lot going for it, and these type of events overshadow the reality of life for the vast majority of people.

Won't you please pray with us for the nation of South Africa. Pray for true reconciliation and healing of the wounds of the past. May we learn from the past rather than repeat it.