Sabbatical Reflections: Sehnsucht (Part 1 of 2)

It was Saint Augustine of Hippo who prayed: “O Lord, thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until we rest in Thee.” [1]

How often has this been the cry of my heart! That prayer has been foundationally answered in my life by the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ. However, there are moments in time when the same cry continues to pour forth from my soul. I suppose that cry is common to most of us, simply because we are made in the image of God. If your soul has cried out in this way, this reflection may be an encouragement to you.

In my reading of Marva Dawn’s The Sense of the Call, I was introduced to a new term – Sehnsucht. While the word was new to me, the concept was not. It is the heart cry found in Augustine’s prayer.

Dawn describes Sehnsucht as: “… that insatiable longing and urgent desire that can be satisfied by nothing earthly. Sehnsucht is one consequence of our having been made in the image of God, and we can’t escape it.”

Wikipedia identifies Sehnsucht as a German word that literally means “longing.” In a wider sense it means “intensely missing.”  Wikipedia continues: “It is this close relationship (encapsulated in one word) between ardent longing or yearning (das Sehnen) and addiction (die Sucht ) that lurks behind each longing, waiting to turn the feeling into a destructive, self-defeating force.”

C.S. Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963),  a scholar of medieval literature, literary critic, lay theologian, and one of the 20th century’s most renowned Christian apologists has probably shaped my thinking more than anyone else, save my mentor Francis Schaeffer. Both Dawn and Wikipedia credit Lewis with drawing the world’s attention to Sehnsucht.

Dawn writes: “Lewis brilliantly suggests that many people, believers and nonbelievers alike, after struggle with this Sehnsucht, this intense longing that nothing in the world satisfies or successfully represses, will come to acknowledge that we were made for another world – namely, the presence of God. Only the Triune One is large enough to fill the grand capacity of our spiritual yearnings.” [emphasis mine]

Because we were born out of transcendence and our destiny is eternity, we have this longing for something beyond our material existence. So while the natural world is real (unlike Hindu thinking) and it is good (unlike some Christian thinking), though fallen, it is not all that there is. We dwell in the presence of God and the angels.  We were made for a place of larger purpose in time and eternity. Wikipedia’s description continues:

“It is sometimes felt as a longing for a far off country, but not a particular earthly land which we can identify. Furthermore there is something in the experience which suggests this far off country is very familiar and indicative of what we might otherwise call “home”. In this sense it is a type of nostalgia, in the original sense of that word. At other times it may seem as a longing for a someone or even a something. But the majority of people who experience it are not conscious of what or who the longed for object may be. Indeed, the longing is of such profundity and intensity that the subject may immediately be only aware of the emotion itself and not cognizant that there is a something longed for.”

Lewis continues his musings in The Problem of Pain:

“You have stood before some landscape, which seems to embody what you have been looking for all your life; and then turned to the friend at your side who appears to be seeing what you saw—but at the first words a gulf yawns between you, and you realize that this landscape means something totally different to him, that he is pursuing an alien vision and cares nothing for the ineffable suggestion by which you are transported . . . All the things that have deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it—tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest—if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself—you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say “Here at last is the thing I was made for.” We cannot tell each other about it. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want . . . which we shall still desire on our deathbeds . . . Your place in heaven will seem to be made for you and you alone, because you were made for it—made for it stitch by stitch as a glove is made for a hand.”

In the midst of this inner longing for the place of purpose and belonging that each human being seeks, the Creator has revealed himself to all human beings through his creation. In his creation he provides for all who will look a glimpse of what they are longing for. Like the artist who paints a portfolio of art reveals himself or herself through the process of creativity, so has God revealed himself in his creation.

-Darrow L. Miller

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[1] Quoted from Marva Dawn pg 101

What Did Jesus Say?

How does it apply to me? Surely it applies to me differently than his original audience.  Or does it?

I am always deeply impressed when I read an article about or meet a person who takes the words of Christ literally. So often in our attempts to live wisely and protect ourselves, we inhibit the Gospel and weaken the strength of a life radically lived in light of God’s call and biblical truth.

Should we have more or less faith in our adult lives than we had as children? I should hope we have more – but do we still have that childlike faith? That faith that believes and obeys God for anything? That faith that takes his Word literally?

