Crowded House

Stephen Timmis  |  Features
Date posted:  1 Oct 1998
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Let's say you are a novice missionary in a foreign country, working among a previously unreached group in the back-of-beyond. What would you do?

This may be slightly presumptuous of me, but I imagine that one thing you wouldn't do was simply what you did back in England: for example, construct a special hut with pews and a pulpit, and meet twice on a Sunday at 10.30 and 6.30.

What I think you would do is take time to learn the language, get to know the people, familiarise yourself with the local customs, integrate yourself into the community, etc. From all this, you would try to develop a pattern of 'doing' church that was consistent with the gospel and pertinent to the people. Admittedly, this would take a long time and you would have to agree that you were there for the long haul. No quick 'fly in and rush out' approach.

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