thoughts on religion
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
I was writing a prayer letter and couldn’t condense my thoughts, or decide what would be appropriate for that medium. So I wanted to come here and flesh out some things I have been thinking.
Today I learned that in England it will likely soon be illegal to claim that one religion is the only truth about God, or something like that. Apparently this law exists already in Australia. It seems that you can be arrested for not being politically correct. I tried to find that online to confirm, but wasn’t able to. [But in my search I did find a site whose sole purpose is to undermine evangelical Christianity. There are hundreds of articles written by any manner of sources contributing to fanciful ideas about methods of Christians in evangelism. One former pastor even wrote an article on the techniques of spreading the virus of evangelicalism that was quite scathing, and altogether untrue. Sadly, I know that the authors of these articles can point to a number of "believers" who have given them this perception of Evangelical Christianity by their inappropriate and offensive methods.]
That was a long sidebar. But I’ve started to recognize that the world mostly sees religion as an earthly endeavor. Even if they know the implications are for Heaven and Hell, in conversations with people from different parts of the world, I’ve seen that person after person, when describing religion seems to view it as something very small and insignificant and almost connected to an era of philosophy that is destined to pass on. It’s dying because it’s just like any other fad. Just like sideburns. Someday it might be popular again, and you can participate in a way that everyone notices, or that just kind of blends in, but society will ultimately determine whether it stays or goes, and now the leaning is towards a clean shave. Soon all religion will be irrelevant.
And I’m ok with that. Sort of. It makes me a little uncomfortable reading Jonathan Edwards who refers to true faith in Christ as true religion. Because today’s society has shaped the context of that word even in my own mind. So in discussing Christianity, or really any other religion for that matter, I prefer to discuss it in the context of something more permanent. More permanent in the eyes of the world, I mean. How about science? I can say that religion is just the science of understanding God. That’s consistent, right? It’s current, it describes most religions… But it leaves the impression that we are to actually look for answers. It implies that we actually need to study God. Am I ok with those implications?
Most people seem to see religion and science as fundamentally separate from one another. Maybe even opposed to one another. I fully disagree. Recently I was in Assisi having breakfast with two biochemistry professors from Scotland. (I know, really random, long story). Anyway, I was asking them about their beliefs with regard to evolution and creation. Both are staunch evolutionists. But one claims to be a believer, and the other an atheist. (They happen to be married to one another, which no doubt makes things interesting) They are fully convinced that evolution will one day be proven fully and seemed unaffected by my arguments otherwise. But for the wife, the believer, the central question for her was why so many people see the theory of evolution as being opposed to the existence of God. And while I don’t fully agree with her viewpoint, I do share her opinion that the general mindset that says science and religion are opposites is incorrect. I believe that science is a wonderful way to learn about God’s creation. It’s absolutely incredible that as far as science has come, there is still infinitely more to learn.
But I think too many believers are afraid that science will one day disprove God. What? Can I really say that? Yes! I think believers all over the world have simply bought into what happens to be the truth about God without taking the time to analyze it for themselves. Which isn’t all bad until someone challenges them on their faith. Now, I’m not suggesting that we all go take seminary classes on apologetics and doctrine survey. But I am suggesting that it’s ok to ask why you believe something. In fact, I think it is essential.
And that (sort of) brings me back to my definition of religion as the science of understanding God. I think all religions came from this point. In the beginning God’s existence was rarely questioned. People just wondered about His identity. Today people can’t get past the question of His existence, to move on to deeper questions of understanding His identity and His character. But those questions are essential. And those are the questions that we must ask in order to find truth about God.
So the Bible. Logically, I think it is reasonable that if God created man, and wants to reveal Himself to man, He would do it through Creation, through History, through Man himself… but how about in written form. That’s exactly what the Bible claims to be. And I believe that’s what it is. I’m likely not going to convince someone that the Bible is exactly what it says it is. Most students here believe it has been changed, or that it was written by men, or that it’s not supposed to be interpreted literally. But most of them can’t tell you why they believe that. Those are bold claims, and I always challenge students not to make them lightly. There is research available. If you’re going to conclude something about a book so historically significant as the Bible, you’d better know why you reached that conclusion.
Ok. this is long. I’m just going to end it rather than spend more time bringing it to a neat conclusion. I”m sure there will be more later.
basketball
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
Today we’re going to try to play basketball with some students. Every saturday there’s a group of Italians who come together around mid afternoon to play pick up half court 5 on 5 games. Ages range from 17 or 18 to a handful of seasoned veterans who could easily be over 50 or maybe even 60 — you know, the kind who are far too slow, but seem to always be in the right position, and shoot 94% from the field. Anyway on this court, as an incentive to play “with passion”, everyone is required to put 2 euro in the pot before each game, which will be divided among the members of the winning team for that game. Basically you pay the guy you guarded if your team happens to lose, or vice versa.
