On Making Friends (Justin)

I want to briefly draw your attention to the website of Access Partners, a company started by a friend of mine that helps get Kingdom-minded businesses started in "closed" countries, primarily in Central Asia. They do interesting work, but I particularly like their statement about "Ongoing Missions Responsibilities:"

From the time of Paul to today, cross-cultural missions has required much effort and time. There are no short-cuts. All cross-cultural missionaries have the following baseline responsibilities:

• Language: Speaking in the native language of a people group so the Gospel is clearly understood.
• Culture: Respecting others' customs and values so discipleship is effectively addressed.
• Church Planting: Encouraging local believers to meet together in a community to display God's glory.

I work from this same framework every day. We're working hard at #1, learning about #2 so we can figure out how microcredit can help do #3. Honestly, I think most people involved in "business as missions" have no concept of the importance of these 3 principles combined. "There are no shortcuts," Amen!

Our contacts here have been pretty limited, so Joni and I are branching out. Due to the wonders of Facebook, we're starting to connect with other folks in Moldova who aren't connected to the work we're doing. Some of them believers, some of them people who went to school in the U.S. (and thus speak English). Our goal is to start meeting with folks this week and learn more about Moldova from their perspective. Maybe this will lead to finding some aspiring entrepreneurs who might make good clients?

We're also meeting with professional American missionaries here to learn about what efforts at church planting, particularly CPMs, are taking place.

So, please pray for us as we try to make new friends and and engage the culture to learn more about it!