wats.

The past two weekends I have ended up at wats (Thai/Buddhist temples) and the question begs to be asked... why so many wats? Well, part of it is because I let Thais plan the excursions, so they always include a wat or two for good measure... it's part of their culture.

For me, it's a good reminder why missions matter: because there are still lost people. It pains me to see so many Thais (and tourists) sprinkling their heads with lotus flowers, lighting incense, sticking gold-leaf on statues, ringing bells, giving offerings, "making merit"... but there is also no better place to have organic spiritual conversations. My intention during this wat-time is to always bring the conversation to Christ.

["Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold." Exodus 20:23]

Recently after one of these trips, I was able to share with my Thai friend, K, why I did not participate in these "merit exercises". This, in turn, opened up a dialogue for both of us. She shared some specifics regarding what she believed and I was able to share the Gospel... that God is the Creator and He is good. He has stated the standard is perfection and as a just God can tolerate nothing less than that. As sinful people, we fail to meet His standard, and the punishment for that is death and separation from God. It's not about doing more good than bad, it's about being perfect. And, bad news, we're not. But, (the great "but" of the Gospel!) God is also a God of love, and so He made a way for our sins to be punished and for us to be able to have a relationship with Him. That way is through His Son, Jesus. Jesus was punished by God for our sins, so that justice was served, and we can now receive God's forgiveness and a relationship with Him...

I wish I could tell you that we pulled over the car, prayed, and that you have a new sister-in-Christ. But, that didn't happen. What did happen, however, is that she heard the Truth again. Thais tend to be slow to hear and slow to respond to the Gospel. Why? Maybe due to their heritage of spiritual darkness and deafness. Maybe because it is so foreign to them. Maybe they just take longer to process things. I don't know. But if it takes her hearing it 16 times before she accepts it, then praise God for the 8th time! And if she hears but never responds, then praise God that He allowed her the opportunities to hear.

[Idolatry] consists not merely in erecting an image and worshiping it, but rather in the heart, which stands gaping at something else, and seeks help and consolation from creatures, saints, or devils, and neither cares for God, nor looks to Him for so much good as to believe that He is willing to help, neither believes that whatever good it experiences comes from God. 

— Martin Luther

Pray that her heart and our hearts would gape only at Christ, seek only from Him, and look only to Him as the sole source and provider of all that is good.

same same.

I didn't expect very much coming to Thailand, after all, expectations are the mother of disappointment. I knew that it'd be hard work and that being a missionary wasn't glamorous... but a few Sundays ago it struck me again how normal missions really is.

At LifePoint, we pray that God would use us where we are to impact the people He's placed in our lives. We hold each other accountable to be intentional in sharing the Gospel in our relationships with others. We even have to challenge one another as to whether or not we are investing in lost people. Sound familiar?

Before coming to Thailand, I heard a pastor share that you have no business going overseas if you're not willing to go across the street, because location fundamentally changes nothing. Whether we are believers in our hometown, homecountry, or abroad, our mission and prayers are the same: to carry the Name of Christ to lost people.

Our fears are the same: Will this compromise a relationship? Do I sound like I'm crazy? Will they feel uncomfortable? Are they understanding me? What if...?

Our struggles are the same: Fighting against sin, pride and self sufficiency. Sacrificially loving our neighbors and the hard-to-love people in our lives. Protecting God-time from the ever-encroaching infringement of ministry- and me-time. Practicing spiritual disciplines. Warring legalism. Dying to self.

Our questions are the same: Am I living an attractional life? If yes, then am I putting words to the difference they see in me? Am I making a difference? Am I doing all that I can be doing? Am I investing in the right people in the right ways? Am I "doing" instead of loving? Is this God or is this me?

There's an expression in Thailand, "Same same, but different." At first, being here felt very different from America. Ministry felt different; church felt different; work felt different. Now, with the sensory overload that is Bangkok beginning to die down, I'm seeing that it's all the same. I'm trying to "share the Gospel where I live, work and play" (credit: Doug) and so are all my brothers and sisters at Encounter, at Spotswood, at FCS, etc.

I'm not "the missionary" because I have a blog, or because I'm in Thailand or because I signed a dotted line... I'm a missionary because I am a Christian. The same is true of all my brothers and sisters in Christ, you are missionaries also. We are all working together, side-by-side, on the same field, for the same purpose and the same God. I thank God for each of you, wherever you are, who is faithfully and fearlessly making known the mystery of the Gospel.

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." 1 Peter 2:9-10

[For an encouraging and powerful rendition of this passage, check out Matt Papa's song "1 Peter Song." The middle (2:25) is my favorite part!]

short term missions.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the value of short term mission trips. Some people defend them, other people criticize them. One of the main complaints that I've heard is, "What can a team truly accomplish in one week? What kind of follow-up and discipleship can happen after they leave?"

