RTIM Review: Issue 7

RTIM REVIEW

A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT

Over the summer, I travelled with my son Callum to the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa to meet up with some of our global workers. We then travelled to the United Kingdom, where we visited the Mays family in Belfast and friends at Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh. After that, all five Robertsons embarked for another part of North Africa to visit several more units. All in all, in three weeks, we saw 13 units from three different regions. We returned to the U.S. with hearts full, legs tired, and bodies jet-lagged. I’m so thankful for our team of global workers and their commitment to glorifying the Lord through the making of mature disciples, establishing of healthy churches, and training of local leaders around the world.

The Lord has given us a sweet camaraderie within Reaching & Teaching, which I believe is the fruit of our theological like-mindedness. That like-mindedness lends itself to a shared missiology.

In this issue, we’re rolling out our 10 Distinctives. As AJ Gibson writes, these will “serve the church by articulating and modeling a Christ-honoring, churchcentered vision for doing missions in our generation.” In the coming months, those Distinctives will be expanded upon via a number of blog posts by Reaching & Teaching team members.

In July, we were pleased to announce the hiring of Matt Bennett as our Director of Long-Term Ministry. Matt’s role will be to support our regional leaders and collaborate with our executive team

to ensure that our global workers and their sending churches are provided with the best possible service in the sending, supporting, and strengthening of qualified missionaries. Matt has served overseas in North Africa, he’s written extensively about missions, and he currently teaches as a professor at Cedarville University (where he’ll continue to teach). Put simply, he’s very well-suited for this new role.

I’m so thankful for the team that the Lord continues to assemble at Reaching & Teaching.

In a recent conversation with a couple of our mobilizers, I described I often feel like I’m sitting on a beach watching fireworks on the 4th of July. What do I mean? Just as a spectator watches dozens of different fireworks displays along a vast beach, we get to watch the Lord setting off displays of His glory around the world.

One of those places that we see the Lord doing incredible things is in Cordoba, Argentina, where Jason Wright serves alongside Eric Absiror and Sam Masters. The Wrights were sent out from Redeemer Church of Abilene in Texas and the Abisrors were sent out from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Washington. Jason and Eric were sent through Reaching & Teaching. Sam serves as the senior pastor of Centro Crecer, their local church in Argentina. Several different organizations are involved in the work in Cordoba, including the Pillar Network. You can read about this partnership in our Global

Workers update. It’s a privilege to serve alongside these brothers for the glory of God. Sam is hopeful “we are on the brink of a second great missionary movement.” I am with him!

Our Global Training update this month comes from Scott Mescher. As we start relationships in new places in the Middle East, North Africa, and East Asia, Scott has thought strategically about contextualization and expanding networks. I know you’ll be encouraged as you read his observations. I invite you to pray for the Global Training team’s work in these new regions.

Our blog highlights this quarter come from Denny Crosby, our new Access & Deployment Manager, and Ramazan Rafee, one of our global workers who serves the Persian church in Central Asia and amongst the diaspora. Denny offers helpful advice on how to care for missionaries upon re-entry and Ramazan gives a short introduction to the work amongst Afghans. I know you’ll be encouraged by these brothers.

During the first week of October, I’ll be heading to Asia to meet with a team that desires to plant a church amongst a language group that currently doesn’t have access to the gospel. I’ll also meet with two pastors in Singapore, some of our global workers who recently planted church in Bangkok, and a couple who is currently learning-language in Japan. Our conversations will focus on working together to see healthy, gospeldisplaying churches in communities that don’t have them. How do we resource

theologically under-resourced churches? How do we cooperate across oceans with like-minded churches to make mature disciples, establish healthy churches, and train local leaders around the world? Will you pray for fruitful conversations?

As we near the end of 2023, you may be considering giving options for the next calendar year or a year-end donation. We’d love to invite you to partner with us financially. The Lord continues to provide the resources necessary as Reaching & Teaching continues to grow, facilitating work in over 40 countries around the world. Near the end of this issue, you’ll find a QR code and giving link. We’d love for you to partner with us.

