THREE WORLDS DIARY
Photos from Holland
Photo 1: Straddling the border. One the left side of the street is Germany. On the right side is Holland.
Photo 2: A real life jousting match. "I remember my first joust. It looks far worse than it feels." (from the movie Excalibur).
Photo 3: Marco eating a stick outside of a castle Pastor Adriaan took us to in Holland. The stick tastes like licorice..kind of.
Photo 4: Smart cars are very small, but popular in Europe. I've seen one that was half this size.
Photo 5: Singers from the new Congolese Church of God in Holland. Very exciting!
Connecting Europe: Peter Wins!
This trip to Bulgaria served a number of purposes. Usually at Three Worlds, we like to do things that have multiple purposes or multiple levels of meaning. In this case, we were trying to do the following things: 1) Have our first 3W Seminar in partnership and learning from an outside organization with expertise we don't have.
2) Help a Church of God congregation in Budapest, Hungary connect to a mission-field (Bulgaria). They purchased a projector for the church in Sofia.
3) Begin connecting key leaders (Bridges) millennials /Gen Xers to link from the traditional church to the Post-Christendom church. Bridging generational gaps and investing in the next generation is what we are all about.
4) Connecting Pastor Peter (of Hungary) to Dave and Kathy, as well as Nathan "Batman."
Peter is 26 years old and is the pastor of a young, growing church in Budapest. I have not been there yet, but I am anxious to go as soon as the schedule allows. Peter will be one of our featured Emerging Leaders in the future.
You will be hearing a lot about Peter in the future as he is a very promising young leader whose church is showing all the right signs of health. We will be entering into a mentoring relationship with him as he takes his place as a strategic leader.
I don't call Peter, "Peter." Sometimes we call him "Peti" but usually I just refer to him as "Hungarian Rob Bell." Look at the pictures below. He even wears black all the time. I guess it's just a coincidence. It doesn't mean that he is theologically where Rob Bell is at though so don't get out your harpoons please.
He was accompanied by another young emerging leader "Zoltan" which sounds like a good alien villain name. I actually changed his name to "Zoloft" because he has a calming effect on everyone everywhere he goes. He is an A+ person and was awesome at connecting with the Bulgarians. A perfect partner for a mission trip.
Unfortunately, when "Hungarian Rob Bell" and I get together, our maturity level drops to the level of a 5 year old. So it was important to have Zoloft around. And we also had Nathan Batman of County Line who alternates between being Zoloft like and Hungarian Rob Bell-like.
So much of what we are doing here at Three Worlds is foundational work--building a platform for the future. But it all begins with relationships.
Great Quote about Bad Christian Art
As per our discussion in our most recent Gateway Berlin episode about bad Christian art, here's a great quote: "I’m convinced that bad art derives, like bad literary theory, from bad theology. To know God falsely is to write and paint and sculpt and cook and dance Him falsely. Perhaps it’s not poor artistic skill that yields bad Christian art, in other words, but poor Christianity."
-Tony Woodlief
Jamie's Back, now to Holland
Photo: A much younger man who had hope, idealism, and energy past 8pm at night.
Jamie got back from Egypt. And just in time!
I made Marco's lunch and forgot to give him his lunchbox. Poor kid.
Then I forgot to send him with his Karate uniform for Karate class.
I'm really not that good at the Mr.Mom thing. I'm there emotionally 100%, but logistically...I don't know how Mom's keep track of everything.
Jamie had a great trip and loved being back in Egypt.
Tomorrow we are going to The Netherlands (Holland) to spend some time with the churches there. We have 2 events (that I know of) planned. We feel very connected to Holland since we spent some time there a few years ago. They know Marco and Jamie and it will be fun for all three of us to go and re-connect. Next entry will be about Peter in Hungary who was with us in Bulgaria.
The Challenge of Bulgaria
I just got back from my first ever trip to Bulgaria...
