Archive for the ‘Jet Set’ Category
Posted on February 12, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Our excursion into Montpellier
On Thursday we traveled from Montpellier to Paris. We had an awesome day in Montpellier. We split up into two’s and explored the city yesterday afternoon.
Here are some quick take aways about our time there.
We definitely just began to scratch the surface but I think we did well considering the amount of time we were in the city. When you split into twos then you can accomplish more for sure.
We prayed as we went about the city.
We all found good cafes to do some observing. As usual that is important to me.
Several in the group had great conversations with people in the city to learn about the people and the city. Trying to strike up conversations is a must. There are usually one or two in a group that seem to do very well at this type of information gathering.
We found good maps at the train station. These were helpful to get us to the hotel on foot. We were lucky this time and stayed a hotel within 1 kilometer.
We talked to the hotel clerk to find out some things about the city and where to start looking at certain sections of the city. In a large city it is hard to see it all so we asked about the university that was there and decided to look and be around that section. We have noticed on this trip from ministries such as The Hamburg Project and The Berlin Project that they do well focusing on a part of the city and then developing their ministries and church plants from there.
We also observed several “nodes” or gathering points for people and traffic. This city was unique that in the center there is no car traffic only foot traffic, bikes and trams. So you have this entire city center that is full of life. Large open areas for people to gather.
Several in the group did some quick Internet research on the city. They found out that nearly a third of the people were 25 and younger. The city has that kind of energy and feel to it.
We went into shops. Strategic consumerism is another place to gain information. Local shop owners can tell you a lot about their city.
We explored the boundaries of the city center and looked for major landmarks. We did not notice any evangelical churches and a fewer amount of Catholic churches compared to other cities. Granted we did not see it all but explored only in the city center. I would want to do more research in this area for sure. What is the current status of the gospel there?
The next morning we went out again. We sipped on coffee and talked about the things that we learned together. Debriefing our time together and taking some notes about what we learned is helpful for the future.
I must say this type of activity is one of my favorite parts of these trips. I love going into a place and start trying to figure out the language, culture, people. I love dreaming with others about what work could look like here and how to engage the people with the Gospel. I am enjoying my time with this team from the Village Church. All of this team have traveled abroad. Several have lived abroad. You will see a video soon on www.theupstreamcollective.org from a guy by the name of Jason who lives out his life in an area of Dallas that is quite impressive.
I have been thinking some about why I think younger churches should be involved globally. These churches have lots to offer. I will write a post on that soon. I know they are teaching me a lot.
Posted on February 10, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Italy
This was the first time that I have visited Milan and Turino. One thing that we have been talking about as we have traveled south are the similarities and differences of the different cities.
We started our journey in Denmark and now we are in France after visits in Germany and Italy.
We have noticed several things. One particularly obvious thing for me is the language. It was quite amazing in Denmark at the level of English the Danes could speak. As we went to some more diverse areas of the city where immigrants lived we would find some language challenges but when we approached Danish people they usually did very well in English. I still believe long term workers there would need to learn the language to get into the heart language of the people but for a strategic short term teams then the language issues there could be less of a barrier.
As we moved into Hamburg and Berlin we noticed a more diverse culture and less people who could speak English but usually you could get around and talk to people at some level.
When we moved into Italy and France much of this seemed to change for us. I have countless times tried talking to the people in Italy and France in Spanish when they could not understand English. I usually do well at making mistakes in language situations. Some say it is a gift, or a curse. grin.
Two things that stick out to me apart from language issues.
No matter where we have gone as we have talked with nationals and people ministering cross culturally in these areas the consensus is that less than 2 percent of the people are evangelical.
The second part is no matter how hard we try we cannot be cool enough to make it work here. It is a God thing! Only the Lord can open up the hearts of the people here. I pray He will use us on this trip. I pray the Lord will use churches like The Village to engage Europe. I pray for all of my fellow workers in Europe who are day in and day out living out there lives here and dying to self. I know the Lord is faithful and He alone will sustain you and give you opportunities.
Posted on February 7, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Jet Set Trip Weekend
Our jet set trip really should be a planes, trains and automobiles trip. We have used all three today to get from Germany to Italy.
