Beeson podcast, Episode 469 Dr. Miriam Adeney Nov. 5, 2019 Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now, your hosts, Doug Sweeney and Kristen Padilla. Doug Sweeney: Welcome to today's Beeson podcast. I'm Doug Sweeney, Dean of Beeson Divinity School here with my cohost, Kristen Padilla. We have an exciting conversation in store today with special guest, Dr. Miriam Adeney. But before I ask Kristen to introduce Dr. Adeney, let me say just how encouraged we are every time we hear from one of you, our listeners. If you have a word of encouragement about the ways in which God has used a particular episode of this podcast to bless your life, we would love to know about it. You can email me personally at deesweeney@samford.edu. You can email Kristen at kpadilla@samford.edu. We are grateful that you join us each week as we seek to share stories of how God is at work in the world. Now, Kristen, would you please introduce today's guest? Kristen Padilla: Yes. And welcome everyone to the Beeson podcast. Dr. Miriam Adeney is at Beeson Divinity School this week for our annual go global missions emphasis week, October eight through 10, and she is going to be sharing her research and work on refugees and worldwide Christians with us and we're looking forward to what she has to say. Dr. Adeney is an associate professor of world Christian studies at Seattle Pacific Seminary. She is an anthropologist, missiologist, and an author. And I'll mention one of the titles of her books, Kingdom Without Borders: The Untold Story of Global Christianity. I highly recommend it. Kristen Padilla: She's also written books on women and Muslims and refugees and we're going to talk to her today about several of these passions. She also serves on the board of Christianity Today International. She is a mission associate of the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission. She is a member of the diaspora taskforce of the Lausanne movement and last year received a lifetime achievement award from the Media Associates International. Dr. Adeney, we are thrilled to have you on the Beeson podcast. Welcome. Miriam Adeney: Thank you so much. It's lovely to be here. Kristen Padilla: Well, we normally begin by asking our guests to give a more personal introduction to tell us where you're from, how you came to faith in Jesus Christ, and anything you'd like to share about yourself. Miriam Adeney: Certainly. I grew up in a Christian home. I came to faith very early. My mother and my father both loved the word and loved the world. My dad was the son of an Irish Presbyterian pastor in Illinois and his mother died of tuberculosis and his older brother as a child got polio. So at age 13 my dad was driving the kids to school and then he would take his brother on his back and carry him up to the second floor of the school for his classroom. Miriam Adeney: Not surprising, my dad became a doctor with tuberculosis and polio so close in his family. And he and my mother always had a concern for how to bless the peoples of the world, a very Jesus-focused concern and a very scripture-focused concern. I remember waking up in the morning and coming down to the kitchen half asleep and there I would see my dad reading the Bible and memorizing it. And that was an inspiration to me to memorize scripture too and I would say that that's an important part of what keeps me going. Doug Sweeney: Dr. Adeney, I'm sure all of our listeners know what missionaries do, but maybe not all of them know what anthropologists do and what missiologists do and how it is that the academic disciplines of anthropology and missiology inform one another. Would you help us out a little bit with that? Miriam Adeney: Well, that's a lot of big words there I think, but let me put it a little bit more simply. Anthropology studies cultures and cultures are wonderful and terrible, because cultures are made by people who are in God's image and who are sinners, whether they're Americans, or Chinese, or Saudis. And so we make cultures that have lovely, amazing cuisines, and music, and architect styles, and economic exchange patterns, and wisdom and beauty, but also cultures that contain idolatry and exploitation. Miriam Adeney: And so when the gospel comes to a culture, on one hand it is expressed through the beautiful patterns of that culture, but on the other hand, it judges the idols of that culture and that's true whether in America, or China, or Saudi Arabia. So as an anthropologist who is working for the glory of God and a missiologist, these are some of my passions. Kristen Padilla: One thing that struck me when I was reading your bio was that it says that you're a member of the diaspora taskforce of the Lausanne movement. Can you explain what is the Lausanne movement and what does it mean to be a member of the diaspora taskforce? Miriam Adeney: Yeah. The Lausanne movement began almost 50 years ago. It was a network of people from many different countries and right now the gospel is present in every country, although not in every culture and people who loved the Lord Jesus, but we're aware that there were millions of others who did not even know about the Lord Jesus and had never had a reasonable explanation of his life and death and resurrection and were concerned how to share that more effectively. And so, as I said, about 50 years ago, people got together, began to discuss that, and they actually gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland, which