There are a lot of things I could say: that a short term trip was what brought me here for a longer commitment, that it provides perspective and scope in a believer's life, that it gives an idea of the global nature of the church and the Gospel, that it encourages the long-term missionaries... all of which are true. But there is one thing in particular I would like to share that surfaced during a recent conversation I had with Laura.

One of the things that is really neat about the way Spotswood "does" short-term missions, specifically in Thailand, is that they aren't on some quest to start something from scratch. They didn't fly in, Bibles waving, and start a camp for kids in an unreached slum, or tackle taking the Gospel to the pimps in bars. While that may have given us a sense of heroism, it would have been ineffective. We don't know the culture. We can't follow up in a week. It's not sustainable. Instead, the team was plugged into healthy, preexisting ministries. This is important for two reasons:

Firstly, it means there is follow-up. Our team left, but the ministry is still there continuing on in their mission. If the heart of someone they spoke to was touched by the Gospel, there are people there, and ready, to continue engaging them and investing in them. Our team wasn't trailblazing; our team was coming alongside, encouraging, and supporting the ministries of others before them.

Secondly, it allowed our team to become a part of something bigger than themselves. They were here for a week and that was it. For the Thais though, they see team after team come through. We were just one of many teams. So where is the value of being just another team passing through? The message we are sending, combined with the message of those who came before, is huge. We are lending our voices to the same message; there is power in that! The message of every missionary and every team is the same: Jesus Christ. The Gospel.

Our team's presence, joined with the testimonies of those who came before and those who will come after, speaks volumes. Westerners (from different places and demographics) keep travelling to Thailand, but with the same motivation and message: Jesus. That lends credibility to the ministries of the missionaries who are here-- and collectively becomes a powerful statement regarding the truth and conviction of our message.

Alone, it's true, we may not have rocked Thailand on its heels, but we were another piece and link to a beautiful picture that the missionaries here are trying to construct for the Thai people to see. The Gospel is attractive. The cross is compelling. The message is life-changing.

Why else would twelve successful young adults traipse halfway around the world to talk to detainees at the Immigration Detention Center, share their testimonies in a prison, play basketball in the slums? It's not exotic. It's hot. And expensive. But not just our team, but many teams, have all come and given the same reason for the hope that is in them. They had a life-changing experience with God and were compelled to come and share about it. Short term teams' consistent presence here leads more credence to the message of salvation than simply words alone. It tangibly shows the Thai people that the Gospel is actively changing lives.

That, I believe, is the power of short term missions.

Willingness v. Will

“That delight—in God—is the thing that brings desire in the heart to do good, and desire is beneath everything. If there is no desire to do God’s will, then the doing of God’s will is just outward conformity, and God doesn’t appreciate it at all.

Now desire is more than just willingness. I once worked for the Foreign Missions Fellowship, which is a group of collegiate kids who are considering going to the mission field. You know, every time I would talk to some Christians in college, their big cry about the mission field was, ‘Well you know, I’m willing to go. I’m quite willing to go to the mission field. Very willing to go. Willing. But I need a call from God (or some such thing) because I don’t feel as if I’m sent to the mission field.’ Well, I’m telling you that passive willingness is not desire. I was willing to go to the mission field a long time before I willed to go to the mission field. And it is the desire of the will that God wants.

Desire is the putting of my will into God’s concern. It’s not a passive, sitting back in your easy chair, folding your arms sort of thing, which says, ‘Well, I’m willing, if God would only give me a good swift kick and send me.’ That’s willingness all right. But God doesn’t want willingness, He wants will! He wants your will put behind those desires.”

-Jim Elliot: A Christian Martyr Speaks to You, pg. 25

I recently read this quote and it resonated strongly with my own life. Since I was in 3rd grade I have been saying I want to "do" missions. Or, at least, that I am willing to do them. Granted, missions may look different in 3rd grade than it does for me at 24, but I think that Jim Elliot nailed it. God doesn't want our willingness, He wants will.

For me, missions started small.  It started back at square one, with Pastor Doug asking me what it looked like to "love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul and mind... and love my neighbor as myself." At 20, I wasn't satisfied with my canned answer to that question. At 24, I'm still working it out. I had to re-learn what the Gospel means* and its practical implications in my life. I went from there to loving my family, my classmates, trying to share the Truth of Jesus Christ in those relationships, and letting Him affect certain relationships in my life. After that, it was being a part of GotLife, doing local missions projects and slowly, slowly, being pushed outside of myself and further into the world.

