Embracing The Change

This Thanksgiving holiday I walked into an empty house , all alone , carrying grocery bags and an overnight bag for the weekend. A house that once was full of Christmas music , joking, laughing , fighting (hahaha) , and the kitchen where we cooked for an army was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Proceeding to prepare my families signature broccoli  rice casserole that we bring every thanksgiving I began thinking emoting. BEWARE , we are talking about the girl who can count the number of times she has cried and rarely shows any signs of extreme emotions or feelings. I begin to tear up. I know what your thinking , what a weirdo to cry over a casserole. I'm with you , seriously  hahaha what's my problem? You this time of year and all the traditions it holds are significantly missing , and or changing right before my very eyes. Working through how to process a change or transition that i am in fact very much so looking forward to but at the same time is the hardest thing to do.

This was going to be the last holiday season that my entire family will be in the same place living out the same traditions as a family that we have created for the past 24 years of my life. While my younger sister has plans to start her own family this summer and my youngest sister moves off to begin college adventures the holidays will never ever be the same. This is a time in history iv only dreamed and imagined but here i am right smack in the middle of a reality. Yet my last Thanksgiving as I know it is being spent  without my family.


As human beings we hate , and avoid change with every fiber of our being. We look for every way around, over , or under it. We struggle to know how to funtion and adapt when thrown out  of our comfort zone and thrust into the unknown. We panic , desire to go back , and hold on to anything familiar to us even if it's not healthy for us. So often change is for our good and becomes a new normal after some time. The life of a Christian is one that needs to be marked by frequent change and progression. When Christ  saves us and calls us to Himself we encounter the gratest change in the world. He takes our filthy rags and clothes us in His robs of righteousness. We go from being dead to alive. From being broken to made whole. It dosnt stop there , no our life is continually going through change by the process of sanctification  where the Lord over the course of our life is shaping  us into the glorious image of His Son Jesus.

I am so grateful that my Jesus does not just  leave me in the place He found me but that He calls me to a life marked by constant change. While He Himself never changes or shifts , He leads us to follow Him through trials , triumph and open doors that all lead to making us more like Him as we show those around us the love and beauty of the Savior. Father this year would give us the strength to follow You closely no matter what life holds , may we be found faithful to embrace a life of change as you daily sanctify and refine us. We say all we have for all that You are!!

Missions Mondays Spotlight

Well its Monday AGAIN!! And that means another missions moment where we look at some ministries around the world that are specifically working with children, orphans, and families. This week I decided to shine the spotlight on more then one since I may have missed a monday or two in the beginning of the month. All these ministries hold a special place in my heart and cannot wait to be able to work with each of them further in the future as they continue to labor and harvest for the Kingdom. Check them out below and keep all the staff in prayer as they battle for souls on a daily basis. 

ABIDE MISSION:
Our goal is to reduce the number of children in orphanages in Uganda.  Abide family Center firmly believes that poverty should never be the reason children are separated from their families.  



RAFIKI MISSION:

This is the ministry of my Aunt and Uncle Enis. I love these people so much and so blessed by the faithfulness and dedication of their giving of their lives to serve on the field. They work tirelessly educating and caring for over 100 orphans, raising up Godly men and woman for the kingdom.





ROWAN MISSION:
To love & empower orphans & widows infected or affected by HIV & AIDS in Uganda through education, medical care and treatment, spiritual nourishment and business training, resulting in self-reliance. ROWAN partners with local Christian leaders & development organizations empowering each person to discover their God-given gifts & passions. Together, we assess quality of life, identify physical, spiritual & social needs & implement innovative strategies to meet these needs within the community.

What Does Reaching the "Unreached" Mean??

Great article that I found. Love the way it views the meaning of reaching unreached people groups and what that looks like in reality. It provided tons of clarity as I have been wrestling with this topic in the calling of my own heart to missions. 

