It's Official!

Last Saturday night I found myself in Dearborn, Michigan, sitting in the home of a large Muslim family from Iraq, along with a bunch of smiling Presbyterians – all of us drinking tea with lots of sugar, eating sesame seed cookies still warm from the oven, and singing Christmas carols. As part of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church’s get-to-know-you weekend for new and prospective missionaries we went caroling in a neighborhood of predominantly Shiite immigrants. Just to say ‘we love you’ and ‘we’re glad you’re here.’ We newbies weren’t quite sure how we’d be received as our team wandered around in the dark singing as hopefully as we could. But then one young man came out to meet us on the sidewalk and invited us into his mother’s house. And from that point on it was just plain fun. At the end, after lots of conversation and prayer for the family, our new Muslim friend said, “This is like a small miracle. Today I was looking at social media and feeling bad about how terrible things are in the world. Then I heard your music and saw you outside. Thank you for coming.” Another team reported that an Arab woman in a fluffy blue bathroom invited them into her home, fed them and told them, “I’m so glad you weren’t afraid to come inside. We’re not all terrorists, you know.” As a newcomer to the EPC’s missionary family I’m delighted to discover that in EPC World Outreach this is how we roll.

Yes, it’s official! As of last Thursday I’m now a missionary appointee of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church’s World Outreach (epc.org/wo), in a cooperative appointment with Serge (serge.org) to serve as a traveling international theological education specialist based with Serge’s team in Dublin, Ireland. Whew! That sounds like a mouthful, doesn’t it? As many of you are well aware, this has been a long time coming, and I’m grateful that for the first time in several years the Lord's given me a clear picture of what happens next. We structured-type people really like this sort of definition.

My responsibility is to bring my international experience in theological education – all those years in the US, UK, Africa and India – to Serge’s fields of ministry around the world. I get the opportunity to serve the Kingdom of God by teaching in theological institutions alongside Serge’s church-planting efforts, helping Serge develop and strengthen partnerships in theological education, and inviting and equipping others to participate in theological training in cross-cultural settings. To be honest, I get to invent my job as we go along. Doesn’t that sound amazing?! Many of you know my passion to help train the emerging generation of Christian leaders worldwide who’ll shape global Christianity in the 21st century. In God’s economy none of my previous experience is wasted. Everything comes together in this new role.

You won’t be surprised to hear I’ll need partners in this work – give-ers, pray-ers, friends and encouragers. From January-May 2016 I’ll have a chance to reconnect with many of you who’ve been such faithful partners in the past and I’ll reach out to the new partners God’s bringing into this. You may be wondering how you can start helping right now. That would be great! You can give to Serge here or send a gift to the address in the sidebar. (You’ll also be able to give through EPC World Outreach, but there’s still some paperwork and committee approval needed before that’s available. Because, we’re Presbyterian.) Thank you so very much! Once all the financial support is raised I’ll be able to relocate to Dublin, hopefully by September 2016 in time for the new academic year.

Meanwhile, I finished teaching at the South Asian Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS, saiacs.org) in Bangalore, India, and returned home just in time to head to South Carolina for Thanksgiving with extended family. People keep asking, “How was India?” and the answer is, I felt like I was totally in my sweet spot. The opportunity to teach biblical hermeneutics and Greek exegesis of Mark’s Gospel to these eager young Indian and Nepali leaders feeds my soul. God willing, I’ll return to SAIACS next July to repeat the hermeneutics course with a new crop of entering MA students.

Now I’m home in Charlottesville for a couple of weeks, then to Orlando for Christmas with Caroline and Will, then finally back to Virginia to stay for a while. I have much to celebrate this Christmas as I look back at the healing and renewal God has worked in me over this past year. I'm ever more grateful for the costliest gift of all – the birth of Jesus, God-with-us, born to offer us life and hope. Good news for each of us. Good news to share with the world.

My hard-working Greek exegesis students at the South Asian Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS) in November

 

What Was I Thinking?!

