It's God's Mission

5/09/2023 1:21:38 PM | Lisa, David & Eliza, Naomi & Paul

Team members explore what it means to participate in God’s mission.

Lisa | SOUTH ASIA
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:5)

If. That word makes me smile. If we lack wisdom? Of course we do! Leading a team of nearly one hundred local staff in a transforming work among some of South Asia’s most vulnerable people requires incredible wisdom.

Time and again, together with the local director, we have discussed our reliance on God’s wisdom, prayed together and praised Him as our provider.

The vision for the next two years is birthed from such reliance. As we strengthen the local people to become agents of change within their communities, we know that the vision is inspired.

Inspired, because God our Father is the one who heard the cry of the over 20,000 people we are working with. And it was He who sought to intervene in their circumstances, helping them to become a blessing within their communities.

David and Eliza | SILK ROAD AREA
Bucketing concrete house foundations – that’s what participating in God’s mission looked like one Saturday recently.

As we were driving up the lane to our house, our neighbour rang. “David, where are you? We need your help.” Five minutes after arriving home, David was in his work clothes, standing next to the concrete-mixing tub, lifting buckets of cement over the formwork to pour the foundations. The crew of 15 local men welcomed his muscles and height – they deliberately made room for him where the most tiresome lifting was required!

It was a long, hot day. But being willing to do hard work speaks volumes when it comes to relationship building. It shows you’re in it for the long haul. That you care about helping. That you’re willing to get dirty.

Building trust with neighbours to the point that they are open to considering a different worldview takes a long time. It is our hope that giving a day on a building site like David did, will make the way for us to share stories about Jesus, the Saviour of the world.

Paul and Naomi | SYDNEY
As we have stepped into a new role with Baptist Mission Australia, it has been crucial for us to remind ourselves that mission is God’s initiative, not ours! Rather than being self-reliant, we need to prayerfully depend on God and ask Him to go before us in all things.

One woman from our church volunteers at a local community support centre. She met a woman there who wanted to practise conversational English. They agreed to meet on a weekly basis and within three weeks there were seven more people who joined them!

Since then, Paul has been going along as well and this space has become a place of genuine community and support. There has also been opportunity to share the good news of Jesus, and a couple of people from this group are now regularly studying the Bible with others from the church. Praise God!

God is clearly at work in all of this. Our prayer is that God would use us to inspire and encourage local Baptist churches to be attentive to His leading and to join Him in His mission to redeem people from all nations, both locally and globally.
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