earthsedge

The weeks are flying by. Between work and various social engagements, we haven’t had much time for anything else! But when we do have some free time on the weekends, we like to spend it walking through the city, exploring new places, stopping for a hot drink, and….feeding the birds. This has become one of Aidan’s favorite things to do. He usually cries when we run out of bread and have to say goodbye to the swarms of feathered ‘friends.’

Feeding pigeons:

Chasing pigeons:

But the seagulls are the best show:

amsterdam, feeding birds

This is a common sight around the city, and one that I always find amusing. It must be quite a shock to find something like this where your bike used to be.

amsterdam, bike, theft

Wow, it’s hard to believe we’ve already been in Amsterdam for a week. It’s been great to catch up with our old team and some of our Dutch friends. It’s also nice to see so many of the familiar faces around the campus (and lots of new ones too). We took a nice long walk around the city last Saturday and walked by some of our favorite places…remembering how much we like Amsterdam and Dutch culture.

The FIS start date was pushed back a week due to some of the students who had immigration difficulties. It was actually a big relief… another week to get organized and get over the jet lag.  Today was the first day of class; it’s looking to be a great school. We were looking at our schedules last night and realized how fast these three months are going to go. I’m wrapping up my thesis project and staffing the FIS, Becka is taking classes and teaching English, and somehow Aidan is going to be in the middle of it all!

Speaking of Aidan, he is definitely missing everyone back home. For some reason this has definitely been the hardest transition for him. But it helps that everything here is somewhat familiar to him, and there are no shortages of trains, buses, and other exciting things to see! He loves to say ‘no’ to every question you ask him these days, except he is very polite; he randomly started saying ‘no thanks’ to just about everything. So a normal conversation will go like this:

Me: Aidan, do you want to have a snack before bed?

Aidan: No thanks.

Me: Ok, then its time to go to bed.

Aidan: No thanks, daddy.

Me: Well, I don’t think you understood, it’s not really a choice. Lets brush you teeth.

Aidan: No thanks mommy and daddy. I play toys.

He also likes to repeat things he’s heard from Thomas and Friends (as I’m writing this, he’s yelling, “bust my buffers Thomas!”)

Here’s what Amsterdam looks like in the winter:

It’s amazing how much light affects mood, schedule, etc. It doesn’t get light until after 8:30am (which makes it hard to get out of bed!) But one of the things I like about Amsterdam is that (on the rare occasions) when the sun is shining,  the whole atmosphere of the city changes.

amsterdam

I found out my thesis proposal for my BA was officially approved, so I’ll be trying to get as much done in the few months before we leave for Amsterdam and the FIS begins. ‘Thesis’ isn’t really the right word-it’s not a research paper. It’s more like a ‘creative project’-a collection of personal essays reflecting on my experience in missions over the past eight years. I think I’m really going to enjoy it. The tentative title is Following Christ Across Cultures: Reflections on Faith, Culture, and Mission. I might have to revise that later, but I’m pretty happy with how broad it is. I’m supposed to be putting in 50 hours a week of reading and writing. The writing part is definitely the more challenging side of the project. I feel like I have plenty of ideas of what to write about, but actually putting them into coherent and readable essays is another story. The reading, of course, is the fun part (the guy in the picture above is obviously having the time of his life). I get to revisit some books that have influenced me in the past few years, and read a bunch of books that I’ve been looking forward to reading. Here’s my working bibliography (for the one or two of you out there who are actually interested-feel free to offer suggestions if you think something is missing):

Review

Boyd, Gregory A. The Myth of a Christian Nation: How Political Power is Destroying the Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.

Boyd, Gregory A. Repenting of Religion: Turning from Judgment to the Love of God. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004.

Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001.

Chandler, Paul Gordon. Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road: Exploring a New Path Between Two Faiths. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2007.

Crouch, Andy. Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008.

Hiebert, Paul G. Transforming Worldviews. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

Jenkins, Philip. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Jenkins, Philip. God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Jones, E. Stanley. The Christ of the Indian Road. New York: Grosset and Dunlap Publishers, 1925.

Kruger, C. Baxter. The Great Dance: The Christian Vision Revisited. Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 2005.

Kruger, C. Baxter. Jesus and the Undoing of Adam. Perichoresis, Inc., 2007.

Newbigin, Leslie. The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society. Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989.

Raschke, Carl. GloboChrist: The Great Commission Takes a Postmodern Turn. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

Torrance, James B. Worship, Community, and the Triune God of Grace. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996.

Torrance, Thomas F. The Mediation of Christ. Helms and Howard, 1992.

Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996.

Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.

Wright, N.T. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. HarperOne, 2008.

