Category Archives: Missions

My Mission Context : Medina County, OH

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Like any missionary, I am in the beginning stages of getting acquainted with my mission context: Medina County, Ohio. In trying to understand the distinct history of Medina County, I went to the library and started reading and looking for details on its history. I found an informative DVD produced by the Medina County Commissioners aptly named, “The History of Medina County.”

The documentary goes all the way back to the last ice age and the formation of the terrain around Medina and NE Ohio. The early settlers came westward to the Medina area seeking to rebuild their lives after the fires of the Revolutionary War. It is amazing to hear how the original settlers of Medina worked together for the common good. Neighbors and residents depended on each other for their survival. Two days a month any man over the age of 21 was required to work for the welfare of their neighbors: building houses, roads, churches, and other infrastructure. From the beginning of the original settlers there has been a rich Christian heritage. One of the first buildings erected was a church. Construction began at sunrise and by 4PM that afternoon, the first worship service was held!

The documentary runs parallel with the timeline of major events in America’s history and shows how Medina has grown alongside our nation. As Cleveland’s industry began to boom (lets hope this happens again soon), there was a need for the workers to have food and Medina County’s agricultural industry really thrived. The documentary illumined notorious figures like A.I. Root and a giant couple (both were over 400 lbs and over 7 feet tall – their child was born the size of an average 6 month old) who moved to Medina. The documentary goes into the formation of all the county parks, businesses, and historical landmarks of Medina county. As unemployment and the Great Depression hit the broader nation, Medina county held strong taking care of each other and being secured by their main industry: agriculture.

As I watched the stories of WWII, Korean, Vietnam veterans, of business leaders and entrepreneurs, of visionaries and authors I got a sense of the unique heritage of Medina County. My prayer is that this heritage and story of Medina County isn’t lost as the landscape of Medina continues to change from rural/agricultural to suburban/residential. Just yesterday at a local coffee shop (owned by a Detroit transplant) I met a new resident from Holland! Although I am told, Agriculture still remains a leading industry in Medina County despite the influx of new residents.

The history of Medina County is still all around us. As you walk around the town square, visit the parks, and see the historical buildings a voice from the past calls you to pause and remember the sacrifice, innovation, and yes, the religious heritage of Medina County.

What Should Clergy Wear Monday through Saturday?

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I’ve been wondering what clergy should wear outside of Sunday’s worship, special services, or hospital visitations. As recently ordained Anglican clergy, I have been experiencing mixed reactions when I wear “clergy attire” out. So my question is, Does wearing clerical clothing (of any kind) hinder mission and witness?

Please … leave some comments below.

Mission in the Ordinary Universe

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From my other site: www.plantmedina.org

Novelist, William Golding (think Lord of the Flies) coined the term, “the ordinary universe” to describe the numerous mundane tasks that go into our every day life. The ordinary universe is comprised  things likes taking your kids to school, watching TV, eating dinner, golfing, riding your bike, etc.

Since the Enlightenment, the church has been great at engaging the private sphere of religion. A curtain was hung between the sacredness of a church service and the profaneness of the everyday. Between the silence of Sunday and the madness of Monday. The culture has gladly given the church a few hours on Sunday (and maybe even a Weds night) as long as it keeps its spirituality private, sanitized, and anemic.

How do we engage in mission in the ordinary universe? The answer isn’t “Christening” secular activities and abducting them into the “private sacredness” (think Church Softball, Christian Rock Music, Christian Tee Shirts, Bingo night…). No we need a paradigm shift to occur. We need to realize that the division between the sacred and the secular is a lie and walk into our everyday ordinary universe in Christ. This is a call to abide. This is a call to pray unceasingly. This is a call to “be being” filled with the Holy Spirit. This is a call to faithfulness. This is a call to be like Jesus in the context of our everyday lives.

Ethics, Photojournalism, and Christian Mission

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As a member of the Evangelical Missiological Society I regularly receive articles and books concerning various aspects of Christian mission. The latest publication was a collection of articles concerning, “Ethics and Accountability in Mission.”

