Thoughts Along The Journey

Reason number 1: As the Gospel becomes more and more central to all our affections, it will work itself out in fresh ways in our ministries.

Reason number 2: Workers are rediscovering ‘the rush’ of walking with Jesus.

Reason number 3: Experienced workers are realizing that we are moving from being doers of the ministry to equippers for the ministry.

Reason number 4: New workers are arriving in greater numbers

Over three years ago, we as a WT community began putting increased energy and effort into mobilizing new workers for our teams and ministry initiatives.  Many current workers and Support Centre staff have given time to speak and pray with prospective cross cultural workers.  The fruit of those efforts is beginning to be seen. 

What this means is that there will be more and more new workers going out to serve cross culturally with us.  These new workers will bring with them new ideas, fresh energy, different approaches and a renewed desire to serve God with gusto.  These new workers will come from different generations than our current workers.  However, it is not so much the generational differences that will create change.  It is the simple fact that new workers will look at life and ministry differently than current workers.  Those different perspectives will create a dynamic of change.

What is exciting is that these different perspectives will bring benefit to both new workers and current workers.  Current workers will assess ministry approaches from a different grid that will open up fresh ideas.  New workers will assess their approaches in the light of the experience of current workers, bringing needed refinement to new ministry ideas.

What I’m starting to hear is the excitement of current workers as they realize that new workers are coming.  What I’m praying for is that we can truly learn from one another and navigate together the changes that will occur.

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Reason number 1: As the Gospel becomes more and more central to all our affections, it will work itself out in fresh ways in our ministries.

Reason number 2: Workers are rediscovering ‘the rush’ of walking with Jesus.

Reason number 3: Experienced workers are realizing that we are moving from being doers of the ministry to equippers for the ministry.

Our strength is limited.  We learn that principle more and more every day.  As time goes by, we realize we cannot do all the activities we did five years ago.  Our time, our strength and our bandwidth is not adequate to the task. So, my ministry needs to give way to training, developing, coaching and equipping others to enter into ministry.  I multiply myself and the ministry by choosing to invest in others.

T.J. Addington put it this way: “It is no longer about what we as missionaries can do ourselves but what we can help others do in their context. Increasingly we must stand behind and alongside national workers as equippers, coaches, and encouragers rather than in front of them.  This is reflective of what Jesus intended for the church. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:11-12 that “Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”.

The application of this in missions is that workers are often trainers and equippers of others to help them do what they can do better than us in their context. Thus, in many cases, workers are no longer primarily church planters and evangelists but they are equippers and trainers of nationals in theology, church planting, holistic ministries and those ministries that contribute to the growth of the church.”

What I’m starting to hear more and more, in some of our communications, are the names of national workers engaged in CPM for whom I need to be praying.  I’m starting to hear of the mentoring and coaching that is going on between WT workers and national evangelists and pastors.  I’m starting to hear the sound of a shift from doing to equipping.

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Reason number 1: As the Gospel becomes more and more central to all our affections, it will work itself out in fresh ways in our ministries.

Reason number 2: Workers are rediscovering ‘the rush’ of walking with Jesus.

The other night I was talking with some colleagues and the comment was made: “Remember when we first went out into cross cultural ministry?  We threw everything into what we were doing.  We gave everything to Jesus.”  Behind that statement lies the feeling and the on the ground experience of ‘the rush’ of walking with Jesus.  Again and again He proved Himself faithful to what He said in His Word, and above all that He would never abandon or forsake us.

As the weeks, the months and the years go by, we become more risk averse.  We become more self sufficient as opposed to God needy.  Somehow we drift towards a more calculated than adventuresome lifestyle.

Yet God, in His grace, at different moments, comes to remind us again of what it is like to put all of our trust in Him (Proverbs 3:5-6).  When you feel that gust of the Spirit’s movement in your heart, the desire is rekindled to launch out again with Him.

I’m starting to hear that heart movement from a number of us.  And because of that rediscovery, World Team will change because we will once again become more adventuresome, more innovative, more pioneering.

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The context in which we live and work is rapidly changing.  Sometimes the speed of that change appears to increase almost exponentially.  We as a WT community are not immune to change, but we navigate this change and transition thanks to the grace of an unchangeable God.

I want to do a number of posts to walk us through ten reasons or essentials for why World Team will change in the coming months and year.

Reason number 1: As the Gospel becomes more and more central to all our affections, it will work itself out in fresh ways in our ministries.

The Gospel has a ripple effect not only in our lives, but also in our ministries.  The more our love for Christ is kindled because of a deepening grasp of His work on our behalf, the more the Gospel drives to the centre of who we are as a child of God, the more the Gospel transforms who we are and what we do. That work of the Gospel overflows into the way we minister to others.  As we lay hold again of the fact that “as we abide with Christ, we are loved by God the Father as much as He loves Jesus,” sharing that good news becomes a natural outgrowth of our walk with Him; serving others becomes an expression of our thanks to Jesus.

If our first love is Jesus, if we go deep in the Gospel and the Gospel goes deep into our hearts, then the WT community will change. As many hearts of WT community members are transformed by His Gospel, we “are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.”

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