A Reason to Be Thankful

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”  Col. 2:6, 7 ESV

It is easy to take things for granted.  We can miss the many little things God does every day of our lives.  We can also miss how God uses others in our lives.  In my recent trip to Haiti, I saw how grateful the Haitians are both to God and others.  Instead of concentrating on what they would like to have, they concentrate on how God is blessing them.  One Haitian told me that he loves how God shows His face every day in Haiti.  God is the one who provides and protects.  He added, “To live life every day, God must show up.”  They also see and appreciate the investment people make in their growth or ministry.  They take time to thank others for investing time, concern, teaching, resources, or encouragement in their lives.

People are moved to appreciation when they know the intent of the action is good, they realize the cost to the giver, and they understand the extent to which it affects their life.  When I reflect on what Jesus did for us, I see that He acted out of great love.  The cost included giving up the glory of Heaven to live life on earth and suffer and die to pay for our sins.  This changes everything in our lives.  We gain forgiveness, become a member of God’s family, gain hope and power and purpose for our lives, and a place in eternity with God.   We should live in awe and gratitude to God. 

Christians should be the most thankful people on earth, and it should affect them every day.  Who in your life has taught you, encouraged you, or invested time or resources to help you?  Take the time to say “thank you”.  Appreciate the gifts God has given you through the people in your life.  Realize every moment you are alive is a gift from God.   Thank Him continually.  How can you, filled with gratitude, live every day for God?  Check out https://go.efca.org/ministries/reachglobal/crisis-response  for ways you can be involved in the lives of others.

Being Intentional After a Missions Trip to Continue the Discipleship Process

If you want your missions trip to be part of the discipleship program, you need to plan ahead.  ReachGlobal Crisis Response’s goal is to make disciples who make disciples.  Missions trips are part of this process.  Senior Pastor George Davis of Hershey Free Church points out, “It really starts with how you begin the journey and the process and really working to create an environment that says these trips are part of a disciplemaking journey.”

It is important to plan a debriefing with team members.  I know one church that started a weekly Bible study with team members after a trip for several months for team growth, continued relationships, and to help members think about how this experience will affect their lives.  I know youth leaders often do a great job following up with their youth.

Dave Hyatt, Pastor for Local and Global Outreach at Hershey Free Church, compared this to Lamaze classes when his wife was pregnant.  The instructor told them, “Hey, you guys have done a great job of preparing for birth, but just remember, you are going to leave the hospital probably two days after that with a human being that you are responsible for.”  Dave explained, “I was terrified at that point.  I was well prepared for that three hour birthing experience but not for the rest of my life.  So, I think as an introduction, team preparation has to be with the discipleship idea in mind, because this is part of a larger ongoing process.”

He added, “I think the ReachGlobal staff does a great job, Mark does an excellent job asking the question, ‘What’s next Thursday night three years from now going to look like that is different in your life because of your time here?’”  We need to challenge team members to continue growing.  We are not looking for a temporary change, but growth that blooms into a new lifestyle.  Dave stressed the value of having an ongoing relationship with a location or ministry where a relationship is fostered.  The team can hear about how missionaries or others they met are doing.  These are areas he considers critical to the success of discipleship from a trip.

After the trip, it would be ideal to connect team members with local ministries that fit passions or gifting they discovered.  Dave gave the example, “In a perfect world, when someone came back after serving on a medical team in Haiti, someone would say, ‘Wow man, you were super passionate about that!  Would you consider volunteering at Hope Within doing medical care or with our children’s ministries working with kids?’”

Pastor George emphasized, “I just want to underscore that one of the reasons we’re enjoying working with ReachGlobal is the fact that we resonate philosophically.  As churches understand what ReachGlobal is trying to do, if you really buy into that, philosophically, you just want to be a part.”

If discipleship is a goal for your church, consider a missions trip with ReachGlobal Crisis Response.  Check out https://go.efca.org/ministries/reachglobal/crisis-response .

Does God Hear Our Prayers?

God sometimes seems silent.  We pray, but there is no immediate answer.  We keep praying and waiting.  We are not alone in this.  Even the great prayer warrior George Mueller did not live to see some of his prayers answered.  He prayed for 63 years for one man to be saved, but the man did not accept Christ until after George’s death.  George, however, did see thousands of his prayers answered in his lifetime.  The majority of these were not instant.  He had to wait and continue to pray.  George Mueller said, “When once I am persuaded that a thing is right and for the glory of God, I go on praying for it until the answer comes.”