Remember back in August when I told you I’d applied to Serge (serge.org, formerly World Harvest Mission) to work in global theological education and would be attending their ‘assessment & orientation’ week in Philadelphia in mid-September? And also I was planning to go to Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) headquarters in Michigan the week before that to interview for a co-operative missionary appointment between Serge and EPC World Outreach? And then I said something perky and optimistic like “Hopefully all this mission admin stuff will be sorted before I leave on Sept 23rd for India”? Really – what was I thinking?!! Any experienced missionary should have known the process was NEVER going to move that smoothly. The past few months have been filled with all sorts of back and forth, ups and downs trying to sort out how to make this happen – and not knowing for sure whether it would happen at all, or whether the Lord was shutting those doors and I needed to search out a completely different one. I’ve worked my way through the psalms of lament: “How long, O Lord?” and “Why?” At this point in life, do I really need this sort of drama?

But God is good, as always, and just this week things have been coming together. Serge has designed a position to match their needs with my gifts and we all agree that for the foreseeable future I should live in (drumroll)… Dublin, Ireland. The goal is to become a theological education specialist based with Serge’s team in Ireland but “primarily serving the needs of the developing world through online teaching and extensive travel to consult and teach” (says Serge). As part of the team in Dublin I'll also help support Irish churches and church planting efforts, primarily by teaching in an Irish theological college for part of each year. I never did make it to Michigan in September, but now I’m scheduled to interview with EPC World Outreach on December 2nd & 3rd, with the hope of emerging from that as an EPC missionary serving with Serge in the Republic of Ireland – which some say is the least-evangelized English-speaking country in the world.

If anyone interested in cross-cultural ministry wants to know what it looks and feels like to ‘get there from here,’ this is it. Twists and turns and confusion and creativity – and tears and trust – are part of the package, at least in my experience. What happens next is that I begin looking for the pray-ers and givers God’s putting in place to make this ministry possible.

Meanwhile, in His goodness I’m in Bangalore for two months teaching at the South Asian Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (saiacs.org), one of my favorite places anywhere. A wonderful ethos at SAIACS, thoughtful colleagues, a strategic role in South Asia's small Christian context, and very eager and able students from India, Nepal, and beyond, engaged in reaching out to their Hindu and Muslim neighbors. For the month of October I had sixteen first-year MA students for their foundational course in biblical hermeneutics – the beliefs, approaches and methods we bring to studying the Bible. This month eight upper-level MDiv students and I are reading through the first third of Mark’s Gospel in Greek, focusing on improving their Greek and their skills in New Testament interpretation. Since I'm here for eight weeks this time instead of the usual four, I’ve also had more opportunity than ever before to get to know people beyond SAIACS, attending a local church (Bangalore New City Fellowship, newcityfellowship.in) along with a weekly home group that’s part of the church. Plus I get to eat great Indian food every day and wear beautiful Indian clothes!

At the same time that I’m teaching here in India I’ve been teaching a very similar hermeneutics course online for Fuller Theological Seminary, with students in Hawaii, various parts of the continental US, and Barbados. The good news is that a week or two ago Fuller gave me a small promotion, which means more teaching and a higher rate of pay – which should be just about enough to cover my basic living expenses for the first half of 2016 while I’m raising missionary support. (Deep sigh of relief and gratitude…)

Only two more weeks here in India and then back to the US in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. And then to EPC World Outreach interviews… And then? I guess we’ll see what God does next…

MA Hermeneutics class at SAIACS 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating the end of a successful course!

 

At SAIACS faculty members, students, and support staff eat together every day

 

Thursdays are my favorite - egg curry and pumpkin

 

Continuing the food theme... lunch last week at a church friend's house -

including an amazing cooking lesson in her kitchen

 

  

Back to work: Greek Exegesis of Mark class,

with some very intense and hard working students!

 

'How Was China?'

