By Valerie (“urban farming” in NYC)
Thinking back to my twenties as a “wanna-be missionary” this is what I remember: I didn’t know how to take the first step towards missions. Printed materials from various agencies were a blur to me…they all looked the same. Everything sounded great, how should I choose where to go? Missions seemed like something waiting within the vague future of my life.
But in my twenties, I also remember people who talked to me about taking practical steps toward the field. I remember people who spoke with passion about their ministries and made me want to join them. I remember people who displayed a mature Christ-like character that made me want to be mentored by them. I remember people who saw potential in me for reaching the nations.
PEOPLE cultivated me for missions. It was a long road, but it paid off! How can YOU do the same?
GO and FARM:
- Prayerfully CHOOSE three people (units) that you know right now.
- PLAN for regular contact with them, via phone/skype/email/home assignment/etc.
- PRAY for them to join your team.
- COACH them to take practical steps forward.
- SHARE YOUR PASSION about your ministry, and your hardships too.
- BE CLEAR that you see potential in them for your ministry. Communicate your vision for them and the value you see in them!
No one is ready to join your team the moment that you meet them. Stop waiting for perfection and work with whom God has given to you now. Take a risk. Invest in lives over time, pray for results. We cannot afford to waste time now that may generate a new crop of missionaries in the future!
Filed under: Tool Box |
Thoughts Along The Journey 
I really liked this post and it got me thinking about memory/remembering as a dynamic.
We usually associate remembering/memory with the brain and intellect. But in the idiom of the Bible, memory is a function of the heart. As such, remembering is a powerful mobilizer.
As Christians, our identity and direction is shaped by the heart-function of remembering. (We are called to interpret our present in light of the past faithfulness of God.) Remembering is what draws us near to God and together in worship.
Recalling who God is but forgetting to glorify Him as such (Rom. 1:21) is “rebellion concentrate”. This sort of forgetfulness wanders willfully from God. Those who do so become desperate for fame, desperate to be memorable, desperate become what they are not: the forever God.
But God-remembering people are by no means forgettable people.
The writer of Hebrews 13:7-8 traces the Christian legacy to its forever Source: “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Mobilization must remain in this vein.