I always considered my penchant for thinking of the exact opposite of things as a kind of mental aberration that mostly just irritated people no end. Then I read Klyne Snodgrass' wonderful book, Between Two Truths; Living with Biblical Tensions (Zondervan Publishing House, 1990) - and I started to feel... well - less odd. He makes a good case that biblical truths often appear as polar opposites; "Pride and Humility", "Faith and Works", Grace and Law", Freedom and Responsibility", to name a few. Truth includes things that seem like contradictory opposites - and the space between them. Truth tends to be paradoxical.
And so it is with almost anything that can be said about God's mission in the world and human involvement in it. I have been trying to write a few things about the Core Values of the Department of World Mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church. As I wrote - the paradoxes just kept showing up. I'm putting what I have been writing on this website in the hopes that you will interact with it. We are more likely to find our way together.
When my good friend and mentor Curt Peterson read what I had written he said, "You write "slant." I like to imagine that he was thinking of me in the company of the likes of Flannery O"Conner. But I suspect he just thinks i am quirky.
You can read my reflections on mission issues by clicking on the "Documents" page and following the links.
A while ago, I wrote a kind of workbook for people and churches who have gone on short work trips or mission trips and want to go deeper in mission. It's about 100 pages long. Each chapter has "Suggestions for Reflection and Discussion." There is also an annotated bibliography at the end for those who want to read more. THERE IS AN ERROR! on page xii the text to read should be Luke 22: 27-30, not Matthew. There are probably other errors, but that was the most obvious - and unintentionally humorous. You can click on the link listed on the left of this page to find a .pdf version. You can get a printed copy from the Covenant Resource Center or the Department of World Mission for $5.00. To order, call (773) 784-3000 and ask for either the Covenant Resource Center or the Department of World Mission.