Refugees and Storytelling (Guest Post)

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Lewie Clark

Jacob Mau has been part of our spiritual family here in Chicago for five years. I have asked him to be a guest writer because he is passionate about inviting people into the stories of refugee families he works with. His benefit album Seven Years demonstrates the power of telling and hearing life stories, which is a key component of disciple-making.

Jacob shares about the project below:

Disciple-making means intentionally entering into another person’s story and receiving him or her as a means of the Lord’s grace in your own life. Lewie and the community he often writes of in Imitating Jesus modeled this life-posture for me beginning in 2008. They extended themselves in friendship, listened, asked questions, entered my vulnerability, and took the time to understand the details of my story.

This journey in discipleship ran parallel to my daily work of assisting former refugees in Chicago through an organization called World Relief. As I was being discipled, I also rubbed shoulders with people from all over the world whose stories contain hardship I can’t imagine and heroism I’ll never comprehend. Just as Lewie and others heard a call to enter into my story, I received continual invitations to enter into the stories of former refugee families from Iraq, Burma, Nepal, Sudan, Afghanistan, and other conflict areas around the globe.

Those divine invitations, when I heeded them well, became a means of transformation in my life, and the people behind them became a part of my story. Seven Years is the culmination of a long-standing desire to extend that invitation to as many others as possible. All proceeds from the album go to World Relief.

It is an honor to share this project here, because outside of my friendship with Lewie and other Jesus-followers in Chicago who have welcomed me into their lives and their stories, I am not certain it would have ever come to fruition.

Please download, donate, share, and enjoy!

Disciple-Making and the Dinner Table

Posted on March 23, 2014 by Lewie Clark

Cultures are established and sustained around the dinner table. Each people group is distinguished by its food and table customs, whether Chinese, Italian, Jewish, or Ethiopian. In addition to daily meals there are the special holiday meals that are set apart to remember and retell the stories that have formed the beliefs and values for each culture. Americans use the Thanksgiving Day meal and the 4^th of July cookout to remind them of their heritage.

Rituals associated with these special meals are designed to help pass on the stories and values from one generation to the next. The Jewish people use the symbols of bitter herbs, bread, and roasted lamb from the Passover meal with the intent to help their children remember the story of God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt.

Each culture also understands (1) who is expected at what meal, (2) what behavior is appropriate at what meal, and (3) what food is fitting for each holiday. (Hamburgers are not on the Thanksgiving Day menu nor turkey and dressing at the 4^th of July picnic.)

Luke in his gospel shows us the role of the dinner table in the ministry of Jesus and how he used the table to challenge the culture around him and to shape his kingdom. Around a meal Jesus demonstrates the good news of forgiveness, redemption, and belonging by eating with sinners and being the guest in the homes of the social undesirable.

A dramatic and powerful table scene in Luke is the last meal that Jesus had with his disciples. Around the dinner table Jesus illustrated the high kingdom values of a servant’s heart and love by his washing the feet of his disciples and by the laying down of his life for them. Here he also established a dinner table ritual with the simple symbols of bread and wine to remind generations to come of his love found in the story of his life, death, and resurrection.

In closing:

Our families in Chicago are exploring the use of the dinner table for the spiritual formation of our children.

We are asking the question how we can use our dinner tables to engage the culture of Chicago with the gospel?

The Terrible Twenties

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Lewie Clark

The mid-twenties are a difficult time for most American men. At 25 he can no longer fall back on “I’m just a college student” and he realizes that he must become responsible on new levels. He grieves over the loss of the freedom of youth as he recognizes that life will never be the same. There is also a growing frustration as he feels inadequate, ill-prepared, and afraid because his parents, schools, and churches did not prepared him for adulthood. He becomes aware that society has changed its attitude towards him and that they now have an expectation of manhood without showing him how.

Some cultures have a rite of passage for children at 13 years of age. The adults come around the boy to affirm his belonging to them and to help him transition to manhood. But because America does not have an intentional rite of passage the men find themselves struggling alone through a self-directed rite of passage at around 25 years of age (about 12 years too late), which only reinforces rugged individualism and isolation rather than the sense of belonging that God intended for all men. Forming a rite of passage for our children is the responsibility of the nuclear family and the family of God.

In closing:

Be aware that those around you in their mid-twenties maybe going through a difficult time.
Our spiritual family/church establishes belonging with each twenty-something. He belongs to us and we belong to him.
We come around those in their mid-twenties to help them navigate the transition to manhood.
Our spiritual family/church comes along side our families to assist in a rite of passage for their sons and daughters.