Really impressed with the team from The Berlin Project. This is an initiative of Redeemer in NYC. As we talked with their pastor and listened to his story he has such a heart for that city and is working hard at planting other churches in Berlin. I like church planters that want to plant churches that plant churches. Here is there site but it is in German.
We stopped by Milan this morning on our way to Turino and was able to visit Jason who is a friend of mine who lives there. We should have his video up in the next day or so on our Upstream Blog. He has a great ministry with atheletes in Milan. You will want to check out his video.
Tomorrow we are going to meet with some new contacts here in Turino for us. We will let you know how that goes.
Meanwhile we are going to enjoy at least three great things about Italy:
Espresso
Ice Cream
Food
Posted on February 4, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Copenhagen Day Three
I am on the train from Copenhagen to Hamburg, Germany. I am reflecting a bit on some conversations that we have had over the last few days. I feel it is quite important as we go into a city to find locals who can inform us about the city and the people who live there. One conversation took place at Cafe Retro in the central part of the city. In this case we were talking with two local believers. One of them told us about the Jante Law.
The Jante Law was an observed form of behavior but put into a set of rules by Danish author Aksel Sandemose in his novel A Fugitive Crosses his tracks.” Wikipedia says that the Jante Law “refers to a pattern of group behavior towards individuals within Scandinavian communities, which negatively portrays and criticizes success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate”.
Here are the 10 Jante Laws our cultural guides spoke of earlier…
Don’t think that you are special.
Don’t think that you are of the same standing as us.
Don’t think that you are smarter than us.
Don’t fancy yourself as being better than us.
Don’t think that you know more than us.
Don’t think that you are more important than us.
Don’t think that you are good at anything.
Don’t laugh at us.
Don’t think that anyone of us cares about you.
Don’t think that you can teach us anything.
If you were living in Denmark how would the Jante law affect the way you live and interact as a new person in the community?
Posted on February 3, 2010 - by Larry - 1 Comment
Copenhagen – Day Two
This week I have been able to spend some time with Grady here in Copenhagen.
Grady is a photographer and his wife is an artist and writer. They both are incredible examples of artists who are living out their lives as salt and light in any community in which they live.
We have had several cups of coffee this week in Copenhagen. You will find a great post that he wrote while here this week here.
I asked him “Why Copenhagen? As I have been here over the last few days his answer makes total sense.
Copenhagen is a city full of artists. They feel a kinship to the arts. They believe that this is a part of the world that as a family they could live long term and really connect with people and have a ministry through a relational context.
I also asked him about where do they desire to live in Copenhagen? He says they are looking for a place that strikes a balance between being close to where artists spend a lot of time such as galleries or cafes and to where as a young family they can develop relationships. Intentionality is important in missional living.
If you are interested in learning more about their ministry you can send an email to info@theupstreamcollective.org
For a look at some of his work please visit my gallery page.
Posted on February 2, 2010 - by Larry - 2 Comments
Copenhagen – Day one
Observing a couple of things about the cultu
re.
First, it is really a bike culture. It seems that there are more bikes than cars and on top of that it is snowing. While many of us would stay inside by the fire on days like this many people in Copenhagen are riding their bikes everywhere. I could not imagine how many bikes would be on the street if the sun was shining and it was warm.
It is also a Cafe culture. You know this pleases me. There are cafes everywhere. I am trying out most of them. Mostly with large windows and many candles to give it a warm feeling.
Our group from The Village made it in this afternoon from the states. We have our first meeting this afternoon at a coffee shop this is also a cultural center.
As we begin our time this afternoon with the group one thing that we will talk about are the three streams of culture that I see in Europe.
- A decline in Institutional Christianity
- An increase in the influence of Islam
- An increase of a post Christian worldview
We see these in most European cities. This afternoon we will begin to talk to some people in Copenhagen about these three streams.
More soon.
Posted on September 29, 2009 - by Larry - 0 Comments
conversation in a Taxi
One of the guys who went with us on the Jet Set was Marshall.
Great guy from Houston.