I just got back from my first ever trip to Bulgaria. I've been looking forward to it for a long time. We've heard so much about it from our 3W Teammates Dave and Kathy Simpson, that it was great to finally see it all for real. I was also looking forward to meeting up with our County-Line Church partners who were putting on a (B4T) Business for Transformation seminar in Plovdiv. They did all the work which was fantastic (a big thank you to County Line!). As part of our 3W Seminars strategy, we will often partner up with other non-profits or groups that have expertise we don't have. That is so we can learn from them and not waste money and resources re-inventing the wheel, which has been done too much in the past. Bulgaria is one of the most difficult mission-fields in the world. There are a number of factors which come together to make it challenging. There is the fact that it was under Communist rule during the Cold War and got pretty secularized. At the same time, it is a country that has been under the influence of the non-Protestant Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Then there's the disillusionment that comes from some of the actions of the Orthodox Church and its leadership during the Cold War. It also a culture that tends to be pessimistic, that frowns on encouragement, and is non-introspective.
Furthermore, the economy is pretty weak (Europe's poorest country) and many things don't work--like hospitals or receiving your salary on a regular basis and in a fair manner. It's corrupt, and 85% of Bulgarians who get a chance to work or study abroad do not return. There's also an aging population, a strong Islamic presence, a large Gipsy (Roma) community and ethnic tensions.
One could say: "Doesn't this sound like Africa?" Well, yes, but in some ways its worse. In much of Africa, community and tribe exist to keep things functioning amidst all the ills. Bulgaria, however, is an individualistic society and this is like a nail in the coffin when even formal relationships cannot be maintained. For instance, in Bulgaria, people NEVER have people over to their house. Ever. That's a far cry from Africa and Russia where community still survives to a large extent.
And Africa, at least, is pretty much spiritual all the time which really benefits Christianity and missionaries.
Bulgaria is an unusually hard mission-field. Japan minus the functioning, order-based society. But it's one that people never think about or romanticize. That's why I am always amazed at the Simpsons work in Bulgaria. They have a massive challenge but they have introduced an agape-love that is really brand new in this society. Very few understand what they deal with. But they take it all in stride and with their well-known sense of humor. If you don't get Kathy's "Plovdiv Perspectives" e-newsletter, you really should sign up. Let us know.
So it was great to see them and to see the impact that they have on the people that they love in a variety of ways. They are really good at this job. And exactly what we are looking for at Three Worlds.
Jamie Off to Egypt Today
I'm back from Bulgaria and a mere 48 hours later, Jamie is off to Egypt. Crazy schedule, but beginning in Mid-June, we will be together as a family without interruption for 7 weeks! That will be great. We will be in The Netherlands (Holland), USA, Costa Rica, and Italy in these coming weeks and we'll be able to do all of that together. I'm not that crazy about the idea of Jamie traveling to Egypt alone with all this stuff being as unsettled as it is--but Jamie's an extremely confident traveler who knows how to go anywhere on her own. She's also very familiar with Egypt, and the work that needs to be done there is stuff that she understands far better than I do. When it comes to Egypt, she is definitely the expert. And as Regional Coordinators for this region, we will often have to do things like this.
We are making a lot of preparation in Egypt for future plans and there's quite a bit of groundwork that has to be laid down. Jamie's trip is about making those preparations.
Of course she has many friends that are like (are) family there and she was very much looking forward to being there. We'll be glad when she is back home. So say a little prayer for Jamie this week.
As for Marco and I...we will return to our regular routine of starving, not bathing, and generally living like rabid animals while Jamie is gone. I'm so hungry. " 'ave you got any porridge guv'nor?"
More about Bulgaria in the next post.
Problem: Are you Getting our Newsletter Regularly?
Last summer, when we launched Three Worlds we started an e-journal called "Three Worlds Journal." All of you on our mailing list (who received the Chinatimes) should have automatically begin receiving the Three Worlds Journal. However, we are getting reports of people not receiving this. You should be getting it every 2 months and have about 6 editions by now. It comes as an email and updates you on all that has been happening here in Europe and the Middle East. If you formerly got the chinatimesonline and are not getting the Three Worlds e-journal (or think you are missing issues), please let us know. At first it seemed like only a few people were missing it, but that number is growing so we are a bit concerned as regular communication is very important to us.