Spiritual Ancestry And A Swiss Knife

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Lewie Clark

Lew Clark at Grandson’s Nigerian Rite of Passage Ceremony 2013

At my nephew’s Nigerian rite of passage ceremony my dad gave him a beautifully carved Swiss knife. He explained that the knife had been given to him 60 years earlier by an army chaplain who had discipled him while he was stationed in Italy. I, along with my brothers, were surprised at the gift because we had no knowledge of its existence nor did we any knowledge of this army chaplain who we now know as Colonel Newell E. Taylor.

This experience disturbed me as I realized for the first time how little I knew about my spiritual ancestry. I immediately began to explore my spiritual heritage by interviewing my parents, Taylor Gardner, and his wife Jimmye who had discipled me 35 years ago. As they introduced me to these ancestors the more I understood God’s direction in my life and I saw the significant role they had played in the development of my faith.

Chaplain Colonel
Newell E. Taylor

Americans have little awareness of ancestry because it is not a value of an individualistic culture. There is little attempt on the part of parents or grandparents to connect children to their physical or spiritual ancestors. (Illustrated by the fact that I did not know of Newell Taylor who had a large impact on my dad’s spiritual life.)

In contrast, my Jewish friends and my Nigerian brother-in-law have a strong connection to their ancestry passed on to their descendants through name selection, ceremonies, symbols, and story telling which forms a sense of belonging and identity in a child. Paul thought spiritual ancestry significant enough to remind Timothy of the faith that had been passed down to him through his grandmother and mother.

“I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” 2 Timothy 1:5

Steps I am taking:

Exploring the work of God in the life of my disciples through their spiritual ancestors.
I continue to get to seek and find those who are in my spiritual family tree.
I am introducing my disciples to my spiritual ancestors.
I am more aware of my role in the life my spiritual descendants. (My spiritual grandchildren and great-grandchildren.)

Hospitality Was Central To My Spiritual Ancestry

Image

This past year we had over 200 overnight guests and even more dinner guests in our home. We believe that Jesus demonstrated the inseparable link between hospitality and the good news of the kingdom of God.

Meanwhile this summer I began investigating my spiritual ancestry by interviewing my parents and Taylor Gardner who had discipled me over 30 years ago. He, along with his wife Jimmye, taught me the role of hospitality in disciple-making.

While interviewing the Gardners I asked where they had learned about hospitality. It all began in the 1960’s while Taylor was in seminary when a missionary named Dick Patty spoke on disciple-making and hospitality, which resonated deeply in Taylor’s heart. Dick had discovered hospitality through a World War II veteran named Jesse Miller whose life was changed forever when he experienced the hospitality of missionaries Cyril and Anna Brooks while he was stationed in the Philippines. A biographer wrote of Jesse Miller:

“Longing for Christian fellowship, Jesse joined other servicemen at the weekly dinner and Bible study hosted by missionaries Cyril and Anna Brooks. He was so touched and overwhelmed by their hospitality, the Christian fellowship, and the teaching of God’s Word, that he prayed to God, “If I ever have a home of my own, You can have it for servicemen.”

Six months ago I was unaware of the existence of Dick and Margret Patty, Jesse and Nettie Miller, nor Cyril and Anna Brooks but now I see their spiritual DNA not only in my ministry but also in the lives of my disciples. Where would my life and ministry be today if Cyril and Anna had not opened their home to Jesse Miller 70 years ago?

I shutter to think how close I came to missing out on the richness of my spiritual heritage and not being able to pass it on to my disciples and to their disciples.

Jimmye and Taylor Gardner

Margret and Dick Patty

Anna and Cyril Brooks

Jesse Miller

Loving Your Disciple Well

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Lewie Clark

Today on the phone I was asked, “What are the tools that you use to make disciples of Jesus? Is there a model that you follow? How do you teach your disciples the Bible? Is there a course that you take your disciples through?”

Although there is a place for tools in disciple-making, what is paramount is that the disciple is loved well. I have seen cases where a good teacher has attempted to use teaching to make disciples but because he did not know how to build relationships the disciple-making process broke down and so the teacher became frustrated with himself or he thought his disciple “just didn’t get it” and moved on to someone else. (Not to mention the discouragement that the disciple must have felt in being disappointed in yet another relationship.)

A person can hide behind a curriculum or “what I know” rather than having the courage to step out to lay down his life for another. To love is to make yourself vulnerable to rejection and disappointment.

