vocation | Tim Høiland

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Repaso: April 26, 2013

April 26, 2013 — Leave a comment

1. The poor are not the raw material of your salvation
In a “letter to a young social entrepreneur” Liam Black (@LiamABlack) issues this important word of caution to do-gooders about their motivations (if you read the full thing, pardon his French):

If you’d asked me in my twenties and thirties what my driving motivations were I would have said a strange hybrid of leftie politics and option-for-the-poor Catholicism filtered through the liberation theologians of Latin America and the inner cities… But looking back I can see clearly that a core part of what drove me was the seeking of approval of an absent father (long story) and a huge enjoyment at the attention which came with being in the vanguard of the UK social enterprise movement. It feels very good to be talked and written about and even better if there are awards and baubles. And yes, of course, I am having my cake and tweeting it by writing this blog.

2. Sex, drugs, and Calvin College
During his talk at the recent Festival of Faith and Music at Calvin College, bestselling author Chuck Klosterman – a self-described religious “nothing” – urged those in the audience to become lifelong questioners, rather than either becoming galvanized in their faith tradition or leaving it completely. In response, Tom Becker (@desertbrother) writes:

Can I claim two categories, please, please, Chuck? I am more devoted than ever to the story of Jesus in the Scriptures. I’m neither ashamed nor flamboyant in my testimony: I love Jesus. And yet I still ponder, learn and question the dominant paradigms foisted on me by my culture and especially the evangelical culture in America… I’ve always assumed we humans were capable of good deeds and bad crap. I just needed the Scriptures and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to codify what I saw all around me. And I needed a savior to pluck me from the fire and get me moving toward the good, something I couldn’t arrive on my own.

3. Crouch interviews Keller
Andy Crouch (@ahc) spoke with Tim Keller (@timkellernyc) about being a pastor in a city where people live in order to work, and what we can learn from different Christian traditions about faith and work.

4. Integral mission and excellence
The Accord Network has released a document outlining eight core principles of excellence in integral mission, which one of my Eastern professors, Beth Birmingham (@BethBirmingham), helped to create. Anyone working at or supporting a Christian NGO, or involved in a church’s mission programs, will find these principles really helpful.

5. G-Dog
If you’ve read Tattoos on the Heart (I blogged about it here), the book by Father Gregory Boyle about his work among gang members in LA, you’ll want to see this new documentary film.

[Photo: endeavor.org]

In Repaso faith, integral mission, poor, Repaso, social entrepreneurship, vocation

It is not only prayer that gives God glory but work. Smiting on an anvil, sawing a beam, whitewashing a wall, driving horses, sweeping, scouring, everything gives God some glory if being in his grace you do it as your duty. To go to communion worthily gives God great glory, but a man with a dung fork in his hand, a woman with a sloppail, give him glory too. He is so great that all things give him glory if you mean they should.”

(quoted in Cornelius Plantinga’s Engaging God’s World)

Gerard Manley Hopkins on work

Posted on March 11, 2013 In Culture, Gospel calling, Gerard Manley Hopkins, quote, vocation, work

Cornelius Plantinga on vocation

Posted on March 4, 2013 In Culture, Gospel calling, Cornelius Plantinga, Engaging God's World, quote, vocation

Repaso: February 8, 2013

February 8, 2013 — Leave a comment

1. Lausanne’s new leader
If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that last spring I did a series of posts on the Lausanne Movement, focusing on the important contributions of René Padilla, Samuel Escobar, Carl Henry, and Chris Wright at different points in its history. This week the movement named its new leader, a young(er) Korean-American guy named Michael Oh:

Oh is president and founder of Christ Bible Seminary in Nagoya, Japan, a vibrant and growing seminary in Japan, which is making an impact among young Christians seeking a renewed vision for the next generation of Christianity in Japan. He has been involved in Lausanne since 2004, serving as keynote speaker and part of the planning team for Lausanne’s Younger Leaders Gathering in 2006, and as a member of the Lausanne Board since 2007. He will be formally installed at The Lausanne Global Leadership Forum in South Asia in June.

2. Nicaragua as paradise
Nicaragua, considered the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, hasn’t been particularly high on tourists’ lists of destinations. While living in Costa Rica, I took a trip to Managua to work on a story, but some Ticos tried to dissuade me. Anyway, one wonders what luxury resorts would do for Nicaragua’s reputation (and its economy, for that matter):

What transforms a country from tourism pariah to hot destination for wealthy travelers? First, you need a place for opulence-seeking people to stay. Last week, one of Nicaragua’s richest men, Carlos Pellas, opened Mukul, the country’s first full-fledged luxury hotel. Nicaragua, with its charming colonial city of Granada, active volcanoes and reliable Pacific waves, is already popular among backpackers and surfers. And it is a new favorite among travel writers… Nicaragua hopes to follow in the footsteps of other spots—think Vietnam, Colombia and Croatia—that have overcome difficult histories and made the transition to upscale hot-spot. Its Central American neighbors Costa Rica and Panama are attracting luxury-resort developers.