"So how was China?!” Always a challenge to know where to start with that question, but the short answer is that on the whole it was wonderful, with the usual quirks of any short-term project. A few highlights from my six weeks this summer with ELIC (www.elic.org): 

• Surprise! Turns out I was not teaching Chinese teachers of English as I’d expected, but instead teaching oral English to undergraduate and graduate students from several universities in Tianjin (just east of Beijing), hosted by the Tianjin Institute of Software Engineering. Yes, flexibility is essential.

• Truly loved being with these Chinese university students, whose hearts are so open to us and to the world at large. I’m a Cold War baby myself, so the opportunity to connect with this rising generation of Chinese professionals challenged my own stereotypes and gave me a privileged glimpse into future global relations.

• I learned that it’s OK to be a Christian in China, but it’s not OK to talk about it (much). On the one hand, I was thrilled to attend officially registered ‘Three-Self’ Chinese churches and hear the Bible taught openly, and there were times when I had the chance to tell people about my own life and interests. On the other hand, our teacher team was constantly aware that our words and actions were being monitored. I don't know of any significant spiritual breakthroughs as a result of our time in China, but I suspect that the Lord will use the sweet relationships we enjoyed in ways beyond my imagination.

• I also learned (as one billion people already know) that you can eat Chinese food three times a day – with chopsticks – and it’s actually very good. I’m now a convert to the joys of dumplings!

But perhaps most importantly, I came home convinced that my own call is to theological education rather than teaching English. I was glad to be in a very different type of service this summer, in an unfamiliar cultural context, since I’ve been wondering how much of why I feel drawn to theological education is that at this point in my life it’s familiar and comfortable. Teaching English was great. Really great. But I kept noticing that my heart felt fullest when I was teaching the Bible – spontaneously asked to lead an English Bible lesson at a Three-Self church, speaking to our teacher team at our home-grown Sunday worship services, whatever. I think that's what God made me for.

So… here’s what’s happening next. I’ve applied to Serge (formerly World Harvest, www.serge.org) mission to help them define and develop their involvement in global theological education. They’ve invited me to their ‘assessment & orientation’ week in Philadelphia, Sept 13-18. Assuming we all feel the same sense of confirmation by the end of that week, I’ll become a theological education specialist with Serge, a role that involves traveling to teach in various theological schools worldwide where Serge is developing partnerships. Still trying to discern whether it’s best for me to be based here in Charlottesville or with one of Serge’s teams somewhere overseas – we’re waiting on the Lord for some of those ‘small’ (!) details to become clearer.

At the same time, I’ve applied for a co-operative appointment between Serge and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), which means also becoming a missionary with EPC World Outreach (www.epc.org/wo), fulfilling a dream of mine to be an extension of my church and denomination serving overseas. Still doing all the paperwork for that, but the door seems open and I think I’ll end up going to Michigan for a few days the first week in September to meet people in the World Outreach office there.

Hopefully all this mission admin stuff will be sorted before I leave on Sept 23^rd for… India! I’m returning to the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (www.saiacs.org) in Bangalore to teach hermeneutics and Greek for two months. This will be my fourth visit to SAIACS and I’m looking forward to reconnecting with former students as well as meeting a whole new batch. Plus, while I’m in India it looks like I’ll also be teaching an online course in hermeneutics for Fuller Theological Seminary. (Very good news, as I need the income – not gonna lie!)

You’ve probably figured out by now that after two years of wandering through the hot dry sand of the wilderness it seems like the Lord is finally leading me forward. That’s a great feeling. But I also want to hold onto the sense of intimacy and dependence he’s given me during several of the hardest years of my life. I’ve learned two very important things during these dark times: God is right here with me in the midst of it. And, he is good.

Such a privilege to spend the summer loving on 

these undergrad and graduate students in China!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving Forward

‘Time and sand’ – in the sense of God’s people on the long journey from Egypt to the Promised Land – was my watchword the last time I wrote, in December. Now I’m excited to tell you that if I haven’t quite yet entered the land God has prepared for me, I think I can just about see it from here. Lots of conversation back and forth right now between me, World Outreach (the missions arm of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, EPC), Fuller Seminary, and Serge (formerly World Harvest Mission) with whom I’m exploring the possibility of serving as a mobile theological educator, based overseas developing connections with and teaching in their partner institutions. No decisions yet but more details soon, I hope. Meanwhile please do pray for God to continue to lead the way and give everyone wisdom as we consider options and form plans. After two years of recovery and rest I can’t tell you how wonderful it feels to be moving forward again.