Sincerely,

RYAN ROBERTSON

Ryan Robertson has served as the President of Reaching & Teaching since April 2020. He has previously served in executive leadership positions for public companies and other non-profit organizations, and has been a board member of several charities. In 2014, he obtained his CPA from the State of Massachusetts. Ryan is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Missiology program at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Ryan and his wife Erin have three children and are members of Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, where Ryan serves as an elder.

RYAN ROBERTSON President

WHY 10 DISTINCTIVES?

What is the mission of the church?

Is an “incarnational” approach to missions biblical?

What role does God’s sovereignty play in our mission?

Should missions be limited to reaching the unreached?

What does it even mean to “reach” someone?

What is a healthy, biblical approach to contextualization?

What is the role of mission sending agencies in missions?

What’s wrong with movementbased mission strategies?

What’s a biblical alternative?

What role should mercy ministries play in missions?

These are among the many pressing questions in the world of missions. Every missionary and missions agency swims in an ocean of ideas and influences that can be difficult to navigate.

We feel that God has raised up Reaching & Teaching not only to send missionaries to the nations but also to speak truth and clarity into the murky waters of modern missionary thought and practice. Our desire is to serve the church by articulating and modeling a Christ-honoring, church-centered vision for doing missions in our generation.

To that end, we have developed a list of 10 Missiological Distinctives that define our core convictions about missions. These distinctives aren’t comprehensive, but they nonetheless present the essence of what we believe about missions in a winsome, succinct way. In the coming months, we plan to flesh out each of these distinctives

Be on the lookout for more on each of our 10Distinctives!

through blog posts and other mediums. We hope these resources will serve you well as we seek to serve Christ faithfully around the world.

AJ GIBSON Regional Leader - Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa

We believe the mission of the church is to glorify God by preaching the gospel among all nations, making disciples and establishing churches of believers who worship God, obey Christ’s commands, and grow to maturity.

We believe the gospel is the power of God for salvation; our task is to represent Christ by faithfully and verbally proclaiming God’s Word to the world.

We believe the Bible is authoritative, sufficient, and relevant for our core missionary task, providing both the message and method for our mission.

We believe God is sovereign in salvation; we rely on the Holy Spirit to convict and regenerate all whom the Father has chosen, graciously bringing them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

We believe God’s Word and Christ’s Lordship connect with and confront all human cultures; we seek to communicate the gospel in contextually appropriate ways and in diverse languages without fundamentally altering its content.

We believe healthy local churches are needed in every community; therefore, we strive to reach new peoples and places with the gospel while also strengthening churches and leaders where health is lacking.

We believe the church is the primary means of obeying the Great Commission among the nations as local churches identify, train, send, and support qualified missionaries.

We believe making disciples is normally a slow process that requires patience as believers grow to maturity in Christ through the ordinary means of grace in the context of a local church.

We believe planting and strengthening churches necessarily includes the work of identifying and training qualified, well-taught, reproducing local leaders.

We believe our mission should be carried out through gospel partnerships by cooperating and collaborating with faithful Christians throughout the global church.

Register for Cross Con 2024!

JANUARY 3-5

God’s people have always been opposed—opposed by earthly enemies, by spiritual foes, by worldly governments, and even at times by supposed friends. And yet, God’s people press on in hope. We can be assured that God will prove victorious in the end, having already triumphed over his foes on the cross.

Join us as we exult in the God who brings life out of death and joy out of sorrow. Together we are called to worship and to bear witness, that our coming and conquering King might be known and adored by the nations.

rtim.org/preview-day

Why You Should Come

Whether you are considering long-term missions or want to mobilize your church, our Preview Day is a great place to start!