3. Vocational stewardship
Amy Sherman shares ten great ideas for encouraging vocational stewardship in local congregations, related to her great book Kingdom Calling. Thanks to Bob Robinson at (re)integrate for re-posting the list (and to Katie for pointing me to it). I particularly like this part:

Conduct “commissioning” ceremonies at appropriate times for different individuals/groups in the church who serve in particular vocations. For example, at the start of the school year, you could invite all congregants who are engaged in the educational field to come forward to receive a word of blessing and prayer. At a Maundy Thursday service, consider bringing forward congregants whose vocation involves them bringing succor to the suffering: medical personnel, social workers, counselors. At a Thanksgiving service, consider honoring the flock’s farmers and others engaged in industries that help ensure that food gets to hungry people.

4. Better partnership in mission
Jeff Haanen has an interview in Christianity Today with Brian Howell, the author of a recent book on short-term mission trips and how to make them better:

As an anthropologist, I’m absolutely for people traveling and encountering what God is doing in other parts of the world. I am for people understanding more about their own culture and the cultures of others. To the extent that these trips are a significant vehicle for people to do that, I am for them. I am not for the narrative that has typically driven these trips: “We are going because there’s this tremendous need out there that we have to meet. And there’s this burden that we have as the wealthy country to go and do something in another place.” I support transforming this narrative so that it becomes, “How can we connect with what God is doing in other parts of the world? How can we learn to be good partners with Christians already in these places? How can we participate in what the church is already doing in these countries in effective ways?”

5. Abundant life

Abundant Life from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

Repaso is intended as a thought-provoking compilation of news and commentary related to the intersections of faith, development, justice and peace. As always, I welcome your thoughts on any of the links and ideas in this roundup!

[Photo credit: centurion-magazine.com]

In Repaso abundant life, Amy Sherman, Lausanne Movement, Michael Oh, mission trips, N.T. Wright, Nicaragua, Repaso, short-term missions, stewardship, vocation, vocational stewardship

Repaso: August 10, 2012

August 10, 2012 — Leave a comment

1. Vocational and cultural discipleship
Gideon Strauss has a great post at the Redeemer City to City blog about re-envisioning the meaning of work, including a reflection on the first annual Gospel & Culture Conference held late last year in New York:

Listening to Chelsea Chen perform on the organ of beautiful St. Bart’s church, and to Tim Keller and Richard Mouw outline an inspiring theology of culture, redolent with the gospel; hearing Fiona Diefenbacher’s heart break for the fashion industry, and Max Anderson offering a vision of hope for MBA programs; I thought to myself: this is the stuff of a cultural reformation. This is not just another fad, soon to blow over. This is not some utopian vision of heaven dragged down to earth by human hands, no matter the price. These people are committed to the slow, hard, nuanced work of bearing hope into every corner of their world, by living their everyday work out of motives shaped by the gospel.

2. The stewardship of transcendence
David Greusel is an architect specializing in places where people gather, including a couple of MLB stadiums. He’s also a theologically astute wordsmith. Here, he writes about architecture and art in a culture in which the church is “no longer the most important building in town”:

The big question for the church in the West is this: Can its stewardship of transcendence be recovered? To answer this question requires predictive skills that I lack. However, I can predict with confidence that the attitudes of the church toward art of the last 150 years will only drive it further from the mainstream and from the centre of cultural influence. To move back toward the centre of culture will require that we befriend (and become) museum curators, art history professors, critics, journalists, and publishers. This will require a generation of wise, spiritually grounded and theologically nimble missionaries.

3. Crossing borders within our own
In last week’s Repaso I included a post by David Kirkpatrick about seeing life through Latino eyes. Here’s a follow-up:

Few Christians would disagree with Samuel Escobar when he says, “The heart of ‘mission’ is the drive to share the good news with all, to cross every border with the gospel.” But when pressed with the need to cross ethnic borders within our own national borders, many are perplexed. They have a burden without a vision.

4. How fast is Usain Bolt?
Yes, Usain Bolt is fast. Really fast. But this video puts his speed in historical perspective, and it makes him seem even faster.

5. Guatemala wins its first Olympic medal
Guatemala won its first ever Olympic medal last Saturday, thanks to Erick Barrondo’s second place finish in the men’s 20 kilometer walk. As you can imagine, Guatemalans are pretty excited and proud. Honestly, though, I’m not sure which is bigger news — that this is Guatemala’s first medal, or that walking is an actual Olympic sport. Apparently, racewalking is quite popular in Latin America.

6. Comparing the continents
Some creative folks have created a series of infographics using the ubiquitous Olympic rings, which represent each of the world’s continents, to portray inequality of various kinds around the world. Here they are in video form:

Repaso is intended as a thought-provoking compilation of news and commentary from the past week related to the intersections of faith, development, justice and peace. As always, I welcome your thoughts on any of the links and ideas in this roundup!

[Photo credit: Andrew Rodriguez via nytimes.com]

In Repaso architecture, art, church, culture, David Gruesel, David Kirkpatrick, discipleship, Erick Barrondo, Gideon Strauss, Guatemala, Latino, mission, Olympics, Repaso, stewardship, Usain Bolt, vocation