Teaching does plays a critical role in disciple-making but what differentiates the teaching in disciple-making from other forms of teaching is that it takes place in the context of a loving relationship as demonstrated by Jesus and Paul. It is the love of the discipler that activates the teaching in the heart of the disciple.

A Story of a Life

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Lewie Clark

The story of David opens with a poem written by a woman named Hannah. She had suffered emotionally for years and was ridiculed relentlessly because she could not have children.

The Lord then provides for her a son, Samuel, and out of her joy she composes “The Lord is a Rock and a Deliverer” which begins the chronicles of David (1 Samuel 2) and then 130 years later David closes his life by composing a poem mirroring Hannah’s original work providing poetic bookends to the story (2 Samuel 22).

These bookends unify the whole narrative of David’s life. The message of both poems is clear-in times of trouble and pain, the Lord is trustworthy. He has a plan. He will protect. He will rescue. The poems were birthed out of each author’s experience of the Lord’s deliverance in heartbreak, disappointment, rejection, enemies, pain, and betrayal.

Listen for the themes in the story of life of your child or disciple. Each story is unique and is different from your story.

Look for the “Hannah” in the life of your disciple-a person who years before had a role in the spiritual formation of your disciple. (Someone he or she may have never met.)

Encourage your child or disciple to create expressions of the work of God in his/her life. (Writing, painting, music, storytelling, poetry, etc.)

Suffering are the markers of the work of God is the life of your child or disciple.

Honoring the Elderly

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Lewie Clark

Recently my family participated in a baby naming ceremony for a Nigerian child who is a niece of my brother-in-law. In the beginning of the ceremony there is solemnity as the extended family accepts and blesses the child and then things turn festive with clapping, laughter, and food to celebrate the arrival of this new family member.

My parents arrived late due to a schedule conflict and as soon as they walked into the room the atmosphere changed. People jumped up, a videographer started filming, and a photographer started taking pictures as the new father and mother, dressed in formal Nigerian clothing, presented the baby with pomp to my mom and dad.

I do not speak Hausa and was unsure of what was going on around me and so at the first convenient break I asked my brother-in-law what was happening?

He explained that because my mom and dad were the oldest people in our family (84 and 79) that they were the most honored guests at the ceremony. He went on to say that his own mom is now the oldest member of his tribe and therefore the most revered. Daily people come to his mother’s home in Nigeria in order for her to bless them.

There is a beauty in tying together the eldest with the youngest.

Our spiritual family in Chicago is seeking ways to honor the elderly and to bring together the elderly with the young.

Connecting the young with the elderly brings identity and belonging to both.

Bless This House

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Lewie Clark

Recently one of our families moved into a new home and so this past weekend we gathered in their front doorway to bless this family in their new house.

The ceremony went something like this:

Affirmation of Hospitality. The time began with the reading of the story of Abraham and Sarah extending hospitality to three men who end up being messengers from God. (Genesis 18:1-8)

Presentation of Mezuzah-One of our Jewish followers of Yeshua presented the family a Mezuzah, which is a little box to be hung in the doorway containing a scroll with the following passage:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Statement of Husband and Wife’s Vision. Next the husband and wife shared with us the vision for their new home and for their family.

Group Affirmation. The group then verbally affirmed the couple’s vision believing that their vision was in alignment with kingdom values. We also affirmed that their family belonged to us and we belonged to them.

Individual Blessings. Members of the group then expressed their individual hopes and desires for this new home and the family members who lived there.

Prayer. We ended the time in prayer asking the Lord to bless this home and family.

Identity Crisis

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Lewie Clark

Many American Christians are in an identity crisis or what may be better described as a crisis of non-identity. We spend time and resources to learn how to “do” life and ministry more effectively but rarely do we explore the question “to whom do I belong?” Misplaced identity is evident in the question “what do you do?” when meeting someone new while the question “to whom do you belong?” would seem odd to ask.

My friend Yitzhak (Ed) is a Rabbi who was over 50 years old the first time he read the New Testament. He exclaimed “How Beautiful!” when he read the genealogy of Jesus in the book of Mathew. (The same list of names we skip over to get to the “good stuff.”) Just as Jesus was identified as the son of Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Matthan, so Ed understands himself to be Yitzhak, the son of Eliyahu (Ed’s dad), the son of Yosef (Ed’s grandfather).

This past week I meet with Ed and two of his Jewish friends and as I asked about their backgrounds it was evident that from childhood they understood to whom they belonged because of the intentionality of their parents, grandparents, and the Jewish community. To belong means that the family/community cannot imagine itself without you and you cannot imagine yourself apart from that family/community.