This individual joins the ranks with other saints who could look just like us.  Read the story of how a man offers his coat to a boy who stole his wallet, and how the boy responds in “A Victim Treats His Mugger Right.”

-Tim C. Williams

June Newsletter, LifeWork Pre-Order, and Articles of Interest

The DNA’s June Newsletter has been published announcing new papers, news items, events, and the pre-sale of Darrow’s much anticipated LifeWork: A Biblical Theology for What You Do Every Day. The lowest price we will ever offer of $10.99 is available for this pre-order through the end of July.

Here are articles of interest we have found around the web:

“Religion and Our Civic Behavior” discusses the dramatic reduction of community and religious affiliation in the 60s. The reaction of the religious right has only further distanced today’s youth. In order to recapture the morality of our nation, we must cast a compelling vision of abundant life in Christ.

“It’s Not the Dark Continent” reminds us once again that aid is disabling Africa which is so rich in natural and human resources.

Bob Evans, like many of us, was deeply impressed by Darrow’s series on “Music that Writes Culture.”  Over many months, Bob wrote down his reflections and has shared his expanded thoughts on these issues with us in “Music that Writes Culture, Coda.” E-mail Bob with your feedback!

The Rise, Reduction, and Recovery of Kingdom Mission (Part 2 of 2)

Winter reminds us that “the First Era” of Protestant missions (from 1800 to 1910) was “Kingdom Mission” focused, as the wonderful first chapter of The Legacy of William Carey by Ruth and Vishal Mangalwadi so powerfully illustrates. The “Second Era” (from 1865 to 1980) “introduced a distinct polarization between those concerned about personal salvation and those eager to see “the Kingdom come on earth.”

Winter’s insights on the causes of this shift are one of the more fascinating aspects of the paper. In the First Era, evangelicals were prominent amongst the cultural elite. For example, the founders of Yale, Harvard, and other Ivy League universities were Christians with a distinctly Kingdom Mission commitment. The Second Era, however, was characterized by a waning number of Evangelicals among the ranks of the cultural elite, replaced by those with a decidedly secular worldview. According to Winter,

“The limited influence of Evangelicals in the professions, universities and civil governments in the United States tended to prevent these Evangelicals from spawning expansive ideas about changing the world. Alternatively, they developed detailed concepts of Biblical prophecy, the “end times,” the return of Christ and the Millennium, and tended to de-emphasize, almost to the point of total exclusion, ideas of social reform in the here and now. Among them even the word Kingdom was for years suspect as evidence of “liberal” thinking.”

John Nelson Darby’s highly influential “dispensational theology” involved a “secret rapture” that removed believers from a hopeless world, a perspective championed by Hal Lindsay (among others) and his Late, Great Planet Earth.

Winter links this growing evangelical pessimism with a larger mood of pessimism that was growing in the West during this same period —essentially a sanctified version of secular pessimism. The Enlightenment project of the late 18^thcentury had great hopes for the ultimate perfectibility of human society through reason, technology, and science, but this hope was dashed during the course of the 20^th century, victim of a string of tragic events starting with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, and continuing through the First and Second World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Cold War. This loss of hope gave rise to nihilism, existentialism, and today’s postmodernism.  This same pessimism and loss of hope in reforming society began to characterize evangelical missions during the Second Era. Saving people out of the world (likened by D.L. Moody to a “sinking ship”) became the priority.

Today, we are, according to Winter, in the “Third Era” (1935 to present) which is marked by a halting, unsteady, yet definite recovery of Kingdom Mission. He cites three early leaders of this recovery. The first is Carl F.H. Henry, who in 1947 came out with his historic The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism and later founded Christianity Today magazine. The Second is Professor Timothy Smith who in 1957, produced his pivotal Revivalism and Social Reform; and finally, Professor David O. Moberg, who produced a book titled The Great Reversal in 1967, which detailed the decline of Kingdom Mission.

