Technology Isolates You From The World Around You

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One thing that I have noticed lately is that technology can really isolate you from the world around you…

Now I’m not talking about isolating you from the world, rather I’m talking about it isolating you from the IMMEDIATE world and people around you.

Next time you are waiting in line at the grocery store, doctor’s office or bank have a look at the other people in line with you. Chances are pretty good that you will see them listening to their mp3 player, talking on their phone or texting. They are probably not actually very aware of what’s happening around them with the people only a few metres away.

Not so long ago if you were waiting in line at the bank, grocery store or doctor’s office you might actually strike up a conversation with a person near you. This was a prime opportunity to meet new people, make new friends, find out what’s happening in the community and possibly engage in evangelism.

I know that personally I need to make sure that I don’t burry my head into Facebook, e-mail or Twitter when I am with the family. With many in the corporate world the BlackBerry can be a constant curse (it’s called a “CrackBerry” because it’s addictive nature). My parent’s were just on a holiday and I think that one of the highlights for them was that there was no mobile / cellular service for my Dad’s BlackBerry. He was actually forced to put the thing down and relax, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

Near the end of summer in August I’m thinking about going on a social media fast. I’ll leave the computer off, shut off any e-mail alerts and not check any social media sites(Twitter, Facebook, etc.). To be honest I don’t expect to miss much. I figure that if anything it should help me to connect better with the people and world immediately around me and if there is anything really important, I’m sure I’ll find out about it in other ways …

What is Your Missionary Retirement Plan?

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I don’t know about you, but retirement is one area I have rarely heard talked about in missionary or YWAM circles. I have not heard or seen a Youth With A Mission pension plan, and as far as I know there is no teaching going around YWAM about the issue.

There are three ways to look at your time in Christian missions, and they will determine how you look at your retirement from missions.

  1. You are in Missions short term 
  2. Being a “Career” Missionary
  3. You are a life time missionary

Short Term Missionary

Most people who join missions in Youth With A Mission fall into the first category and do so for a short amount of time. By short amount of time I’m talking about under 10-years. 10-years may seem like a long time, but when the average person joins YWAM in thier late teens or early 20s there is still plenty of time to save and plan for retirement after their time in missions is complete.

Normally we don’t separate the last two, “career” vs “life time” missionary, but when we are talking about retirement then the two need to be separated.

Career Missionary

The career missionary treats their time in missions like any other career when it come to planning for retirement. The retired missionary may receive some pension or other payments from the government’s of their “home” country, but it is hard to rely on that to provide enough income to live from.  They will need to be saving money and have their own retirement savings plan (read more here). In the case of missionaries like YWAMers who are responsible for raising their own support and sponsorship they will need to be raising money over and above their every day living expenses to save for retirement.

Most missionaries returning to their “home” country will also not have a house or residence to return to. They will need to look at where they will live and how they will pay for where they live. This could mean when they return purchasing a house, building a house, renting or leasing a house or entering a retirement community. Some missions agencies or churches have communities for retired missionaries or ministers that could be an option, but many including YWAM do not. (There’s an idea for a ministry in YWAM as we are celebrating our 50-year anniversary as a mission and many of our founders and members are aging …)

Life Time Missionary

The “Life Time Missionary” differs from the “career” missionary  in that they have no plan to retire, but rather they plan to continue in missions until they die. This is the model that the disciples and apostles followed.

As the lifer approaches retirement they have a few options to consider:

  1. Remain the the country they have worked in
    1. Stay in the same role
    2. Start a new role
  2. Move to a new country and begin a new role
  3. Move back to the country they were sent from to start in a new role

Any one of these options requires the missionary to continue with their support raising efforts. All but one of them could also mean more training. Some of the new roles that are often undertaken by missionaries who want to continue in ministry but change roles are:

  1. Teacher
  2. Preacher
  3. Pastor
  4. Administration
  5. Promotions / Support Raising
  6. Mission Building
  7. Writing
  8. etc.

The possibilities really are endless for how the missionary chooses to spend their “retirement” years.

The Wasted Retirement Years

Here’s a short video (3:00) by John Piper about what he sees as the “waste” of spending our retirement years just “taking it easy”.

I’m still a good 30+ years away from reaching that retirement age, but the question is there, how will I choose spend my retirement years …

How We Survive Without Cable

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Watch Free TV Online in Canada on the Internet

Cable television here in Calgary costs from $36.00 – $121.00 + tax per month. One way that we cut costs on our monthly budget is by not having cable. We never had it in Australia, and so far we are surviving pretty well not having it here.

