emergence

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::: from feared itinerant preacher in arabia to the primary messenger of the gospel to the non-jewish world...the apostle paul's emergence was remarkable for what it was based on -- the sudden conversion of a religious tyrant -- and for what it led to -- the framing of the gospel in universal terms of grace and supra-ethnic inclusion...
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...often overlooked in paul's emergence is the role of an equally remarkable person...in acts 9.26-30, we see barnabas briefly on the stage at a critical moment in church history, brokering paul's eventual acceptance as a reliable spokesman to the non-jewish world...echoing throughout these verses, however, is barnabas's bravery...how barnabas put his reputation on the line as he stood with a man with an infamous one...how he valued the vision of God's universal kingdom over hand-sketched lines that distanced "itinerant" camps (arabia) from "established" headquarters (jerusalem)...
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...paul was gifted at communicating the kingdom...barnabas excelled at connecting it (along with others, such as lydia (16.11-15) and aquila and priscilla (18.1-4))...the gritty herald and the gracious host -- braided together, God created quite the combustion...
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...bouncing this thought in my mind, today we joined our three-church network for an annual gathering full of singing, testimonies, and ministry reports...a rite of passage of sorts for us, this gathering provided a time for us to evaluate our work in japan...
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...friends, it goes without saying that we pray earnestly for more tangible results in the paul sense (wider team evangelistic reach and increasing numbers of believers)...such fruit, however sweet, has been slow-growing...when we focus on this aspect and flatten ministry to a game of numbers -- as we often mistakenly do -- discouragement hovers, doubts haunt, and the task seems, well, like a task...
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...but, as the book of acts suggests, God orchestrates the role of communicating (paul) in symphony with the role of connecting (barnabas)...like a zoom button, this perspective expands the scale of kingdom service to include many of the dynamics that define our work in japan, such as connecting unreached neighbors and friends to our church through spaces carved out for human exchange and empathy and...
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...emergence -- the combustible kind that braids both dimensions above -- is what we trust God is bringing about in kobe, japan...
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