In this Third Era, Winter sees “a better understanding of the earlier, somewhat artificial and damaging polarization between Church Mission and Kingdom Mission.” He then urges that we not be “defeated by pendulum swings between the two poles.” This better understanding sees

“The 40-hour week of lay people (beyond evangelism on the job) as a sacred calling. Could not lay people deliberately choose a different career based not on its salary level but on its strategic contribution to the will of God on earth? Many urgent problems and evils still cry out for solution, but are often totally outside the theological box of those who are content with Church Mission.  But when every believer is expected to be consciously and deliberately “in mission,” does that then mean nothing is mission? No, it just means that there are different types of mission. There will always be the fearsomely difficult cross-cultural pioneer missions. But those of us who have been championing that as the highest priority have not power to restrict the world mission to that urgent type of mission.”

The last two sentences are a fascinating confession from one of the great leaders of missions in the late 20^th century.

The recovery of Kingdom Mission has profoundly influenced the DNA, as is evident in our Core Beliefs, and also accounts for the surprising interest in our teaching and messages worldwide.  For us, the rejection of pessimism and the recovery of hope – hope for “substantial healing in all areas that were affected by the Fall” (in the famous words of Francis Schaeffer, himself a key figure in the recovery of Kingdom Mission) – is a source of incredible excitement and energy.

-Scott D. Allen

The Rise, Reduction, and Recovery of Kingdom Mission (Part 1 of 2)

During my senior year of college I sensed God’s call to work with the poor. I attended the Urbana missions conference that year (1987), and while there applied (and was later accepted) to serve overseas with Food for the Hungry. Sometime during the spring of 1988, I met with the missions committee of the evangelical church in Salem, Oregon I was attending to ask for support.

This church was heavily involved in foreign missions, with many missionaries on the register and a significant portion of their income directed towards overseas evangelism. They listened to my presentation politely but their basic response was “Scott, serving the poor, or otherwise trying to reform society, is not nearly as important as saving souls for eternity.”

Since then, there has been a sea-change in attitudes among evangelicals on this point. Today, such a sharp dichotomy between evangelism and social/cultural reform is increasingly hard to find among mainstream evangelicals. What caused the change? This is the topic of Ralph Winter’s excellent paper The Rise, Reduction and Recovery of Kingdom Mission, 1800-2000. Winter, who died last month, was professor of History at William Carey International University and founder of the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena.  This is one of the last papers he wrote, and in my opinion, one of his most important.

He begins with a helpful distinction between “Church Mission” and “Kingdom Mission.” Church mission is “winning people into the Church wherever in the world, and thus extending the membership of the [global] church.” Kingdom Mission focuses on God’s will being done, “on earth outside the Church.” Here’s the point: “Church Mission is basic and essential but must not become merely a goal in itself. It must be seen also as a means of relentlessly pressing for God’s will to be done on earth, thus to declare His glory among all peoples.”

To this, I say, “Amen!”

In my 25 years of mission-related work, I have encountered much confusion on this point. On one side are evangelists and church-planting organizations (DAWN Ministries comes to mind), that essentially operate as if “Church Mission” is a goal in itself. As the saying goes, “What gets counted gets done,” and numbers of converts and churches planted is definitely what gets counted in such circles. On the other side, Christian relief and development organizations work towards social reform, but more often than not, in ways that are fundamentally disconnected from Church Mission. The Disciple Nations Alliance was born, in part, because Food for the Hungry was led to repent over its neglect of local churches in the communities it was serving. Winter’s helpful reminder that Kingdom Mission should be our ultimate focus, with Church Mission as the essential means, reunites both in a way that is exactly right.

-Scott D. Allen

Sabbatical Reflections: The Pursuit of Happiness (Part 3 of 3)

There is a recurring theme in the Scriptures: “Blessed (happy) is the nation whose God is the Lord.”  Both corporate and individual happiness has little to do with “hap” and everything to do with recognizing God as the center of personal and national life.  This is what the Founding Fathers of the United States understood and wrote into the charter of our nation.

In the Declaration of Independence we find these words:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (emphasis mine).

The pursuit of happiness is a God-given right for all human beings.  This phrase in the Declaration of  Independence was taken from the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason within a month of Thomas Jefferson’s penning the Declaration of Independence. Mason’s statement read:

“That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”

Is this phrase, “the pursuit of happiness,” grounded in a French Enlightenment metaphysic where man is the center of the universe and everything revolves around him?  Modern atheists would so argue.  But there is another explanation that is not so self-centered.