Projected Reading

Chandler, Paul Gordon. God’s Global Mosaic: What We Can Learn from Christians Around the World

Frost, Michael and Alan Hirsch. The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21 Century Church

Hirsch, Alan and Leonard Sweet. The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church

Hughe, Richard T. Myths America Lives By

Hunter, George G. III. The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West…Again

Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible

Kurlansky, Mark. Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous Idea

Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Mellis, Jim. Latest book (This is my boss, who is writing a fantastic book on intercultural relationships)

Miller, Darrow L. Discipling Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Cultures.

Newbigin, Lesslie. Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture

Niebuhr, H. Richard. Christ and Culture

Noll, Mark A. The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith

Peterson, Eugene H. The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways That Jesus Is the Way

Rah, Soong-Chan. The Next Evangelicalism:​ Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity

Smith, James K.A. Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Cultural Liturgies)

Stier, Jim and others. His Kingdom Come: An Integrated Approach to Discipling the Nations and Fulfilling the Great Commission.

Torrance, Thomas F. Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ

amsterdam, bibliography, books, culture, faith, fis, mission, thesis project

Bonjour!

Well, actually it’s “hello” now…we’re back in the United States after a wonderful six months in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Last time we sent out a newsletter, it was, well…it was a long time ago! We had just returned from Amsterdam after our visa problems and we had decided to take a break from YWAM to focus on some courses we needed to finish. Here’s an update about how that went, and our latest mission project….

Switzerland

The reason why we went to Switzerland was so that Chris could finish two final courses for his BA in Intercultural Studies. The courses were great, and we enjoyed the new experience of living in a French-speaking region. Switzerland is a stunningly beautiful country and the people are wonderful. It’s also a very expensive country, but fortunately the chocolate is cheap! Aidan has really thrived over the last six months. We lived in a rural part of the country outside of Geneva, and Aidan loved his daily encounters with tractors and cows. He is talking up a storm these days and can even say a few words in French. It was a very busy, rewarding six months. With these two courses behind him, Chris is hoping to write his final thesis sometime in the next four months and then he will be done with his degree. Becka has one final ESL (English as a Second Language) practicum and she will be done with hers. It’s been a long, rewarding journey, and it’s a relief for both of us to have the end in sight! Neither one of us really planned things to work out this way, but as we reflect on all our experiences over the past five years, it’s amazing to see how God has brought things together.

As some of you may remember, earlier in the year we had decided to step away from our responsibilities with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) while we focused on finishing our studies. We also felt strongly to discontinue our support base since we would be focusing exclusively on studying.

However, there have been a few people who have graciously continued to support us through this season by financial gifts and loans, and we are extremely grateful to you for this unexpected kindness! We have also appreciated the emails, prayers, and even visits of our friends and family. It’s been amazing for us to feel so connected to you, even as we are worlds apart.

Amsterdam

So what’s next, for the nomadic Warners? Well, we’ve decided to give Amsterdam another go. We are planning to return in January. Our main reason for returning is to reconnect with our team at YWAM Amsterdam (the Intercultural Resource Center) and resume one of the projects that we’ve been planning for some time. We’ll be helping to facilitate a six-month intercultural training program called Foundations in Intercultural Studies (FIS). It’s a program that we were closely involved with planning when we were in Amsterdam previously, and something that we believe can make a significant impact in the city and beyond.

Of course, we have mixed feelings about returning to Amsterdam. We are looking forward to working with ICRC again, catching up with friends, dusting off our Dutch, and eating more stroopwaffles than should be legally allowed! On the other hand, there are some significant challenges waiting for us. The difficult housing situation hasn’t changed, and another uncertain visa process is looming. We’ve accepted that these challenges make it difficult to plan on how long we will be able to stay once our tourist visa expires. Even though we are craving some more stability and a longer-term commitment, we are trusting that our Father will still be with us-even if we can’t see over the next hill. We are still passionate about seeing the nations come to know the love of Christ.

Autumn to Winter

Would you consider praying for us as we prepare to return to Amsterdam? The next few months will be a very busy time as Chris is writing his thesis and we are working toward raising the necessary support to live in Amsterdam. We need to raise at least 3000 USD per month, which admittedly seems like a daunting figure. (To be honest, support raising has never been our strong point.) We’ve been able to live on far less than this in the past, but this is the minimum requirement for a residency visa. We would also appreciate your prayers that some suitable housing would open up before we arrive, and for a smooth transition as we prepare and travel from Illinois to California in the next few months.

If you’re interested, you can continue to follow our journey at our website, www.earthsedge.org. It’s kind of been dormant amidst the busyness of the summer, but we’ll be posting more regularly in the coming months. We try and post some videos or pictures of Aidan every so often-you will be surprised at how much he has changed! You can also find more information about the Foundations in Intercultural Studies course that we will be running, and all of our financial support information is available there as well.

We are looking forward to seeing many of you in the coming months! If we haven’t heard from you in a while, please drop us a line and let us know how your summer went!

Love,

Chris, Becka, and Aidan

amsterdam, fis, plans, Switzerland, transition