In This Issue: Mobilization Testimonies
- Mobilization Testimony #1: Lessons Learned in Service and Surrender
- Mobilization Testimony #2: You Can Do It, Yes, You!
- Mobilization Testimony #3: Growing in Every Season
- Subversive Mobilization: Working with Kids
- New on the Missions Catalyst Calendar
Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!
Practical Mobilization by Shane Bennett is published once a month.
Dear Readers,
This week we welcome a whopping 212 new subscribers joining us from Perspectives classes across the US: Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois; Corvallis and McMinnville, Oregon; Northern Ohio; and Midland, Michigan! Glad to have you along.
Last month I asked, “What has God done to point you to the nations? Would you be willing to share with the rest of us some pivotal people, events, or experiences that moved you to your current involvement in the world?
Thanks for your answers! Here are three more “mobilization testimonies” with points of application for the rest of us.
Cheers,
Shane
Mobilization Testimony #1
Meg’s story: Lessons learned in service and surrender
Lessons in service: Meg in Arizona writes that soon after following Jesus, she began to be involved in prison ministry. “I made a million mistakes (OK, maybe it was a thousand), but I learned so much. Step by step, the Lord taught me how to enter the ‘culture’ of prison and how to love all kinds of people there.”
Lessons in surrender: After ten years God abruptly told Meg to lay down the prison ministry. “What a shock! What a sacrifice! Of course, if the Lord speaks, the only answer is ‘Yes,’ but it was so hard. Closing that door seemed to allow other door to open for me. I began to work with 12 pastors planning ways to train lay people for significant service.
Accepting new assignments: “The only other woman on that committee, Sandy, asked me, ‘What do you know about missions besides reading Peace Child?’ Her son had been through a Perspectives on the World Christian Movement class and was bugging her to take it. Correspondence was the only way we could do it, but how it changed the course of our lives.
“Sandy went on to spend ten years as a missions pastor and travel to 22 countries. I started running Perspectives classes and have since developed the PathWays to Global Understanding curriculum.”
The take-away, for you and me? Any ministry, maybe all ministry, is preparation for what lies ahead. As mobilizers let’s look for people who’ve shown competency and anointing in efforts close to home. Perhaps they might parlay that experience into strong skill among the nations.
Also, when God says to lay down a successful ministry, or any dream for that matter, it can be agonizing. Meg’s reminder is timely: God knows what he’s doing and has our best in mind.
Mobilization Testimony #2
Marti’s story: “You can do it, yes, you!”
Missions Catalyst’s esteemed publisher, Marti Smith, weighed in on this question. She recounts some of the significant people, experiences, and events in her mobilization journey – as well as the lessons she learned for mobilizing others.
Twenty minutes of timely truth made a huge difference for Marti. “A pastor’s sermon revealed and exploded my assumption that missions was a sequential thing, i.e, that you should lead people to Jesus in your ‘Jerusalem,’ and if you passed that test, you could go on to ‘Judea, Samaria.’ If you were really an amazing person, you might rate a trip to ‘the Ends of the Earth.’ Turns out that’s not how it works!”
Take-away: “These days, I look for opportunities to help people grow in biblical and global awareness and help them recognize the struggles or concerns that might be holding them back. I also try to tell the kind of stories that invite them to think, “Hey, I could do that…” rather than those that tend to provoke an ‘I could never do what you do’ response.”
(Reread that last sentence. This remedies what might be the leading killer of mobilization effectiveness.)
Invitations and opportunities to serve helped Marti grow. “Campus ministry workers invited me to lead Bible studies at age 17 and big group meetings a year or two later. This pushed me to grow in ministry (and social) skills at an early age.”
Take-away: “Now, I try to avoid limiting responsibilities to the most experienced, reliable, or qualified person who is available, but lower the barriers to get others involved. Much as I appreciate mixed-generation groups, now, I think the existence of smaller segments in the church means more people grow more. So I encourage folks to join a youth group, college ministry, small groups, etc.”
Then she had a chance to check out a wide variety of ministry options by joining her church’s mission committee. “I volunteered to help the mission pastor organize his files and keep up with correspondence. So I learned more about what our missionaries did than I would have as just a regular part of the congregation.” (Missions pastors around the world drool at the thought!)
Take-away: “As a result, I encourage others to learn about lots of things and pay attention to what really excites them. Missions conferences are another place where you can try on a bunch of lenses and see what suits you.”
