11 23 11 Discipleship

How do church leaders guide their congregations into the changes that will open ministry in new ways? How do we raise up a new generation of disciples for future ministry that God has not yet shown us? What are some practical things we can do today that will lead to a better ministry tomorrow?

The latest training for the Acts 16:5 Initiative was held last weekend (Nov 18-19) at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Anchorage. The content and style of the presentation were very compelling and have opened discussions that we pray will bear fruit. We offer many thanks to the Rev. Stan Ott of the Vital Church Institute for traveling to Alaska and making this event possible.

Although not all the presbytery’s congregations have signed-on to The Acts 16:5 Initiative, enough are involved to bring the Missional Church perspective to the whole presbytery. We are now at a point of thinking about how to begin sharing the learning in appropriate ways beyond those congregations that originally signed-on.

This possibility is important because our whole society is in a time of such monumental change, that the church absolutely must move into an adaptive, responsive mode if it is to share the salvation and love of Jesus Christ effectively to an anxious world. If we are not adaptive and responsive, then the Good News will not be presented in ways that can be heard, and the people will suffer now and into the future.

With this in mind, this latest Acts 16:5 Training focused on a couple of key themes. Among these were the following:

1. Leading into change, and
2. Raising up disciples and a disciple faith community to bear God’s Good News into the world.
   
   

Part of this training included some practical guides for drawing people into intentional learning and growth as individuals and as a faith-community. Disciples need to be well grounded in three ways:

1. Doxological – a relationship with God that includes praise and worship,
2. Koinonial – a relationship with God through God’s people that stokes our spiritual fires, and
3. Missional – a relationship with God that sends us out to make a difference in the world that God loves.
   
   

One experimental new approach to this class was connecting Dave Moody from Fairbanks via the internet. Dave said it went fairly well, though there are some things we can do to improve the experience for distance learners. Also, some of the churches that would normally have participated in the training were unable to come to the Nov 18-19 training, and so plans are under way to hold a second training sometime soon. Because this training is paid for both by congregations and by the presbytery, those congregations that have not participated in the past are still welcome to be a part of this event. Pastors or elders wanting more information should contact the presbytery office.

November is Make a Missional Move Month for PbYukon

At least this seems to be the case as I look at the activity this month across the presbytery. Two moves in particular need to be mentioned.

On Oct 22 the Rev. Tosu Sinkaman arrived in Anchorage from our partner, the Tayal Presbytery in Taiwan. His arrival was an answer to prayer. Originally scheduled to arrive in mid-August, Rev. Tosu was turned back at the border when he landed in Seattle! After a gueling 13-hour flight, he had to re-board the airplane immediately and go home. Although the customs service never admitted a mistake, Rev. Tosu arrived in October with the same credentials and the same stated mission as before. VERY FRUSTRATING.

What made the difference was some guidance from the PC(USA) office in Louisville, helping us explain our side of the story, and preparing the Seattle customs service in advance. Many thanks to Julia Thorne from the Immigrant Ministries office in Louisville!

Rev. Tosu has been a missionary in Japan and a previous presbytery moderator. We are honored to have a pastor of such stature among us. He will be traveling throughout our presbytery until Dec. 19, visiting many of our village churches and telling the story of God's work among the indigenous peoples of Taiwan. Hearing of the struggles and the acts of God among other Native peoples may prove particularly helpful for us as we are thinking about vision and mission in the villages of our presbytery.

The second major movement is the next Acts 16:5 training, taking place this weekend, Nov. 18-19 at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Anchorage. Once again, Stann Ott will be with us to lead the training. Those churches that chose to participate in the Acts 16:5 initiative are sending members of their leadership teams to Trinity to participate in the workshops. The participants are also discussing the possibility of meeting regularly by internet to share ideas and encouragement.

Because the presbytery is helping to fund the training, we will receive DVDs and extra training books to share with any other interested congregations in our presbytery. If the pastor or session from any church in the presbytery is interested in receiving any of these resources, or of learning more about the regular “internet Stan Ott

meetings,” they can contact the presbytery office.

11 10 11 Bearing Witness to The Wholeness of Ministry

Each meeting of a presbytery has its own character. Some are celebratory and glad. Others are weighty and deliberative. Lately, our meetings have been rather more weighty than usual, mostly due to the rather dramatic changes underway in church and culture. It was therefore a great joy at our last meeting of the Presbytery of Yukon to spend an evening with the Rev. Cobbe Palm, one of our PC(USA) Mission Co-workers from The Philippines.

There were several things that made Rev. Palm’s presentation memorable. His winsome and joyous presence was just what was needed in an otherwise heavy meeting. The wonderful Power Point slides added color and visual images to his talk. But what struck me most was the fabulous history of consistent, ongoing ministry of the Presbyterian Church in the Philippines.

The thing from his talk that really stood out for me was the very
Rev. Cobbe Palm

wholistic nature of Presbyterian mission at its best. Rev. Palm pointed out that from the beginning the Presbyterians’ mission strategy was to care for the whole person in its ministry: mind, body and soul. In the 1800’s the Presbyterians built the mind, body and soul institutions of schools, hospitals and churches. Since then times have changed. Now, the church has added to that list by engaging in a very troublesome issue worldwide, and especially in the Philippines, the issue of sex trafficking.

Traffickers are lying to parents and young people, promising them good work in a far-away place that will help support their families. The truth is that these young people are spirited away to the sex trade. The Presbyterians and others have entered into this situation to provide intervention, healing and training to help get people out of these situations. Further, the Presbyterians have been very involved in advocating for societal changes so this can’t go on. The churches, themselves, are lifting up disciples of Jesus Christ as people who build ministries that continue to care for people—mind, body and soul.

This, of course, is a hallmark of the Reformed branch of Christianity. We have always believed that saving the soul is important, but have understood that God cares for the whole person, and that Christians and Christian ministry must also care for the whole person. It was a pleasure to be reminded of that and to witness some of the good work that God continues to do through the Presbyterian Church. It was a great gift to have the Rev. Cobbe Palm among us to share the story.