Changing my mind-set!

I currently have a group of 7 students and a team leader from Capernwray Bible School serving alongside our church for the week helping us with ministry.

When I’m asked to give these students advice about serving in a church in NZ, I find that I don’t start with the “do’s” and “don’ts.” Instead, I tell them to make every effort to simply “be” in the church community. I challenge them to not get distracted by the many jobs and tasks that they have to do over the week and miss opportunities to establish genuine relationships with the people at the church. The greatest impact you can have on a life will not be in what you “do” rather, it will be in the “relationships” you form.

This is ultimately the model of God himself; he took on flesh and came and dwelt among those he came to save to build a relationship with them and through the way he lived he then showed them another way (John 1:14).

It is no surprise then that much of the online training for Vanuatu has focussed on this point; on the importance of showing up on a mission trip and being with the local community sharing life with them! In fact, in one of the training sessions it was mentioned that often on a mission trip you are so focused on what you will be “doing” that you can easily forget how important it is to dwell among the local community – share the good times, share the bad times and experience life together working for the common goal of the community! This model becomes known as establishing a partnership.

 I look up to my office wall and see a quote stuck there: “Real ministry is not what you do, but who you are” (Mike Yaconelli). I am then reminded of what my minister once said to me on my very first day: “90% of ministry is just showing up.” However, it is easier said than done isn’t it?

As I find myself mentally preparing for the trip that is almost only a week a way I find myself thinking of all the jobs and tasks that I might have to do during my week in Vanuatu! I’ve gone over job after job but I have given very little thought to the people of Vanuatu that I will be living with and dwelling among for that week!  Why is it easier to “do” a job rather than simply “be” with people?

I think it is because as we form relationships we become vulnerable. We have to open areas of who we are to others and in a society where we find ourselves staring at computer screens and televisions more and more, being open and showing people who we are can be extremely scary. What if the other person doesn’t like me? What if the other person laughs at me? What if the other person doesn’t accept me? It is a lot easier to do a job than face potential rejection!

At this point I couldn’t help but think about Jesus Christ; the God of all creation becoming a baby; becoming a servant; exposing himself to all forms of rejection and ultimately a painful death. Why did he do this? Because he wanted a relationship with us! At the end of the day a TRUE genuine relationship is worth all the possible dangers that could potentially come!

Thanks to the training and personal reflection my mental preparation for Vanuatu has taken a new turn. I’m now trying to move from thinking about what I will be doing and instead thinking about the people I will be living with! Yes, they may laugh at me; yes, they may think I’m a little weird; yes, there is potential for rejection BUT if I want to make a lasting impact on the community that will go way beyond the week I am there then I know it starts with the vulnerability of opening myself up and simply “dwelling among.”