When I think of the word VITAL, I see life, connectedness, action . . . What do you see?

An even better question is this, "Does the word VITAL describe your spiritual life?"

Doug Haltom, Director of Personnel Administration for Wycliffe USA (www.wycliffe.org),  says this word has to describe your service, "Spiritual vitality is key.  Missionaries in the 21st Century will indeed be servants experiencing hardships very much like those experienced by the apostle Paul.  The key to success will be their ability to draw on God-given resources whatever their circumstances."

Wycliffe, like all other missions organizations, is seeing challenging circumstances for ministry around the world. But just as God worked through Paul as he was obedient, God will work through you if you are connected to Him.

When you are connected to Christ you will have all of the strength, faith and hope that is in Him - which is endless.

So check your vital signs today! 

One of the realities of the 21st Century is a global pandemic. If we are to serve in global missions, we must be ready to be in the middle of a pandemic and use that event to open up new doors for ministry.

I have just published a conversation between 4 ministry professionals called "Effective Ministry in the Face of Pandemic" with my wife Mindy.

Check it out at: http://www.momentum-mag.org/200603/200603-36-article3.pdf

Are you ready to serve at any cost? 

The idea of multiplication is in the Great Commission at its core. That was the whole point, but it isn't always the result of modern missions. We need a passion for multiplication. So if you didn't do so well in math you might be in trouble :).

Seriously, the multiplication God cares about is easy to understand mathematically but it is messy personally. Why? Because people are involved. People with different visions, different personalities, different expectations. To see multiplication happen you have to be committed to it.

Tom Cairns, Associate Executive Director of International Missions for the Evangelical Free Church of America (www.efca.org), says that multiplication is critical.

". . . a new missionary needs an attitude of humility, graciousness, tact, cross-cultural savvy, and a commitment to multiplication - not just doing it him/herself.  This implies that every missionary is a trainer of nationals or other missionaries. "

Simply put, if you don't have a passion for empowering others, you are missing a huge part of God's heart for the Great Commission.

Are you ready for a math lesson? 

As you read the previous entry - Concerned Hands -  you might say to yourself, "Isn't being concerned about people's physical needs important enough?"

That's a big question as we look at missions in the 21st Century. What should we really be concerned about? There are millions of problems, millions of opportunities that are ever showing themselves to us daily through the media blitz that is our world. 

We are all about justice and incarnational ministry. What could be more important than uniting our words with our actions? EXACTLY!

Humans swing on a pendulum and we go from one point of view to another. As we swing towards the huge physical needs of our world, lets not forget where we swang from.

Meeting physical needs outside of the context of the Great Commission can be done by thousands of nonprofits who don't have a commitment give Christ - is that really our priority.

This is the key question - Is your priority lives transformed or physical lives improved? Your answer will say alot about whether you should go into missions. 

It is easy to get stuck on our methods and our practices and forget the core reason for missions. Why is that? We know that God has a heart for the lost, but it is easier to talk about a particular program or strategy than it is to ache for those that are lost.

David Mays, the Great Lakes Regional Director for ACMC (www.acmcnetwork.com/), thinks we need to be aching just a bit more if we are really considering missions. "I want to set the stage by reflecting that in missions today I hear a great deal of concern about all kinds of important social issues, but I don’t seem to be hearing as much about lost people coming to faith in Christ. So among all the necessary things for being a missionary today, I would list as indispensable for eternal results, a growing personal relationship with God and a great concern that lost people come to know Him."

What is underneath all of the exciting programs and missions strategies? 

Is there a heart-breaking passion for the lost?

In a tough world, that is critical to effective ministry. Programs will come and go - strategies will rise and fall, but a passion for the lost will keep you in the game. 

All Christians are humble right? Sure and what planet do I live on - surely not this one. Pride is a major challenge in missions today and the opposite of pride is a major asset.

 
Humility is a key characteristic that we cannot ignore in a 21st Century missionary. In most cases we are coming alongside others and we are not running the show. We are having to understand another culture, new leadership styles, new relationship dynamics and so much more.

Look at what Ken Lloyd, Personnel Director for SIM International (www.sim.org), has to say about Humble Hands.
 
"I would say humility is a key characteristic for a missionary to have based on Philippians 2:1-11.  I believe this includes being a real learner, promoting others first, serving others, sacrificial living, counting the cost, unity of the body, shining as stars, following the examples of Timothy and Epaphroditus, caring love, ambitious about Christ's reputation, and the list goes on.

Humble people understand themselves well and are ever deepening their worship of and relationship with Christ so they can leave their comfort zone as Christ did and incarnate the gospel among those like but unlike them."

So here's the question, "When you look down at your hands today, are they marked by humility?" 

Fanatic-like vision.

Many people talk about vision. People readily say we must have one - being visionary is a major compliment. But most visions that are being peddled out on the streets of today's world aren't very impressive. They sure aren't fanatical.

But that is exactly what the staff at GCM (www.gcmweb.org) say we must have if we are to be effective in His service.

"Without an unshakable sense of God's calling and sending, a missionary will sooner or later succumb to temptation, despair, or disillusionment. The "fanatical" part comes in from the view that others (even those close to the prospective missionary) will likely have to have that anchor-like faith and conviction, which is based in the compassion of Mt. 9:35-8. No obstacle will be insurmountable; no setback decisive. Above training, previous experience or anyone's notions of pedigree, the missionary's fanatic-like vision seems to be a key characteristic that separates those who are impactful ambassadors for Christ and those who represent something or someone of lesser glory."

Imagine if you lived and worked as if "no obstacle was insurmountable?"

What kinds of things would you do?

How would your life be different?

A friend of mine told me once, "I never pray for vision because God has enough for anyone who is obedient." God's vision is a simple mix of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. He is looking for people foolish enough to do everything necessary to see that vision realized. 

As you read the last entry, ask this question. If you are looking at being a missionary, what are you prone to miss? Are you failing to see how God is moving / working? He works so differently than we do. Many missionaries struggle because they fail to see God working in a new culture, a new situation, a new reality.

DO YOU SEE WHAT GOD SEES?