The Missionary Task

 This is taken from a presentation by the IMB, but I LOVED how well it translated to everyday discipleship work. In Mattew 28, most translations say, "Therefore go and make disciples..." While not an inaccurate translation, I think it can be misleading. The "go" in that statement is in the present-progressive tense. For all of my non-literary majors that means that a better way of saying it would be, "As you are going, make disciples." So often, people think of  "Missionaries" as the elite branch of Christianity--the crazy ones who spend their lives traveling the world and telling people about Jesus. But we are ALL called to make disciples "as we are going." So as you are attending school, or going to work, or grocery shopping, or getting your tires replaced. "As you are going--make disciples."

 When talking about a long-term mission project to a culture that does not know Christ, the IMB has a flowchart of steps. 

Entry>Evangalism>Make Disciples>Church Formation>Train up Leaders>Transition to partnership.

Can you see the application to everyday life?

Entry: We need to find the people we want to reach so, where are the non-believers around me? Do I know any? Where can I meet them? Then, once we find them, we need to spend time with them and learn how to communicate with them. What "language" do they speak? What are their belief systems? What are their priorities? How do they see and interact with life? What is their culture? This is primarily about LISTENING and looking for ways to build bridges to the gospel. Finding ways to share it in their "language."

Evangelism: This is the part where we begin to share. We explain the "good news." We introduce them to Jesus (the real Jesus--in case they have a false idea in their head of who he is.)

Discipleship: The goal from the beginning needs to be disciples, NOT converts. This isn't about getting more church-goers! So here are some good (hard) questions: Right now, who are you discipling, AND who are you being discipled by? Who are you sharing with, being transparent with, being accountable to? We equip others for the task of discipleship, and we train ourselves to grow in discipleship. If you don't have one or both of these in your life, allow me to encourage you to find them. Who could you disciple? You don't need a lot of know-how to do this! Find someone who is newer or at the same place in the faith, and get together with them. Read the bible together and talk about what it says about who God is, and what he wants us to do. Then find a Christian you admire and meet with them to be mentored. 

Church Formation: Many of us will most likely never be part of a church plant, but I think that we could be of great benefit to our local churches. IMB has a definition of Church that I loved but also pierced my heart as I realized, I only know a handful of Churches that would fully fit this definition: "A group of baptized believers in Jesus who are committed to one another, meeting together to grow in evangelism, discipleship, leadership, teaching, worship, fellowship, prayer, accountability, giving, and missions." Maybe our part in church formation won't ever be in the foundation, but rather in the growth towards more wholeness. Maybe we need to ask ourselves if we notice something from this list missing in our local place of worship and be the ones to begin something.

Leadership Development: Healthy leaders should always strive to grow in knowledge, in love for God and others, and grow as an example to others through the example of Christ. This is an area we can grow and eventually mentor others to help them grow. 

Transition to Partnership: Once we've discipled an individual to the point of being a disciple maker, we transition to being fellow disciple makers and we go out and find a new person to disciple. Disciples making disciples making disciples. That's what it has been about since the beginning :)

The Mission

 I went to a discipleship conference this past weekend and WOW! So much conviction packed into three days. So the next few posts are unapologetically going to be coming from what I heard there. 

Isaiah isn't generally the book I think of when talking about salvific experiences, nor Christian Missions. (Well, except perhaps v. 8) But that's where we started. 

Ch.6: 1-10 Isaiah’s Commission

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;  be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” 11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?” And he answered: 

“Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged 12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

Oof. Fun start huh? But I love what Chris Millar, the speaker, did with these verses. He said that in order to understand our calling (our mission,) we must first understand who we are and who God is. God is God. Profound. I know. But I think sometimes we forget that. We forget that He's not our buddy, or our get-out-of-jail-free card, or our heavenly grandfather who loves and spoils us. He is God. And yes, he does love us, but if we miss who He truly is, then we miss how incredibly AMAZING that fact is. Look at this picture of God at the beginning of Chapter 6. He's high and lifted up. He's seated on a throne with celestial beings hiding their faces and proclaiming his holiness and their proclamation is so powerful that the foundations of the thresholds shook! Side note: when it says that His robe filled the temple--this isn't just a fashion statement. During this time, when a king conquered another kingdom, he would take the robe of the defeated king and have it sewn onto the end of his. God's train fills the entire temple. He is THE conquering king. No wonder Isaiah responded the way he did! 

"Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!" 

You see, when we get a right picture of who God is, the result is that we get a right picture of who we are. We are people of unclean lips, living among a nation of unclean lips. AND YET, just like He did for Isaiah, God has chosen to offer us cleansing. This is the amazing truth of the gospel that, "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

Fun Fact: God is the only being in the universe that can come in contact with uncleanliness and rather than being tainted, He cleanses. 

And it's only after all this (seeing God, seeing himself, and being cleansed,) that Isaiah receives (and accepts) his calling. "Who will go for us?" >>> "Here am I send me." 

