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Greetings from Orange County!
Here is a brief overview of my ministry activity this past month as well as a few points of reflection that have been significant specifically resulting from these various engagements!
This month, Nick and I had a wide engagement with people holding diverse religious beliefs - whether Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, Muslim, RCW, or cognitive Christianity. These are all fascinating demographics to engage with; however, this month was especially filled for me with engagements with Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are many things that I could say about my interactions with each of these groups, but there is one primary theme I’ve noticed that transcends the variations between their doctrinal beliefs: a lack of objective epistemological methodology for distinguishing true from false. Whether it be Joseph Smith, Muhammed, the Watchtower organization, or another leader claiming to speak on God’s behalf, we must have a grounded methodology for determining the validity of their claims. Luckily, there are such methodologies provided in the biblical text (Deut. 13:1-3, 18:21-22; Mt. 7:15-20) which each of these listed groups claim to be in submission to as their authority. However, I’ve discovered an extremely resistant disposition regarding the Bible among these demographics when scripture seems to challenge the authority figure they uphold as God’s messenger. This is a terribly hard wall to advance past as their heart is not open to acknowledging the reality of who they actually submit to - Joseph Smith, Muhammed, etc. We, as students of the Truth, must remain students - lest our prejudice lead us into the darkness of lies and deception. Are we open to having our lives (character, thoughts, and actions) confronted and challenged by the word of God and His Spirit?
Nick and I have continued meeting with a number of students from CSUF and other people we meet with for Bible-dialogues, DMCs, prayer, and general support in discipleship to Christ. Among these people, we plan to continue discipleship and training throughout the summer in hopes that these students and other new disciples of Jesus might be better equipped to imitate Jesus in their evangelistic engagement with those around them and to become increasingly more conformed to the image of Christ themselves! Please pray for these students and new believers as many of them have just recently received the seed of God’s word and the soil of their heart will be put to the test by the inevitable trials and temptations of life! Pray that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit and compelled by the love of Christ!
This was a unique month as I participated in two retreats: an NCP retreat in Lake Arrowhead, California and an EFM Future-Missionary retreat in Woodland Park, Colorado. My time with the NCP team on this retreat was a great time of community and communion with God in an environment that varied from the usual ministry and life setting - providing a great opportunity to step aside from the regular rhythms and focus specifically on abiding. The EFM retreat, among other things, provided me with clarity and excitement for the call that we, as disciples of Christ, have to engage the world and make disciples of Christ wherever we are locationally. Obviously the retreat was primarily focused on cross-cultural ministry, but the call is the same whether in your hometown or in Chinatown! If you are a disciple of Christ, then you will necessarily follow Him into disciple-making (Luk. 6:40; 1 Jn. 2:3; Mat. 28:19) - there is no such thing as a merely cognitive Christian.
Nick and I look forward to this summer’s schedule of training churches and various disciples of Jesus in the tools and approaches that we have used and found helpful when engaging others with the Gospel! The greatest commands are to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself (Mat. 22:37-39). It seems impossible to love your neighbor and yet refuse to share with them the Gospel of God’s Kingdom which offers the greatest reconciliation imaginable. Furthermore, if we are unable to love our brother who is seen, how will we be able to love God who is unseen (1 Jn. 4:20)? This is a wonderful ministry that God has welcomed His people into - reconciling the world to Himself (2 Cor. 5:18-20), and God has given the Body the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and the teachers to equip His people for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:11-13). We are Christ’s ambassadors, the light of the world (Mt. 5:14), as though God were making an appeal through us (2 Cor. 5:20), so let us receive the power of the Holy Spirit that we might be God’s witnesses (Acts 1:8) to the land living in darkness (Isa. 9:2)!
With love and peace,
Ivan Penrose
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