I am in love with missionaries, it's true. I want to be one, I want to marry one, I love to hear their stories, I admire their passion, I desire their adventurous lifestyle of faith...on and on. So I was intrigued by the book Revolution in World Missions and since I could get it for free, obviously I requested a copy. I finished it this morning. Not to say that I read it all in one sitting - I've had it for several weeks, but this weekend especially God used it to deal with me about some things that I have ignored in my own life. Here are the major points He taught me this weekend:
Stewardship - it's not just about money, which I know; it's also about talents and resources and influence. And the point of all of these things is to bring glory to God by telling others about Him. If I'm not using what He's blessed me with for that purpose, I'm not being a good steward. I might as well bury it all in the ground (Matthew 25:24-30). One of the biggest things I have stewardship over is BigHouse. God has blessed me by allowing me to come and serve at BigHouse full-time. I prayed and prayed for this opportunity! But He didn't put me here for my benefit alone - I have work to do for His kingdom! We have the awesome privilege of building relationships with children and teens who are, by all practical purposes, the "least of these" in our society. We have the freedom to tell them about Jesus and set an example for them. We have the opportunity to serve their families in order to demonstrate the love of Christ. It's easy for us to get caught up in taking care of the building or planning programs and events or raising awareness for kids in foster care - all of which are important, but secondary to the reason God gave Micah and Blake the vision of BigHouse, which is to share the love of our Savior with those who have not been shown love.
God has reminded me that we need to be intentional with every interaction we have with strangers. We need to prepare our minds for action (1 Peter 1:13), be clear-minded and self-controlled (1 Peter 4:7), make the most of every opportunity (Ephesians 5:16, Colossians 4:5), always be prepared to give an answer (1 Peter 3:15), and love each other deeply (1 Peter 4:8).
Pride - this comes up a lot for me. In this book, K.P. Yohannan talks a lot about the wastefulness of the Western Christian world in comparison with the needs of the Two-Thirds World, as well as the inefficiency of sending Western missionaries to Eastern countries when Eastern missionaries can spread the gospel more efficiently. He did not say that there is not a place for Western missionaries in Eastern countries - obviously God has called and continues to call Christians from the United States and elsewhere to the mission field in Asia. Don't worry, there's plenty of work to go around! But I felt very defensive reading his argument for national missionaries (vs sending foreign missionaries). Basically he's saying, "You don't need to come over here, we have our own missionaries, we just need you to give your prayerful and financial support." The thing is, if that is how the Holy Spirit is working in Asia (and it sounds like it's working fine), then yes, we should support it. And instead of getting our pride hurt, we need to reevaluate our work in the mission field God has given us here - in our neighborhoods, cities, states, and across the nation. Obviously we're not doing all that we can here. We need to take the plank out of our own eye and step up to the task that we've been given.
So I want to encourage you to examine your own life - the time, resources, talents, and influence that God has equipped you with, and allow Him to reveal the areas of your life that need to be surrendered to Him, so that you can be useful in the body of Christ.
"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: 'He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.'" 2 Corinthians 9:8-9
