Showing posts with label mission. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mission. Show all posts
Monday, June 4, 2012
Fear Not
Isaiah 41:10 (NIV) "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
This verse became the theme for the team of people from our church who went into a psychic fair for the very first time. Yes, you read correctly, we went into a psychic fair. We were taking Isaiah 41:10 to the people we met but it turned out the verse was as much for us as it was for the people we met at the fair.
We went, not knowing what to expect but with the belief that it was what God wanted us to do. Our goal at the fair was simple, we were to share God's love and encourage people to let go of the worries and stress in their lives.
For over a year our church has been praying and planning for the fair. People in our church donated money so we could book the stalls, people gave their time to make knotted bracelets, (which had the Isaiah verse on them) another person made a mountain of cross-stitch crosses. A person in our church is a reflexologist, (This person had the original vision) and was able to teach team members how to massage. Many people prayed. It was a church effort!
For us, as a church, it was a new and unknown step. We didn't know what to expect or what the outcomes would be. There were uncertainties and doubts and even fear at times. We didn't know if people would come to our stall or not. We didn't know if people would want to talk to Christians. We didn't know if we would say the right things. We had to trust God.
We were amazed at the response. People came for massage, for healing, for prayer, for answers and for a listening ear. They wondered why we would want to be there and not make money - everything we offered was free. They were surprised that the church had a spiritual element and wasn't just a charity. They were confused that a church would give massages. They were open to love of God. We trusted God.
It seems that whenever we try to bless others God blesses us as well and if the blessing we feel as a church is any indicator of how blessed people felt after visiting our stall then I think we were able to achieve our goal.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Thailand
My excuse for not blogging for awhile is that I was on a mission trip to Thailand!!
This was my first 'real' mission trip. I have been overseas before and I have been overseas as a representative of the church but I have never been to such remote areas before. I have to admit that although I enjoy learning about other cultures and trying new foods I still like the comforts of my own bed! I am not a fan of 'roughing it' or camping....
We started the trip in comfort. Our team of 8 flew from Adelaide on Singapore airlines; which is my favourite airline. We spent two nights in Singapore, getting to know each other and enjoying the sights of Singapore, and then flew to Chiang Mai.
That was where the 'rubber hit the road'. We learned quickly that seat belts aren't as important in Thailand, and that sitting in the back of a ute was part of everyday life. We had to get used to the dogs, chickens and ducks that wandered around the village and the roosters that formed an impromptu choir at 4am every morning. Squat toilets, rice at every meal and the daily community announcements at 6am were reminders that home was a long flight away.
However, as we started to make friends with the people we stayed with and the people in the villages we visited the culture shock diminished. We were amazed by the hospitality of people and their willingness to invite complete strangers into their homes. When we visited a village of "yellow leaf people" we realised how different we were as some the children were visibly shaking when we entered their homes. Even with uncertainty, they still welcomed us.
This trip helped me to realise something about mission that I hadn't thought of before. Mission trips aren't about building things. Often I hear about mission trips where schools or churches or houses are built and there is almost an expectation that a mission team will report back with an accomplishment of a finished building. In Thailand we helped to build a church but, it turned out, that wasn't the main point of the trip. I felt the most important thing we did while in Thailand was to continue to build relationships with our partners in Thailand and to offer encouragement and support to the Pastors and leaders of those partnerships.
Relationship building isn't a tangible outcome like building a church so it's harder to report back to the church what the team has done while in Thailand. What I saw in Thailand were leaders and Pastors doing their best to respond to the call that God had placed on their lives. They encouraged other leaders and people in remote villages with very little support and encouragement for themselves. They faithfully serve God and serve people but it is lonely to be in ministry in Northern Thailand where there aren't many Christians and there are many varied religious beliefs. As a team we were able to worship with the leaders and Pastors as well as the people in the villages. We gave them words of encouragement and listened to their ministry experiences. We laughed and cried, we sang songs of praise to God and we prayed. I think this is where our partnership really makes a difference.
