2 posts tagged “sweden”
“I’m going to Egypt to preach the gospel!” “Last summer I went to Bolivia and saved thirteen children in jungle tribes there for Christ!” “I just got back from China where we did a short-term missions trip and fifty people were saved!”
We hear stories like this from our peers all the time and even tell them ourselves when we have the opportunity to experience a trip like one of these. At first, it may seem that stories like these are cause for rejoicing. That we should be praising God for the wonderful work that these people are doing.
I should start with my short-term missions background. In 2001, I went to visit a missionary family from our church whose father was working as a contractor for an orphanage in Uganda. I was there for two months and mostly helped supervise the younger kids. I felt frustrated with what I was doing because I wasn’t entirely sure what my role was.
In 2005 I went on a trip with YWAM, an organization dedicated to giving young people a chance to share their faith with others. We went to Sweden, Finland, Norway and northwest Russia. We did street performances and evangelism. The group was tallying the amount of people who had “accepted” Christ and there was much rejoicing every time someone did so. We were on a roll.
But I felt something was off. We would cruise into a little Russian town, do a performance, and save people afterward – simple, right? What I’ve realized since then is that those many people we came in contact with rarely had the opportunity to get connected with a church and even less of an opportunity to have a mentoring relationships with a mature Christian.
When I think about my walk, the two things that I couldn’t have done without are my church family and my mentors. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today – and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be a Christian. When I think about how we went through Russia in a SWAT team mentality, I doubt any real difference was made in the lives of those people.
The problem is with short-term missions. Too often is a team of Americans sent halfway around the world at the cost of $3000+ per person, rushed through evangelism the local people giving them serious doubts about your commitments to them and their culture, and flown back home in time for Tim and Sarah’s wedding (wouldn’t miss it for the world).
At some point along that line, we have to realize that if there’s any benefit in short-term missions, it’s for the person going, not the person they’re going to. The person in that other country is giving up his or her time and money to facilitate you in hopes that someday you’ll care enough to commit to them on a greater level.
Our last stop on the YWAM trip was Visby, Sweden. I met church leaders there that I really desired to work with and ended up moving there for a year to do youth outreach. While the time there was more effective, having time to actually build relationships with the people I met, a year still isn’t long enough. That year was mostly about me learning one of the most important lessons of my life – be involved in ministry, no matter where I am or what I’m doing.
Any type of ministry, whether in the states or overseas, requires commitment. It’s a full-time gig, and God expects our all. The next time you consider heading off to Thailand for a month to preach the gospel, think seriously about how that trip is going to help your heart for missions, and what the benefit will or won’t be for the people there. Then decide if you want to spend $4000 on that, or on sponsoring ten children through Compassion International for a year. What is needed more?
I've been going through a bit of a struggle with my photography recently. It all started when I went out to Aurora one Saturday to visit Jimi Allen.
To provide some background, I was planning on working for Jimi before I went off to Sweden last year. One night when I was in Sweden I was passing out sandwiches with the salvation army. I got into a lengthy, half-swedish half-english discussion with a drunk guy about life, the universe and everything. We got around to talking about why I was in Sweden, and I told him it was because I wanted to share Christ with people like him. He asked what I would have done if I hadn't come. I told him that I would have a job learning about and doing what I love; photography. He thought I was crazy.
I don't think I was crazy. Sweden was neccesary, and I learned so much there that will stick with me throughout the rest of my life and has made me who I am today. However, I found myself wondering from time to time what life would have been like if I hadn't gone.
This brings me back to Jimi. I came to Jimi because I wanted help with my business. I wanted to start building a client base in the city and I had no idea how. I came with a list of business related questions to ask him, expecting the appointment to be fairly straightforward. I got more than I bargained for.
Jimi ended up asking me most of the questions: "What do you see yourself doing in five years?" "What do you see yourself doing tomorrow?" "How is your Bible education going to help your photography?" "How can you combine your faith and your photography?" We spent about three hours talking in between his appointments with clients.
When we got the bottom of things, we had established one basic principle. Faith and photography shouldn't be separate for Christian photographers like Jimi and myself. Photography is the way we communicate with the world and one of the ways we convey God's glory to the people around us. Up until this point I had been struggling to think about why God had given me these two seemingly separate desires; to be a photographer and to serve him. These shouldn't be separate. In an age where the visual rules all, it is more important than ever that we glorify God in art and imagery. It is even more important that we affect people with our images. Images stir people to action; from what they buy, to what they wear, to what they do on the weekends. How much greater would it be if images inspired people to serve God?
You see, up until this point I had been taking a lot of pictures like this:
You see, I love images like this. I love the light. I love the lines. I love the way different compositional elements work together to create a strong image. However, when you get down to it, it's not really going to change anybody. It's lacks that power. It lacks significance.
The end result of my conversation with Jimi was that I sought to push myself harder to capture some significant moments. Ever since then, I've been wracking my brain, and trying to create a better image. It's taking time, but my eye excercises seem to be bearing some fruit. Take this example from a recent trip to millenium park:
Now this isn't Pulitzer prize winning photo by any stretch of the imagination, but it's an important step for me. It shows my view of how these people are interacting with the world, and in a way, it contains my feelings towards this interaction. I'm starting focus more on the people around me.
This got me started in another idea. I decided to start bringing my camera to the youth drop-in center I volunteer at. I wanted to produce some meaningful images that showed how the kids there interact with the world. It's going to take some time, but here is one of the firstfruits of this effort:
I don't like to talk about my photos very much, preferring that the viewer take as much out of it as he or she can, but I'm trying to make a point here. This photo is showing progress because this isn't the typical portrait of mine. It's not a high-school student dressed up in their best and ready to smile for the camera. This boy is so much more genuine than that. The first thing I noticed about him is that he didn't turn his face to the other side. He didn't try to hide his scar; he's not ashamed of it. His lip is also busted; he's probably been in a fight recently. His arms are crossed, which is a typical sign of toughness or defiance. However, this boy is probably 13 or so years old.
Okay, so these aren't huge accomplishments by any means, but I think that I'm growing. I'm thinking about things, and trying to impliment them. It's going to take some time, but as you can see, I'm pretty excited about what it means for me.
