So two weeks ago we were in the middle of our Perspectives in Missions course. reflecting on the content of the course, I'm realizing the sheer amount of content we learned. I would say we covered literally everything about Mission; overseas and in our own backyards. We started off with the Biblical foundations of Missions, so we looked at Paul's life in the New Testament, and how Israel functioned in terms of Mission in the Old Testament. Then we went into the history of Christian Mission. My favourite story was about the missionary Boniface, who went into an area where people worshipped a tree that was supposedly protected by the god Thor. Boniface was incredibly forward and got an axe and chopped it down! He saw an opportunity to minister to a people group by revealing their false god in a vey dramatic fashion. Afterwards, since Thor didn't "strike Boniface down with lightning", the people realized that God was the one true God.
It was a really good course I would have to say, Tim Stabell covered a lot of ground, and I've really gotten to value my own role in Mission because of it.
Looking forward to our missions trip in Vancouver, I would have to say I am definitely feeling that God is going to do great things in my life and the lives of the whole team that is going on the trip. Since this will be my first missions trip, I don't really know what to expect; but I do know that I will experience things that I have never been exposed before, and that is one of many things that I am turning over in my mind.
One thing in specific that I have been anticipating is the eight days that we will be serving in Potters Place. I grew up in a small rural town, so I haven't seen homelessness or poverty to any great extent like it is in the city. Thinking ahead, I'm praying that I will be able to look at everything with the same attitude that Christ had when he was on earth. Jesus would consistently associate himself with those of lower status in society, so I am hoping that I will portray some aspects of Jesus' character while I am there.
While I am looking ahead, some challenges that I think I will face are accumulating in my head. The greatest one, I think, will be for me to not see the people that I am interacting with as lower than myself. I feel like I may be looking at everything and distancing myself from what I'm seeing and feeling, and I will have to stop myself from doing that.
Although I've pretty much just been saying what I haven't been looking forward to I am definitely extremely glad that God has given me this opportunity. I'm reminded of the motto for the Bible Institute that I grew up near, in 2 Corinthians 5:20 it says, "We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God." It is with this verse in mind that I am going into these next few days, and the weeks to follow.
No comments:
Post a Comment