Jesus gave the Great Commission to his church almost 2,000 years ago. He clearly instructed us to make disciples in every people group, to baptize them, and to teach them to obey everything he has commanded. After all these years, more than half of the world’s people groups remain unreached, representing more than one-third of the world’s population. The challenge to reach every people group as quickly as possible resonates in our hearts and prayers, and reverberates in missions conferences. We must reach the unreached because no one can be saved without the gospel.

But subsequent questions easily divide and distract us in our efforts to obey the Great Commission. What does it mean to reach the unreached? What does a reached group look like? And does a people group need any more missionaries once they are reached? Should I feel guilty or mistaken if I believe God is calling me to a group that some consider reached? Discussions about such questions often become more emotional than missiological.

The definition that missiologists often use to describe the term “unreached” is something along the lines of those ethnolinguistic people groups whose population is less than 2 percent evangelical, or those groups without a sufficiently strong presence of New Testament churches or numbers of Christians who could carry on the work without outside help. This percentage metric was devised by missiologists simply to have a commonly embraced benchmark to assist them in talking about levels of evangelical Christianity in various missions contexts. However, it was quickly adopted more broadly as a useful way of discerning which groups had the least presence of Christianity and therefore priority targets for missionaries. Indeed, some even used it to decide where missionaries should go to serve, and when others should leave ministries and redeploy elsewhere.

Certainly those groups with populations that are less than 2 percent evangelical must hear the gospel, and we should use all haste to reach them. Carl F. H. Henry said that the gospel is only good news if it gets there in time. Sadly, for about 50,000 people in unreached people groups every day, it does not.

Crucial Questions and Answers

Still, many questions remain unanswered. If a group is more than 2 percent evangelical, that is if it is not unreached, may we call it "reached"? Does reached mean that missionaries should not be there, that the work is considered complete and should be handed off to nationals? What about people groups that have been saturated in animism or some false world religion for centuries that subsequently embrace a gospel presentation? Haiti comes to mind—though the majority claim to be believers, a greater majority still practice voodoo. One thinks of Rwanda that had more than 90 percent baptized Christians when the worst genocide our age has known broke out; almost 1 million were slaughtered by other "reached" Christians. The lifelong task of discipleship should indeed be handed off to the national church, but only after they have been discipled.

Certainly most would agree that faithful obedience to the Great Commission and reaching the unreached is more than a matter of speaking the gospel message and moving on. But how much more? Jesus answered that question. He said to teach them to obey all he has commanded. That statement must not be abbreviated. The task of the Great Commission cannot be compared to running through a large darkened building, flipping on a few switches and announcing that they now have light even though thousands of other rooms leave most people in darkness. If that is all one understands reaching the unreached to mean, then we must agree that the great tragedy of the world today is not that it is unreached, but that it is undiscipled.

We have unintentionally created the erroneous perception that missions equals reaching the unreached. If one’s efforts consist of flipping on light switches and then hurrying to the next darkened room, that is not the Great Commission; it’s only half of what we have been commanded to do. Jesus said we are to teach them to observe all that he has commanded.

What, then, is missions all about? We are to strive to know God and to make him known. We are to reach the unreached and teach the disciples. The role of the Western missionary is often seen to be simply reaching the unreached, flipping on light switches, then leaving the discipling and teaching task to the national church. However, when the national church has not received deep discipleship, theological education, or pastoral training, the teaching cannot be handed off to them. The 1 Timothy 3 admonition that a pastor should be apt to teach does not just mean that he knows how to teach, it also means that he knows what to teach.

Teach Them Sound Doctrine

God has greatly blessed the churches of the West with centuries of Christian reflection on revealed truth. Western theologians and biblical scholars stand on the shoulders of all those who came before them, incorporating the insights revealed and lessons learned from schisms and heresies. All that God has providentially allowed or sent, and the ways that he has sovereignly guided the Western church, has resulted in what we Western believers understand evangelical Christianity to be. Wise stewardship must not treat this heritage lightly but should seek to share it in ways that are biblically faithful and culturally appropriate so that others may know. The core principle of discipleship is that the one who knows teaches the one who does not know (1 Tim. 2:2).