It's amazing how quickly friendships are formed while on a mission trip. When you take into consideration language barriers, comfort zone barriers and cultural barriers you might assume friendships are hard to form. However, when your barriers are down and you are open to God's leading then what would normally seem a block to friendships forming actually help form friendships. One morning I was with a woman who didn't speak English and being from a small village, didn't speak fluent central Thai.(not that I can speak Thai) She was reading her bible and through a variety of motions asked me to sit with her and join her bible study. She would show me what she was reading then I would try to recognise the book in her index and then try to find the correlating book in my bible. When I found the book I thought was the one she was reading I would then double check by looking at how many verses were in the chapter she was reading. If they matched I hoped we were reading the same verses!
This may not be as practical as building a church but the memories and the friendships formed are exciting. It is the partnership we have between our church in Adelaide and the churches and home church in Thailand and the people in the villages that will have a Kingdom impact. We came home changed people. We learned things about ourselves we didn't know, we found inner strength we didn't know we had and we learned to trust in God, perhaps more than we had before. We went there thinking we would bless others and yet we found we were the ones being constantly blessed.
This was my first 'real' mission trip. I have been overseas before and I have been overseas as a representative of the church but I have never been to such remote areas before. I have to admit that although I enjoy learning about other cultures and trying new foods I still like the comforts of my own bed! I am not a fan of 'roughing it' or camping....
We started the trip in comfort. Our team of 8 flew from Adelaide on Singapore airlines; which is my favourite airline. We spent two nights in Singapore, getting to know each other and enjoying the sights of Singapore, and then flew to Chiang Mai.
That was where the 'rubber hit the road'. We learned quickly that seat belts aren't as important in Thailand, and that sitting in the back of a ute was part of everyday life. We had to get used to the dogs, chickens and ducks that wandered around the village and the roosters that formed an impromptu choir at 4am every morning. Squat toilets, rice at every meal and the daily community announcements at 6am were reminders that home was a long flight away.
However, as we started to make friends with the people we stayed with and the people in the villages we visited the culture shock diminished. We were amazed by the hospitality of people and their willingness to invite complete strangers into their homes. When we visited a village of "yellow leaf people" we realised how different we were as some the children were visibly shaking when we entered their homes. Even with uncertainty, they still welcomed us.
This trip helped me to realise something about mission that I hadn't thought of before. Mission trips aren't about building things. Often I hear about mission trips where schools or churches or houses are built and there is almost an expectation that a mission team will report back with an accomplishment of a finished building. In Thailand we helped to build a church but, it turned out, that wasn't the main point of the trip. I felt the most important thing we did while in Thailand was to continue to build relationships with our partners in Thailand and to offer encouragement and support to the Pastors and leaders of those partnerships.
Relationship building isn't a tangible outcome like building a church so it's harder to report back to the church what the team has done while in Thailand. What I saw in Thailand were leaders and Pastors doing their best to respond to the call that God had placed on their lives. They encouraged other leaders and people in remote villages with very little support and encouragement for themselves. They faithfully serve God and serve people but it is lonely to be in ministry in Northern Thailand where there aren't many Christians and there are many varied religious beliefs. As a team we were able to worship with the leaders and Pastors as well as the people in the villages. We gave them words of encouragement and listened to their ministry experiences. We laughed and cried, we sang songs of praise to God and we prayed. I think this is where our partnership really makes a difference.
It's amazing how quickly friendships are formed while on a mission trip. When you take into consideration language barriers, comfort zone barriers and cultural barriers you might assume friendships are hard to form. However, when your barriers are down and you are open to God's leading then what would normally seem a block to friendships forming actually help form friendships. One morning I was with a woman who didn't speak English and being from a small village, didn't speak fluent central Thai.(not that I can speak Thai) She was reading her bible and through a variety of motions asked me to sit with her and join her bible study. She would show me what she was reading then I would try to recognise the book in her index and then try to find the correlating book in my bible. When I found the book I thought was the one she was reading I would then double check by looking at how many verses were in the chapter she was reading. If they matched I hoped we were reading the same verses!
