The Mission Is Yours

Some thoughts on getting involved in ministry in local church and beyond...

People get involved because

1. They believe the mission is theirs and

2. That their participation in it makes a difference 

They not only believe in the mission, but they own it. They accept that it’s not just a worthwhile mission to be done by someone, but that it’s for them to participate in.

And they are motivated not just because they should (because it’s theirs) but because they see that they are needed - that their involvement isn’t just a nice thing to do that really doesn’t affect anything. No! They can see tangible ways that their life makes a positive impact.

All believers are ministers.

The apostle Peter writes to all Christians:

1 Peter 2:9

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

In the Old Testament, to put it super simply, a priest connected God with the people and the people with God. There were priests for the nation of Israel who interceded or were the “in-between” to reconcile the imperfect Israelite and the perfect God.

THEN God told the whole nation of Israelites in Exodus 19:6 that just as they had priests, a chosen group of people to connect them with God, God made them, as a whole, a priesthood to all the other nations. These Israelites had experienced the reconciling grace of God and now it was their job (the farmer, the merchant, AND the priest) to connect all people with the means to experience the same thing.

God through Peter now tells all Christians that just as Israel, as a whole, was a priesthood to the nations, we are all part of the priesthood (in the business of connecting people with God) - "to declare the praises of the one who brought us from darkness to light" – so as many people as possible can experience the same thing. (The farmer, the lawyer, the nurse AND the pastor).

The big difference now is that we don’t need to go through a priest and make sacrifices to be reconciled to God because Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice once and for all so that we could be reconciled with God permanently and have direct access.

2 Cor 5:18-20

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”

¡Party Pics!

Here are some pictures from a fun birthday party for our pianist and cool pal!

Slurping & Clapping: Cultural Observations to Take to Heart

God created humans in His image to love and adore Him back, but we return His love with rebellion as we live contrary to His will for us. So, even though the image we bear is tainted or distorted by sin, every person still bears it and that reveals itself in many ways.

A couple of the most foundational characteristics of God are love and beauty. He loves in community (always has and always will) and His beautiful creativity demands worship and praise.

Humans are designed to worship something – and every human does. On the whole, everyone worships themselves, but that can lead to secondary worshipping of some enjoyment, some person or some pursuit.

The goal of missions is to bring people back into the proper state of worshipping God as John Piper has pointed out.

But even cultures who, in large part, claim to be anything but interested in worshipping the Creator, can’t help but show fingerprints of that Designer in their customs.

Here are a couple beautifully interesting customs in Uruguay that can point to who God is and wants us to be.

Yerba Mate: Community

Mate is a strong herbal tea that is much more than a beverage. It’s served in a gourd and sipped through a straw called a bombilla. There’s etiquette and unsaid expectations when drinking mate but a couple interesting things to point out:

• While you or I might meet up and have our two separate coffees while conversing, a single gourd of mate is shared among an entire group. The owner will fill the gourd with water from her thermos that she carries around and offer it to her friend who then slurps up the entirety in one gulp and hands it back to be refilled for the next person.
• While there is great divide between generations in terms of what they do (younger people tend to live life very differently than older people do). In Uruguay, virtually everyone does this!

For me, the value of individualism in the US versus the value of the collective in Uruguay can be seen in the simple way we take our beverages when we’re with people. Both cultural values can point us to aspects of how God would like us to live as His people, but life is to be shared quite a bit more than we’re used to where I’m from. Love isn’t about keeping my bubble, my toys and my life to myself. The emphasis is on sharing what’s important – ultimately time - with people.

Sunset Applauding: Praising Beauty

A very typical Uruguayan pastime is to grab the mate and head down to the beach to watch the sunset with your friends and family. The sunsets are phenomenal here as they often involve recoloring the sky in the west, north, east and south! What’s intriguing is that Uruguayans will often applaud the sunset! That’s right – a people that is predominantly atheist and agnostic praises the beauty in the sky with outward expressions. “Who are they clapping for?” we might ask. I’m not sure what their answer would be, but their appreciation of something that, in reality, God did in His creativity, inspires me to praise His works more consistently.

So people who, on the whole do not believe, have unknowingly taught me a lot about enjoying community and enjoying God in that community. It’s inspired me to live more for the group than for my individual comfort. I’m challenged to stop to notice God’s hand and give Him the praise He deserves. I love witnessing things in other cultures that give different perspectives to add to who I am in order to be more of who God wants me to be.

Taking in the Abode

The abode

Enjoying La Rambla - the walkway along the water. [click to enlarge]

Part of my walking commute as fall comes and proceeds to winter.

Another part of my walking commute that makes my eyes think I'm in a much warmer place!

Volunteer Leadership Training at Christ Church

More hanging out with college students at La Ruta.

The SIM Uruguay team at its biggest!

People Together

There’s a reason Christ’s first greatest commandment (Love God with your all) is quickly followed by his second (Love people with your all). Can we really love God without loving people?

You’ve heard it before – we were made for community, life is better together…

And it is so true! God was a relational God within His three-person self for eternity past and He stamped that on us as we bear His image. We need others. The God who said that it’s not good for man to be alone, two are better than one and a cord of three is not easily broken…is the God who brought Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, and female together to be His one unified people.

He’s in the business of bringing people together and He works through our contact with others. That’s why I think He’s been so good at providing quality relationships in every season. It may take time when you find yourself bereft of what you knew – and it will never be the same, but He can be trusted that He knows best.

I’ve been so thankful for my developing connections with a diverse range of people. It has been especially good to be connecting a couple times a week with La Ruta, a place downtown that provides a hangout spot for college students. Here are some pictures.

Getting cookies in our mouths only using face muscles

(We won!)

Open Mic Night at Cosmopolitan Coffee Shop, a partnering ministry

I also had a blast spending time with Grace College people in Buenos Aires, Argentina! It was a great encouragement, lots of exercise walking all over the city and a cool opportunity to live a dream of successfully translating for people! I’m praying for continued growth so that I can continue to be a blessing to people in this way!