Send us an email if you are not receiving it. It may be that your spam filter is catching them or not allowing them to come in, or it could be another kind of problem. We are checking it out.
Thanks!
Barnett on Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
Hanging out at the Vienna transit lounge in Austria. Trying to get a nuanced opinion on anything in politics and geo-politics nowadays in near to impossible. But Thomas Barnett is always a source of refreshing analysis. He also share my view that the coming "Chinese Century" is hype and will be foiled by far too many macro-problems that will stunt its growth relatively soon. Here he is on the new factions erupting within the Muslim Brotherhood. Solid, reasonable analysis: Thomas Barnett:
This is pretty much how I always expect it to go in these situations: the long-oppressed opposition party finally has its chance at the brass ring and - booyah! - it starts fracturing over how to do it. This is usually how the single party - realized or just self-actualizing - falls apart. It's how I would see the Cuban Communist Party falling apart after the Castros depart. ["Falling apart" here also meaning birthing new parties.]
WSJ story on leader of one of the more moderate factions within the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood deciding to break from the party and declare his own presidential campaign. "More moderate" is defined as:
. . . a positive relationship with the West, more rights for women and religious minorities, and democratic reform within the party's top-down leadership structure.
But here's the real rub: Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh and his faction believe the MB must split into two groups -a political party and a religious organization with attendant charities.
Since Dr. Fotouh, 59 years old, is effectively breaking the MB's promise not to field a candidate, many in the group are calling for him to resign because the group won't support his candidacy.
Despite the fears triggered by his announcement, I think this is a good thing. If we want the Nelson Mandela-like figure, he will necessarily be of the group and simultaneously above the group. The MB is the most organized party, so it's not odd that compelling figures will arise from it, but they need to do so as Fotouh seems to be doing, by forging a special, above-it-all path.
Obviously, a very early reading, but that's my suspicion. The MB was the ONLY party to turn to - in opposition - under Mubarak, but now that he's gone, factions not only emerge but they break off and form new parties.
But no, I don't expect Egypt to pick some perfectly secularly leader. I think that's unrealistic and - in some way - unwise. But they do need the above-the-party-type figure, and maybe this guy is it.
Yes, I know I will be immediately bombarded by THE quote or action from Fotouh's past, but none of that will impress me. The only thing that will count is what he does now. Mandela was a figurehead for a Soviet-sponsored national liberation movement in my PhD diss - totally on the OTHER side. Then the ANC got its chance, and Mandela made the most of it, and South Africa is South Africa today and Mandela is a near saint.
If you want the Egyptian Mandela, this IS the most logical source-path.
3W Seminar Offerings
We are getting ready for our 3W Seminar in Bulgaria. 3W Seminars are designed to deal with the issues that our churches in Europe and the Middle East are facing. In each seminar (over a weekend) we do a number of talks on one or two issues. I lead the seminar along with either 1) One of the missionaries on our 3W team 2) an expert from a supporting church or the larger CHOG or 3) in conjunction with an outside non-profit organization with expertise in the field. The 3W Seminars help build up connectivity, help our region identify the common areas of struggle, and introduce outsiders to the churches in our region. The list of courses we are offering is as follows:
3W Seminar: Bulgaria
In a few hours, I am off to Bulgaria for our third 3W Seminar. This one will be about Business as Mission and will not be lead by me, but by our friends at County Line Church in Indiana. I'm looking forward to learning a lot myself.
This is my first ever trip to Bulgaria. I'm looking forward to meeting with the leaders and spending time with our 3W Team members Dave and Kathy Simpson--not to be confused with Homer and Marge. It will be great to see Nathan "Batman" as well from County Line.
And, we are flying in Pastor Kiss from Budapest, Hungary and another member from the church there to join us during this Bulgaria tour. You will be hearing a lot about Pastor Kiss (pronounced "kish"). He's in his mid-20's and is like the son I never had, or once had, but lost somewhere. It should be a ton o' laughs, this one. I'm looking to getting over to Hungary in the near future to meet the rest of the Hungary crew as well.
It sounds like they have a full schedule for me over there in Plovdiv and Sofia. We'll see if the posts can keep on coming with more of my mediocre pictures for the whole family.