Buddhist #2
Study
Read Genesis 12:1–3
This passage is the theological root of global missions. It is where God first declares that the redemptive promise of Genesis 3:15 is for all peoples. Two fundamental principles guide this promise.
Principle 1: Going requires leaving.
Is the gospel worth leaving the comforts and conveniences of our own culture for the challenges, and hardships of an unreached culture? Explain.
Principle 2: Leaving results in blessing others.
Should the promise “You will be a blessing to others” influence our decision to get involved in global missions, as supporters or goers? Explain.
This passage is the theological root of global missions. It is where God first declares that the redemptive promise of Genesis 3:15 is for all peoples. Two fundamental principles guide this promise.
Principle 1: Going requires leaving.
Is the gospel worth leaving the comforts and conveniences of our own culture for the challenges, and hardships of an unreached culture? Explain.
Principle 2: Leaving results in blessing others.
Should the promise “You will be a blessing to others” influence our decision to get involved in global missions, as supporters or goers? Explain.
Watch
Journey to the Harvest (4:00)
- "Naturally, it follows that people who have not heard this message [the gospel] need to hear it."
If it's that simple, why aren't we doing it?
- What else stood out to you from this video?
Missional Business (6:46)
- “The marketplace is the last missional frontier” —Ed Silvoso
What does this mean, and why might this be true?
- What else stood out to you from this video?
Discuss
Read this true story from a worker living among the unreached in a Buddhist culture. What steps would you take to make inroads in a culture with this worldview?
"A palpable heaviness hits you when getting off the plane in Thailand. A friend once told me that it’s much like the lead vest the dentist covers you with when he takes x-rays of your teeth. At first, you really feel the weight of it, but after a few minutes, you forget it’s there. But when the dentist takes it off, you breathe more deeply and with more ease without that extra weight. Stepping into Thailand is like putting on a vest of spiritual oppression. You see it on the street and feel it in the air.
To be Thai is to be Buddhist—for them, it seems impossible to separate one from the other. However, the religion they practice is more of a “folk Buddhism”—Buddhism mixed with Hinduism, ancestor worship, spirit worship, and animism. The most obvious evidence of their folk Buddhist practices is the spirit house.
A spirit house looks like a strangely ornate birdhouse or a miniature temple replica. But the more you move about in Thailand, the more spirit houses you see. They are everywhere—in front of small personal businesses, outside of shopping malls, at the airport, in public parks, at apartment complexes, in the yards of every home. And there are spirit house shops that offer hundreds of models for you to buy in order to bless your own property. Spirit houses are highly revered in Thailand, or more importantly, the spirits who live within them. Spirit houses are constructed to offer a beautiful and respectful place for the spirits to reside. Thai people believe the spirits have an incredible influence on everything that happens in that place. And I believe they do. Health and happiness or sickness and trouble for the family living in that house, wealth and success or loss and failure for that business. Each morning, property owners make offerings of food and drink to the spirits. They pray with incense while begging for favor and blessing from good spirits. Then they appease the bad spirits and ask for pardon from destruction. Sadly, this very practice binds the people to evil spirits and blinds them from the truth of Jesus Christ."
"A palpable heaviness hits you when getting off the plane in Thailand. A friend once told me that it’s much like the lead vest the dentist covers you with when he takes x-rays of your teeth. At first, you really feel the weight of it, but after a few minutes, you forget it’s there. But when the dentist takes it off, you breathe more deeply and with more ease without that extra weight. Stepping into Thailand is like putting on a vest of spiritual oppression. You see it on the street and feel it in the air.
To be Thai is to be Buddhist—for them, it seems impossible to separate one from the other. However, the religion they practice is more of a “folk Buddhism”—Buddhism mixed with Hinduism, ancestor worship, spirit worship, and animism. The most obvious evidence of their folk Buddhist practices is the spirit house.
A spirit house looks like a strangely ornate birdhouse or a miniature temple replica. But the more you move about in Thailand, the more spirit houses you see. They are everywhere—in front of small personal businesses, outside of shopping malls, at the airport, in public parks, at apartment complexes, in the yards of every home. And there are spirit house shops that offer hundreds of models for you to buy in order to bless your own property. Spirit houses are highly revered in Thailand, or more importantly, the spirits who live within them. Spirit houses are constructed to offer a beautiful and respectful place for the spirits to reside. Thai people believe the spirits have an incredible influence on everything that happens in that place. And I believe they do. Health and happiness or sickness and trouble for the family living in that house, wealth and success or loss and failure for that business. Each morning, property owners make offerings of food and drink to the spirits. They pray with incense while begging for favor and blessing from good spirits. Then they appease the bad spirits and ask for pardon from destruction. Sadly, this very practice binds the people to evil spirits and blinds them from the truth of Jesus Christ."
Learn
Read any Global Starting Point
View
If you have not done so, view SOGY. Become familiar with the concept of Supporting Others or Going Yourself.
Pray
Reflect on what you learned in this meeting, let it guide you in prayer, and then pray together as a group.