thoughts

Book Review: Life on the Vine by Philip D. Kenneson

March 4, 2011 By Daniel Im

Philip D. Kenneson’s Life on the Vine: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit stands as a powerful message to the Church, especially the North American church. In addition to preaching the word, Kenneson emphasizes the importance of the church living out the word by bearing the fruit of the Spirit. After all, there needs to be a greater harvest of the Spirit’s fruit in order to continue to advance God’s mission in the world, not because it will make God love us more or because our salvation is at stake (Chapter 1, Location 130). Every fruit of the Spirit finds its origins in the character of God. As a result, Christians become more human and are shaped more into the image of God as the fruit of the Spirit is developed in their lives. As much as cultivating the fruit of the Spirit is something that needs to be done individually in every Christian’s life, the single most important venue for this to take place in is one’s local church where one can practice living out the fruit of the Spirit in relation to God and others.

Globalization Defined

February 4, 2011 By Daniel Im

If you are wanting more of an academic definition of globalization, check out the definition given by the Stanford Enyclopedia of Philosophy.

If you are wanting more of a reachable definition, read mine below:

Globalization is about being connected to others, irrespective of one’s geographical location. Globalization is lived out when an individual goes to their supermarket, which is owned by someone from another country, and buys a mango that was imported from Thailand. That individual got to the grocery store by driving in their car, which was assembled in Mexico, while listening to music, playing off their music player designed by a company in Cupertino, California, but which was assembled in China. Since the mango was so delicious, the individual tweets and facebooks, “Thai mangoes are the best!” Afterward, a farmer from Thailand sees that tweet and responds back, “thanks!” This illustration is a glimpse into globalization.

In essence, globalization is the process by which market economies have more of a direct impact on each other, nations develop more of a reliance on one another for resources, individuals from around the world begin speaking the same language, and pollution in one country affects individuals half way around the world. Consequently, the world suddenly seems a lot smaller.

How do you see globalization on a daily basis?

The Perception of Contextualization – A Response to MissionShift

January 31, 2011 By Daniel Im

I am part of a group of bloggers, who received a free copy of MissionShift: Global Mission Issues in the Third Millennium, edited by David Hesselgrave and Ed Stetzer, in order to participate in a discussion on Ed Stetzer’s website.

I am responding to Paul Hiebert’s Essay entitled, “The Gospel in Human Contexts: Changing Perceptions of Contextualization.” Here is the summary of his thesis provided in MissionShift.

Thesis: The purpose of this essay is to offer some discussion of the state of “Contextualization” as a critical aspect of missions, and of the changing perceptions of contextualization among missionaries and missions scholars. Any analysis of the current status of the Christian mission in the world must take social, historical, personal, and other contexts into account, and examine the relationships between the different contexts in which the people we serve live. In this sense this essay addresses the PRESENT of what has traditionally been termed “missions.”

I am not monocultural – never was and never have been. I’m multicultural by birth: I am Canadian and I am also Korean – I’m Korean-Canadian. I agree with Hiebert when he suggests that individuals like me “are aware of cultural differences and have learned to negotiate between two worlds in daily living.” However, I disagree with him when he suggests that individuals like me “often do not stop to consciously examine these contexts, how they shape their thinking, or the deep differences between them.” Perhaps I’m different in that I am always constantly wrestling with my Korean and Canadian cultural differences – perhaps this is because I believe that I am a ligament in the Body of Christ.

I am a ligament, what are you?

January 31, 2011 By Daniel Im

The image of a bridge, or a ligament (Eph 4:16) seems to be a good way of describing my past and the direction I sense God is leading me. Being Korean Canadian, I was born in Canada, but grew up as a Korean – eating Korean food, going to a Korean church, speaking Korean, visiting Korea – basically breathing Korean all throughout my life. In high school, God used me to be a bridge between the English and Korean speaking youth groups – I was involved with both and knew individuals in both groups. I was also involved in a city wide joint worship team, which had the purpose of uniting or bridging all the Korean speaking youth groups. I co-created a Christian club in my high school to unify all the Christians together. I also organized and ran a city-wide youth worship service when I was pastoring in Montreal. While pastoring in Korea, I co-created a network for English speaking youth pastors, where we would put on events together, pray together, plan together, and strategize together.

As the groups pastor at Beulah Alliance Church, I was part of a team that conducted a survey, which revealed the current and proposed areas of integration amongst the differing areas of ministry. I was also leading a team that consists of several pastors, in order to bring greater unity to the group life in the church. There is now one front, instead of divided fronts.

When examining my future, I believe that there are three areas that God has ingrained on my heart: church planting, pastors, and multicultural ministry.

Egypt, Tunisia, and Wikileaks – A Vote of No Confidence

January 31, 2011 By Daniel Im

My wife and I just finished re-watching Bourne Ultimatum (the third Bourne movie) and it’s ironic to actually see the fictional movie elements play out in real life. This movie, along with many others, actually echo the realities of our day. If you take a look at CBC.ca, CNN.com, or any other news station, the stories of Tunisia and Egypt will be splattered across all the headlines:

Egypt ‘cannot go back’ -Egyptian activist Mohamed ElBaradei has joined anti-government protesters at Cairo’s Tahrir Square as they defy a military-ordered…

Egyptian government orders Al Jazeera shutdown

Protesters defy curfew in Egypt

The Tunisia effect

At the bottom of these stories is really a vote of no confidence in the government. Just consider Wikileaks and Julian Assange – probably one of the greatest catalysts to this vote of no confidence in the government.

One of the central tenets of postmodernism is a lack of confidence in authority and authority structures. As a result, in our increasingly postmodern world, all these current events aren’t really that surprising.

There’s a lot to say regarding this, but let me just make two points:

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