What you can expect from the day:

Louisville, Ky

Monday, January 15th

Third Avenue Baptist Church

Bellflower, Ca

Friday, February 21st

Bethany Baptist Church

Bayside, NY

Thursday, April 11th

North Shore Baptist Church

Time: 8am - 5pm

Price per Individual: $50

NEW LONG-TERM MINISTRY DIRECTOR

INTERVIEW WITH OUR NEW LONG-TERM MINISTRY DIRECTOR, MATT BENNETT

September 2023

WHAT DOES THE DIRECTOR OF LONG-TERM MINISTRIES AT REACHING & TEACHING DO?

As this role takes shape, I will be collaborating with the Regional Leaders as we develop resources, serve our missionaries on the field, and think through our training. I’ll also be representing RTIM’s long-term efforts within the executive team, which means I will communicate updates, needs, and proposals from the field to Ryan, Scott, Rachel, and Dylan. I’m most excited to work alongside the team RTIM has already assembled in service of supporting the long-term field work to which our global workers are giving themselves.

YOU SERVED OVERSEAS FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS IN NORTH AFRICA. WHAT WAS MINISTRY LIKE AND WHAT ARE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS?

We lived in a couple of creative access countries, which meant that we needed to establish a business that was legitimate enough to afford us visas. We were also determined to do something that was not disconnected from our evangelism, discipleship, and churchfocused ministry. We ended up running an English school (a super original,

never-tried-before idea!) and a Cultural Tourism business. This business opened up opportunities for lots of natural evangelism opportunities with Muslim students. It also allowed our sending church and supporting churches to partner with our work directly as we connected short-term teams with our English-speaking students. Best of all, we got to work with local believers to cast vision for evangelism among Muslims and to prayerfully work together toward seeing former Muslims mature in their faith.

WHILE SERVING IN THIS ROLE, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO TEACH AS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MISSIONS AND THEOLOGY AT CEDARVILLE UNIVERSITY. WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A PROFESSOR?

Honestly, I love everything about it. I love that this school is confessionally Christian but that it also is rigorously academic in its preparation of students for a wide variety of vocations. The chance to have nursing students and engineers in my theology and missions classes is amazing. Their degrees will open up a ton of doors for them and getting them in theology class sets the table brilliantly for calling them to be strategic for the kingdom wherever they

end up. Getting to counsel students who are thinking of missions to work with their churches and church leaders in assessing and affirming this trajectory is also a huge joy. And, I just really enjoy teaching theology to students eager to learn.

YOU’VE WRITTEN SEVERAL BOOKS. ARE THERE ANY PROJECTS WE SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR DOWN THE ROAD OR ONES YOU’D LIKE TO WRITE ONE DAY?

I’m working on one long-term project right now: a Missional Theology textbook. The idea is to work through a basic introduction to each of the traditional systematic loci, but then to continue the process of theologizing by asking “So what?” The goal is to show the missional implications that are sometimes omitted from theology texts. In addition, I hope to add a brief section on each doctrine that might serve to correct some contemporary missiological proposals by remaining grounded in sound theology. That probably won’t come out until 2026 though. In the meantime, I’m really excited about the Reaching and Teaching project that AJ and Brian are putting together that explains our 10 Distinctives.

rch

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES AND HOW DOES YOUR FAMILY SPEND DOWNTIME?

You know the episode of The Office where Michael Scott says, “I love inside jokes. In fact, I hope to be part of one someday”? I feel like that in answering this question during this season of life: I love hobbies, and I hope to have margin for that some day! Right now my hobbies include coaching my son’s flag football team, watching my other two kids’ soccer matches, and taking our family and whatever friends will join us to a local lake or state park for a hike. In a previous stage of life I was an avid golfer, but you wouldn’t know it by watching me play now.

should occur, so the church should be able to assess and train someone in the skills of making disciples. Finally, we should consider the precedent we have in Scripture. In Acts 13-14, the Antioch church identified the work for which the Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul, and then they held them accountable to report on it when they had accomplished their task. In terms of the aim, we see the pattern of evangelism, discipleship, leadership training, and church formation reinforced throughout the Scriptures. Therefore, the local church is best equipped to be the launchpad for missionaries. But when they send missionaries, they should also aim to establish and develop healthy churches as the goal of their commissioning.

