Jeremy LaDuke

We have had a great two days in Riga with the pastors and laity here.   I forget how many resources we have in America sometimes.  There are a dozen different stores we can go in the Knoxville area to get Bible Study resources.  In Latvia there is pretty much zilch.  There are many reasons for that.  First, the country is fairly small – 2.6 million people.  Second, of that already small number a very small percentage is actively Christian.  So there isn’t a large market for Christian resources published in Latvian.  Richard Rudesill spoke about the need for small groups in the churches as a way to teach believers and reach people who might not come into a church building.  The response from the people was excitement mixed with frustration because there are not any resources available in Latvian.  We are looking into having some resources translated from English.  We made a contact through our translator with someone who can translate relatively inexpensively.

I am hoping to meet with one of the leaders of the Morning Star church here in Riga on Wednesday.  Morning Star is a church that is about 17 years old and has been connecting with the Latvian culture more than other churches.  It is interesting that this church was founded by a missionary.  It goes to show that western Christianity in general (not only America) has failed to relate to its immediate context as missionaries.  When a missionary goes into a culture they learn the language and customs and all the details of the culture and then try to connect the life-changing message of Jesus Christ with the culture.   However when we are immersed in our own sub-culture of Christianity we have a tendency to build up walls that insulate us from the surrounding culture and thereby stunting our effectiveness.   I am excited to hear how Morning Star is connecting with the Latvian culture and I hope there can be some fruitful relationships started between them and the Methodist church here.

One of the struggles that was expressed is that many of the committed members of the churches here are burned-out.  They work and work and are weary of trying new things.   It reminds me of situations we find in the American church where a church will try new things and they come up ineffective and it drains the morale of the people.   The problem with these secnarios is not so much that they are ineffective but more of the reasons why they are ineffective.  Some churches try new things that are just plain dumb, and won’t work because the leadership wants to do something new without taking a big risk.  It reminds me of Morgan when she was younger.  She would hesitate to do anything scary at all.  I was nervous that she would actually do something because she wouldn’t do it all the way.  Like jumping off the couch or sliding down a big slide.  If she tried to do something scary her hesitation would many times cause injury and consequently make her scared to try something daring in the future.  There is a point when you are either in or out. If you try to jump but hold back you are gonna get hurt… sometimes bad.  Can you imagine if Evel Knievel did not push his throttle all the way before jumping a canyon?  Can you imagine if a sky diver tried to hold on to the plane after jumping?  But that is exactly what churches do when they try an outreach event but don’t push it as far as it can go.  They end up failing, not because it was too daring, but because it wasn’t daring enough… and consequently they hesitate even more to try something new in the future.  So the outreach events become increasingly irrelevant and ineffective and the people putting their blood, sweat, and tears into them get frustrated and burned out.

As you grow older it seems you have less opportunity to do daring things.  However last summer I was posed with the challenge of jumping off a cliff above a lake holding only a rope that was attached to what looked to be a half-rotten tree limb.  There was that moment when I was standing at the edge… my heart was beating fast, my palms were sweaty, it was go time.  Do you know that feeling when you just let go and jump not really sure what is gonna come next?  The wind is in your hair, you’re screaming, and then you have to make another major decision… you have to let go of the rope!  When you are on the cliff the water looks a lot closer than it does when you are up in the air hanging by a rope.  But within seconds you are immersed in the water before breaking through the surface and half-screaming in victory and half catching your breath.  Maybe that is something like what Jesus meant about the spirit… you don’t know where it is coming from or going… its an adventure.  It is my prayer that not only the Latvian churches but churches everywhere will take a deep breath, close their eyes, and jump into the unknown adventure that God has set before them.  Sometimes it is the risk of your life that makes you realize you are alive.