Other memorable moments have been cross-cultural, often part of short-term mission trips. “I remember chatting with a Russian woman in Central Asia who told my two teammates and I, through tears, ‘Nobody ever asked me about my life before.’ From that point on, I thought, ‘I want to be the kind of person who notices and listens to the people who are being overlooked.’
“I once took a team to another part of Central Asia for a month’s work. But the day we had a guided tour of the area where one of the region’s least-reached groups lives was perhaps the most powerful. Our host met the four of us at the bus station and brought us to the bazaar where we could see the people’s faces, hear the rhythms of their language, and make small talk with a few of them. He took us to lunch, then to a mosque and a small carpet factory where we tried our hand at their local craft and sipped tea with the manager. We finishing our day with a visit to our host’s local ‘family.’
“We saw and heard so much in that one day. But my teammates and I will never forget the peoples of the Caucasus. It probably didn’t hurt that our host was cute, single, articulate, and passionate about his ministry; that made my teammates sit up and take notice.”
(Which reminds me: Watch for next month’s column on Mobilization Matrimony, or how to find someone who’s passionate about both the Fulani and a future with you.)
Take-away: “So now, I encourage people putting together cross-cultural experiences to include activities that open the team members’ hearts to the people of that place. Prayer-walking, staying with a local family even just for one night, and other things that that help “us” get face to face with “them” or see them as people, through God’s eyes, are priceless. Even a bit of interaction with non-Christians in a different culture can change a short-termer forever – and speak a blessing to the host culture as well. No matter what else you have planned, include something personal.”
Mobilization Testimony #3
Keri’s story: Growing in every season
Keri in California wraps us up with a chronological look at her mobilization.
“When I was a teen, before I knew Jesus, we hosted exchange students and I traveled as one. This opened my mind to other cultures and languages and prepared the soil of my heart for Kingdom work.
“As a new Christian in my late 20s, I learned about spiritual gifts and realized that God had gifted me cross-culturally and had been preparing me to serve that way even before I knew him.
“I put my faith into action in my 30s by writing and supporting missionaries I connected with while living life as a stay-at-home mom and wanna-be cross-cultural worker.
“In my 40s I joined our local fellowship’s mission team, took Perspectives, then coordinated Perspectives classes on our campus and helped editing revisions of the curriculum. These experiences and events cemented my commitment to involvement as a “world Christian” and to “stir others to active concern” for the same. All praise to the Holy Spirit who supernaturally guided me to that first class in January 1997 and to his people who challenged me to pursue that to which I was called.”
The take-away for you and me: After you read Keri’s story, stand in the middle of your life, spin around slowly, and think about the teens, 20-, 30-, and 40-year-olds in your life. Who are the potential Keris around you?
More specifically, who is waiting to be invited to your upcoming class or on your trip to the Middle East? Who might help you with some burdensome administrative tasks only to be mobilized in the process?
What could you be doing right now to help them connect, get involved, stretch their view and grow their capacities, so that “Keri” is impacting the nations in ten years, five years, five months, and next week?
May God use us all in wonderful ways!
Subversive Mobilization
Ellen in Pennsylvania, on working with kids
Ellen responded to last month’s question by reminding us of the old statistic that indicates that most who go into missions were “called” before age 12. She says,
“A couple of generations ago, being a missionary was heralded in Sunday school as the epitome of how to serve God. Granted, we need a balanced message that encourages believers to see any vocation as an opportunity to fulfill divine purpose, but in our current children’s biblical education, the ‘maybe God wants you to be a missionary’ message has been lost.”
So, the next time you get asked to be a substitute Sunday School teacher, maybe leave the curriculum on the shelf. Show a Kids Around the World video and talk about God’s plan to reach all nations.
New on the Missions Catalyst Calendar
April 23 to 25 – Short-Term Mission Leaders Conference (Bloomington, MN, USA). An annual event for STM leaders from North American churches, schools, and ministries. Featuring Daniel Rickett, author of Making Your Partnerships Work.
April 24 to 25 – Trauma Care Training (Pasadena, CA, USA). Two-day workshop for those working with children who are victims of war. Provided by Caleb Resources and Care Corps International.
May 28 to June 1 – Annual Conference, Association of Christians Ministering Among Internationals (Los Angeles, CA, USA). Annual equipping conference for ministries and volunteers reaching out to international students in the US and Canada.
Questions, comments, submissions? Contact us.