Once I started to grasp what it meant practically to be saved, it started to change everything. Being saved wasn't just a future event (ie: I am saved from Hell) but also something that daily could (and did!) make a difference in my life. I have already been accepted. I have already been forgiven. I have already been adopted. I have already been made righteous. As Michael Kelley says, it's "already, but not yet." I already have these things... but they are not yet fully realized and manifested in my life. But they are there. And they should begin to impact my life and my attitude and behavior.

When we are delighting in God, and desiring what He desires, then that naturally will push us towards missional living. We aren't "going out" because of obligation, but because time with Him is aligning our will with His will. And His will, is for the nations to know Him and worship Him.

Praise the LORD, all you nations;

extol Him, all you peoples."

-Ps. 117:1

 ________
* I highly recommend the book What is the Gospel? which tackles this in a very solid and succinct way. It's one of the books I have referenced most concerning the Gospel... aside from the Bible. :)

Done

This morning I had the singular opportunity to share with my church family (in two minutes) about GotLife-- what it is to me and why I participate in it. It felt very surreal. The only thing that felt real was the flip flopping of my stomach and general sense of nausea before going up to the stage each service. But God is so faithful.

Last night I had everything typed out and timed for what I wanted to say... but I felt unsettled about it. So, I prayed, went back through it again, gutted all but a few sentences and started over. I love getting on my soapbox about different topics, but that was not the point of this morning. I wasn't asked to give a sermon or to take over for the Holy Spirit and convict people. I was just asked to tell my story and let God do what He does best. And that is what I tried to do.

It was a very weighty thing to be given the mic and asked to share about something that is so central to the heart of God... sharing His Good News. I feel very humbled that I was asked to share, and I hope that as broken a vessel as I am, that Christ shined through. But after mulling this over for weeks, I am so glad it is behind me.

I am looking forward to a restful sleep tonight! :)

Evangelism

I love that God gives us experiences and "God moments"-- and then gives us opportunities to share them with others to edify and build up the Body. A few weeks ago one of the pastors at my church asked me if I would be willing to share my testimony about my experience with GotLife (an evangelism class) with the church (2/19). I said yes.

Since then, I've been thinking and praying about what I should share. I feel like it's easy to make "evangelism" into some great big nebulous oooaahh-thing. Really, it's not, or at least, it shouldn't be. Doug is always talking about how we should wake up in the mornings and remind ourselves of the Gospel-- of daily reorientating ourselves to the point of our justification.

We need to daily remind ourselves that God is perfect and flawless, and that He created everything. And that we, as people, are lawless. We have sinned against God, broken His commands and set our lives (from birth) opposed to Him as His enemies. But because of His love for us, He sent Christ-- God incarnate-- to live the life we couldn't live, and drink the wrath of God and punishment for our sin that we couldn't bear. If I choose to accept this, it accomplishes two things; first, it shows the great justice and love of God. God could not leave the guilty (me) unpunished; so Christ took the punishment I earned. Secondly, through accepting Christ's payment for my sin, I am given (freely!) not only forgiveness, but also the righteousness of Christ.

The more I tell this to myself (and have it told to me), the more it is on my mind and in my heart. The more it is in my mind and on my heart, the more likely I am to speak it. It should be an outgrowth of an internal realization. The more I focus on Jesus, the cross, and the salvation that has been freely given to me, the more joy I will have and the greater my desire to share it will be. Thus, evangelism becomes more than a two-month program or a "training class" or fill-in-the-blank. Instead, it truly does become a lifestyle. It is about looking for opportunities to speak the name of Jesus in every conversation. It is about looking for ways to invest in people who have no knowledge of God. It is about giving, and serving, and loving in the name of Christ those who could never repay you. It is about the Holy Spirit compelling you to do these things and about God getting the glory.

In small group, Laurie brought up a great point from one of the breakout speakers at 20/20-- that God's intention for man has always been to create more worshippers of Himself-- from Adam and Eve's "be fruitful and multiply" to the Great Commission's "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations..." That has always been God's "Plan A." God does all the work to bring hearts to Himself and to save the lost, but we are given the distinct privilege of being a part of God's plan to take His Name to the nations.

So, where does that leave GotLife? I still think it is awesome. No, it's not the end-all-be-all of evangelism. Of course not. But if God and the message of the Gospel is impressed daily on my heart, why wouldn't I want another opportunity to share with others about Him? Why wouldn't I want to invite people into a community of people (the church) to learn about God, worship Him, and serve side-by-side with others?

I love my church. It is not perfect, but we love God and we love each other. And while we don't always do that perfectly, there is grace where we fall short. I want for my life to be one that is characterized by being vocal about my Family and my Father.