Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Training

A missionary in Cairo told me that many local Christians attend "trainings" but are not applying what they have learned. This is something that I have noticed in other Arab countries where I have served. Maybe this is our fault as missionaries. In our efforts to "do something" we host training conferences (often at nice hotels) but training involves more than passing on information. In kingdom work, it usually involves heart change, grace-filled accountability, and some level of relationship with the trainee. 1 Corinthians 8:1 says, "Knowledge puffs up but love builds up." Pray for missionaries in the Middle East, that we trust less in the missional strategies of CPM and DMM and DBS and M2M and 4Fields and T4T. Pray that we will model obedience to God in abundant gospel-sharing and reproducible church planting among all Arabs.

Speaking of training, I've enjoyed training the homeschooled high school boys basketball players this summer. It's been good for me to step away from this computer screen 2 or 3 times a week for a few hours. Recently, we watched and discussed this 10-minute video to get a more biblical perspective on competition.