is why it's called the Lausanne movement. Miriam Adeney: And ever since then there've been task forces exploring many dimensions of this and occasional big meetings. And so in our time, diaspora or the movements of peoples across borders is a huge phenomenon. Today, there are more than 260 million people who live outside the countries where they were born. And some of them of course are refugees, some of them are students, some of them are labor. I have done some work in the Arabian Gulf where the countries there, like the United Arab Emirates, the city of Dubai, Katar, Kuwait and Oman and so forth. They will bring 70, 80% of their workforce from other countries like the Philippines or India, Pakistan, Korea. Miriam Adeney: So there's massive numbers of people moving around. And so naturally people that are concerned for the spread of the gospel and concerned for the growth of the church are asking, "How can ministry be done well in this very volatile situation?" And praise God, wonderful things are happening. For example ... and I don't mean to minimize the trauma that occurs, especially when people have to flee their homes because of violence or a war, or even natural disasters, but God can redeem these bad situations and use them for good. I've had the privilege of being in Lebanon and meeting multiple Syrian refugees who have come to faith in Jesus, although they were Muslims to begin with. Miriam Adeney: And across Europe today we find that there are now 800 Arabic speaking churches in that continent. Many of them have largely new believers in their congregations, many of them Syrians in their congregations, as well as 500 Iranian churches. We're talking just Europe. So the diaspora taskforce is interested in exploring how to share the good news in this moving situation and then how to build people up as disciples. And how to nurture church life. Doug Sweeney: That's wonderful. Praise God. And you've recently published a book on the subject as well with Dr. Sam George entitled Refugee Diaspora: Missions Amid the Greatest Humanitarian Crisis of Our Times, which is a book, by the way, that you'll be discussing here at Beeson this Wednesday. Are you offering recommendations in that book for those of us who care about refugees and diaspora? What does our audience need to know about what you're doing in that book? Miriam Adeney: Yes. Yes, we do offer quite a few recommendations. Of course, the first one is pray, and that is not a light thing. I'm going to be recommending to the students that everybody get an app on their phone for news so that you can daily look at the news app and look at those stories that are about Muslim parts of the world, or other parts of the world where you know there are fewer believers. Now you won't understand everything that's going on there and you actually don't have to take time to read the whole story, but it's enough to provoke you to pray for that country. And if you do that every day, God will touch your heart and God will of course use your prayers and that will be the first step. Miriam Adeney: And then see what God will do to lead you to more concrete interaction with diaspora populations, either here in the US or through your connections internationally. We can remember too that people in the Bible often were uprooted and sent across cultural boundaries. For example, Abraham, and Jacob, and Joseph, and Moses, and of course Daniel and Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, and Esther, Nehemiah. And then of course in the New Testament, the believers were scattered. Philip was fleeing persecution when he ran into the Ethiopian on the way. And Peter writes to scattered people and himself. Peter, who didn't want to go and have lunch with Cornelius. Nevertheless, later on was saying, "You are a unified people. God's people, or Holy nation, or Royal priesthood. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God." Miriam Adeney: And then we picture John on the Island of Patmos speaking about all peoples and tribes and kindreds and nations giving glory to God. And he was exiled at that time. He was one of the many people of God who have been uprooted and God has used this uprooting for good. So that's one thing we want to remember is that sometimes the uprooting happens for positive reasons. Students want to go and study, but sometimes it happens for negative reasons. There's a disaster, but God can use this for good, both to bring people who were previously unreached to a place where they can hear the gospel and to bring the mission field to complacent Christians who suddenly realize it's much easier to communicate with an Iranian or with some other person who once was not so accessible. And God uses it to help all of us see where our true stability lies, which is in our relationship with him. Kristen Padilla: Are there any misconceptions about the global refugee situation that need to be corrected for us? And I'm thinking specifically also for us Christians here in the US, what can we learn from refugees? Miriam Adeney: Well, yes there are. I mean, some people feel that refugees are coming say to our country because they want to have a materially good life and sometimes that's true. Other people think that refugees are coming here because they're fleeing for their lives and sometimes that's also true. You can stereotype and say that it's all one way or the other and it's a big