Every people group must have the Bible in a language they can understand. They should have biblically qualified and trained pastors. They should have their own theologians and authors who are well-equipped to reflect on the Scriptures in the context of their people’s worldview and write in their heart language. But this ideal world will not exist until we obey our commission to disciple disciplers, train trainers, and teach teachers. Nationals will one day be the best teachers, theologians, authors, and preachers for their national church—but only after they have been prepared. The background developed through generations of being steeped in pagan worldviews and false religions does not evaporate on praying a prayer of salvation. This is why Christ commanded us to disciple them.

Unchanging Truth in a Changing Culture

My grandfather taught my dad much about life, and my dad embraced this teaching, improved upon some of it, and then adapted it to the new methodologies of his generation before teaching me. Likewise, I learned their values and primary lessons but made adjustments to the world I live in to practice their wisdom faithfully. Many of the missionaries who brought the gospel to Europe had studied the writings of the early church fathers and learned from previous generations, but they made adjustments to embrace new languages and worldviews without changing the gospel. Music and liturgies the missionaries had learned in their past were often ineffective on newer mission fields. The Christianity that came to the New World continued to adapt and morph, but it has remained faithful to the original Word once for all delivered to the saints.

When missionaries share translated books, sermons, and lessons with peoples who have yet to prepare their own, they are not theological imperialists or imposing their particular beliefs on others. They are faithfully sharing truth they have learned with the full knowledge that their hearers will do the same. Reaching the unreached is a lifelong process. The pioneer missionary may begin the process and then change his approach to meet the evolving needs for the rest of his life, or he may plant a church and invite others to come behind him to do the deep discipleship and pastoral training. Teaching those we reach is not an optional component of missions. When Jesus said to teach them all he has commanded, he is saying, “Tell them all that I told you.”

Lost people of the world must hear the gospel to be saved. That is true whether they are in an unreached people group or not. Lost people in reached people groups are still lost, and everyone who dies in a lost condition will go to hell for eternity. Their only hope is to hear the gospel and repent. The task of missions is not simply to reach the unreached, allowing every missionary to define what that means for himself; it is reaching the lost and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded.

David Sills serves as professor of missions and cultural anthropology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and is president of Reaching & Teaching International Ministries. Sills has also served with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in Ecuador as as church planter and general evangelist among the Highland Quichua people in the Andes, and as a seminary professor at the Ecuadorian Baptist Theological Seminary. He also served as rector and professor of the Baptist seminary as a missionary with Global Outreach International.






http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/missions-doesnt-stop-when-group-reached

National Adoption Month

I am in love with the month of November for many different reasons. First of all its the beginning of fall , all things cozy and warm. We can finally pull out the handful of sweaters that us Sandiegans own!! Secondly it holds one of my favorite holidays. Thanksgiving. This is a time spent with family, counting our blessings, sharing laughs, prepping for Christmas and eating some of the most amazing food out their. I seriously could eat "thanksgiving dinner" for every big holiday and special occasion and be completely content. Lastly, and this is a new discovery I made just this year actually which added all the more  to my love of November. November happens to be National Adoption Awareness Month. How incredible that not just a day is dedicated to this but an entire month , 30 whole days.

I decided that on my blog I wanted to start doing a "Missionary Moment" once a week on Mondays. Where I share with you a little bit about a new ministry or missionary that I know personally who is serving the Lord overseas. Then I thought for the month of November I would focus on organizations that are striving for excellence in the department of orphan care, particularly in Africa since this is where my passion , calling, heart, and connections lie. There are so many amazing individuals not only in Africa but all over the world who inspire me with the work and visions that the Lord has given them to pursue. So many of these go unnoticed, as I know until I actually started searching I was unaware of just the amount of amazing things going on in all parts of the world. These disciples of Christ are giving of all their lives and resources to reclaim what the Devil has stollen and to bring hope and love to the most desperate situations around. Teaching widows skills, fighting against abortion , human trafficking, caring for orphans, the sick, the destitute, training young men to be leaders and pastors, and so much more. I am so excited to give you little glimpses into a number of different ministries that i have been blessed to have a small hand in this year. With so many needs on this planet the ministry diversity is just as large, no two are the same.