The last time (and first time) we played out there was on my birthday in February. Ryan and I were there early enough to participate in the warm up game (no money for the first one) and his team won so they stayed on the court for the first “with passion” game. I went to the other half and started shooting around with a few other guys - one Italian, one guy from Angola, and two American guys who are here studying abroad for the semester. Both over 6-5 with obvious playing experience. One more guy walked up so we started a game of 3 on 3. No money necessary for this game to have passion - especially between the two American guys.
But being my birthday, having only been on the basketball court once or twice in the last several years, I was wondering how my now twenty nine year old body was going to handle 2-3 hours of jumping and cutting and short sprints. Particularly, (this really made me feel old) I wondered about my back. And the next day I felt my age more than I ever have. But I really didn’t have to wait until the next day’s Advil for confirmation that I am indeed older. On a disputed out of bounds play the ball bounced through a crowd, hitting my knee at some point, but passing other players on the way out. There was an argument, so to avoid controversy I announced that it had touched me, and the other team should get the ball. The American on that team, who was probably 19 or 20, feeling vindicated by my explanation, and wanting to clarify to the rest of the players that the situation was resolved, repeated my confession by informing everyone that “the old man said it was off him”. The old man.
Happy Birthday, old man.
Vision trip part 2
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
It’s over. They left saturday night. It was a great week. 13 students 1 volunteer and 2 staff. All from Texas. They all seemed to have a great time. But we got our money’s worth from them. They looked exhausted by the end of the week. So did our team. But it was a good week of meeting new students and engaging them in conversations about the Gospel, casting vision to the american students about continuing to be involved in the ministry here, and promoting our summer project in Malawi. We’re hoping to take a group of Italian students, and we are praying to raise half of the support from the States. Several students pledged to give.
It was a full schedule, going on campus for several hours each day. For the first 3 days we went to campuses where Agape doesn’t have a presence. The next two were spent on our 2 most familiar campuses in Florence. At night we made sure they were well fed, and got a taste of good Italian food, followed by some of the best gelato Florence has to offer. Optional sight seeing was squeezed into the free periods between campus and dinner, and a couple of early mornings. And one unique event was to have small group dinners in some of our homes so they could see how we “do life” here as missionaries, and so they could ask questions in a more informal setting.
Overall, the feedback was great. Our team really enjoyed it, and the students’ evaluations were all very positive. Suggestions involved ways to keep students from dozing during the morning devotional times. My theory is that they just haven’t learned to drink the Italian caffe yet.
Now it’s time to rest. We have a break coming up with the Easter holiday. Students will be with family and friends for most of the next week and a half, so our team will be taking this as our vacation time. But with the exchange rate soaring so high, I don’t think any of us are doing much traveling.
vision trip
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
Today at 5 pm the group of students from SMU and TCU will arrive in Florence. I got to meet them all yesterday in Bologna. They came to see both cities since they are only about an hour apart. The ministry in Bologna is new. There’s a couple there who are pioneering campus ministry, and praying for laborers in the form of a STINT team this fall. And that’s part of the reason this vision trip is here - we hope some of them will come back on STINT or summer project.
Several of you might wonder why these students aren’t from MS or other southeastern states. All the vision trips I’ve been a part of came from schools like MSU, Ole Miss, Central Florida.. Well, now that I’m in Florence, I’m connected to a different region of US campuses. Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas. It’s called the Red River region. And they are responsible for sending to Florence, and are beginning the partnership with Bologna as well. Ole Miss, by the way, has moved it’s partnership focus from Pisa to Salerno, and now to Rome.
All that introduction to explain that this week will be very busy. Kelly and I were in charge of the trip, making arrangements, planning details… So she and I will have a good bit of work to do.
I just realized most people won’t know who Kelly is. I’ll have to introduce my team at some point. Just not today.
But thanks for your prayers this week. Our goals are
(1) that we can effectively utilize 16 additional laborers for the ministry here in Florence,
(2) that the students here would have a positive experience with Campus Crusade and international missions, and
(3) that they would also gain a vision for what God is doing in Italy so that they could continue to participate in some way, and share that vision with others when they return home.
