Relate Spirituality with Buddhism and Christianity

A believer respects and honors all spirituality:
For a true Believer and Spiritualist, all religions preach the need for mankind to seek God and His forgiveness for our sins on earth, known and unknown.  A true believer is one who has immense and abiding faith in all religions, even outside his own. A true Christian also believes in Buddhism and Christianity, among other faiths, and also in the Gospels preached by Gautama Buddha and Lord Jesus Christ and his devout disciples and followers after him. A true Buddhist would not condemn, or deride Christianity just as a good Christian would not demean Buddhism, or any other religion; if he does so, he is not a true believer but a kafir, or non believer.

Introduction:
In this article, its author proposes to first examine the salient doctrines and teachings of Lord Gautama Buddha (Buddhism)  and also our Lord Jesus Christ ( Christianity) before considering the deeper aspects of spiritual quintessential of both Buddhism and Christianity and how it underpins and buttresses these major ad wonderful faiths, ardently practiced not only in their respective countries of origin, but in different parts of the world, and whose believers are only amassing with each passing day.

Supreme Being versus Supreme State:
As a matter of fact, Buddhism could be traced back to 361 BC when it first began known to exist in teachings of the Buddha to his disciplines. Another aspect about Buddhism, one of the oldest religions known on earth, is that it is indeed different and distinct from other religions. While other religions speak of the Supreme Being, Creator, seen as the Ultimate God, this religion considers the realization of a Supreme State, or Nirvana as of paramount importance. Thus, the essence in Buddhist docrination is not about individuals, or beings, but states of consciousness and spiritual awakening.  Another differentiation about Buddhism is that it attached more emphasis on the doing aspect, rather than on theorism, ritualism and spiritual practices. Other religious are more society bound, while Buddhism is individualistically bound. However, this is not to delude the other religions, since both Buddhism and other religions have the goal of realizing Ultimate Reality, only the paths followed to gain the Ultimate Reality may be different, depending on religious moorings and cultural impacts underlying them.

Christ’s resurrection is a essential part of Christian spirituality:
Coming to the theological aspects of Christianity, it is seen as one in which God, through Jesus Christ, seeks the redemption of sufferings, pains and torment in this world by taking the sufferings of mankind as his own, which leads on to his cruxification. The Resurrection of the Lord, “He is arisen” offers the glimmer of the salvation, redemption and hope for distressed mankind, and well answers the question of whether there is still salvation for tormented and distressed human souls. Indeed the essence of Christian spirituality has much to do with how humans could inculcate and practice the virtues of forgiveness, humility, chastity, altruism and humanistic sentiments to all living beings on Earth, to absorb the evils of others and purge their sins with one’s virtues and goodness.

Eight-Fold Path- essence of Buddhist spirituality:
It is now necessary to consider spiritual aspects of Buddhism which is essentially based on following the Eight –Fold path in terms of complete understanding, or vision, emotional control, control over speech, right and harmless actions, honest and ethical livelihood, due diligence, full awareness and mental consciousness and finally, being totally focused and full of concentrated energies.

Ultimate Spiritual Truths common to both Buddhism and Christianity: 
Buddhism, being essentially an empirical religion which dispenses with ritualism and idol worship, considers the self as most important and which constantly needs to seek and fulfill self purification through words, deeds and actions. It is based on the Ultimate Spiritual Truth that this world is full of sufferings and pain, humans would need to first find the roots and causes of their pains, identify what could end human sufferings, and seek freedom and redemption, or salvation from them through earnest and dedicated practice of the Eight fold Path. Christianity advocates abandoning the path of sin for peace, progression and spiritual prosperity.

Indeed, the spiritual teachings of Buddhism and Christianity have much in common.

