Josh Benner

Tag: missions

  • Continuing dialogue on the death of American missionary

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    Much has been said about John Chau, the American missionary who lost his life when trying to approach the Sentinelese tribe, who live on a remote island off the coast of India.

    There are different camps people fall into with this story. I wrote about this last week. Some people looked at a story of a Christian going to another part of the world to try to reach others with the gospel with such scorn that they practically celebrated his death.

    I literally saw people comment that they weren’t even sorry for him. I think that’s pretty sick.<!–more–>

    Others were apathetic to his death because he was exposing people to diseases. I’m not a doctor, he might have been, however he had been heavily immunized and even spent time in quarantine before going. At the very least, it seems that Mr. Chau was thoughtful to avoid that (and he had also received medical training).

    I’ve been critical of the methods used to approach the Sentinelese people. I still do believe that things could have been approach in a manner of better judgment, especially once the situation was obviously perilous. But I also might have been unfair in my initial assessment.

    From the available information, Chau had put a great deal of thought into this trip. It wasn’t throw together on a whim. He had planned for this trip. He had trained for this trip. I always thought his desire was admirable: reaching people with the gospel who had never been reached with it.

    It’s a complicated story because people fall into many camps. There is the aforementioned group who are hostile to the gospel and its spread. There are people who aren’t necessarily hostile to the gospel but who were opposed to this particular effort because of the risk of disease.

    But Christians also have differing opinions. I think we should remember the good things about Chau’s effort: having a desire to reach the lost with the gospel. He was in an extreme situation but so many of us aren’t even willing to share the love of Jesus with a friend or neighbor because we’re so uncomfortable.

    As I’ve said, I think that there is room to question some of these methods. Not even to bad mouth a young man who lost his life, but just in terms of evaluating missiological strategies. Ed Stetzer, who’s a missiologist and author noted a couple of Bible verses that apply to this situation. In Matthew 10:14, Jesus told his disciples: “if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.”

    There is a lot of hatred in the world. Missionaries and Christians lose their lives and are persecuted for their faith.

    I still think it’s fair to question if Christians should deliberately put themselves in positions where they are facing almost certain death?

    It appears that Chau never had any sort of end with the Sentinelese people. Perhaps more information will come out, but standard avenues to try to reach and positively interact with a society seemed to be closed off.

    Christians should pray for the Sentinelese people, and to pray for John Chau’s family.

    Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe! 

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Forgiveness in the shadow of death

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    In the summer of 2016, Jamison Pals drove through Nebraska with his wife Kathryne, and their three young children: Ezra, 3; Violet, almost 2; and Calvin, 2 months old. As traffic slowed down for construction, a semi truck, driven by a 53 year old driver named Tony Weekly slammed into the back of the Pals family. Their car burst into flames. All five died (a sixth person in another car also died from injuries related to this accident).

    The family had been driving from Minnesota to Colorado to train as missionaries, with plans of being sent to Japan.

    Last week, the driver was sentenced. Advocating for him was an unlikely source: the victim’s own families. “We ask the court to give the maximum allowable grace,” Kathryne Pal’s father Gordy Engel said before the court.

    Tony Evans was sentenced to six months in jail for his crime.

    The grace and forgiveness of the families I find inspirational. It’d be easy to hate this man. It’d be easy to never want to forgive him.

    But the families have publicly forgiven him. They’ve embraced and hugged him, they’ve prayed for him, and shown him love.

    That’s the power of the gospel. It’s a love that doesn’t even make sense. This man’s actions took away six lives and a beautiful young family. And yet, their relatives can forgive.

    Rick Pals (the father of Jamison Pals) said in court: “I can honestly say Tony, both families have forgiven you…I know how much God has forgiven me. How could I not forgive you?”

    For Christians, forgiveness is never given as an option. We are always called to forgive others. In the face of tragedy, these two families have shown something profound, something beautiful.