WHY REACHING & TEACHING?

MATT BENNETT Director of Long-Term Ministry

The local church should be both the agent and the aim of faithful missions work. In other words, the local church is the best environment in which people can be identified, evaluated, trained, commissioned, and held accountable to the task of missions.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE LOCAL CHURCH IN MISSIONS?

The local church should be both the agent and the aim of faithful missions work. In other words, the local church is the best environment in which people can be identified, evaluated, trained, commissioned, and held accountable to the task of missions. Why? Because the local church is where people should be most known, where their gifts should be on clearest display. It’s also the environment in which disciple-making

Honestly, it’s in large part due to the answer above. RTIM has charted the course for church-centered missions and the opportunity to sow in to what they are doing is what intrigued me when the idea initially came up. I am excited to get to work with the people who compose RTIM and am eager to serve Ryan, the exec team, and the field in whatever ways I am able.

ANY ADVICE TO SOMEONE WANTING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GOING OVERSEAS LONG-TERM?

My first advice is always the same: go talk to a pastor or church leader who knows you and ask them to help you think through this question. Let them speak into your readiness, identify things that they might want to see you grow in, and submit to the church’s leadership and process for preparation. Don’t put the cart before the horse by selecting your agency, field, and team before inviting your church into the process with you.

Matt serves as an Associate Professor of Missions and Theology at Cedarville University, and also as the Director of Long-term Ministry at RTIM. He obtained his Ph.D. in Missiology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and served for six years in North Africa with the International Mission Board. He is the author of Hope for American Evangelicals: A Missionary Perspective on Restoring Our Broken House (B&H, 2023), The Qur’an and th e Christian: An In-Depth Look into the Book of Islam for Followers of Jesus (Kregel Academic, 2022), and 40 Questions About Islam (Kregel Academic, 2020). He has written articles for 9Marks and The Gospel Coalition among other publications. Matt and his wife, Emily, live in Cedarville, Ohio with their three children Anabelle, Elliot, and Oliver. They are members of Grace Baptist Church, where Matt serves as an elder.

GLOBAL WORKERS UPDATE

ON THE GROUND IN ARGENTINA: REACHING & TEACHING AND PILLAR.

SAM MASTERS

Pastor at Centro Crecer Church of Córdoba, Argentina (RTIM and Pillar partner church)

Effective missions work requires teamwork. And not just from missionaries who work cooperatively on the field but from those who send. One of the most encouraging things I have seen as a missionary has been the growth of churches and organizations with a biblical model of the church and missions.

The modern missionary movement began with such cooperation. While William Carey’s vision played a crucial role, the groundbreaking mission at Serampore would have never become a reality without the collaboration of three unique organizations: the Northamptonshire Baptist Association, the Baptist Missionary Society, and the Serampore Mission. They were founded to extend the outreach of the local church.

I’m grateful for some twenty-firstcentury equivalents. As a sending agency, Reaching and Teaching works from a solid theological framework and a clear understanding of the role of the local church in missions. They fill the gap the BMS covered 200 years ago. In Argentina, two Reaching and Teaching missionaries, Jason Wright and Eric Abisror, have become force multipliers.

We have also been blessed by the Pillar Network, which has come alongside our Argentine association of churches (ABRA: Asociación Bautista Reformada de Argentina). Their support fills that space occupied by the Northamptonshire Association of churches in those early days of the modern missionary movement. Pillar has been a model of cooperation. This relationship will be very fruitful because of Pillar’s willingness to pursue partnerships with a humble heart and to adapt to the realities of ministry in Argentina.

church planting. There are so many great works led by great people doing all sorts of kingdom work. But a local church cannot be involved in every good thing that is happening. Churches have both limited financial resources and attention spans. How does a church decide with whom to partner? This is where trusted relationships come in and help churches decide where to partner.

