In my last entry I talked about the life of missions. It really is a different life. But since I wrote that entry, I have shoveled a lot of snow, made a snowman and risked my life on the wet roads. And I am thinking of another key thing about a missional life.

Because a life in missions is all consuming, it seems like many people begin to get their identity from that life. They define their value and their person through the sacrifice of living far away from friends and family.

That is very dangerous . . . what if you have to leave missions to take care of aging parents, sick kids, geopolitical strife?

Does God still love you if you are out of the life that you have invested so much to live? 

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Did you have to stop and think? If so, take a minute to think about this. Do you think that God loves you any more or less based on what you are doing? The answer of course is NO, but in our culture what we do drives our value.

We value those careers that show leadership and lead to financial success and fame.

But in reality God cares very little about what we do - and cares much more about who we trust. He wants our identity to come from who we are in Him and not who we are in our profession.

What does that look like practically? Imagine being in missions for 5 years and then having to leave and work in a Starbucks. Would your identity be as a barista or as a child of God? 

Today is a snow day here in Colorado Springs, so as the drifts pile up outside - lets talk about the ebb and flow of life in ministry.

Many people considering missions might be wondering what life will be like on a day-to-day basis. Good question. One of the main differences from life with a 9-5 type job is that your job and your life are all wrapped up together.

Now this isn't really anything shocking. All the stats in America and Europe show that people with any kind of job are working longer hours and identifying their value with the community at work.

This reality has existed for a long time in missions. You have a bible study at night, it takes an hour to pay the electric bill down at the bank, people come over at all hours to talk and the list goes on and on.

The two realitis of missionary life are the two extremes:

1. Some people work themselves to death as their lives are their work. Vacations never happen, kids don't get time, and there is no recharging.

2. Others let the flex schedule drive them to ineffectiveness because there are no fast deadlines. Sometimes people who's job is their life end of gliding through life and not accomplishing much.

So as I sit here in the snow, I am hoping to learn from both of these challenges. I technically don't have to work, but I am checking email and making some calls. At the same time, I have plans to make a snowman with the kids and spend some time in front of a nice fire.

Are you headed into full-time missions? If so, talk to some missionaries, get some ideas on how to adjust to the lifestyle. Don't assume it will come naturally. 

Ken Gill, Associate Director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College (http://bgc.gospelcom.net/index.html), challenged the question of this blog.

Actually he isn't the first and he is right. Many, including myself, have wonded if it is possible to come up with one main characteristic. It probably isn't but this process really makes people think and it helps us to look at some of the key ones - even though one is probably not more important than the other.

Check out what Ken thinks is critical to missions moving forward: 

"There is no single key characteristic.  We need to abandon the "one size fits all" mentality. What works in one cultural context or ministry situation will not work in another. 

A mission agency must have flexible strategies to be effective in the modern world.  Both the agencies and their personnel need to be students of modern culture and develop ongoing sensitivity to trends within the culture in which they work. They must be well versed in biblical theology and the religion/s they are challenging.  Otherwise, they will not be able to distinguish syncretism from contextualization."  

Do you know the difference between syncretism and contextualization? If you don't - you need to. Check out this Lausanne World Pulse article about this topic. 

Can your hands be doing two things at the same time? We are so intense in our efforts that sometimes we don't engage people in multiple ways.

Jesus was incredible at this very thing. He could reach down to a place filled with dispair and sin while all the time reflecting Christ and the hope of that glory.

What if we did that as missionaries? What if our lives were fully engaged with those in need and the issues they are dealing with but at the same time we were always reflecting the light of Christ in a proactive way? 

Thomas Harley, Distribution Operations Manager for Book of Hope International (www.bookofhope.net), has this to say, "I think the modern missionary must have their fingers on the pulse of a people and their eyes set firmly on the cross.  They must have a true awareness of where a people are and a pure passion for where they could be.  They shouldn’t be satisfied with what is now when they know what can be.  A culture of death can and must be transformed into a culture of abundant life."

Are you reaching into the darkness and pulling people to the light?

We have talked about the role of the church to reach out and then we have tied together that role with an individual's calling. So now what?

Take a look at Acts 13! The church in Antioch was formed as the believers from Jerusalem scattered. Then as Paul interacted with them, the Holy Spirit moved on the church to send Paul and Barnabas as missionaries.

We don't know if this was financial support, prayer support, resources, tools . . . but we know that they acted on God's call and an individual's vision to go.

That's where this whole missionary idea came from. It all seems to make a bit more sense when we see it in the Bible. 

So then the question becomes, as the church has changed and as missions has changed - does this still apply?

Can you do missions without the church?

Can you do church without missions?

Pray about this - a lot is riding on your answer. 

When you study the book of Acts and the beginnings of the church - two people were key to the launch of a global mission effort.

First we see the conversion of Saul - then called Paul in Acts 9. In this one step, God prepared one of his key servants for global mission.

Second we see Peter's world expand when God shows him that Gentiles can also be saved in Acts 10. God does this through a dream and then a visit to Cornelius. This realization expands global mission way beyond the people of Israel and makes the challenge even greater.

We live in an individualist world. We feel called to do something and we don't think about the church's role in that. Why would we? We were called not our church. In fact maybe we don't even have a close church connection. Maybe we have been to many churches in the past.

God spoke to Paul and Peter in an individual way . . .

. . . but here's the catch.

Paul and Peter both went back to the church and shared what God had done in them. They brought the others along. Now I'm sure that not everyone agreed with what Paul and Peter said about global mission. But their job wasn't to make everyone agree. It was to educate and motivate the church to learn from what God had taught them.

All right - lets get to the APPLICATION!

You go off on a walk and God calls you - what's your next move. If we follow the example of Peter and Paul, we should go back to our church and involve them.

Take a chance and connect with your church. Your ministry will be stronger if you have a real dynamic connection with a church.