Pray, Give, Go - CELEBRATING MISSIONS IN RURAL COMMUNITY
This two-day missions celebration comprised of a Saturday evening gathering involving guest speakers from local and international ministries (with PAOC global workers), foods from around the world, and a wonderful time of fellowship. On Sunday morning, the weekend culminated with worship, a parade of national flags and an encouraging word from global workers, Dean and Wendy Skinner followed by a powerful time of congregational prayer, that challenged each of us to a renewed dedication to God's mission.
The theme of the convention was “Where Do I Fit?” with a call to “pray”, “give” and “go.” At every level, the invitation rang out - from the youngest child to the eldest senior; the message was reinforced that missions is something that we all can participate in. As believers and followers of Christ, it is what we are called to.
As I think of Jesus and His ministry, I see God’s intentional heart. Missions as far as Jesus modelled it, should be done in community. Jesus could have done it all Himself. He could have prayed by Himself. He could have given all that was needed. He could have gone alone, but He didn’t. He called a small group of men together, a diverse group of ordinary people like you and me that perhaps on the surface didn’t feel as though they had that much to offer. Through them, God commissioned the disciples and the church to spread the good news.
As manager of the MAK program, I love to celebrate what God is doing in the local church. I particularly have an affinity for the smaller rural churches as they are MAK’s most faithful champions. No one can advocate MAK like a small-town church – I have seen it first-hand, through engaging in conversation after conversation with pastors and children’s ministry workers and volunteers. MAK is a reminder that children have a part to play in the mission of God. We can help invite them to pray, to give, and to go.
When I reflect on that weekend in Perth, I am so grateful to see what the Lord is doing through His church. What an amazing sense of community, what an incredible opportunity to align our hearts with the mission of God - to “go into all the world…” While not many of us are called to physically leave our country to go into another, we are called to go and share His message of love and hope to a broken world to those in own backyard; to our families, our friends, and our neighbours. We are called to pray and ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers and to uplift those who have been sent. And, we are called to give; to sow seeds with our time, our resources and our finances so that His Kingdom work can be advanced.
What an amazing sense of community, what an incredible opportunity to align our hearts with the mission of God...
What an incredible thought: God can and wants to use us! This good news still rings out today and should ring out loudly from each of our lives. Let us continue in the call to pray, to give, and to go…TOGETHER!