    41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

    Luke 7:41-43

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Having an “all things to all people” ministry mindset

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    Originally published April 6, 2016

    In 1 Corinthians 9, the Apostle Paul gives an insight into how he approached ministry. After discussing how he related to Jews, gentiles, and those whom society had looked down upon, Paul sums up how he related to each of these groups by saying that he became “all things to all people.”

    For the Jewish people, they had the Law. In the early church, there was still some uncertainty over which (if any) aspects of the Law people were required to follow.

    Paul was respectful of Jewish customs. He had been born and raised Jewish. And for the sake of building relationships, in certain circles, he would still participate in accordance with various Jewish customs. In Acts 16, Timothy is a young minster who begins doing ministry with Paul. Knowing they would be traveling in heavily Jewish areas, Paul actually has Timothy get circumcised.

    All things to all people.

    People needed to understand that adherence was not what saved a person. Faith is what saves. But it’s also important to understand that, for Paul, in ministering to Jewish people, the purpose wasn’t to get them to give up every aspect of their former life. Practicing things like circumcision or still eating in accordance with the Jewish dietary restrictions were not things that people needed to give up.

    Paul’s purpose was to preach the gospel, the salvation through faith and the work of Jesus at the cross.

    From Jews to Hindus 

    I was at a missions conference a few weeks ago and one of the presenters was talking about barriers missionaries face in evangelizing Hindus in India. India has a billion people, but is only about 2.3% self-identified as Christian. And those numbers haven’t really changed in the past 50 years, in spite of all of the money and missionary efforts in that country.

    Part of the challenge is that Hindus who convert to Christianity often times make radical changes. Not simply Spiritually, but external changes: things like changing their names, changing how they dress, essentially separating themselves from anything that has to do with Hinduism.

    Many American Christians might think that’s a good thing.

    But is it?

    Think about it like this: you know someone and they start going to a new church. And then they start dressing differently. And then they tell you they’ve changed their name….would you think “well that’s wonderful.”

    Of course not.

    You’d think they had just joined a cult!

    Coming to faith in the gospel of is always a spiritually transforming event. But depending on a person’s background, it can also be a significant social change as well. There can be stigmas in certain circles. It can be at the expense of relationships. While the gospel is worth whatever the cost, it does not need to be at the cost of lifestyle decisions that aren’t matters of sin. It can be easy to have extra-Biblical expectations of what a real Christian should act like or do. We should encourage and exhort people to turn away from sin, but not from things which are morally neutral, things like style of dress, tattoos, piercings, and smoking.

    For the Hindus, with things like the style of dress or their first name, or like the Jews to whom Paul was ministering who still practiced circumcision, these weren’t sin issues. These weren’t things that were inherently wrong for the people to be doing.

    While this passage is not an exhaustive manual on how to do ministry, I do think that it is providing an important bedrock example of how we are to spread the good news of the love and forgiveness of Christ in our world.

    All things to all people.

    We have a God who meets us and loves us where we are. And we are to love other people where they are. It’s not about a person getting things together so that we can find them lovable.

    Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

  • 5 thoughts on being “all things to all people” in the Christian life

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    Originally published April 11, 2016

    In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, the Apostle Paul talks about being “all things to all people.” In the rest of the passage, he talks about different groups with whom he demonstrates this. While that passage is not an exhaustive guide to ministry, it provides significant insights into how to reach people for Jesus.

    Based on studying this passage, and thinking of this in the ministry context of the Bible, I have five reflections over the past few weeks on what it is to be “all things to all people.” (more…)

  • 5 thoughts on being “all things to all people” in everyday life

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    In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, the Apostle Paul talks about being “all things to all people.” In the rest of the passage, he talks about different groups with whom he demonstrates this. While that passage is not an exhaustive guide to ministry, it provides significant insights into how to reach people for Jesus.

    Based on studying this passage, and thinking of this in the ministry context of the Bible, I have five reflections over the past few weeks on what it is to be “all things to all people.” (more…)