One of the main influences on the Founding Fathers of the United States was the English Lawyer and legal scholar Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780).  His Commentaries on the Laws of England, published from 1765-1769, was, at the time, the defining work on the concept of common law. The Founders of the USA were immersed in Blackstone.  He wrote:

“For he [the Creator] has so intimately connected, so inseparably woven the laws of eternal justice with the happiness of each individual, the latter cannot be obtained but by observing the former; and, if the former be punctually obeyed, it cannot but induce the latter” (Siris: Blackstone on Pursuit of Happiness June 11, 2008, emphasis mine).

The concept of the pursuit of happiness does not come from an atheistic, man-centered metaphysic, but a biblical, Theistic, God-centered metaphysic.  God is the order of the universe.  There is objective truth, goodness (justice), and beauty.  This reality creates the possibility for honesty, integrity, the dignity of each individual, justice in laws, institutions, and structures of societies.

God’s laws are eternal.  They are written into the universe as well as into the Word.  It was God who connected a person’s happiness with conformity to his eternal order.

Upon his death and resurrection, Christ instituted the advancement of his Kingdom.  In Matthew 28:18-20, he announced his coronation as King and gives the marching orders for his people.  He says “teaching them [nations] to obey all that I have commanded.”

Herein is true happiness.  Faithfulness to Christ and all that he commands is the source of all joy and happiness in the true sense of the word.

As we may find ourselves in bad hap, difficult circumstances, we need not be unhappy. We can be faithful to God and his ordinances in the midst of any and all circumstances!

Overall, happiness is not primarily a good feeling; it is the satisfaction of a life well lived.  It is not trusting in oneself and one’s own cleverness; it is trusting in the living God.  It is not having good hap or good circumstances; it is living in faith and obedience to God no matter what the circumstances.  It is not just focused on an individual, but seeks to bring the institutions, structures, and laws of a nation in line with God’s nature and the creation order of the universe.  This is the pursuit of happiness!

-Darrow L. Miller

Sabbatical Reflections: The Pursuit of Happiness (Part 2 of 3)

What does the Bible have to say about happiness? How does it use the word happy?  How does the creator of the universe describe the conditions for happiness?

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word asar means happiness or well being.  It is used to describe the “prudent man.”  “Blessed (happy) are all those who put their trust in [God]” (Ps. 2:12; 40:8; 84:12; Is. 30:18).  And happy are those who obey God’s laws and holy ordinances (Ps. 1:1; 41:1-3; 119:1-8).  In the OT, happiness has little to do with good hap, good luck, or good circumstances; it has everything to do with one’s “well-being” in relationship with God and being in harmony with the created order by obedience to God’s laws and ordinances.

When the OT Hebrew word asar is translated into the Greek, the word becomes makarios.  Makarios in the New Testament means “blessed,” “happy,” or “fortunate.”  The word is found 50 times in the NT with over half found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke.

Outside of the New Testament, the word makarios was used by the Greeks to “describe the condition of the gods and those who share their happy existence” (Dictionary of New Testament Theology; Vol. 1, p. 215).  This speaks of condition or circumstance which is meant to guarantee happiness, and is similar to the concept in our modern hedonistic societies. We want our circumstance to be good–we want a big house, beautiful clothes, the perfect job, and a snazzy car.  As we achieve affluence and personal peace, either by effort or by hap, we are happy. If not, we are unhappy.

The most familiar place where we find the word makarios in the New Testament is in the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus talks about the nature of happiness.  He says in Matthew 5:3-11 (in Young’s Literal Translation):

3     ‘Happy the poor in spirit—because theirs is the reign of the heavens.
4     ‘Happy the mourning—because they shall be comforted.
5     ‘Happy the meek—because they shall inherit the land.
6     ‘Happy those hungering and thirsting for righteousness—because they shall be filled.
7     ‘Happy the kind—because they shall find kindness.
8     ‘Happy the clean in heart—because they shall see God.
9     ‘Happy the peacemakers—because they shall be called Sons of God.
10     ‘Happy those persecuted for righteousness’ sake—because theirs is the reign of the heavens.
11     ‘Happy are ye whenever they may reproach you, and may persecute, and may say any evil thing against you falsely for my sake—12rejoice ye and be glad, because your reward is great in the heavens, for thus did they persecute the prophets who were before you.