God uses answered prayer in our lives to help build our faith.  Working with ReachGlobal Crisis Response, I have been privileged to see God at work repeatedly.  Isaiah 65:24 says, “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.”

After Hurricane Katrina, large teams came to serve and stay at Trinity Church.  Some weeks, there were 100 or 200 volunteers.  New Orleans is hot, and we depend on our ice machine for coolers and beverages.  Teams would arrive Sunday night for orientation and leave Saturday morning.  One week, a volunteer arrived a day early.  While staff members were trying to decide what to do with him, they discovered that the ice machine was not working.  There were no repairmen available on the weekend, and teams would need ice early Monday morning.  The staff was discussing this dilemma when the volunteer interrupted.  “Excuse me.  I am an ice machine repairman.  Can I help?”  God knew the need in advance and provided the solution before we were aware of our need.  The machine was working before the team arrived.

Answers are not always that dramatic.  Often we miss what God is doing to care for us and protect us.  I challenge you to review your own life and see where God has been at work.  Thank Him for not just the big, but the little things as well.

Teamwork

Norm Found a New Life in Christ

What does it take to change a life for eternity?  Nothing will happen if the Holy Spirit is not convicting the person.  Does that mean we are not responsible to be a part of changing lives?  Is it all God’s responsibility?  Although it does not happen apart from God, God uses people to fulfill His plans.  In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus tells us, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  

Volunteers Work on Norm's Home

God uses the volunteer on a team who gives up his vacation time to come work on a storm damaged house.  Homeowners often comment on how this surprises them.  They wonder what would make a person do this.  This often opens a door for the volunteer to share that he or she is there because of the love Jesus has put in their heart.

God uses people who come as interns or staff to serve for a longer time commitment.  They get the opportunity to develop a relationship with the homeowner and influence volunteer team members.  They walk through hard times with the homeowner loving them, challenging them, and sharing God’s love and Word as the opportunity arises.  Often, this means years of coming alongside someone, praying for them, and allowing God to work.

God uses Christians across the nation who pray for homeowners, staff, and volunteers.  They plug into the power that changes lives, which is a very important job.  Others give financially to enable volunteers and staff to touch lives.  People could not serve without partners who provide for their ministry expenses.  Together, we form a team.  Each person is an indispensable part of changing lives. 

What part can you play?  Check out Norm’s story at   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egcqUgqvC-Y   .  If you would like to partner with us to make a difference, go to http://go.efca.org/ministries/reachglobal/crisis-response .

Disciple Making Journey (Part 2)- Across Cultures

Haiti Summit in Constance Free Church



 

Connecting with Haitian brothers through the Haiti Consortium has encouraged growth in churches in the U.S. and in Haiti.  Dave Hyatt, Pastor for Local and Global Outreach at Hershey Free Church shared, “Their honesty about the Haitian church and how they haven’t done a great job of making disciples has allowed me to be a little more honest, to look at things.  Their candor, their humility to admit they want to do a better job, and they want to raise up disciples….It was convicting to me on one level.  They are asking us for help at something I don’t think we are doing great at.  In order to feel that we had anything to say, it pushed me back to the Scriptures.  It is a bit of a mirror for me saying, “How are we doing?  Are we raising up Christians who are really impacting our own society, who make a difference in their community, who are looking to reproduce their lives?”  Discipleship is a concept that spans all cultures.  Our goals are the same as the goals of Christians in other nations.

Dr. Jean Dorlus has been studying the worldview of Haiti.  He feels leaders are responsible to see that the worldview of the Bible is adopted.  He gave an example using the Haitian proverb that says, “What a person does to another, God laughs at it.”  This means that God is not interested in human affairs. “He is far away.  Someone who shared this worldview and becomes a believer has a problem understanding that God is interested in every detail in life.  It is not an issue of God being powerful, but does God care, and does He care for me.  He is an indifferent God.  He has other things to do.”  This affects ethics as well, because they believe God does not care about justice.  “The Law of the Strong wins.”

Every country has its own worldview, and none are the Biblical worldview.  We need to examine our culture to see what we have adopted into our worldview that comes from society and not the Bible.  We need to be careful when we go into another country that we do not try to teach principles that are part of our tradition but are not taught by the Bible.