Many of the challenges we face would have been recognizable to Carey. He wanted to provide resources in a way that accelerates growth and resists dependency. He also wanted to offer in-depth theological training and discipleship. Only time will tell, but I’m encouraged and hopeful that we are on the brink of a second great modern missionary movement.

JASON GRAY

Lead Pastor of Redeemer Church of Abilene, TX (RTIM and Pillar partner church, RTIM Sending Church)

Churches have an interesting dilemma when getting involved in missions and

My church decided when we started almost 10 years ago that we would do three things regarding missions. One, we would devote 25% of our budget to missions and church planting. That was a massive commitment, and at times has been difficult to maintain. Two, we would use that money to support missionaries and organizations with whom we agree theologically and methodologically. Three, we would support those missionaries and organizations focusing on fewer partners with whom we could support with greater amounts as opposed to spreading out money over many partners who we barely know with very little support.

The question for churches is how do you find those partners with whom you want to invest your resources: time, prayer, people, and finances? This is where organizations like Reaching and Teaching and Pillar have become invaluable to us. They help us keep our commitments and do so with confidence. We can trust that the missionaries that RTIM puts forward are theologically and methodologically solid. We can trust that the church plants that Pillar supports are the same. Moreover, when we send missionaries or missions teams, we know we can trust RTIM to care for them.

I’m encouraged and hopeful that we are on the brink of a second great modern missionary movement.

In a day when trust in institutions and organizations are eroding, it is good to know as a pastor that we have trusted partner organizations – ones who share our theological and methodological convictions and can connect us to missionaries and other churches to support as we carry out the task to take the Gospel to the nations and to plant churches that faithfully preach that gospel.

RTIM AND PILLAR FROM A GLOBAL WORKER’S PERSPECTIVE

JASON WRIGHT

RTIM Global Worker & Pastor at Centro Crecer Church of Córdoba, Argentina (RTIM and Pillar partner church)

A few years ago we helped start an association of like-minded churches in

Argentina (ABRA). The goal of ABRA is threefold. First, we seek to provide community and encouragement to local church pastors. Coming out of the pandemic, we talked with many pastors who felt isolated and alone. Many serve in remote areas where there simply are no other churches. Even in bigger cities, many of the pastors in the association have been ostracized due to their theological convictions. They need encouragement and to know there are other pastors like them faithfully serving in other places. Second, we want to provide training that builds up association churches and encourages further church planting. Finally, we want to work together to plant churches and send missionaries. While it is difficult for any church in any part of the world to send missionaries on its own, it is nearly impossible for an Argentine church to do so given the hyperinflation economic conditions. Together, we can work together to send out faithful workers to the mission field.

While these are the goals of ABRA, we are far from doing them well and have many areas in which we can improve. For that reason, our partnership with Pillar Network has been a huge blessing. It is a blessing for Argentine churches to partner with like-minded churches in the US to accomplish similar goals. As a field missionary, it is important to be able to recommend US Pillar churches as potential partners to Argentine pastors and churches, and know that all involved are going to share core convictions about theology, ecclessiology, and missiology. I am excited to see how the Lord uses the partnership between ABRA and the Pillar Network to advance church planting across Argentina and to the ends of the earth.

Discover more about our Global Training ministry at rtim.org

GLOBAL TRAINING UPDATE

FALL UPDATE SCOTT MESCHER

Over the years, Reaching & Teaching has delivered our nine-course training for pastors and church leaders to more than 30 different sites in 17 countries. It’s encouraging to see how this approach has facilitated training local leaders in a variety of areas. At some sites, local leaders restarted the courses with new students at the same site. In other locations, students have invited us to more remote regions to teach and equip other leaders. The nine-week modular approach has been effective in South America, the Caribbean, West Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The goal is to teach nine one-week courses over the span of three years. That’s our traditional model. It’s been effective because the pastors and leaders we serve largely live in rural areas. They use their seasonal breaks to commit to a full week of training three times a year.

