Global Resource Initiatives
Already in the early stages of the Contextualization Project, I’ve been encouraged by working with leaders from four continents and very different contexts who are asking similar questions and are feeling a sense of relief and solidarity when they meet other people asking the same questions. Contextualization is a risk. There are the risks of overcontextualizing and undercontextualizing. There are relational costs to both—of alienating people who think you’ve gone too far or failing to connect with people when you don’t go far enough. There’s something deeply valuable in having partners with whom to take those risks.
︎ BRANDON O’BRIEN, Director Content, RCTC
Contextualization Project
One of the Content team’s core initiatives is the Contextualization Project. The team is partnering with leaders from several continents to develop tools to help local trainers contextualize their messages and their ministries. RCTC believes people change when the gospel of Jesus grips their hearts. For this to happen, pastors need to communicate the gospel to people in their “heart language”—in words and forms that resonate with them at the deepest possible level, such that the good news of Jesus is recognized as the fulfillment of all their hopes and the answer to all their questions. But resources developed in America don’t speak the heart language of students in Mumbai or answer the deepest questions of mothers in Soweto. As CTC networks grow and the work extends into new contexts, better tools are needed for training pastors to reach new cultures.
Faith & Work
At the height of the pandemic, GFWI created a Work Disruption Tool to help church and ministry leaders plan pastoral care for those who have experienced work disruption from the COVID-19 crisis. The tool continues to serve ministry practitioners. Volunteers translated the presentation of the tool into Spanish, Japanese, Hungarian and Chinese. This tool has now been presented to over 2,000 people in North America, Asia Pacific, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.
Unleashing Laity: Merging Faith, Work, Mercy & Justice, a pilot course developed in partnership with CTCNA, has served people from North America, Europe, Latin America and Africa. GFWI will use the material developed to build back into their current faith and work offerings and to develop holistic discipleship material for global use.
GFWI moved their summer and winter Designing a Faith & Work Initiative Intensives online. Consequently, 100 people participated, more than double the in-person participation. Registrants participated from Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, Africa and MENA. The 15 trained leaders from Latin America are now working in a cohort to train pastors and lay leaders on faith and work
GFWI, in collaboration with Redeemer Counseling Services, hosted a webinar, Caring for Yourself as You Care for Others, for those in caring professions (pastors, healthcare workers, counselors). The webinar presented a framework for ministry and lay leaders to understand both the experience of those they are caring for and the secondary trauma they may be feeling as they've entered into other’s suffering. It also provided practical ways to process traumatic experiences and build resilience to prevent burnout. Participants from 10 countries attended this virtual event.
Books
RCTC published How to Reach the West Again by Tim Keller just before the fiscal year. In this booklet, Tim argues that the decline in Christianity in the West should prompt a rethinking of the church’s mission from the ground up. Using the early church as a guide, churches and individual Christians must examine themselves, culture and Scripture to work toward a new missionary encounter with Western culture that will make the gospel both attractive and credible to a new generation. The booklet continues to be translated into many languages, and its catalyzing effect will continue for some time.
Published in collaboration with RCTC, Rhythms for Life, by Vancouver church planter Alastair Sterne, explores how to craft a life of more intentionality by discovering spiritual rhythms that move at the pace of grace and align with each person’s unique identity and calling in Christ. While this book is about spiritual formation, at least half of it is outward focused, asking the reader to identify the ways they connect with and serve their city.
One of RCTC’s key strategic goals is to develop and platform a diverse group of practitioners to share their wisdom and experience in urban ministry. Many pastors who have great things to share are intimidated by the writing process. To address this, Brandon O’Brien, RCTC’s Director of Content, wrote Writing for Life and Ministry: A Practical Guide to the Writing Process for Teachers and Preachers. This short, practical guide to the writing process, published by RCTC, is designed specifically to help preachers and teachers master the basics of written communication.
It was only after listening to [the speaker’s] descriptions and explanations and recommendations for handling trauma [at the Caring for Yourself as You Care for Others seminar] that I began to feel relief and a sense of real hope. Just understanding what and why things were happening to me physiologically—due to long term trauma under COVID conditions and long-term uncertainties and a biblical perspective of how God is using this experience not for my detriment but for my spiritual benefit even though I don’t and maybe won’t have all the answers this side of heaven—gives me great comfort and assurance. So now, I’m living more of life not struggling with seeking answers to the why things are happening to me in this season of life but WHAT is God trying to reveal and teach me about himself and myself in relation to him. So again, thank you for all you at RCTC’s GFWI are doing in this season—not just teaching and training about faith and work but providing such helpful, timely, relevant tools “for such a time as this!” This is the second time you’ve come to my rescue. And I won’t be surprised if there will be more times in the future.
︎ GARY WATANABE, Church Planter and Coach Catalyst, Nagoya
I found it all quite life changing because it helped me get over grieving the fact that I’m not who I used to be. And I’ve sorted out where I’m going and what I’m doing, and I feel great about it. I’m so encouraged that God continues to have a purpose for me even in my older age. I’ve been discerning that through working through Rhythms for Life.
︎ CHURCH MEMBER, VANCOUVER