At the same time I’m grateful that God has already been moving, even while he’s had me holding (relatively… like, for me, sort of...) still. Here’s a recap of highlights in 2015:

In January I went before the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to transfer my ordination from the Presbyterian Church USA into the EPC. After hours and hours of examination in committee and in the general meeting I’m now the first woman ‘teaching elder’ (minister) in the EPC’s Mid-Atlantic Presbytery, which spans the Virginias and Carolinas. Whoa. But I have to say those guys have been really nice to me.

In February I headed to Orlando, Florida, to help Caroline with wedding plans. Happy mom! Just ten days ago, on May 23rd, we celebrated Caroline’s marriage to Will Swartz – himself a missionary kid born in the Philippines and raised in Slovakia. A few wedding pics below, thank you for asking! In July Caroline will complete her two-year internship with Cru as a globe-trotting pastor to missionary kids. She and Will are both middle-school teachers and their plans include a couple of years in Orlando teaching and enjoying life as newlyweds before exploring opportunities to teach overseas.

In March I picked up a couple of new clients in the (very) part-time English tutoring I do here in Charlottesville, VA. These are faculty members at the University of Virginia who are non-native speakers of English, one from Korea, one from Jordan. I'm helping them with their academic writing: anything from research articles to emails to end-of-year reports to course syllabi. It gives me practical experience for the MA in Teaching English for Academic Purposes (the higher ed specialization in ESL) I’m working on through the University of Nottingham, helps pay the bills, and keeps this global nomad happily engaged with internationals in my local community. I also continue to connect as host family for my two Chinese women grad students at UVA, one at the law school and another doing a PhD in education.

In April I began teaching my first ‘hybrid’ course for Fuller Theological Seminary. We're just now wrapping up ten weeks of ‘Introduction to the New Testament’: nine weeks online and one intensive face-to-face week at Fuller’s campus in Pasadena, California, the first week in May. Don’t want to tell you just how much fun that Pasadena trip was…

After that to Orlando for the wedding, and now I’m home in Virginia catching my breath before leaving on June 24 for China to spend the summer teaching English with English Language Institute/China (ELIC, elic.org). It’s practical experience in teaching English overseas, a wonderful opportunity to share life with these Chinese students, and a vision trip for me to learn about life and work in East Asia. After a week of orientation and training in Beijing, I’ll be part of an ELIC team in Tianjin, China, at the Tianjin Institute of Software Engineering. Thank you so much to all of you who are participating in this as my sending partners. I’m very happy and grateful to tell you that all the financial support I need is in!!

I’ll be back in early August in time for my niece Jessica’s wedding, then in September I hope to have meetings with EPC World Outreach and Serge (we’re exploring a co-operative arrangement between the two agencies). In October and November I’ll be back in Bangalore, India, at the South Asian Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS). In October I’ll teach the same four-week hermeneutics course I taught last summer, and in November a new-to-me course on Greek exegesis of Mark’s Gospel. A big thank you to the church I grew up in, Kempsville EPC in Virginia Beach, for making this India trip possible!

And in December? Who knows. What I’m really hoping is that by then God will have revealed what this is all adding up to, what the longer-term plan might look like. Wherever he wants me to end up, I confess that the sand in my shoes is making me a bit itchy to get there...

****************

So grateful to God for protecting me, Caroline, and everyone else involved, four days before the wedding. But oh my poor car.

(Also grateful for good insurance)

But nothing spoiled the joy of this wedding! My kids: William & Linnea, Caroline & Will

 

Now just three weeks until I leave for China to take part in ELIC's 'LinkU' English language program, and then back to India in late September to be reunited with these students and meet a whole new batch