Theology on Safari: 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