variety. I think that people here do have a number of concerns which are legitimate and need to be worked through. Four in particular. One is, people may fear that refugees, some of them anyway are breaking the law, coming into our country illegally. And some may feel that refugees are taking our jobs and taking our resources. Miriam Adeney: In Lebanon, which has a massive ... about one third of the population is refugees and they have had no choice. They've just come over their borders. Even their water supply, even their roads, even their ability to deliver their own babies in the hospitals, they are all crowded out because of refugees. So there's a concern, are they taking our resources, our jobs? And their concern, are they changing our culture, bringing in a new language, a new religion, new culture? And then there's the concern, "Don't we have poor people ourselves in our own citizenry that we need to be helping their healthcare and their jobs and their housing and so forth?" Miriam Adeney: Now these are all legitimate concerns but they are not absolute blocks to taking in refugees. They are things that need to be worked through, faced and honestly handled with respect I think. But we always remember what Moses said, "Love the alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt." And that's in the larger context of God's calling throughout the scripture to love the other peoples. To Abraham, "You are blessed to be a blessing to all the families of the earth." And to David, "May all the peoples praise you." And to Isaiah, "The servant of God is light to the nations," and so on through the New Testament. God has a great heart for the peoples and we must also have a heart for the peoples, especially those who are uprooted. What can we learn from them? Miriam Adeney: I think I've mentioned some of the things that we can learn from them, that ultimately our security is in God. We can also learn of course from their culture as well. There are different insights into the scripture that come from different cultures and different giftings as far ... some societies are much more passionate and emotional and will do witness every day of the week and some societies are more orderly and thoughtful and analytical and will help to keep order in a ministry, so we can learn from each other. Doug Sweeney: Dr. Adeney, a lot of your work has been aimed at expanding the horizons of Christians and particularly expanding the horizons of US/American Christians, helping us to see better and think more intently about what God is doing in the world beyond our own borders. Deepening our appreciation for the mission of God and the work of God, not just in our own backyard but around the world. One of your best known books, Kingdom Without Borders: The Untold Story of Global Christianity, does exactly that. And I thought I'd ask for the sake of our listeners, what is it that you're doing in a book like that and what do regular Christians gain by having their horizons expanded in this way and seeing some of the things that God's doing around the world? Miriam Adeney: Well, of course the truth is always a case by case, story by story, person by person. Let me tell you about one Lebanese woman that I ... well, she's a Syrian woman actually, that I met because you asked, what do we gain by learning about this? I met [Ziday 00:17:11] in Lebanon about a year and a half ago. She has five children, ages three to 21. Her husband was injured while working in Saudi Arabia and then their home in Syria blew up, so they fled to Lebanon where they live in a chicken coop and she digs potatoes to help support the family. Miriam Adeney: She has also been helped by a Lebanese Baptist church that has helped her family with some food in a regular program, and with their school there. I understand actually there are five Samford students this week that are in Lebanon volunteering in a school and it could be this one. Because there are 400, almost 500,000 Syrian school-aged children in Lebanon. And the government of Lebanon heroically has rearranged its education so it can provide for 200,000 of them. But that leaves 280,000 without schooling. And so churches are stepping in and creating schools on the spot. And I visited some of them. They're very good. Miriam Adeney: And so Ziday's children were helped by these schools, helped by a sort of a roving medical clinic and Ziday and a number of her friends started coming to church wearing their head coverings. And this church puts people quickly into small groups. So she went into one and she said, "And our small group leader tells us to memorize scripture and he gives us scripture to memorize. And I do." So I said, "Oh, well what scripture have you memorized?" She said, "Your word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 1:19." And then she continued right on. "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15." Miriam Adeney: And she went on to talk about the centrality of Jesus, his death, his resurrection, and she said, "I want to learn as much as I can so I can take it back with me when I go back to Syria." Now, this is the church of Jesus Christ happening today. And when you see this in place after place around the world, not perfect churches, not always making wise decisions anymore than our churches always make wise decisions. But when you see this, you see that the kingdom of God is at work and it challenges you and it comforts