Both advocate that -
1. Human sins are the cause of pains and sufferings in this material world
2. We need to seek deliverance through prayers, propitiation and surrender to the Lord
3. God, in his ultimate goodness and purity, would forgive our sins if we are truly repentant
4. The true way for redemption is to seek out the Lord and beseech Him
5. Materialistic desires are the main causes for human unhappiness and wants.
6. If we are to gain blessings of God we need to follow the Eight-Fold Path and honor the Ten Commandments.
7. Our happiness is self deterministic and no externalities can be the cause of our own sorrows, pains tribulations and sufferings.
8. We have to seek the truth within ourselves and not from the external world

4 Creative Ways to Improve Your Missions and Christian Ministry

Do you have a charming Church that fails to attract a lot of followers? Adding up to the trouble, what if the pastors have resigned! Here is a guide with creative ministry ideas that make the process seamless and help students grow spiritually. Not only does cutting edge technology help build a solid ministry, but it also helps young people in learning many things from the church.

Know What to Avoid

The way you present your mission, matters a lot! So, focus on the presentation, and ensure that it portrays that it’s going to offer a lot of educational benefits. There are motivations and messages that tailor kids at a good level, so that missions sound very rewarding rather than sounding like a burden!

You are running a church that helps students learn disciplinary activities and it isn’t about money always. Projects should encourage student participation and it shouldn’t turn down their confidence level. Your mission should focus on what students can learn from your ministry, rather than focusing merely on the money part! Asking parents/guardians to be fundraisers may seem to be a tempting approach, but it can limit your missionary approach at the same time.

Mission education should not overwhelm kids; it shouldn’t be like a guilt trip. There are many approaches to illustrate real world scenario to kids, without horrifying them. Ensure that your plan is age-specific to tone up their confidence level; young kids can learn to serve their friends circle or family, but the whole concept of mission seems like an abstract to them in most cases.

Some young students can understand it, but need to get habituated to serving their family that sets lifelong values. You can also include missionaries according to the concerned country. Learning individual nations and their interesting history can bridge the gap. Highlight overseas missions education; however, you should not try to manipulate their interest.

Mission Education Isn’t Just About Discussing Foreign Missionaries

Teaching only about foreign missionaries can create a wrong sentiment that your nation is not so well-built and hence, you need to teach them about serving both local and overseas. If you want your church and students to reach out to everyone, set a mission to present kids with a balanced view of goals. You should teach them the importance of bridge builders. The bridge has to be built through spiritual formation and humble services as well as effective outreach. Both personal evangelism and overseas missions help in bridging the world.

Discipline in Movements

It involves getting Jesus followers and new churches across the world; in many countries, it is considered as the new beginning of biblical principles that include discipline incorporated into ministry and daily life.

The mission education should comprise engaging activities that help students, the especially young children, understand what God’s servants are doing across the globe. The discipline making movements can make your ministry more valuable than you’d have ever thought!

You need to make them understand what they are doing on the mission; give them some liberty, letting them be the messenger of Jesus. Like any other educational institution, teach the kids so that they understand their abilities and talents, and eventually utilize them few years down the line.

“Think service, Think Exciting, and Think Fun”

Look for methods that can get the kids actively involved in missions. Missionary education is important, as it improves kid’s faith and ability, and

·        It helps them to see what’s happening in the outside world other than what they see in the daily news headlines.
·         It teaches them how to pray for others.
·         It teaches them how to forgive and share things.
·         It gives them a clear picture of how Christ is at work to serve the world constantly
·         It creates awareness

Guest speakers and visuals in the church usually have a very strong impression on kids…Church is the best place to grasp some long-term, international focus of mission, so you need to make use of the latest technology like Internet, and video conferencing to communicate with the world. Internet is the easiest way to exchange a few words with others.

Balance Efficiency and Effectiveness

Learn to what extent have the children in your Church managed to achieve the goals. Have you ever tooled any actions when your organization failed to achieve goals? What constraints affected the most and what actions your ministry took to address them?

Ask these questions to yourself to get better insight into effectiveness and efficiency in your church. Build clear development plans and major gifts program to motivate children.

Look at the mission’s content to make it productive and create organizational chart to see what’s been happening over the years in ministry.