In all these verses the word happy is the Greek word makarios.  But it is obviously not “good hap” makarios.   In fact, Jesus refers to “bad hap,” or those in bad circumstances, in some of these examples.  He also speaks of a happiness which belongs to those who exhibit Godly virtues.

First, those in bad hap:
-Those who mourn (vs. 4)–they have lost a friend or loved one, their job, a crop, their home, or they are watching their community or country disintegrate before their very eyes.
-Those who are persecuted for righteousness (vs. 10-12)–because they have followed Christ into the public square and marketplace, being called a fool, a radical, a troublemaker by society and those in power.

Why are these saints happy in the midst of their bad hap? Because of God’s promises:  mourners will be comforted and the persecuted will be manifesting and receiving the kingdom of God!

Second, those who exhibit Godly virtues:
-Those who are poor in spirit—they know they are sinners (vs. 3)
-Those who are meek–they are humble (vs. 5)
-Those who seek righteousness (vs.6)
-Those who are kind (vs.7)
-Those who are clean in heart (vs. 8 )
-Those who are peacemakers (vs. 9)

Why are these virtuous ones happy? Because in the midst of everyday life they are manifesting the virtues of the Kingdom of God and experiencing its fullness!

Christ then goes on to explain what these happy ones are to the watching world:

13  ‘Ye are the salt of the land, but if the salt may lose savor, in what shall it be salted? For nothing is it good henceforth, except to be cast without, and to be trodden down by men.
14     ‘Ye are the light of the world, a city set upon a mount is not able to be hid; 15nor do they light a lamp, and put it under the measure, but on the lamp-stand, and it shineth to all those in the house; 16so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father who is in the heavens (Young’s Literal Translation).

As Christians show the kingdom of God in the midst of difficult times or their difficult circumstance–their bad hap–they are providing the earth with the salt it needs for savor and preservation.  They are allowing the world to see an upstream culture of truth, beauty and goodness that will eventually begin to transform the downstream institutions, structures, and civil laws of societies.

-Darrow L. Miller

Sabbatical Reflections: The Pursuit of Happiness (Part 1 of 3)

As part of my sabbatical reflection, I am reading Marva J. Dawn’s book The Sense of the Call: A Sabbath Way of Life.

An early quote in the book captured my attention. Dawn wrote:  “We can easily give into our culture’s craving for happiness and miss the true joy of genuine faithfulness” (3).  It seems to me that true happiness is in fact the joy of genuine faithfulness.

Wiktionary defines happiness as 1)  joy, the emotions of being happy, 2) good luck, good fortune, prosperity, and 3)  an agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening.

The word “happy” is derived from the Middle English word “hap” meaning “chance,” “good fortune,” “luck.” So, basically, to be happy is to have good hap.

Surely, in the modern materialistic West, happiness is the pursuit of good hap.  It has the sense of chasing pleasure and good fortune.  It seems to involve the self-absorption of a narcissistic culture. “It’s always about me.”  Happiness can be summed up in the Hedonist’s manifesto:  Eat, drink, and be merry,  for tomorrow we die!

In reality, the pursuit of happiness when defined as good circumstances, good luck, and good feeling,  can actually lead to much unhappiness.  People use alcohol, drugs, limitless sex, and sometimes work to satiate a life that is lonely and unhappy.  People who have “everything” are often unhappy when they have it and are devastated when they lose it.

Because we live in a world dominated by an atheistic and materialistic culture we must be careful to stand away from the modern atheistic paradigm of happiness and continually press into the historic Biblical paradigm.

-Darrow L. Miller

Take the High Road

I can remember times when I was confronted by injustice, my father would challenge me by saying, “Take the high road.” I knew what he was saying. Interestingly, I think that is exactly what Jesus was saying when he spoke about a narrow road that leads to life, but wide is the road that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). Ironically, I have never heard anyone interpret those verses that way to me. Instead, I have been told most of my life that Jesus is basically saying, “Christians (the few) get into heaven and the rest are on their way to hell.” It has always been a narrow trickle making their way into heaven and a super highway hellbent for destruction. But read the context for these verses. This is the concluding statement of Jesus’ speech known as “The Sermon on the Mount”.