you. It encourages you. Kristen Padilla: When I introduced you, I had mentioned that you've written books on the topic of women and gender is listed as one of your passions on your bio at the seminary where you work. Three of your books are about women and so I'm curious to know what role women play in global evangelization and in what ways could we do better as a church at using women's gifts in the kingdom of God? Miriam Adeney: Well, I've just been actually reviewing the history of mission to Muslim women. In 1800 in Boston, a handicapped woman named Mary Webb challenged her friends to save one penny a week for mission. And from that developed something called the Cents Society, which was multiplied, duplicated all across New England and then across the US and Canada to the point that women with their little bits of money that they got from chicken and egg sales and bake sales and secondhand clothing sales and terrific volunteer activities, they began to form agencies to send missionary women out to the women of the world, especially to women who were in harems or ... women who were cloistered inside palaces and were not allowed out very often. Miriam Adeney: And a hundred years later when this was celebrated, it was found that there were 40 missions agencies founded by American women, funded by American women, administered by American women, supporting a couple thousand women on the field as well as 6,000 indigenous Bible women who were their companions, and colleges, and universities, and schools of course, and clinics, and hospitals. And so the work that Samford and Beeson are doing today to prepare people to go in teaching, in education, in healthcare, nursing, and so forth, as well as in witness and discipling and church planning. This is a glorious heritage that women have been engaged in for a long time. Miriam Adeney: When I think about women, a couple of words come to mind. One is, women are half the world's population. The proverb is women hold up half the sky. Secondly, women are vulnerable because in their own right, being weaker physically and also because women often care for vulnerable people like infants and children, and often the care of the elderly and the sick falls heavily on the shoulders of women. So women are vulnerable, but women are also powerful because to the extent that women are involved with children, women shape the next generation of human beings. So women are vulnerable, but women are powerful and women are valuable because women are created in the image of God, liberated by Jesus' death and resurrection, potentially empowered by the Holy Spirit and commissioned for active service in God's world. Miriam Adeney: So women are half the world's population. Women are vulnerable, women are powerful, and women are valuable, and women's stories are amazing in terms of how they have experienced God. As I told you with the Syrian refugee woman. And what they have done in terms of ministry as well. Doug Sweeney: One last question for the pastors and laypeople, especially in our audience who want to be more involved in what God is doing in the world. Most of our churches have short-term missions opportunities for people and we all know about them, but beyond short-term missions, what are some of the ways in which Christians, even here in Alabama can be part of God's mission in the world? Miriam Adeney: Well, I understand that there are representatives of about 70 different ethnic groups in Birmingham. This was kind of a surprise to me, but apparently in your colleges and in other places as well, there's quite a variety of these people. There are people living here from countries where it's not really legal to become a Christian and they are in Birmingham. I heard about one man who was sitting in a Starbucks and he felt that the Lord was directing him to become a missionary to a certain place. And he said, "Okay, Lord, this is a very hard place. How could I get there?" And he lifted up his eyes and there were four people from that place sitting in the table across Starbucks and he got to know them and they became friends and he was able to share the gospel with them many times. Miriam Adeney: So I would say, look around and you here ... I come from Seattle, we have the Seattle freeze. We're God's frozen chosen up there. But with your Southern hospitality, you can surely walk up to a person from another ethnic background or another country and talk with them about the weather, or the shopping, or the schools, or the sports, or whatever, and get to know them. Just take the effort to make this a priority in your life because God loves the nations. And if that's a priority for God, it should be a priority for you. Doug Sweeney: Amen. And amen. You have been listening to Dr. Miriam Adeney, who is an anthropologist, a missiologist, a prolific author. She teaches at Seattle Pacific Seminary, and she is here at Beeson Divinity School this week for our go global missions emphasis week. Many thanks to Dr. Adeney for being with us. Many thanks to all of you for tuning in. God bless you and goodbye for now. Kristen Padilla: You've been listening to the Beeson podcast. Our theme music is written and performed by Advent Birmingham of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our announcer is Mike Pasquerilla. Our cohost are Doug Sweeney and myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at beesondivinity.com/ podcast or on iTunes.