Our Last Words and Your Next Steps
Looking Back and Moving Aheadby Steve Hoke and Bill Taylor
Well, that’s just about it. You have seriously embarked upon the process of charting your own journey to the nations. If you’ve made it this far, it’s been by faith, hard work, and endurance. Congratulations! You are to be commended!
We trust that as you’ve worked through the counsel in this book and taken the first steps toward reaching the nations for Christ, you have grown in substantial ways - in your character, in your church base, in your ministry effectiveness, and in your overall knowledge. We really hope that you’ve seen your destiny defined and have felt God’s empowering presence as you step out in obedient faith. You certainly have enough contact addresses, Web pages, and further resources to keep you going for a while!
Maybe you haven’t always known exactly where you were going, but you’ve been keenly aware of God’s guiding presence with you. You’ve sensed God’s touch in your life, either lightly or strongly. You’ve seen tangible answers to prayer, and perhaps some prayers that were not answered. You’re able to deal with a bit more ambiguity in life and the life in Christ. You’ve possibly already experienced some painful failures in your personal life as well as in relationships and even in ministry. That’s all part of the package of discipleship. You’ve experienced some divine encounters with God and perhaps with some other people. You’ve entered into a mentoring relationship that is giving you substantial input and counsel.
Overall, we trust that you have made definite progress in your journey toward active long-term service to Christ in the vast unevangelized parts of the world. Or perhaps the Lord has confirmed your role in another region of the huge world of human and spiritual needs where your precise gift mix and skill set will be used best. But wherever you are at this point, our prayer is that you will stay focused on knowing God and on building His cross-cultural kingdom by showing His love in practical ways, by making disciples, and by planting churches. As you go, we hope you will grow stronger with that high goal of finishing well - whether in your home country or in an adopted one.
The journey of faith is a lifelong process. God’s pattern for working with His people is to develop them over the course of a lifetime. That’s why the Christian life is best described as a lifelong pilgrimage. You will be tempted to get discouraged; you will be tempted to sin, to quit, to throw in the towel. You will meet lovely and apparently peaceful Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims. And these relationships may open an internal warfare as you battle with profound spiritual doubt, even wondering whether it’s necessary to claim that Jesus is unique over the other faith systems.
You will be heartbroken when apparent believers slip away from Jesus. You may get sick, worse than you ever imagined you could, even wanting to die and get it over with! Hey, that’s part of the deal. Remember Jesus! But when the temptations come to chuck it in, remember also that your ultimate desire is to love and honor the High Triune God.
Most of you will start your global race strong, and the majority of you are young (at least younger than Steve and I - but then it’s pretty easy to be younger than we are!). Begin your race with commitment and determination, and continue with patient endurance (Rev. 14:12) as the decades roll by. Some of you may serve for five years in cross-cultural ministry, then return “home” radically changed and forever internationalized.
Others will “sign up” for further terms, extending your ministry segment by segment. The most important thing is not where you geographically work out your discipleship to Jesus, but the reality that you pursue Him passionately, wherever. So stay focused for the distance, and get ready to be amazed as God brings glory to His name, and rejoice when it happens that He invites you to be a part of it. Enjoy your seasons among the people of every nation, tribe, and language who will one day worship together with you around the great throne of heaven.
Now that’s a vision worth living and dying for!
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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