What I think a lot of people who do pay for cable don’t realize is that a lot of the programming that you can get through cable is freely available on-line if you have a high speed Internet connection. I’m not talking about stealing content through illegal video downloads or watching it on YouTube. I’m not even talking about purchasing videos through iTunes or a service like Netflix. I’m talking about watching TV Shows for free on-line.

Below is a list of 18 stations that make a portion of their shows available for free viewing on-line:

Free On-Line Canadian Television (TV) Stations

Considering all the options available, plus free movies from the library, and new release DVD rentals for only $1.88 I don’t really see any need for us to have cable in our house. It’s actually a pretty easy way for us to save $36 – $121 per month.

YWAM News Podcast Launched

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Bill Pretending to Podcast for this PhotoLast month we launched a new YWAM News Podcast over at ywampodcast.com.

The idea behind the podcast is to cover some of the news that is happening in Youth With a Mission around the world. So far we have put together four different episodes, releasing them on Monday night (which usually turns into early Tuesday morning). The last podcasts have been about 15 to 20 minutes long.

The types of topics that we plan to cover on the new podcast are:

  • Outreach News
  • Training Opportunities
  • Information about YWAM Conferences
  • Prayer Requests from various ministries
  • Opportunities to partner / donate to various YWAM ministries

This YWAM News Podcast is the first of a few that we want to launch this year. Some of the other concepts that we are looking at are:

  • Teaching / Devotional Podcast
  • YWAM Roundtable / Talk Show
  • Messages from YWAM Leaders
  • Staff and Student Testimonies and Interviews
  • YWAM IT / Communications Podcast

We’re still in the conceptual stage for those other podcasts, but hope to get a few of them up and running later in the year.

One of the things that will limit what we are able to do is my laptop. The laptop that I currently own and use is 4.5 years old. The computer is too slow to record interviews or more than one host. It is also having hardware problems, shutting down at random times and some of the keys and buttons have stopped working. We are needing to raise the money for a new laptop, and are looking at one with enough power for audio and video podcasting, as well as developing more content and web-sites for our work with the YWAM International Chairman’s Team.

You can donate directly using the ChipIn widget on my site, or you can also check out the donate page on our families web-site to find out other ways to give.

Update: If you are wanting to listen some of the YWAM Foundational Teaching you can find them at ywampodcast.org. They have collected almost 350 teachings from around YWAM and we hope that these new podcasts will help complement the work that they have already done.

Read “A Retrospect” by J. Hudson Taylor for Free

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Hudson Taylor the Father of Modern MissionsHudson Taylor is often referred to as the father of modern missions. He was a missionary to China for 51 years, and founded the China Inland Mission (CIM) in 1865, which is now the modern day OMF International.

CIM brought over 800 missionaries into China, began 125 schools, established more than 300 mission stations in China and involved more than 500 locals in the work. His work in China was directly responsible for around 18,000 Christian conversions in China.

Unlike many missionaries of the time Hudson Taylor was very sensitive to the Chinese culture, while remaining zealous in his desire to bring the message of Christ to the people. He adapted wearing Chinese clothing to better affirm and relate to the people he was ministering and evangelising to.

CIM was non-denominational and accepted members from all Protestant groups. The only requirement for the recruits was that there was soundness in their faith in what they called the “fundamental truths”.

China Inland Mission was very unique in that it accepted individuals from many different vocations, which very much challenged the normal practice at the time. CIM accepted people from the working class, single women and many multinationals into the mission, which was almost unheard of at the time.

Reading about China Inland Mission reminds me a lot of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), the Christian missions group that I have been working in for the last 12 years. Hudson Taylor’s work with CIM has been talked about and featured a lot in Youth With A Mission (YWAM), but until now I have not taken the opportunity to read more about the man, or his work with CIM.

Like CIM Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is a multi-national and multi-denominational organisation that includes missionaries from nearly every country in the world. YWAM accepts people from every vocation and educational background, as long as their faith is built on the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Also like CIM the missionaries working with YWAM are called to live by faith, relying on God and His provision through His people to do the work that they are called to.

As a father of modern missions there is a lot to learn from reading what was written by Hudson Taylor.

I hope that you enjoy his book, “A Retrospect”.

You can download the book A RETROSPECT by J. Hudson Taylor here.