Luke 10:2
And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go…………
Late last year both the Board and the pastoral team felt stirred to set aside a month each year to focus our attention on Missions. It has been a foundational commitment, backed with action, as a church to financially support Missionaries in the field and to send people out, both short and long term. And yet, as with many long held commitments that keep ticking along, we can get complacent. It’s in place, we are ticking that box, and so we become less aware on a day to day basis of the needs of our Missionaries and indeed of the mandate on us as believers to both pray and go.
And so March is Missions month in 2017.
We have a number of “our Missionaries” coming to share with us in March, orchestrated by God to coincide with our set missions month rather than our exceptional planning, I might add. Take time this month to become familiar with who we support as a church, the people groups they are called to serve, their needs and situations. We have a notice board dedicated to missions giving updates in our foyer. Seek God as to how you might support them from your means, be that financial, in prayer, or in practise.
But can I encourage you not to stop there. We cannot tick the box of going into the world proclaiming the gospel and making disciples with a church program or even by making a missions donations. (Not that these things are bad) We, as His people are the sent ones, each one of us.
In John 20:21 He says, “as the Father sent me, I send you.” We are sent ones because our Father is the sender and the heart of mission involves living out who we are as God’s people. It is not the role of the church as an organisation to be missional, it is the call of God’s people to be missional.
You may or may not be appointed and sent to Thailand, or Mozambique or India or South Africa or Papua New Guinea but as sent ones you do carry the Kingdom into workplaces, places of education, your children’s school, your family, and the places in your community that God leads you.
One of my favourite songs at the moment, “For the one” a new release by Jenn Johnson says
Let all my life, tell of who You are
And the wonder of, Your never-ending love
Let all my life, tell of who You are
You're wonderful, and such a good Father
Pray and Go
Kathryn