DAWN Fridayfax 2004 #17

New Zealand

The Fish Scale

"Who me, a missionary? You must be joking! That's something for the others. I have enough to do taking care of myself!"

Hand on your heart? what needs to happen so that self-satisfied, self-centred Christians, stressed with school, career, hobbies, family and Christian programmes finally become passionate missionaries? How can young Christians in pluralistic Western societies gain a long-term, life-changing passion for the lost and unreached peoples, and perhaps even pack their belongings and head off to the jungle, prepared for the sacrifice of giving Jesus full control of their lives?

Jamie Wood, Missions Director in New Zealand, drew up the typical steps through which a Western Christian proceeds before they become a missionary Christian. The 9-step process is called the 'Fish Scale', a name with a double meaning: the first describes the massive change in Saul of Tarsus' perspective; when Ananias prayed for him, "something like scales fell from his eyes". The second meaning is the series of changes which a 'small fish' in a pluralistic post-modern society goes through before becoming active in the missionary process, prepared to cross cultural boundaries.
Source: Jamie M. Wood. Read the original article

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