And the great and terrifying truth about our mission is that we don't get to dictate where/what it will be. It's God's calling, it's His choice. That's right, we do not have any control--and that scares the pants off of most of us. BUT, it also means that the results aren't up to us. We just go. As Millar pointed out, most of us stop reading the story right after Isaiah says, "Here am I, send me;" and we are all inspired and being praying "Me too! Here am I, send me!" Which, hey, is a pretty awesome prayer. But look at what Isaiah was called to do. For the next 40+ years, Isaiah would faithfully serve God by prophecying to a nation that would not listen to him. He didn't see 1000's repent. He didn't see the Israelites renew their dedication to God. In the end, the people were sent into exile. It doesn't feel like a win. It doesn't feel like a success. And yet. 

We are not called to results. We are not called to performance. We are not called to be impressive. We are called to be obedient. And we leave the rest up to God. So whether we are talking about universal calling (i.e. Matt 28: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...”) or personal calling, our job is in one sense very simple: We are to go. 

Dreams

 So I was talking with God on my way to work today and he brought me to an awesome revelation. See, I was talking about a list of things that I am working toward--I want to foster, I want to own my own place to allow for said fostering, I want to help my friends out with theater, I want to publish a book or two that I'm working on, etc.--and I was bemoaning the fact that I just don't feel like there are enough hours in a day to do all the things I wish I could. "I have too many dreams!" I said, somewhat jokingly. And that's when he reminded me, "Remember that time when you didn't have any?" 

So for those of you who know me or have read previous posts where I talked about my struggle with depression you will know that there was a time a few years back when I got to a place there there was no dreaming. I didn't want anything. You could have said, "Trisha you can do anything you want, have anything you want--so what do you want?" and I honestly wouldn't have been able to give you an answer. There was nothing. So it probably now makes sense why I got a little emotional today. 

"I have dreams." I realized. Not just one or two. Not just tiny flickering's of "maybe one day I can..." but things I am actively pursuing and deeply want to see come to fruition. And I had to share how amazingly wonderful that is, so here I am, blogging about it! Isn't God so good? I think this is part of what it means that he has given us hope and a future; and I am SO grateful. I would rather have unfulfilled dreams than no dreams any day. Thank you God for dreams. 

Love and Rules

 I was having a conversation with a friend this past week about Christianity being a religion that is based on relationship instead of rule following and all of a sudden it hit me--why do we see those as necessary opposites? I mean, I get it--just following a bunch of rules for rules' sake isn't what it's about, however any good parent will tell you that there are rules because of the parent/child relationship. Love and Rules actually go hand in hand. 

Psychologist will tell you that children thrive when they have boundaries and that rules help them feel safe. So it makes sense that if the God of the universe loves us and wants to be in relationship with us and adopt us into his family, then there would be rules involved. Do we get it right all the time? No. Does breaking one rule forever damn you? No. But are we expected to follow them... yes. And are there consequences to breaking them... yes. And are they for our good? YES! 

Sure we may not understand all of them, but how many times have you heard a child arguing with a parent because he or she didn't understand the rule? And how many times have you heard a child say "that's not fair!" when in all actuality, the rule is very fair. Or unfair to the child's advantage? And how many times have you seen a child throw a temper tantrum as a parent enforced something that was for their own good?

 Yes, there are parents who abuse rules and punishments, but God is a perfect parent, so he doesn't do that. He loves, and sets rules, and follows through with consequences perfectly. So whether or not we understand it all, we can trust him. He's a Good Father. ☺

Surrender

 There is a word I think far too many Churches in our current wordview are shying away from: Surrender. It's not a popular word for sure. It is full of negative connotations. But what does it actually mean? In the most basic sense it means choosing not to fight. It's a laying down of arms and becoming obedient to another authority. And I would argue that it is one of the most important concepts to Christianity. 

This is what Christ-followers are called to. We give up control. (Not that we had much in the first place--we seem highly delusional about how much control in life we really have.) But what we do have, we give up. We hold EVERYTHING with open palms to God and say, "your will... not mine." And the completely crazy thing is, though we are called to this, God doesn't demand anything less than he already gave! We are being asked to surrender everything to a God who already surrendered everything for us. 

Yes, as the rich young ruler discovered, this kind of surrender costs everything. There is no, "I'll keep this part for myself." BUT it is with this kind of surrender that God used 12 men to change the known world. 

I get it. It's scary. Completely. And if we let it, that fear will erode our faith. What if his way is "too hard?" what if I have to give up "too much?" What if it leaves me unfulfilled? What if it hurts? But what about the other side? What if I get to the end of my life and it feels wasted? What if "my way" leaves me feeling worthless and lonely? What if in the end after all my striving, I lose it all? Think of Peter and Judas in the bible. Peter made plenty of mistakes, but he was the disciple that climbed out of a boat to walk on water. Judas gets a lot of judgement (but honestly probably did a lot right. I mean he was a disciple of Jesus) but in the end he hanged himself. Why? Because he regretted taking matters into his own hands...

Giving up control is a huge risk, but honestly, is it any less of a risk than trying to keep that control? Because here's the thing: God doesn't compete. He doesn't share his glory with other things (or people.) He gets to be God whether we like it or not. But this is a good thing! Because God is GOOD. As in that is part of his identity. We can act good... sort of... sometimes. But he IS good. He knows our wants and needs and he is not some passive Being eons away. He is here. Wherever "here" is for you. 

