Welcome back to session 2! We have been praying for you and believe God has a plan and a purpose for you right now, and for the rest of your lives. During this session of the training we will be looking at some of the Spiritual aspects of being a missionary, both short-term and long-term. As we do this, we will look at the Wesleyan understanding of grace as well as how John Wesley believed we come to know who God is. Then we will explore a bit of the religious history of Peru, and take a look at how the ancient relgion of Peru still has an effect on the people today.
This is a week of looking not only at the people of Peru, but also at ourselves. What is my motivation for wanting to be a missionary to Peru? What does God mean to me? How has knowing Jesus changed my life? Questions like these are important to ask yourself as you prepare to journey to Peru.
We´re getting ahead of ourselves, though... Let´s begin with a video about God´s amazing grace.
Suggestion: Go to the end of this lesson and print off the study guide, so that you can complete it as we work through this training session.
This is a week of looking not only at the people of Peru, but also at ourselves. What is my motivation for wanting to be a missionary to Peru? What does God mean to me? How has knowing Jesus changed my life? Questions like these are important to ask yourself as you prepare to journey to Peru.
We´re getting ahead of ourselves, though... Let´s begin with a video about God´s amazing grace.
Suggestion: Go to the end of this lesson and print off the study guide, so that you can complete it as we work through this training session.
So God´s amazing grace has always been with us. That´s all of us. Those of us who live in the United States and those of us who live in Peru. God´s love has been chasing us and calling us to come into a relationship with God. We need to remember this as missionaries: we are not taking Christ to Peru. Christ is already in Peru. We are going to Peru to work with God in whatever God is already doing. That takes some pressure off of us, doesn´t it?
Now it´s time for another short video. This one is about How we learn about who God is. According to Wesley there are four ways... Oh, wait, there we go again, getting ahead of ourselves. I´ll stop writing now so that you can start watching.
Now it´s time for another short video. This one is about How we learn about who God is. According to Wesley there are four ways... Oh, wait, there we go again, getting ahead of ourselves. I´ll stop writing now so that you can start watching.
All of us have in one way or another had an experience with God. For some of us it is a flash of bright lights and for others of us it is a quiet experience. One is not any more holy than the other. Any experience we have with God is significant. As we prepare to work together as a team, we´d like to hear from you about how your experience with God has led you to now be getting ready to come to Peru on a mission trip. Below is a way to share your story with us. Simply type your name and your email address. Then, in the comments section write a little bit about what God has done in your life that has made you want to be a missionary to Peru. Don´t worry about grammar or spelling. We´re not worried about that. Also remember, this is not a test. This is just a way to help us to get to know you better.
How have you experienced God?
Thank you, your message has been sent
Relgion in Peru: the old meets the new
Now we will take a few minutes now to look at some of the ancient religion of Peru and compare it to what is happening in the church today. We will start with one of the thousands of ancient legends. This one is about the Bird of Paradise. As you watch it, see if you can see any similarities between the legend and the stories we read in the Bible.
Did you notice anything in the legend that is at least vaguely similar to something you´ve read in the Bible? I know I did. The idea that the seed of a god made a virgin woman pregnant... This is an example of an ancient legend with some influence from Christianity. What happened was that when the first missionaries came to Peru (about 500 years ago or so), they took the things the local people knew and added just enough so that they could be accepted, but that contained at least some of the truth of the love of God.
You might be thinking, "Well, that´s interesting, but people don´t really believe things like that anymore. After all, we live in the 21st century. We´ve gone past all that..."
Or have we? The following two videos show modern worship of anceint gods. As you watch it, notice how much the ancient religion has been mixed with the Christian faith.
You might be thinking, "Well, that´s interesting, but people don´t really believe things like that anymore. After all, we live in the 21st century. We´ve gone past all that..."
Or have we? The following two videos show modern worship of anceint gods. As you watch it, notice how much the ancient religion has been mixed with the Christian faith.
So what do you think? What feelings did you have when you saw this mixing of the ancient Peruvian religion with Christianity? I´m not saying it´s all bad. After all, when the people first started climbing to the glacier to worship it, God was with them, calling them to have a relationship with the one true God... the God of the Bible who created the glacier. There are some things about what they did (and do) that was good. It is a good thing to care about the environment and worry about the melting glacier. Those things have a tremendous effect on the lives of millions of people in Latin America. But there is a very fine line.
We as followers of Jesus Christ can have a respect for the creation, but we cannot worship it. We cannot worship the "gods" that live in the rocks and the ice and the mountains. Why not? Because we do not believe those "gods" are there. God is bigger and greater than anything on this earth.
What´s hard is when we meet people here in Peru who have a relationship with Jesus Christ, but who still fear the demons in the rocks. There are followers of Jesus here who still believe they need to make sacrifices to mother earth if they want a good harvest. They don´t understand the difference. That is part of our challenge as missionaries: helping them to see that all they need is the Lord Jesus Christ.
We as followers of Jesus Christ can have a respect for the creation, but we cannot worship it. We cannot worship the "gods" that live in the rocks and the ice and the mountains. Why not? Because we do not believe those "gods" are there. God is bigger and greater than anything on this earth.
What´s hard is when we meet people here in Peru who have a relationship with Jesus Christ, but who still fear the demons in the rocks. There are followers of Jesus here who still believe they need to make sacrifices to mother earth if they want a good harvest. They don´t understand the difference. That is part of our challenge as missionaries: helping them to see that all they need is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Language and God
In the book of Genesis, we can read a story about the Tower of Babel where God confused the language of all the people groups in the world. God did this, because he knew the people of the world could be really, really bad if they were left on their own. When the time was right, God found a way for the people to communicate with one another again.
In Peru, there are a number of different langauge groups. Spanish is the most common, but there are also numerous speakers of the various dialects of Quechua and other languages. The question as to whether there is a need to present the gospel in their own languages has been fought for generations. According to the woman in the interview below, it makes all the difference in the world to hear about the love of God in the language of the heart. Click on the arrow below to hear the interview.
In Peru, there are a number of different langauge groups. Spanish is the most common, but there are also numerous speakers of the various dialects of Quechua and other languages. The question as to whether there is a need to present the gospel in their own languages has been fought for generations. According to the woman in the interview below, it makes all the difference in the world to hear about the love of God in the language of the heart. Click on the arrow below to hear the interview.
Don´t worry. You don´t have to learn another language to come on a short term team. We´ll have translators for you. We just included this brief section to remind all of us about how important it is to really hear the good news of God in a way that touches our hearts. Missionaries (from other agencies) and nationals are currently working on a number of translations of the bible. For example, here in Huancayo, one of the dialects of Quechua just got the New Testament in 2006. The Old Testament will be available when it is finished.
You did it! Session 2 is now complete. If you didn´t print out and fill in the training guide as you worked through the lesson, be sure to do that now. Also, don´t forget to copy off this week's devotions. Read through them carefully and prayerfully, asking God to guide you as you fall more and more in love with the Creator of the Universe. You can download the devotionals by going to the "Links and Downloads" section of this website... look at the top of the page and click the words "Links and Downloads". This will allow you to download the entire devotional booklet at one time. OR, you can click below to download the Devotional guide for Week 2 only. See you in Session 3!!!
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Select the file on the left to download the notes and devotionals for this session and this week. |