I praise the Lord for having the opportunity to learn about mission from a brother who has put forth enormous amounts of effort in order that he may spread the Gospel in the name of Jesus. Today, a dear friend presented an idea to me that rocked my world. This learning is auxiliary.
In the Trinity, we have all the support we need. This is not to say that being mentored and taught by mature Christians is not valuable; it is wonderfully important, but not crucial. Allow me to clarify. God’s will is most certainly going to be carried out no matter how much of a blundering idiot I am, not to say I should go blunder about without diligence and prayer, but I was confronted and convicted of a mindset that I need to KNOW everything before I could be commissioned, which is not the case.
We need Jesus Christ, we need God, we need the Holy Spirit, and nothing else. (Do I truly believe this in my heart? No, not yet, but I strive to reach this point.) The fact that as young people, we have been blessed with the opportunity to be trained in mission is delightful! But this is no excuse to sit idly at school, surrounded by peers and sinners (myself included), theorizing about the Missio Dei and not taking action. We are called to mission now; we are called to stand witness to the Kingdom of God today! Not tomorrow, not after we complete the final paper and receive our mark. The world does not wait to send its message, why are we?
Apart from dependence on God and sensitivity to His will, we are merely a group of children that seek to please God for the wrong reasons. Friends, let us learn with our hearts in the right place. Let us inquire of God about the things He wants us to do, the places He wants us to step out, where He wants us to serve. What is holding us back?
-Emilie O.
This is great Emilie. It expresses very well what I have been feeling for quite a while. I often times feel stuck because I have to be at school. But I am reminded over and over that I am still working out God’s plan while at Whitworth. I just often struggle with how. I would be overjoyed to see this class lead to us as students really living out the missio dei and not just talking about it. Maybe that is something to pray about: maybe God has brought us all together so that we can step out into doing as a group. Let me know what you all think.
-Jeremiah
These are great thoughts. I have thought quite a bit about how to apply these missional principles daily at a school like Whitworth. I think it is easy for someone like me to take a quick look around and only see Christians or think that everyone is fine. There are needs at a school like Whitworth, we simply need to look intently. I don’t have the answers but I hope I start looking and listening.
So encouraging, Emilie. Hear hear!!