thailand, family, God

i just read on yahoo news of the decision by the protestant chaplain in georgetown university to kick out the six evangelical campus ministry groups including intervarsity. here’s a clip that quotes another editor:

First Things editor Jody Bottum writes,
There was something odd going on last year when Campus Ministries demanded that the evangelical groups sign a statement promising not to “proselytize nor undermine another faith community.” And there was something even odder when it was done in the name of the school’s Catholic tradition—by the Protestant chaplains in the official Georgetown office. … There’s an obvious irony here—employed too often to be surprising—in which people begin by protesting in the name of diversity against centralized authority, and later discover, once they’re in charge, how useful those old forms of authority can be in controlling diversity.

hypocrisy is one of the favorite criticisms of the church by those outside, and now they can continue directing the criticism to the liberals as well; although if you look at my previous post (july 22), the gay/lesbian community is getting into it as well.

that was the concept david gibbons was explaining last thursday nite in bangkok. he’s leaving soon, after one year here helping plant newsong bankok. since coming last thanksgiving day, we had no ministry responsibilities except to learn thai, so we visited traditional thai churches but also started attending newsong for the contemporary worship and small group fellowship when they started meeting regularly last february; but got way more than i expected; not sure if even the group in irvine has any idea.

i thought it was very ironic when jumbobody’s former student visited and asked me, “so where exactly is the newsong church in bangkok,” all the while gibbons was explaining the concept of a church without walls; it shows how foreign this concept is to the churched people. www.newsong.net explains more, but gibbons also learned and took the advice of jim gustafson and the thai believers when he changed his original plan of doing the contemporary church thing, and restructured to put more focus on community; it’s about people, not about a building, people projects, not building projects.

newsong mexico had their first public event already, and two more pastors are about to leave for london next month. you wanna know what newsong is about, don’t go to irvine, come to bangkok; newsong is not even about newsong; they’ll partner up with whoever wants to do whatever it takes for the cause of the gospel, no traditions barred.

i learned a lot from newsong staff’s dedication and sacrifice, things my korean ancestors are proud of, as well as their willingness not to be self-centered as leaders of a ministry; i saw a great example of teamwork, and also was impressed with their willingness to share the love of Jesus with no strings attached (no switch and bait 4 spiritual laws stuff, figuratively speaking– no offense to the organization that trained my dad).

i’m thankful for having gotten to know gibbons and to be a part of newsong bangkok; i’ll definitely do something similar when i move to chonburi next year, and am encouraged to know that there are hundreds and thousands of young people who are hungering for righteousness and eager to give their lives for the ministry of Jesus Christ. it’s good to see the concept of priethood of all believers still alive; and the protestant reformation continues to this day.