Image: Flikr/Wikimedia Commons; Sedina Sand statue sculptor at work.

Twelve Things You Can Do in 2016: A Dozen Ways to Dent the World

By Shane Bennett

Don’t you love a big splash, a huge harvest, a radical shift in the right direction? I sure do. But we also know that life more often consists of many small steps along the correct path. As impressive as it is to take a stick of dynamite and blow off a chunk of mountain, there is also beauty in taking a resulting piece of stone and shaping it into an enduring piece of art. Think of how many chips, scrapes, rasps, and rubs Michelangelo applied to the block of marble that eventually become the Pieta.

I want to change the world and I want you to change the world. Perhaps this year you’ll blow a hole the size of the Hoover Dam through an impenetrable problem. Along the way to that, can I offer you a dozen ideas (one per month) you can use to pick up a chisel and a small hammer and take a chip in the right direction. If enough of us do this, the world will look more like the Pieta by the time we get around the sun again.

1. Grow in knowing God’s global purposes.

I know of nothing better to mold a person to God’s purposes for the world than joining a like-minded band of intrepid followers for a Perspectives or Pathways course. Many start this week and next all over the U.S. Grab a friend and visit a class. Tell them Shane Bennett sent you and you need to check it out. You’ll likely look back on it as the best investment you’ve made in your life with Jesus to date.

2. Build a bridge.

If you’ve already taken Perspectives, then grab a handful of people who trust you, buy the DVDs, and host a Bridges Course. In six weeks, probably less, you’ll watch people exchange apathy, fear, and anger toward Muslims for love and engagement. This is one of the first, best things a lot of us could do to shift the sentiment of the American church and open new doors of loving connection to Muslims in our midst.

3. Give a gift.

You could give a Muslim a present for Eid al-Fitr. This end-of-Ramadan celebration falls on July 5 this year. A box of chocolates or some flowers will make a nice impression. This little act of kindness and recognition will mean something. Multiplied over enough times it will going to make something truly beautiful emerge.

4. Pray with your pastor.

Invite your pastor to lunch at a Middle Eastern or East African restaurant. Pray for refugees when you pray for the meal. Many of the refugees flooding into Europe this past year, and likely this year, are from the Middle East and Eritrea.

5. Cultivate compassion.

Watch The Good Lie movie to nurture compassion for refugees. Watch it with a couple of buds (and a couple boxes of Kleenex), or, better yet, schedule a showing for your whole church. Costco has a good deal on Kleenex in bulk!

6. Be a “Sarah” to a stranger.

Read Sarah’s story and keep your eyes open for refugees who make it to your country, your town. When you find them, treat them like Jesus would. This opportunity will arise for more of us since there are presently more displaced people than ever before in history. “One in every 122 humans is now either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum. If this were the population of a country, it would be the world’s 24th biggest.”

7. Make your coffee count.

Drinking copious amounts of coffee will help you check more items off this list! And buying it from a group like Share Collective, being launched by my friend and hero Steve Helm, will “honor God by empowering the poor in every dimension, leveraging the people of faith with expertise in agriculture, medicine, business, education, nutrition, and finance.”

8. Engage your imagination.

While you’re enjoying a steaming mug of Share Collective coffee, immerse yourself in Steve Smith’s new thriller, Hastenings. I enjoyed it. And I love the idea of communicating important, timely concepts in an exciting, fictionalized account. Will you help me seed this book throughout the church? I think God’s going to use it to advance his kingdom.

9. Make time for a missionary.

Want to make a difference? Find a missionary who’s temporarily back in their home culture, but them a coffee and listen to their story. A home assignment or an unwanted sojourn back at home is a precarious time for many cross-cultural workers. Without forgetting the ones still far away, let’s rally around those who are temporarily nearby.

10. Lift up a laborer.

Maybe the best way to care for those far away is to pray faithfully, diligently, and knowledgeably. Start praying regularly for a cross-cultural worker. And let them know you’re praying. I don’t think you’ll lose your reward if you’re humble about this and I’m pretty sure they’ll be encouraged. If you really want to do this but are at a total loss as to who to pray for: Pick me!

11. Prayer walk your own neighborhood.

No normal sports team only plays “away” games. Couple prayers for far-away ministries and missionaries with prayer walks to seek God for what he wants to do in your very own neighborhood.

12. Apply for your passport.

You can’t even go to Mexico without one anymore. If God asks you to go somewhere really exotic like Canada or Mauritius, you gotta have one. And since I’m hoping you’ll go with me to Sicily to care for refugees there, you’d better get the process rolling!

Thank you for reading this and for joining me in slowly, intentionally and gracefully making a dent in the planet in 2016.

» Let me know how it goes and what other cool, dent-making endeavors you’re up to or tell us all about it on the Missions Catalyst website.