May 2015
How do You Measure Kingdom Success?
It was a rainy, windy, five- hour, bus ride through quaint
villages and beautiful mountain scenery from our
conference site in Cluj, Romania, to the Sighet Memorial
Museum near the Ukrainian border.
We were missionaries from the Christian Reformed
Church and the Reformed Church of America in Eastern
Europe, joined by some of our local ministry partners. We
were gathered in Cluj to learn from each other and to
explore new ways to work together.
The Sighet Memorial Museum is dedicated to recovering
and preserving the memory of the victims of communism.
The Museum is on the site of a prison used to hold
political prisoners during the 1950’s. Among the prisoners
were politicians, intellectuals and religious leaders. 180
prisoners were held in 72 cells in deplorable conditions,
subject to various forms of torture. Many of them died
while in prison.
The Sighet Museum reminded me of similar memorials I
have visited in other countries. The Tuol Sleng Genocide
Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, preserves the
memory of the victims of the Killing Fields perpetrated by
the Khmer Rouge. The Forensic Laboratory in Guatemala
City is recovering the memory of the indigenous men,
women and children slaughtered by a right-wing military
regime.
Participants in Eastern European Consultation
Making the Good News of Jesus Visible in Eastern
Europe
During the final afternoon of our time together in Cluj we
broke into four groups to try to put flesh on what we had
been learning from each other and hearing from God.
The four themes the whole group had chosen were healthy
churches, reconciliation, leadership development, and
faith and society. Let me recount some of the stories that
we heard from missionaries and partners on those themes
during the consultation.
Violence and the terror it produces do not seem to be the
special domain of either the political left or the political
right. Nor have they historically been associated with just
one religion. Everywhere violence and terror bequest a
legacy of fear and distrust that can last for generations.
They leave in their wake a smoldering anger that often
shows its face in domestic violence, addictions to drugs
and alcohol, or the search for identity through gang
activity.
• Planting and strengthening healthy churches. One of
the missionary couples encourages and equips local
church planters. Most of these church planters come
from backgrounds of prison and addiction. The Spirit
has freed them from their addictions. The power of
the Gospel has transformed them into gentle, loving
human beings who are sacrificially giving their lives
away for the sake of others who are entrapped by
the same addictions. Might the lives of men and
women transformed by the Gospel from violence
and addiction to love and hospitality be one of the
markers of kingdom success?
What does it mean to announce and demonstrate the
now and coming kingdom of the Prince of Peace in this
context? How do we measure Kingdom success?
• Reconciliation. Eastern Europe has been split by
many different rivalries and jealousies, some historic
and some more recent: Russians and Ukrainians,
Reformed and evangelical, Romanian and Hungarian,
Roma (gypsy) and everyone else. Another missionary
couple works with the Roma people. The Roma people
have been coming to the Lord in increasing numbers
but still bear many scars of their past. They are still
the subject of much prejudice and discrimination.
Traditional work with the Roma people has been
ministry that is done “to” or “for’ them. It has often
focused on giving things away. This missionary couple
has taken a different approach. They see the Roma
people as already having been given gifts and talents
by God. They are focusing on empowering the Roma
people to be all that God intended for them. Might
the Roma people discovering their own identity in
Christ be a key to a change in their relationship with
their neighbors? Is reconciliation between the Roma
and their neighbors one of the markers of Kingdom
success?
• Leadership development. One of the local partners
present told the story of a network of 80 Romanian
churches from 5 different denominations. This
network of churches has developed their own
leadership training materials. They are working to
develop healthy churches that disciple their members
to be witnesses to the Good News of Jesus in all areas
of life. Others of those present had other leadership
development tools to share. All of these tools focus on
developing servant leaders with a Kingdom focus. Is
the presence of servant leaders in all areas of church
and society a marker of Kingdom success?
• Faith and society. One of the small groups on the
last day included a Hungarian Reformed pastor
and a Romanian Pentecostal theologian. Although
coming from different Christian faith traditions both
have been influenced by a reformed world and life
view. With great enthusiasm they talked together
about Christians joining hands to influence public
policy from a Biblical perspective of justice. One
of the possible tools they might use is a curriculum
on Faith and Life which comes out of one of our
ministry partners in Latin America. If a Romanian
Pentecostal theologian and Hungarian Reformed
pastor work together to influence public policy in their
home country - - and use a curriculum developed by
Christians in Latin America - - might that be one of the
markers of Kingdom success?
How would you measure Kingdom success?
VISITS TO CHURCHES AND SUPPORTERS
This is our home service schedule thus far: May 31, morning service - - Mayfair CRC (Michigan); June 14, evening
service - - LaGrave CRC (Michigan); June 21, morning service - - Madison Square CRC (Michigan); June 21, evening
service - - First Cutlerville CRC (Michigan); July 19, morning service - - Cedar CRC (Iowa).
We will also be in Iowa the Sundays of November 14, 21, and 29. On our list to visit this year are Bethel
Oskaloosa CRC, Faith Pella CRC, First Pella CRC, Second Pella CRC, and Sully CRC. First come, first served!
REASONS FOR PRAYER
• Pray for the new relationships that developed out of the consultation that Joel helped to facilitate in
Cluj. Pray that there might be lasting fruit from new ways of learning and working together.
• Wisdom for the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church as it decides on the proposed merger of World
Missions and Home Missions.
• We were within $14,000 of our support goal at the end of April (our fiscal year ends on June 30.) We
praise God for your sacrificial support.
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CRWM USA: 1700 28th Street SE Grand Rapids, MI 49508-1407; 1-800-346-0075, [email protected]
Donate online at www.crwm.org/huyser