Jesus loves us and loves the entire world and it blows me away when I consider how blessed i am to have a small part in the vastness of all He is doing. When our utmost desire is His glory and fame to be known throughout the entire world then we open ourselves to be used in amazing ways in the most incredible places. We have not been given passions, abilities and talents for no reason. These are the avenues that the Lord uses as we carry His name wherever we may go. Don't sell short your past, the places God has brought you through and the current path you are on. He has a plan and is working in your life in more ways then you could ever imagine. Give the Lord your YES and see how He will use you. I promise it will blow your very mind, take you places you never thought you would go, and keep you there by His grace.

The first ministry I want to shine a spotlight on is MERCY HOUSE.  This organization was founded by a mom from the states who took a trip to Africa with Compassion to do some blogging for them. Little did she know that once you gave her "YES" to God He was call her to pursue even greater things for the Kingdom. This beautiful family still lives in the States and has trained African leaders to run the organization in Kenya. I love the work they are doing here and have a dream and vision to see a location established in Uganda Lord willing.

Finding Your "City'

This week in church we  finished the last of 3 messages that have been recapping and summarizing the book of Genesis. This weeks topic was all about cities, our roles in the city and the city that is to come that we as Christians look forward to. Their is a very unique universal call that the Lord has placed on us and how we relate to what we know of as a "city". This call to keep , work and populate a city starts way back in the garden of Eden and still stands for us today. We see that this whole idea of a city , dwelling here on earth and contributing to a "city" was all part of Gods plan, but these cities are in fact ever since the fall been corrupted and are full of sinful people. We are on mission in our city to make much of Christ and to build up as many disciples for Gods coming city as we can.

Jeremiah 29:5-7 “5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

I love how this verse points out that yes, as children of God we are exiles and wanderes on this earth. As we long and wait for heaven the eternal city of God our job here on earth is so very important and still part of Gods plan.  You see it is the Lord who determines what city we call home. He is the one who establishes us and orders our steps. God is the one who knows the end from the beginning, His plans are greater then ours. He simply needs our "Yes Lord" and then He has the authority to take us to the deepest , farthest village on the other side of the world, a beach front town , or the middle of the dessert (James 4:13-15). Their are cities , and peoples all over this earth, all of which need to see and experience the love of Chris and hear the Gospel. No matter where you are called to be or where you currently live chose today to be all their. What does this look like you ask? 

We live our mission out by seeking the city of God, the one that is to come, the one that we have citizenship in as the Bible tells us. In this present city we are merely on a journey, working daily to bring as many people with us as we can. First thing we don't do is Despise our city , this only forces us into a christian/church bubble where we do not interact with the lost at all. Second we do not Yield to our city we are called to be in this world but not of it , going along and loving all the city loves. Lastly we are not to Use the city, which means taking it for all its benefits and moving along without making an impact or giving back. This is wrong. 

We LOVE that "city" that God has called us to by planting roots, living there, building a business there, worshiping there , caring about that city , and doing all you can to reach the lost and contributing to making that city the best it can be for the glory of God. When we look at are calling and purpose in this way its makes us realize that every single person in Gods family is in fact a missionary. Christians in San Diego are just as much missionaries as those in Africa, Russia , China, or the Middle East. We all have been given the same Word of God and the same command to make disciples and to bring as many people with us into the kingdom of God. Are we doing this , and are we doing this to the best of our ability? Are we looking for ways daily to share Christ with people, contribute to the good of our city , and to live as missionaries every day of our lives ? 

Ask the Lord to reveal to you where your "city" is and the specific ways He has for you to love and be committed to that city. Until the Lord brings us home to the true and better city may we be found faithful as a family on mission here on earth.