However, as we build relationships with pastors from different places, we’re identifying different needs. Our mission remains the same: we exist to train leaders and establish healthy churches. But our strategy often gets adjusted. Here are some reflections that are the fruit of newer relationships in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and East Asia.

EXPAND OUR NETWORK OF KEY PASTORS:

Rather than finding leaders who are concerned for church health across a broad network, we’re focusing on

pastors who are trying to shepherd their specific church toward health. These churches are certainly a light for the gospel to their communities, even if they’re not a model of health to other congregations. Some of these pastors need teams from the outside to encourage and teach their own congregation.

HIGHLIGHT LANGUAGE-SPECIFIC CHURCH PLANTS:

Some pastors see the need to start churches among local language groups. To accomplish this, there has to be buyin throughout a whole congregation. Again, these pastors are doing the long, slow work of shepherding a young flock with biblical teaching.

CONTEXTUALIZE TRAINING FOR URBAN SETTINGS:

Serving pastors with no access to sound theological education usually means spending time in rural areas. But in these new regions, we have realized that it sometimes also means connecting with pastors in more urban settings. Pastors and leaders in these developed areas are often bi-vocational. Their work schedules simply don’t allow for much flexibility. Though they can’t take three weeks off during a year, many are willing to commit to long weekends.

We have a talented staff who simply wants to be faithful with the opportunities God places before us. Wherever we are, we remain committed to training local leaders and establishing healthy churches. Even so, we are also committed to responding wisely to the needs in new regions.

I invite you to pray with us, that we will:

- Steward the resources of time, education, and opportunity well.

- Wisely and carefully identify new partners in new regions.

- Trust that God’s Word always accomplishes God’s purposes.

Thank you for the ways you support Reaching & Teaching.

SCOTT MESCHER Director of Global Training

Scott has more than 25 years of experience in missions and local church ministry. Scott and his wife Corey live in Salado, TX, and have 3 children. He is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MDivBL) and earned a PhD in Christian Apologetics and Worldview at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Scott leads the Global Training Team of RTIM to provide biblical and theological education to church leaders around the world and equip domestic church partners to teach in cross-cultural context. He is a member of the Executive Team.

BLOG HIGHLIGHTS

HOW TO CARE FOR MISSIONARIES UPON REENTRY

August 16, 2023 |

Denny Crosby

Some missionaries may return home to help children transition to college or to care for aging parents. Some return to take jobs with their sending church or a different ministry position. Some come home grateful and satisfied at all that they saw God do, while others are broken and hurting due to their perceived failure.

How should churches care for returning missionaries?

Every situation is unique, but it’s still worth considering that question. After all, missionaries aren’t super saints. They shouldn’t be placed on inappropriate pedestals. At the same time, their experience is different than the family who just moved to town from a different

state for a new job.

Our care for returning workers offers a wonderful opportunity to serve those who have given so much for the sake of the gospel. In the process, we can learn how to serve our neighbors as well.

Paul’s missionary experience is summarized in 2 Corinthians 7: “Our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn – fighting without and fear within” (7:5). In 2 Corinthians 11, he lists the trouble and hardship he faced including shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonment, exposure, and more. When you add the reality that he gave us that list in the context of defending himself to a church he was struggling to lead into maturity, you get a sense

of the pressures and difficulties of missionary life.

Thankfully, few missionaries today endure the same trials as Paul. But the mission’s task and the reality of living cross-culturally does irrevocably change every missionary. The constant pressures of life in hard and dark places affect us. Sometimes, we don’t even realize how until we’re back home. I’ve been known to joke with friends, “I may look like you and sound like you, but I no longer think or respond like you.” This produces some fun and surprisingly deep conversations about what it’s like to live in a strange place. Like most returning missionaries, we all yearn for relationships with people who understand who we are and what

is churning deep in our souls.

