This week marks a new era, a new chapter, full of new possibilities in my life. First is I get to introduce a new church to what I consider my 2nd country, Haiti. A team of 16 of us is about to head off for a week of work for a family still displaced by the horrendous 2010 earthquake. We'll be in a place I've never been, doing work I've never done there, with a team of people made up of 14 who have never been out of the country on a mission trip. That all creates for an exciting time full of unanticipated wonder and grace, the gaps filled in by God's Spirit.
Short-term mission trips, I believe, are a crucial central piece to any effective discipleship strategy.
1 - Creates Unbalance - just as our physical bodies benefit from off-balance exercise using exercise balls, a variety of core work lifting legs and arms to create greater strength; so our spiritual lives benefit from being thrown off balance. Both physically and spiritually it's something we have to deliberately choose. Spiritually it strengthens us.
2. Opens us to a new perspective - sometimes people complain that there is so much to do right here so why go so far away? What I find is that it is often necessary to get out of our comfort zone, into unfamiliar territory, that opens our eyes to the things right in front of us back home. Missions is also not complete until you do at home what you did while you were away.
3. Fulfills the call of Jesus - in Acts 1:8 Jesus gave the disciples then and us now a clear map of where we were to be His hands and feet - Jerusalem (at home) - Judea (surrounding region) - Samaria (a place we wouldn't normally go) - ends of the earth (just in case we were confused about how far). It's never an either or but rather a both and answer to should I stay or should I go. YES!
2. Opens us to a new perspective - sometimes people complain that there is so much to do right here so why go so far away? What I find is that it is often necessary to get out of our comfort zone, into unfamiliar territory, that opens our eyes to the things right in front of us back home. Missions is also not complete until you do at home what you did while you were away.
3. Fulfills the call of Jesus - in Acts 1:8 Jesus gave the disciples then and us now a clear map of where we were to be His hands and feet - Jerusalem (at home) - Judea (surrounding region) - Samaria (a place we wouldn't normally go) - ends of the earth (just in case we were confused about how far). It's never an either or but rather a both and answer to should I stay or should I go. YES!
One Mission Society has had a footprint in Haiti for some 65 years now, but this work of Homes 4 Haiti is new, vibrant and doing some practical work with immediate results. I haven't been to Port-au-Prince (except through the airport once) since 1979. There have been dramatic changes, not the least of which is the 2010 earthquake.
Stay tuned to this blog for updates (which I hope are daily).
Stay tuned to this blog for updates (which I hope are daily).
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