Thoughts Along The Journey

Here are some thoughts from Lisa about the Mission11 Africa conference:

“Pictures. Today was a day of pictures. I’d like to share some of those pictures with you. Walking past the rooms, with participant pictures and names on their doors, we gathered in the hall for worship, devotions and prayer.  A picture of a small, hopeful African child looked out at us from the banner on the wall.

From 1 John, we drew out principles, painting a picture of what Christian community should be like.

Next, we were asked to close our eyes and picture the time we were called into missions. What drew us into missions? What was distinctive about World Team that made us want to join up? Are those things still true? How have our ideas and ideals changed?

The next picture came in the form of a skit. Nine people on stage represented the various populations of the world: 3 representing the “Christian” (active and nominal) portion of the world, 3 representing NonChristians Within Reach of the Christians, and 3 representing the Unengaged, Unreached. Ten “missionaries” were selected from the audience to go to the 9 groups. What a sad discovery to find out that in current reality only 1 of 10 has gone to the Unengaged, Unreached group. Next, $1 in coins was distributed to the 9 populations according to current worldwide mission spending. The Unreached received only 1 penny while the other 99 cents went to the Christians and those Within Reach.

To bring this worldwide situation closer to home, we next looked at another picture. A map of Africa – our area! Red marked the countries where 50-100% of the population is unreached. Large dots showed major Unreached People Groups. Sadly, WT Africa is not yet working in any of the red countries, although we are working with some of the large dots. What a challenge! What’s our Mission Forward? How do we mobilize the Africans where we do work in order to reach out to the red countries?

More pictures. Did you know you can build community with pictures? During the women’s time, we cut out magazine pictures representing things in our lives and shared them.  (I don’t know what the men did!) After lunch, we pasted pictures of our teams and ministries on posterboards and decorated the hall, hoping to learn about each
others’ lives and ministries.

The day is almost over, but I hear that we’ll be seeing a video from one of WT’s other Areas and praying for them, spending some time in worship and ending the day with fun and games.

I hope this has given you a small picture of our day. Keep us in your prayers!”

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Each Mission11 conference is unique.  I am once again amazed by the people that God has brought into the WT community and their passion to “multiply disciples and communities of believers.”  Gathered together in Cameroon for the next few days, here are some highlights from today:

• Prayer and worship … prayer and worship … prayer and worship.  Mission11 Africa has been full of times of praise to our missional God, and prayers for the spiritual needs of the unreached here as well as in other Areas.  Tonight, WT workers here prayed for WT workers in the Americas.
• “On community” is a three session workshop looking at what it means to live in community and to experience that kind of community in a small way here.
• The WT Africa leadership team presented ideas about future project plans in light of our global vision and global currents.
• Christoph shared from Exodus 17:8ff about how community was demonstrated when Aaron and Hur “held up his [Moses] hands, one on one side and the one on the other side,” as Joshua led the people of Israel into battle; when Moses held up his hand, the people prevailed, but whenever he lowered his hand, the Amalekites prevailed.  Each member of the ‘community’ had their part to play, but together in the power of God they saw God work for His glory.  He applied this truth to us today, by pointing us to Hebrews 12:1-2, and our need as a community to help one another as we face sin in our lives and seek to be transformed by His forgiveness and grace.

More to come ….

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The Mission11 Africa conference starts today.  As we are gathered here with workers from around Africa, we ask for your prayers for this time together.

Tonight, we will be spending time in small groups praying for the spiritual needs of unreached people groups here and around the world.

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The conference started yesterday.  Here are just a few short impressions of the time together so far:

• Sixty participants including our US Sending Country Director and board members from WT International and WT UK.
• Each day begins with a significant time of prayer for one of the other Areas of World Team.  Today, the workers here prayed for the Americas.
• Joi walked participants through the CPM Roadmap, giving them opportunity to consider implications of parts of the Roadmap for their teams.
• Dick, the main speaker, began talking about “Discipleship that leads to transformation.”  He stressed how “transformation always occurs through community,” and the need for people to have others involved and
  investing in their lives.  You can check out some of his writings at: http://www.dickscoggins.com/

More later …

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