With that in mind, I want to direct us to 1 Corinthians 16:10–11 as an example of how Paul encouraged the Corinthians to serve Timothy. Paul writes, “When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.”

In these verses, Paul makes three requests of the church and gives two purposes that he hopes will result from their service.

REQUEST #1: PUT HIM AT EASE.

Most missionaries will return with some practical and perhaps even financial needs. Their major appliances were the wrong voltage and their car was not worth the shipping costs, so they’re starting out here fresh. What should you do? Make sure missionaries have everything they need to get settled in their new home. In other words, put them at ease. Help them, as quickly as possible, to arrive at an established, normal routine where their everyday needs are met. I remember asking people to order for me at restaurants because the menus were so overwhelming that I struggled to make a decision. The things don’t have to be revolutionary. In fact, small acts of ordinary kindness often can make the most progress in building friendships.

REQUEST #2: LET NO ONE DESPISE HIM.

Missionaries are weird. They live in a weird place, eat weird food, and speak a weird language. Actually, that’s not true! But many people think it is.

In reality, missionaries are just normal people with slightly different experiences. We’ve spent a season stripping many things from our life that

were either hindrances to the gospel or simply unrealistic for our present context. Because of this, we have new ideas of what’s “normal.”

We’re all tempted to label different things as lesser things. But rather than looking down on others’ differences, we should consider how our returning missionaries can help us better understand how to rightly get the message of the gospel to our neighbors and friends.

REQUEST #3: HELP HIM ON HIS WAY IN PEACE.

The missionary’s return home will one day pass from conversation and memory, but their obedience to the leadership of Christ in their lives will continue. Now that they’re in a new place, they’re likely seeking to discern how to be faithful in this new context. What ministry will they participate in? What influence can they have among the lost? How can they build up and strengthen their local congregation?

PURPOSE #1: HE MAY RETURN.

Paul wanted Timothy to return and help him after his visit to Corinth. We don’t know what the Lord will provide in the coming season of our new friend’s life, but we do know that our sovereign Lord has a wonderful plan and purpose for all these events. How can we walk with them in a tumultuous time of transition and uncertainty with wisdom and discernment?

But for now, we are here with them. So let’s consider how to help them prepare for faithful service in this different context, even as we are mindful that they may not fit neatly into any of our current ideas.

city whose builder and maker is God. We’re all expected to be about the mission of the church in sharing the gospel. When a returning missionary comes into your life, let them see you giving yourself to the work of the gospel faithfully in your context. That’s the greatest encouragement you can give and the best way to care for others in gospel work.

DENNY CROSBY

Access & Deployment Manager

PURPOSE #2: I AM EXPECTING HIM.

Every Christian is an exile and stranger in a foreign land. We’re all seeking a

Denny has recently joined RTIM as the Access and Deployment Manager and looks forward to helping people transition well to their places of service overseas. A graduate of Southern Seminary with an M.Div. he spent 8 years with the IMB serving in Bangladesh and Thailand managing different platforms to support IMB workers and seeking to reach Hindu peoples. For the last seven years he has worked as a General Contractor based in Atlanta building apartment communities. Denny and Lisa have been married for 24 years and have three kids with only one left in the nest. They are members of Mount Vernon Baptist Church.

THE SOURCE OF LASTING PEACE AND SALVATION IN AFGHANISTAN

July 12, 2023 | Ramazan Rafee

INTRODUCTION

Throughout its history, Afghanistan has been an important country for many different religions. Countless people have traveled over across its mountain routes and brought with them the beliefs and traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Some of these religions are no longer frequent in Afghanistan; others have gone underground because of persecution they faced. In isolated and rural parts of Afghanistan, several artifacts from these ancient civilizations have been discovered. Unfortunately, many of them have either been destroyed or smuggled.

For more than a thousand years, Christianity had been fundamental to the socio-religious development of this region. But because of the destruction of this history by numerous conquerors and the lack of interest among historians in researching this region’s past, many people don’t know this. The memory of Christian groups in Afghanistan has been progressively eradicated.

