I remember reading Psalm 143 while we were in Nepal, “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” It struck me mainly because I was missing level ground. We lived in the middle hills of the Himalayas, so if we walked up from […]
I personally think that the decision to come home is a much harder one than the decision to go in the first place. It’s often fraught with uncertainties and dilemmas and guilt and confusion (as well as peace!). For us, making the decision to ‘go’ seemed easy. It was 1992 and we were newly married […]
It would be so much easier if all questions had yes or no answers. Every time our kids said ‘MUM, can I…’, we could just call out the yes or no answer very loudly and confidently and then go back to whatever else we were doing, without thinking about qualifications and moderations and thousands of shades […]
I was talking with someone recently about the needs for cross-cultural workers in Asia and the Middle East. The lady was in her sixties and she had a real heart for mission. She agreed with me about the needs overseas and she and her husband were at a stage of life where they could go. […]
After six months in Australia, I had re-learnt how to swipe my credit card and put petrol in the car. I had begun to read Australian newspapers without being horrified by the way that scandal and gossip were newsworthy. I had stopped jumping at the sound of loud noises – telling myself that it probably […]
Title: Spiritual Equipping for Mission: Thriving as God’s Message Bearers Author: Ryan Shaw Publisher: IVP Books, 2014 ISBN: 083083672 Book review by: Karen Davison, NSW/ACT Personnel Manager Available from Koorong (print and ebook) and other Christian bookstores Ryan Shaw is involved in cross-cultural ministry and in equipping others for mission. He has written several […]
It’s the question that keeps us awake at three in the morning. God might be leading us to Mongolia or Iraq, Nepal or Kazakhstan… but what about our children? How will they cope? Will they make any friends? What if they get sick? Will they turn out alright? And we try and reassure ourselves with […]
Now there’s another question that keeps us awake at three in the morning. God might be leading us to serve cross-culturally in the third world… but what about our careers? In going overseas, are we throwing away everything we studied and worked for? How will we keep up-to-date while we’re serving in the Ice Valley […]
The first time Sita visited our little home in Nepal, I asked her if she wanted a cup of chiya. “Tikchha,” she replied. By then, I’d already done about a month of language training, so I knew that she had said, “Okay.” But I mistakenly assumed that she meant, “No thank you, I’m okay.” Some […]
Last year I was in Melbourne helping to prepare candidates for cross-cultural ministry. The leader of the session asked everyone to get into groups and write down a list of personal characteristics that they would expect from someone serving cross-culturally. And moments later there was butcher’s paper all around the room covered with words like; adaptable, […]
