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Monday, July 09, 2012

Being Christian in a Remote Area: How would you do it?


The following exercise is from the synchroblog at http://frankviola.org/2012/07/09/gospelforthemiddle
Fielding Melish and his wife Felicia have two children, ages 10 and 6. They live in a very remote part of Maine, USA. They are surrounded by extended family, none of whom are Christians. The nearest churches are one hour away, and by all evangelical standards, none of them are good. These churches are either highly legalistic, highly libertine, or just flat-out flaky.
One of Fielding’s cousins is a practicing Christian. They see each other once a year. Fielding’s cousin has shared Christ with Fielding many times over the years. Whenever they’ve talked about spiritual things, Fielding shows interest.
Felicia grew up in a Christian home. She’s received Christ, but she isn’t evangelistic and is overwhelmed with working long hours and raising two small children. She would love to find a church nearby for the spiritual support and instruction, but none exist.
Fielding has no college education. While he is capable of reading, he is not a reader. He doesn’t use the Web either. He’s a man who works with his hands, both for his career and for recreation. He’s an “outdoorsman.” He hunts, he builds, he does manual labor, etc. In his spare time, he helps his elderly parents with various building projects.
Fielding is not an atheist. Neither is he an agnostic. He believes in God. He believes Jesus is the Savior of the world who died for our sins and rose again from the dead. He hasn’t fully surrendered his life to Christ, but he is not sure what that looks like exactly. His children know a little about the Lord, mostly because of what their mother has taught them.
Recently Fielding asked this question:
When I’m with my cousin once a year, I want to learn more about God. But when I come back home, and I’m around everyone else, my mind is off of God, and I am back to working, raising my kids, and helping my parents. Someone needs to come up with a solution for people like me . . . people who are in the middle. (By “in the middle,” Fielding means someone who believes in Jesus, but who isn’t fully absorbed in the faith yet either. They simply don’t know enough nor do they have any spiritual support system around them.)
Relocating is not an option for Fielding and his wife. Even if they wanted to relocate, they don’t see a way they could do it financially.
Remember: Fielding and his wife don’t personally know any Christians. None of their extended family or coworkers are believers either. And the nearest churches (which are an hour away) aren’t recommended.
Question: If you were Fielding’s cousin, how would you instruct him and his wife the next time you saw them?
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As I read this idea for the synchroblog this morning, I thought it was a fascinating question.  It shows how much we rely on two things in particular to feed our faith and grow in it:  gathering together in church and reading our Bibles.  It also made me think about how, although we talk about surrendering our lives to Christ, it may take us many years to completely surrender as we are always learning and growing.  
I think what is missing is acknowledging the work of the Holy Spirit in people's lives.  It is only in recent history that people are able to have individual Bibles, and in many countries, people cannot gather together for church (as we know it).  
The best advice for Fielding is, I think, prayer.  Fielding doesn't need to be able to read or be with other people.  He and his wife and children can pray together and grow together and seek to be led by the Holy Spirit.  They can have discussions about their hopes and dreams and questions and doubts.  Fielding's cousin can provide support through phone calls or letters.  

6 comments:

Kelly J Youngblood said...

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Cathy Minninger Fischer said...

Kelly--
Thanks for bringing attention to the work of the Holy Spirit in individual believers' lives, and to prayer. Despite lots of churches, I had been isolated by life circumstances for several years, especially prior to the rise of facebook and blogging. I do have a Bible and had a brief grounding in Christianity prior to an abusive church experience, but now I believe that God used that period of solitude to do some real healing of the past damage. He used prayer (at times, wordless, just an opening of my heart and self), nature, my children (!), my dog, and experiences with others, both positive and negative, to accomplish His purposes.

Cathy Minninger Fischer said...

Kelly--
Thanks for bringing attention to the work of the Holy Spirit in individual believers' lives, and to prayer. Despite lots of churches, I had been isolated by life circumstances for several years, especially prior to the rise of facebook and blogging. I do have a Bible and had a brief grounding in Christianity prior to an abusive church experience, but now I believe that God used that period of solitude to do some real healing of the past damage. He used prayer (at times, wordless, just an opening of my heart and self), nature, my children (!), my dog, and experiences with others, both positive and negative, to accomplish His purposes.

Kelly J Youngblood said...

Thanks for visiting and commenting, Cathy!


The Holy Spirit is something that I admit I haven't really thought much about or acknowledged for most of my life. I'm starting to do that more.


I am glad you were able to heal through those things and people and pets :) that God brought into your life.