Haiti Consortium in Haiti

Senior Pastor George Davis of Hershey Free Church has come to a deeper relationship with Haitian brothers through a commitment of slowing down and spending time with them.  In this he has learned, “Well, here are some challenges that they are facing that are the same challenges that we are facing.  We have talked about how to do ministry in a culture in a way that does not foster dependence.  When you start wrestling with that question, you have to wrestle with- in our own context- how do we do ministry in a way that doesn’t foster consumerism.  Because, really, they are the same issues but in a different socio-economic environment.”

What problems do you see in the American church?  What have we adopted into our worldview that is not Biblical?  I challenge you to come up with a worldview based solely on what the Bible teaches.  Know what you should believe and why, and make that a part of your life.   Then, pass it on to others.

Disciple Making Journey (Part 1)

One of the goals of ReachGlobal Crisis Response is to make disciples who make disciples.  So what is a disciple?  He is a learner, a follower.  Senior Pastor George Davis of Hershey Free Church explains this involves knowing, being, and doing.  It is not mere head knowledge.  It changes our whole life style.  Dave Hyatt, Pastor for Local and Global Outreach at Hershey Free Church explains the common trait is a devotion to Christ that will look different in different people.  He adds, “There is a desire for fellowship, God’s Word, and a desire to reproduce their lives in others.”  Their church website breaks discipleship into three areas.  Live with Jesus, love like Jesus, and lead others to do the same.

So, how do people become disciples?  It takes a disciple to make a disciple.  You do not have to be perfect.  In fact, it is important others see you are not perfect, but rather growing in obedience to Christ.   The article Disciples Who Make Disciples by Alex Absalom and Greg Nettle points out, “…discipleship is primarily caught, since the Biblical model is one of imitation and apprenticeship.  For this to happen, people need to be close enough to our lives that they can see what this looks like on an ongoing basis, rather than simply on special occasions when we are on our best behavior!”  Wawa, President of S.T.E.P. seminary in Haiti, lived with the Muchmore family as a young Christian.  He not only heard them talk about what the Bible teaches, but he also watched as they lived out their convictions.  He saw how they reacted to different situations and could hear their reasons for their choices.

Michael Kelley, Director of Discipleship at Lifeway, tells us to look at the example of Jesus to see how to disciple.  He says, “In the gospels, we see those followers listening and learning from the teaching of Jesus.  We see them spending time in real life situations with Jesus.  We see them being sent out by Jesus with purpose and meaning….we see that discipleship is a lifestyle.”  This is not an overnight process.  It takes time and patience.  It is not just taking a course and checking off learning basic principles.  It means committing to another Christian and spending time with them.  It is doing life together. 

In Called to Reach: Equipping Cross-Cultural Disciplers by William R. Yount and Mike Barnett, they say, “The goal is to disciple and equip after the example of Jesus.  He focused his teaching on the needs of his learners.  He perfectly melded thinking (parables, illustrations, interpretations), feeling (love, care, support, choosing ‘twelve to be with him’), and doing (demonstrations, modeling the role, practical guidance) elements as they were needed to transform the lives of his disciples.”  Pastor Davis stresses the importance of people being “in biblical community, in a group environment where other people are speaking into their lives, and where they have the opportunity to do that for others.  I think we would encourage them as well to understand what does it look like to live out your faith on a day to day basis….Also, you want to help them experience God in service in particular ways.  That’s where short-term opportunities become a part of the disciple making strategy.”  A disciple will have a changed life as they make choices based on their relationship with Jesus.  This is revealed in the way they live their lives with others.

Pastor Hyatt added the importance of learning people’s wiring and discover their gifts so they can serve in their area of giftedness.  “That doesn’t just mean taking assessments.  That means trying different things so they can figure out how they fit in the body, how they can serve with what God has created them to do.”  He told the story of a person who was exhausted before going on a very difficult short-term trip.  Although they worked hard on the trip, they were completely invigorated from it.  They exclaimed, “I feel so much better than when I left!”  Dave stated, “They had discovered some things about themselves in terms of how God uses them.”  We are all different, and God has a different plan for how He will use each of our lives.  Discipleship involves doing, not just learning.

Is there someone in your sphere of influence who you could disciple?  Be willing to invest in the lives of others.  A true disciple disciples others.