La Porta
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
That’s the name of the semi monthly meeting for the campus ministry here in Florence. Every other week we gather with students to discuss a passage of Scripture. Tonight there were 4 students, and very good discussion. We’ll be studying through Mark this semester. Tonight we looked at how Jesus called Simon, Andrew, James and John, and their immediate response. Good discussion. The format for the meeting is to begin with dinner (well, actually we begin by waiting for at least 30 minutes for the 1st students to show up), then gradually move into the discussion part, facilitated by one person and translated into Italian if necessary, as was the case tonight. And a good portion of the time was spent in small group discussions about the passage.
This was my first taste of ministry in Florence. We’ve been planning the past 4 days, with one of those days being a day of prayer on the campus. So I’ve seen both of the campuses we frequent, but hadn’t engaged with any students until tonight. I was encouraged. Italians interested in discussing Scripture. It’s rare, but it does happen. And I’m thankful.
support
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
It’s done. Well, I guess it’s never done. But I find myself in disbelief at God’s provision… and His timing. I have reached my goal.. well, within $20/mo anyway. And the last $730/mo all came after I had packed my suitcases for my flight to Italy. And it came very unexpectedly. One family decided to double their support for the second time since October, going from $100/mo to $200/mo, then to $400/mo. A new church came on at $250/mo and then several others have decided to join me as well, bringing me very close to my total goal. I’ll know at the end of this semester whether I’ll need to raise more, but my guess is that this is exactly what I will need. Or if it’s not, then the rest will come in the same providential timing.
I’m amazed. Several times I have wanted to ask God if I’m really where I am called to be. It doesn’t feel like it. I assume that’s because I’m still in transition. But I really cant argue about such clear abundant provision. I’m here. I have everything I need, and I have more evidence than just financial support to confirm that I am being obedient in coming to Italy.
Thanks so much for all of your prayers. Please take a moment to rejoice and thank God for providing for me and for this ministry.
apartments
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
I think the ladies who have been showing me apartments are very disappointed with me. They’re all great places, some of them in great location, and most of them well worth their asking prices. I hate to make people work harder than they have to in order to help me. But I feel like that’s what I’m doing. I’ve just realized that it’s difficult for me to choose a place where I want to live for at least the next 2 years, in a city that I don’t know for a price that is constantly changing due to the exchange rate. But I have options. Good options. And I think I’ll be happy whatever I choose, so it is left to me to choose well. And to continue to ask for prayer for wisdom.
Why don’t Italians know the Gospel?
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
One of the things I often say as I share about what compels me to Italy is that the average Italian, if he wants to know truth about God, does not have access to someone who will offer that truth in a clear and relevant manner. I often hesitate to make that comment without a thorough explanation or at least answering questions. The perception is that while most Italians don’t attend church, the churches which can be found throughout every city in Italy are still operating and still teaching God’s Word. Well… not exactly. These churches are still in operation - most of them. But most Italians would not find answers there. That statement also needs explaining. They wouldn’t find answers because of 2 reasons, and the most common reason is no fault of the church. Most Italians have simply concluded for themselves, for a variety of reasons, that the church does not have the right ideas about God. Past errors such as political corruption from the days when the church was the government, the Crusades, or more recent crimes involving immorality on the part of the priest in their home church. So the first reason may or may not be valid, but the second reason would validate the first, though not in ever case. The second reason is that some churches simply do not teach a clear or even accurate Gospel. I’m not clear on how the teaching varies from church to church because I have not been to a lot of Catholic churches, but I have talked with a lot of Catholic Italians. And it is clear that some congregations are more doctrinally sound than others. or at least, some churches emphasize certain teachings that parishoners perceive in such a way that would cause an outsider to believe that the church is actually teaching false doctrines. For example, I honestly believe that for many churches, if you were to only study the practical faith of the church members, you would conclude that Mary is the central figure of Christianity. More than one Italian student has suggested to me that Mary is the third person of the Trinity. That’s an extreme example, but from my perspective, it confirms that Italians are not guaranteed to hear clear truth about God by going to a church.
That’s why we are in Italy. We as outsiders are there because we want Italians to know God, and we believe that necessarily will result in worship. But Italians will hear the Gospel from another Italian more than they will from a foreigner. That’s why we are praying that God would raise up Italian leaders, and that they will begin taking truth to the rest of Italy, so that it can no longer be said that Italians don’t have access to clear and meaningful truth about who God is.
Italy for Allah?
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
I wanted to add some content here about why ministry in Italy is compelling. The following is from my January support letter.