The entire message is about taking the high road. You will be blessed when you are low, when you mourn, when you’re meek, when you’re merciful, when you’re pure, when you bring peace, and even when you are persecuted for doing what is right.

Shine. You are the light of the world. Flavour. You are the salt of the earth. Don’t hate, lust, divorce, swear, or take revenge. Rather, love your enemy. Be generous with them.  Notice and care for the needy.

Consider your soul: pray and fast in private. Allow the ways of God to be your treasure. Be generous rather than greedy. It allows you to shine more effectively. Pursue this, seek it out. Ask questions and make requests. (Google “Hebrew Idioms” to learn more about “when your eyes are good/when your eyes are bad” – an idiom distinguishing between generosity and stinginess.)

Few do this, but if you do these things will bring life to your soul. You will have confidence and courage.  Your decisions will be sound. People will notice a depth and maturity in you, because most people consider themselves first. Take the high road, the narrow road, the path that few have explored. It leads to an oasis that most have heard about, but few believe actually exists.

Jesus then states, “Many will call me Lord . . . and I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you’”(7:21-23).

His description of the narrow and wide roads leading consecutively to life or destruction have often been summarized as those who are Christians and those who are not. In one sense that may be true, but that is not the message of those two verses. The message is about intent, the heart, the passion that drives us. One side puts themselves in the other’s place and asks, “What would I appreciate happening to me in this context?” (7:12) The other position considers themselves and their needs before they will consider another’s.

It isn’t hard to tell which camp a person lives in. Their lives will eventually bear witness to the motives of their heart (7:16-20). It also isn’t too late to do something about it. Your life can have a stable foundation. Build it in the place you discover as you walk that narrow path.

-David Collins

David is the leader of Paradigm Ministries, a partner organization of the DNA.  Subscribe to David’s regular Worldview articles at his site.

Ralph Winter, the Church, and Global Missions

 

On May 20, Dr. Ralph Winter, veteran missionary to Guatemala and missions activist extraordinaire, went to be with the Lord.

Among his many achievements, Dr. Winter, along with his wife Roberta, founded the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena, and helped found the popular missions training program, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, or “Perspectives” as it is now simply known. I attended Perspectives in 1991 at Bethany Bible Church in Phoenix, Arizona, and it revolutionized my understanding of the Bible and my calling. For the first time, I was able to grasp God’s “big agenda” of healing, blessing, and transforming of all nations. A plan that was inaugurated immediately after the Fall of man, and which will continue until Christ returns at the end of the age. A plan that seamlessly links together the Old Testament with the New and reveals redemptive mission as the very theme of the entire Bible.

These same ideas have helped to shape our DNA school of thought. Much of my learning on this topic made its way into God’s Remarkable Plan for the Nations, one of the Kingdom Lifestyle Bible Study series.

In 1997, Ralph wrote what I considered to be the most important article that I had read of his up to that point. In The Future of Evangelicals in Missions: Will We Regain the Vision of our Forefathers in the Faith, Winter provided an insightful overview of 300 years of missions history, arguing that the Evangelical Church today is in the process of recovering the same comprehensive, transformational Kingdom theology that animated the British and U.S. churches during the Wesleyan revival in England and the Great Awakening in the U.S.  I deeply resonated with this article and agree with Dr. Winter that God is at work in this way. I see evidence of this in the surprising hunger and excitement that our DNA teaching has engendered in churches worldwide. Indeed, our mission is very much wrapped up in helping the church recover this vision of Kingdom transformation.

In January, I had the honor of briefly meeting with Dr. Winter and Roberta at a gathering convened by Chuck Colson near Washington D.C. I thanked him for this paper and for all that he has done for the cause of Christ and missions. He was gracious, gentle, and humble. I thank God for his life and legacy which shaped my life personally as well as our ministry. A memorial service for Dr. Winter will be held on Sunday, June 28 at 3:00 pm in the main sanctuary of Lake Avenue Church, Pasadena, CA. The family requests no flowers. Memorial gifts can be made out to the Roberta Winter Institute. 

-Scott Allen