Another word that is actually quite popular at the moment is Relationship. God isn't looking for a chess piece on his board. And honestly, I don't think he's project oriented. My guess--he's people oriented. So surrender with him sometimes looks like "What are you doing today and how can I help?" Sometimes that looks like walking across the room to talk to someone you don't know. Sometimes it looks like loving the kid God brought into your life. Sometimes it looks like selling all you have and moving half a world away. Sometimes it looks like doing laundry. It's God's call. And He's the one that will walk with you. Sure, you'll mess up. He'll be there when that happens too. If I had to map it, the cycle would look like this: 

Surrender-->Live in Relationship-->Mess up-->Admit to it-->Accept forgiveness-->Surrender. 

Wish I could put it in a circle, but you get it. This is the calling. And in my (not so) humble opinion it is "so totally worth it!" 

 P.S. A lot of this comes from Jenny Allen so if you like anything I wrote--totally give her credit! If you didn't... blame me ;)

Change

 Recently I was reading about behavioral change and come across some rather interesting points. 

Many people have things they wish they could change. From appearance to temperament to knee jerk reactions, to world view etc. And so often the go-to solution is behavior modification. I will "make" myself change. Ironically enough, I think we all know that this doesn't really work. If anything, new years resolutions prove this. So how to people really change? Well, what I read was that rather than focusing on the the behavior, it is much more effective to focus on identity. This is also true in spiritual transformation. Growing as a Christian is less effective when we come at it with a rulebook of do's and don'ts. 

I have definitely found this to be true. I have few moments in my life where I remember making a defining decision about who I wanted to be, but one great example was in high school when I decided I wanted to love reading. I didn't at the time. I am dyslexic and reading was drudgery. But my best friend was a reader. (I'll come back to that point in a minute.) I wanted to be like her so much that my senior year I took an independent study in literature! I remember thinking: "I'm going to become the type of person who snuggles into a comfy chair with a blanket and a good book." See, it was a decision about identity. I didn't say, "I'm going to read 52 books a year" (behavior) or "I'm going to get a library card" (behavior) or "I'm going to buy a bookcase and fill it with books" (behavior). I focused on who I wanted to become. Today I probably do read around 52 books a year, and I have a library card, and I have a bookcase that is overflowing. But the behavior followed the identity. 

The second point I read was that you are the average of your five closest friends. That's why it's so important to choose your friends wisely. (Isn't this what we tell our kids?) And in the example I gave, it holds true. I became an avid reader in large part due to my friends. In fact, at the time, all my closest friends ended up in the top 10% of our graduating class and most of them loved literature.

So what about you? Is there something you wish to change in your life? Maybe you want to lose a few pounds. Let me challenge you--rather than focusing on the scale, start painting a picture of what it would look like to live a healthier life. Ex: "I want to be the type of person who gets up an hour early because I love to go running." or "I want to be the type of person who loves eating a good salad." Maybe you want to pray more. Instead of focusing on a strict schedule for yourself think identity. "I want to be the type of person who tells God everything about my life" or "who goes to God first rather than people" or "who is able to be completely honest with God about everything." What type of parent do you want to be? What type of friend? What type of disciple? Spender of Money?  Whatever the change, focus on the who you want to become rather than just behavior modification. Find people who are skilled in those areas and spend time with them. 

Oh, and be careful of emotions. Sure, take the time to discover what they are telling you, but they aren't good drivers. There are plenty of times you won't "feel" like making the change. 

And be careful of motivation. You might end up changing only to discover the change was for the worse. Look to God. He's a pretty good definer of healthy change. 

Finally, give yourself some grace. True change doesn't happen overnight. It is the small things over time. Like C.S. Lewis once said, "Each decision we make is moving us one step towards becoming a heavenly or hellish creature." So be intentional, but be patient. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day, right? ;)

Restless

 Geez it's been a while! I seriously didn't realize it had been five YEARS since I last wrote on this blog. Well I'm back. And most of today comes from a Jenny Allen study I've been doing called Restless. 

It was a study my mom suggested to be because I had expressed that exact sentiment. I definitely suffer from wanderlust but I couldn't tell if that's what this was or not. So the study was a boon since it really helped me process my thoughts. She asked if we were in a place of feeling lost, dreaming, livin' the dream, broken, etc. I definitely put myself in the dreaming category. I have all KINDS of things I am aiming towards in life. Then she asked, what is holding you back? I had three thoughts: Fear of being overwhelmed, choosing selfishly, and failing. Desiring stability--wanting to know that I have the means to make the dreams come true, and what I label "backlash." In other words, what would others think/do? It was in this process that I came to my first realization: **The last time I KNEW I was in the will of God was AFTER I stepped out into something despite very similar fears and it was a season in my life where depression LEFT. Woah. 

It reminds me of a great title to an equally great book by John Ortberg: If you want to walk on water, you have to step out of the boat. 

Maybe it's time I started stepping.