Mike Kuhn - January 2022 Update
Mike Kuhn currently serves in the International Theological Education Network as a specialist and consultant. Mike’s ministry focus is discipleship and spiritual formation among both Arab Christians and those who have come to Christ from a non-Christian background. Read more about Mike’s work in the following update:
There’s so much to be hopeful about, grateful for, and excited about. Here’s a sampling…
My current role (theological specialist in ITEN—International Theological Education Network) includes a diversity of ministries that keep me challenged and engaged.
One of my theological passions is the Trinity. Does that make you yawn (boredom)?! Raise your eyebrows (confusion, apathy)?! I hope not because the relational core at the heart of God is what overflowed in creation and then in Christ’s coming to dwell among us. It is the delightful beauty of God shared outward with us. That’s what I get to share!
Now imagine that you’ve spent nearly 30 years trying to share that beauty with Muslim friends and followers of Jesus in the Muslim context. For Muslims, God is an absolute unity with no possibility of plurality in his majestic person. In some ways, that’s an attractive view of God as well, but it results in a God who is impervious, remote, unengaged. The Father-Son-Spirit God is a God who pursues relationships. It is His nature…always has been…always will be.
COVID has been a blessing in disguise as it has opened the possibility of teaching online. Connections came together and soon a class of practitioners from China to North Africa to Southeast Asia assembled. As the need for online classes remains, we continue to delve into the nature of this Father-Son-Spirit God focusing on why this is the good and beautiful God and why it is such good news for Muslims.
Secondly, I’ve become a close companion of Peter…that’s right, the Apostle Peter, the one who fell on his face in the boat (Luke 5), walked on the water, promised to never deny Jesus even if all the others did, denied Christ, preached Pentecost…you get the idea. That Peter.
Developed through a course I taught in Beirut, I’ve traced Peter’s journey of spiritual formation in a book titled “In Quest of the Rock.” Peter grew because he was willing to have his core beliefs confronted, challenged, and rescripted. In other words, he changed at a deep level. Jesus did that for Peter as he walked through three years of intensive discipleship. I’m convinced we all need to go through that process to discover God’s path of growth for us. Jesus engaged with Peter “in skin and bones” whereas he engages with us through the indwelling Spirit.
Langham Partnership (UK) is publishing the book and I hope it will be out by this summer. Oh, and my daughter, Beth, did the illustrations as she did for a former book (“Finding Hagar: God’s Pursuit of a Runaway”).
A journey with The Outreach Foundation to Lebanon and Syria allowed me to renew old acquaintances and make new friends. The reality that the church exists and continues to serve the surrounding society in a majority Muslim country, like Syria, intrigues and challenges me. I have hope that my ITEN affiliation may be of some use there, so I wait for God to open that door.
Finally, in 2022, I look forward to opportunities to teach students in the Arab world (an online course hosted by the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary) and in-person in Turkey (displaced Arabic speakers). Classes will be taught in Arabic in both settings.
Those are a few highlights. I’m grateful to all who pray and partner with me. Please get in touch and let me know how I can pray for you as well.
Thanks for your concern and special thanks to The Outreach Foundation for this partnership. Grateful to God for all of you!
Mike Kuhn
email: mike@globexing.com
Read more about Mike Kuhn’s ministry HERE.
THE OPPORTUNITY
The Outreach Foundation is seeking gifts to support the mission and ministry of Mike Kuhn. All gifts of any size are welcomed. You may make a gift HERE or by sending a check to our website.