Between 224 and 226 AD, King Ardeshir and his troops revolted against the Parthian kings and established a new Sassanid dynasty in Persia. By conquering Armenia and India, Ardeshir expanded the kingdoms under his territory from the east and the west, an expansion which included the Christians of Persia. After a while, we see the emergence of the Persian Church. The Persian Church initially followed the Western Church, that is, Rome and Constantinople. But it eventually became independent both theologically and organizationally.

At the Council of Dadyeshu, which was held in 424 AD under the chairmanship of the bishop of the Church of the East, one of the members of the council was a bishop named “Afrid” who was apparently a representative of the ecclesiastical domain that extended from Zaranj to Kandahar (two cities in Afghanistan).

After investigating Adrid’s complaint, the leaders of the Persian Church decided to divide the bishopric of five cities between Afrid and Sergius. They appointed Afrid of Yazd to the bishopric of the cities of Zaranj (or Azraj), Farah, and Khash, and entrusted the cities of Bost and Kandahar to Sergius. These events took place during the fifth and sixth centuries.

Around the year 636, when Islam conquered the Persian land, the Christian community began to decrease. At first, Christians were called dhimmi people, which means they had to pay jizya (special tax) to the Islamic rulers. During the reign of Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, persecution escalated. The rulers no longer wanted a special tax; instead, they sought to kill every Christian, looted their property, and destroy all their historical documents. Subsequently, whenever Afghans embraced Christianity, their options were often limited due to the small size of the Christian community or the persecution they faced at the hands of Muslims. Many chose to leave Afghanistan and seek refuge; others tragically lost their lives and their possessions.

THE COMPLEXITY OF AFGHAN SOCIAL ORDER

The main players in Afghanistan are religious and tribal leaders and traditional and conservative elites who have controlled the social order through a wide social base. This arrangement severely limits any transformation toward a modern and free society. These societies restrict freedom of speech and thought, suppress women and girls, and exert control over individual autonomy. They are full of violence, and their people are nervous and stratified. Ultimately, the principles from such societies are not grounded in love and wisdom, but rather influenced by a few individuals’ interpretation of Islamic texts.

PEACE THROUGH CHRIST ALONE!

Like people all over the world, Afghans long for peace and freedom. Amid turmoil and uncertainty, there is only one source of hope that brings true and lasting peace: the gospel of Jesus Christ. This message offers encouragement and living hope to anyone who seeks his name. The peace that Christ the Lord gives is not temporary and fleeting. It is lasting and eternal; no chaos can take it away.

Afghans experience a variety of difficulties in their everyday lives, from the effects of sinful leaders to the hardships of relocation and war to their own suffering and disobedience. But God has people there, and those who believe in Christ will live in His strength and enjoy his blessing of peace (Psalm

29:11). That’s why Afghan believers and local churches must prepare themselves for evangelism. They must actively proclaim the good news of salvation, peace, and the reign of God. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15)

Anyone who rebels against God will face judgment. Sin is like a chain that binds the Afghan nation and keeps its people from the loving presence of our Creator. But the good news is that God, in His infinite mercy, has provided a way for all people to be reconciled to Himself.

THE LOCAL CHURCH’S JOB

As followers of Christ, the church is called to actively share the good news of salvation. As ambassadors of Christ, the church is called to invite others to be reconciled to God through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18–20). Peter reminds the church that God is patient, not wanting anyone to perish but desiring all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

God has given every church gifts. It’s our job to use those gifts to glorify God and proclaim His name. In doing so, we may rescue the lives of my Afghan countrymen who are perishing. Again, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

RAMAZAN RAFEE

Ramazan was born in Afghanistan and is living in Louisville, Kentucky, with his family. He studied business and Islamic theology and now continues his studies in theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His main focus in ministry is training and equipping preachers and elders of Persian churches and sharing the gospel in Central Asia.

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