His parents are very well respected workers that served in Europe. Marshall spent some of his days as a youth in Barcelona but I will not hold that against him. smile.
I hope you will take a look at this video. You can get a feel for how one participant processes the information. One really cool thing is that as we are trying to understand a new culture at the same time we often process what this means at “home”.
Each morning on a Jet Set we have a few hours of conversations.
We spend time praying.
We talk about some of the impressions the Lord is giving us each day. We pray for each of others and the ministries that we see on the ground.
We also pray for the people we met the day before as we go about the city.
Our next one is coming up in May 2010 to London and Paris with Ed Stetzer and Daniel Montgomery from Sojourn Church in Louisville.
After our debriefing time we normally have some pretty cool conversations about some practical ideas about missions. This trip we talked about the person of peace, oikos evangelism or what we call tribes, mapping the city, working with other partners, etc…
Posted on September 28, 2009 - by Larry - 0 Comments
The Church as Missionary
In many ways our end game at Upstream is to help the church think and act as a missionary. Though we are finished with this trip the conversation continues with these churches. Many of them have us back to their places where we can start engaging in a conversation with their church.
Our next trip is to London and Paris in May of 2010. Check out our site at www.theupstreamcollective.org for the dates and the initial application.
Posted on September 27, 2009 - by Larry - 2 Comments
The Meaning of Life
One of the things we do on these trips is meet people who have a wide variety of ministries. I was really struck the other evening when we went downtown to an area where there are a lot of single mothers just trying to survive. Many are without hope.
Take a look at a story of someone who finds hope.
My desire is that God will use these posts to create in you a desire to help people who are often overlooked.
Maybe it is in your neighborhood.
Maybe it is in another part of the world.
More soon.
Posted on September 25, 2009 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Receptivity
I have learned some lessons this week.
We normally line up some guest speakers who are from the country we are visiting. One day during our trip, we heard a guy talk about presenting the gospel. He used “EvangeCard” which is a type of tract. I am not a real big “gospel tract” user. I normally do not use that method of evangelism. I normally focus on getting to know a person relationally and then sharing the Gospel within the context of the relationship. I try to let the person know that I am a Christ follower early in our relationship and this will at times set the stage for spiritual conversations.
At the end of our time that day, he challenged us to go out and talk to some people. As we finished the time and people left the room he asked if I would go out with him for a while. What do you say?
So we took off and went to a near by section of town. He was the translator but he wanted me to engage in a conversation with an older gentlemen setting on a bench. I looked across the street and saw a group of people playing basketball and I thought to my self this is where I need to be talking to people. This is much more in my comfort zone.
I know in the context where I serve most of the time you need to hang out some before you talk. I raised my objections and he told me that I needed to understand his context some. He said “you are in this country and these people here actually respect you as an American most of the time. They will listen to you. They may or may not accept the message but they will listen and talk to you”.
I still did not believe him until about 10 seconds later when he led me over to this man to talk. I started the conversation with a hopeful “do you speak English?” He did not but luckily I had my friend who was able to translate for me. Sure enough I asked if I could share something with him and he said yes. I spent the next 10 minutes talking to this man and he responded favorably. I did not do a good job with folding the card the way it was suppose to be folded but luckily I had help and I tried to focus on presenting the gospel message. I was especially excited at the end when he told me he knew where he could go buy a Bible and my new evangelist friend invited him to his house church this weekend? I feel better that there was some follow up to this conversation and I can only pray and hope that life change would continue to happen in this man’s life.
Several things that I learned from this.
I needed to trust the cultural guide who was helping me in this situation.
I have had the opportunity this week to talk with several Taiwanese people and all of them have been quite friendly and open to talking about spiritual things.
Obedience is important. Again, I am not a tract type of guy but I knew in my heart I was suppose to go with this guy. I am glad I did.
Taiwan seems to be a receptive place but the receptivity is seems to be about being open to spiritual conversations and not so much making decisions to follow Christ on the spot. I am still processing this but I think it takes time and the trust of a significant relationship.
This is my first time in Asia. Without a doubt it has stretched my thinking regarding contextualization amongst other things.
more soon.
