Wednesday 23 Nov
In the midst of daily choices and challenges, will we foster faith or fear?
As you read this latest ED Update, we are moving through a big week as a mission community. On Monday our Team Leaders from around the world came together online to celebrate God at work through their teams in 2022.
It was wonderful to hear stories of lives and communities being transformed by the hope of Jesus.
Today our National Team has been together from across Australia. It is an opportunity to be sharpened in our service together, grow in community, pray and look to our strategic priorities in 2023. And tomorrow, our Board meets for the last time this year. There is a full agenda, but at the heart of our discussions will be discerning where we see God’s Spirit leading us as a mission community.
One of our themes for 2022 has been 'Come Holy Spirit'. We yearn to be an organisation that, as Paul writes in Galatians, “keeps in step with the Spirit”.
The Spirit fosters many Christ-like attitudes and actions in our lives, including giving us a spirit of freedom and building faith in our lives. Every day in our lives we are faced with choices. We make many decisions and there are different paths we can walk down.
One of these stark choices is do I choose faith, or fear?
I know the reality of this choice in my life and leadership and appreciate the vital need for the Holy Spirit to be at work within me fostering faith and trust in God. Fostering faith over fear is life-giving and opens our lives, relationships, teams and ministries for God to be at work in new and exciting ways.
In a short video you can watch below, I have reflected on this daily choice of ‘faith or fear'. I trust it’s an encouragement to you.
Video link: https://vimeo.com/767182730/a9813c7d05
The Holy Spirit also wants to shape and grow us as missional people.
Our world is rapidly changing, and we are experiencing a global shift in intercultural mission. As we consider this shift, like many other changes we have encountered as a mission community in the past, we seek the Spirit’s leading for “such a time as this”.
We realise there are no simple answers, but we do want to play our part in the future of mission, where believers from everywhere are sent everywhere.
But what does this mean? What will it look like? What are the unique, complex challenges that this model of mission brings up? And what are the keys to thriving multicultural teams?
These are some of the great questions that Geoff Maddock asks in our latest Missioning podcast series, Everywhere to Everywhere.
Can I highly recommend that everyone connected with our mission community listen to the latest series so we can be on this journey of learning and discovery together. You can find out more and listen
here >>
Let me again thank you for your great support of Baptist Mission Australia in 2022. I am going into hospital for spinal surgery next week and will be on leave for a few months. Our team will be capably led by Susan Campbell over this time. Let me encourage you to be praying for Suse.
I look forward to connecting with you again in 2023.
Grace and peace
Scott
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