My favorite article in this series was written by Gabriel Tait, a fellow student at Asbury Theological Seminary who is finishing up a PhD. in Intercultural Studies. Gabe, who is a photojournalist challenges those behind the lens of the camera to consider how they are re-presenting those in front of the camera.

In his article The Missionary and the Camera: Developing an Ethic for Contemporary Missionary Photographers, Gabe draws from his own experience, renowned anthropologists, the history of missions, and the Bible. My favorite quote  is attributed to anthropologist John Collier, “The camera is not … a cure-all for our visual limitations, but … an extension of our perception.”  After reading the article as an aspiring missiologist, I am challenged by what photos or video that I take or don’t take, publish or don’t publish, email or don’t email.

Gabe leaves his readers with the following questions for discussion:

  1. What is  photography’s role in missions?
  2. Is there a need to safeguard cultures? Who gets to participate?
  3. What are important first steps in developing a code of ethics for mission photography?
  4. Who gets to participate in the process of developing a code of ethics?
  5. How might our efforts to develop a code of ethics fro mission photography serve to advance missions?

To read the entire article please look up the book,  Serving Jesus with Integrity: Ethics and Accountability in Mission, Dwight P. Barker and Douglas Hayward eds. (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2010), 321.

Adventures, Star Wars, Hobbits and Mission

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This past Sunday afternoon, someone dropped off the belongings of my friend (codename: the Pearl). My wife and I agreed that we would store some of her stuff while she is living abroad. As I was moving boxes, containers, and belongings into the attic, a small, deflated balloon fell out.

As I read the writing on the balloon “Spirit of Adventure,” I became increasingly amazed at how well the balloon described my unassuming friend. To the natural eye, one would not expect this polite, warm, gentle, and angelic woman to be an adventurer. If you didn’t know the pearl very well, you would wrongly assume that she is content with a simple, contained, and careful Christian life. But my friend, the Pearl, has the tendency to say “YES” quite often to God in the little things, which leads her into big adventures! For instance just six months ago, the Pearl was a student studying counseling, but today she is learning Arabic and is living somewhere in the Middle East.

In many ways, the pearl is like a Jedi in Star Wars,

“Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things.”

It is not this grand Spirit of Adventure that propels her to do this, but her seemingly small and affirmative responses to the Holy Spirit in the ordinary and everyday aspects of her life.  The Pearl isn’t one to just fly to the Middle East on a whim to satisfy some need for Adventure in her life. In fact, I would say that the Pearl didn’t know that at the beginning of 2009 she would be engaged and living in the middle east with her fiance. As we start to live more in Christ, relinquishing our agenda and our mission, we are raptured into the mission of God. The pearl reminds me of Bilbo Baggins,

It’s a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no telling where you might be swept off to.

It is indeed a dangerous affair when we relinquish our lives to God as a living sacrifice. It is a dangerous affair when we offer all our seemingly true and false ways of living to the Lord as an offering. It is a seemingly dangerous affair when we no longer seek to save our lives, but freely lay them down so that we may abide more fully in Christ. It is indeed dangerous, but I do not know any other way for a Christian to exist in Christ. Saying “yes” to God resulted in my seemingly “ordinary and normal”  friend, the Pearl eventually spending her engagement somewhere in the Middle East with a lice infestation ; ).

Where will saying “Yes” to God in the seemingly ordinary trials of your present life end up leading you?

Welcome to my new Blog…

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Welcome to my new personal blog, rmKocak, now located on wordpress instead of blogspot. WordPress is easier and allows me to focus my writing more. My writting will be mainly on three blogs: rmKocak, revolvo, and missit me Dominus. So what are each of these blogs for?

rmKocak

This is my primary blog. It contains a few of the many stories and truths that have been revealed on my journey. An occasional original poem, short story, theological treatise can be found on this blog.

revolvo

Revolvo is a Latin word with a variety of meanings, mainly: to unroll a book, go over again, repeat. For the sake of this particular blog, I am primarily interested in the definition of “to unroll a book.” My revolvo blog is dedicated to a critical review and concise summary of a variety of literature and media.Not only will this blog “unroll a book”, but it will do so methodically “go over again.” Hence, revolvo is a precise title for the content and of this blog.

In Christ,

rmKocak