This may not be as practical as building a church but the memories and the friendships formed are exciting. It is the partnership we have between our church in Adelaide and the churches and home church in Thailand and the people in the villages that will have a Kingdom impact. We came home changed people. We learned things about ourselves we didn't know, we found inner strength we didn't know we had and we learned to trust in God, perhaps more than we had before. We went there thinking we would bless others and yet we found we were the ones being constantly blessed.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Beyond Sunday
I have been in my placement for just over three months. I am aware that it's not a good idea to make too many changes in the first year, let alone the first three months. It has been interesting to hear people in the congregation say changes have happened just because my style of leadership is different to the previous Minister. Of course those changes I haven't really been aware of as I wasn't in the church when the previous Minister was there. However, I am conscious there are changes that I know have happened that I have either started or been part of, not out of deliberately changing things but as part of what I think, is a natural flow.
One of those changes is the segment in our order of service which we have named "Beyond Sunday". (Which is also the inspiration for the name of this blog :-))It started out as part of our Mission Month focus where we heard from people each week who had either recently been on a mission trip, about to go on a Mission trip or who were part of a local mission experience. We then heard from someone who talked about mission in their work place, and there was such a positive response to hearing what someone was doing in their every day life that we felt it was important that others were also able to tell their own experiences. This is a way we can encourage people in our congregation and acknowledge that people don't have to go overseas to be in mission. Mission can happen wherever we are.It is also an opportunity to encourage people as they seek to be missional in their own work/family/school context.
Beyond Sunday has also proven to be a good communication tool. Our weekly groups, such as playgroups, small groups, fellowship groups have the opportunity to share with the wider congregation what they are doing and encourage others to join in or support what is happening during the week. It's much more exciting hearing someone tell their experiences than reading a snippet in the Sunday newsletter.
Having a Beyond Sunday spot also encourages people to see our Sunday service as a celebration of what God has been doing the rest of the week. As a Minister of a church it is easy to make Sunday the focus as many hours are spent preparing for Sunday. There's a sermon to prepare, there are meetings with coordinators of the teams that are involved in the Sunday service, and Sunday is the one chance a whole week where Minister's have the opportunity to remind the congregation of the church's vision, so energy is put into making sure that is communicated well. Meanwhile, the rest of the congregation are busy being the church during the week and focused on what is happening Monday to Saturday. As a church we can celebrate together the fact that God is with us all the time and not just on Sunday, in church.
For me personally, Beyond Sunday helps me to get to know people and know what their interests and passions are. It's great to hear people's enthusiasm for what they are doing in the week and hear their stories of how God has lead them to a specific project or mission.
One of those changes is the segment in our order of service which we have named "Beyond Sunday". (Which is also the inspiration for the name of this blog :-))It started out as part of our Mission Month focus where we heard from people each week who had either recently been on a mission trip, about to go on a Mission trip or who were part of a local mission experience. We then heard from someone who talked about mission in their work place, and there was such a positive response to hearing what someone was doing in their every day life that we felt it was important that others were also able to tell their own experiences. This is a way we can encourage people in our congregation and acknowledge that people don't have to go overseas to be in mission. Mission can happen wherever we are.It is also an opportunity to encourage people as they seek to be missional in their own work/family/school context.
Beyond Sunday has also proven to be a good communication tool. Our weekly groups, such as playgroups, small groups, fellowship groups have the opportunity to share with the wider congregation what they are doing and encourage others to join in or support what is happening during the week. It's much more exciting hearing someone tell their experiences than reading a snippet in the Sunday newsletter.
Having a Beyond Sunday spot also encourages people to see our Sunday service as a celebration of what God has been doing the rest of the week. As a Minister of a church it is easy to make Sunday the focus as many hours are spent preparing for Sunday. There's a sermon to prepare, there are meetings with coordinators of the teams that are involved in the Sunday service, and Sunday is the one chance a whole week where Minister's have the opportunity to remind the congregation of the church's vision, so energy is put into making sure that is communicated well. Meanwhile, the rest of the congregation are busy being the church during the week and focused on what is happening Monday to Saturday. As a church we can celebrate together the fact that God is with us all the time and not just on Sunday, in church.
For me personally, Beyond Sunday helps me to get to know people and know what their interests and passions are. It's great to hear people's enthusiasm for what they are doing in the week and hear their stories of how God has lead them to a specific project or mission.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)