Here’s something that I think is especially compelling (compelling because it’s so sobering). It involves the apparent cultural direction of the European continent. This information comes from research done by Josh McDowell, who made the statement that by the end of this century, Europe will be a Muslim continent. The cause will not be Islamic evangelism, but the stark contrast between population growth between European countries, and their neighboring Muslim nations. Actually, it’s population growth versus population decline. And Italy has one of the sharpest declines in Europe.
I don’t know if anything can be done to prevent this cultural transformation. But it may not have to coincide with a spiritual transformation. I’m confident that the Christian church in today’s Italy will offer very little resistance to the flourishing of the Muslim faith of any immigrants. But what I believe could happen is that a growing church that is clearly alive and bearing fruit will prove more appealing to the land’s newcomers than the religious traditions of their home country.
But if the church is to become alive by the end of the century, I believe it must begin to change today. That’s why we are in Italy. That’s what we are partnering together to do. Please continue to pray for the Italians, and pray with urgency that God would move and build His church so that Italians would truly believe and truly worship.
Thank you for playing a role in this very important and strategic ministry. Your work in prayer and financial support is essential. And I am very grateful.
winter
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
My parents have always been consistent in reminding me to check my antifreeze when cold weather is approaching. You would think by now I wouldn’t need to be reminded. I did check mine this morning. It’s fine. But I find myself wanting to put a little extra in because this week, my car is experiencing winter for the first time in its 12 year history. I’m in Ohio. I drove here from Chicago, by way of Muncie, Indiana. Tomorrow I’ll go to Cincinnati and then head home. It’s cold up here. I have several friends in this area that I don’t get to see often. I’d been promising to come visit for a while, and finally this week I decided to make the trip. It’s been great. But yesterday when I woke up and there was 3 inches of snow on the ground, I really wished I had made this trip a little sooner. And this morning when the street where Brad and Courtney live was covered with ice, I decided I needed to (carefully) make my way to Autozone to make sure my car was more prepared for this than I was. It’s fine. The only problem I have is that my heat doesn’t work. But I already knew that. Again, this is where I have to recognize that my timing for this road trip was just poor.
But aside from the weather, it’s great to be with these friends again. I am blessed to have good friends that God is using all over the country. All over the world, really. It’s not often that I get to see most of them. So I’m grateful for any opportunity. Soon I won’t be able to do something like this. I’ll be on the other side of the world. And that’s hard. But at least there I don’t have to worry about driving in the snow.
And I discovered this weekend that it gets even colder if you go farther north. I met a girl from Canada who grew up where it’s very common on a winter day in January for the temperature to be 30 below, and it can get as cold as 50 below. But the coldest she had experienced was when visiting family even farther north where it hit 70 below. I looked at weather.com when I got up yesterday and it was 23 degrees in Muncie. that’s 93 degrees warmer than it could be in Canada. Putting that in perspective, that’s the same difference you would feel if you went from 116 degree heat, to Muncie Indiana yesterday morning.
I never knew I could be so thankful for Mississippi winters.
new post
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
I’m going to see if I can’t breathe life back into this blog. March to December. That’s a pretty long dry spell. It’s not that I didn’t have anything to write about. Half that time was really busy. Half of it was really slow. But no one who knows me well enough to read this blog doesn’t already know most of that anyway. It would take too much time to catch up, so I’ll just start new right here. The post on Worship is from a draft of a prayer letter that I just sent out. Those thoughts got removed from the blog to save space.
Worship
Posted by Drew | Filed under General
I think I’ve learned a lot about what joy is, and where we should find it. The next step will be to learn how to take that knowledge and apply it. As I learn about joy, I am also evaluating my definition of worship. As I share about missions in Italy, I often borrow a pastor’s statement about why missions exist. “Missions exist because worship doesn’t.” It helps to know a little of this pastor’s theology, summarized best in his statement that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” That satisfaction in Christ is necessary to find true joy in Him. And worship, I believe, is the outward expression of our joy. Sometimes it’s in song, sometimes it’s in prayer, sometimes it’s in deed. But I think it ought to always come from the heart in a desire to praise God for who He is. And I think I’m not very good at that. But I want to learn to be. I remain convinced that when any person understands God’s character even just a little bit, then our natural response is praise. And I think the failure to worship is always tied to a misunderstanding about God. And I think the more we learn about God, the more we will want to worship Him. I guess that’s why it’s so important to continue to learn more, to grow, and to be sanctified. I think it’s a process that will teach us to worship better and better until we see God face to face and the worship just pours out naturally, loudly, and uncontrollably. I long for that day. I long to see some of my Italian friends worshiping with me.
