Mission Stories: Evan

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

Hello! I’m Evan and I graduated from Jazz Performance in Drums at UofT! I dabble in music and film production on the side, and love teaching piano and drums to the kids in the music schools I’m a part of. I have been attending and serving Christ the King (ANiC) for two years now and looking forward to starting seminary at Tyndale this upcoming Fall! 

Who/what led you to consider Missions?

I grew up in the church but even so, I saw “doing missions” to be a very specific calling to very specific people in the church. Therefore, I came to the conclusion at a very young age that doing missions wasn’t for me. 

It wasn’t until I attended URBANA 2018, an Intervarsity-led missions conference held in St. Louis at the end of the year, where I saw the importance of missions in the gospel. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I went because I thought it was just a Christian conference - I didn’t know it was about missions - but I guess you could say that it was God’s way of introducing missions to me in a peculiar way. So really, I wasn’t the one who led me to consider Missions, it was God who led me to consider Missions for me. 

On the last day of the conference, I had a one on one praying session with a prayer guide, and this was when I saw multiple visions where, long story short, God was personally calling me to serve and be involved in missions. I felt a sense of peace and joy throughout the rest of the conference and I returned to Toronto refreshed and filled with the Holy Spirit with this new determination to find a community of other missional believers.

How did this experience impact you?

If URBANA was the birthplace of discovering missions, then everything afterwards was shaped around and impacted by that one God-calling experience. When school resumed in January, a good brother in Christ (and roommate) Eugene Lu, introduced me to Chez right before our fellowship gathering. She shared her story of how she found missions, and she prayed for me, encouraging me to continue in my missional faith journey. 

A week later, I joined the weekly Friday morning Missions Hub prayer gatherings where I met many other UofT students from other campus fellowships. At the end of that first prayer gathering, Chez mentioned that there was this 15-week mission course called Perspectives happening this summer, and still being new to missions, I joined it. I started to talk to staff in the other missions organizations like SIM and OMF and joined the Luke 10:2 gatherings at Missions Hub. 

However, all of this being said, my personal spiritual life was also being shaped. I started to read the Bible with more curiosity, frequency, and intentionality, immersing myself in more books, podcasts, and discussions with others about faith and missions - life became more lively the more I learned about God’s Mission (Missio Dei). Perspectives taught me to see the urgency, stereotypes, stories, practices, wisdom, and truth of Missions. And then, I finally came to the conclusion that I wanted to be a missionary. 

What is the greatest frustration in your Missional journey? How do you find hope in the midst of this?

When the pandemic hit during March last year, I left Toronto and flew back to my family in Vancouver. I was there for a couple weeks when I started to miss attending Missions Hub, going in person to church, and on top of that, I felt like my plans of having a music career were starting to fade away. Even though I was still keeping in touch with my OMF missions mentor through bi-weekly calls, it still felt like I was disconnected from the world - from missions. 

However, I started to cope and combat this misery by reading. I started to read books like The Masterplan of Evangelism, The Marketspace, Honest Evangelism and many other other books on spiritual formation. I would sit outside in my backyard, lay a picnic mat on the ground, and just read. I then started to join this virtual prayer gathering initiated by another good friend Andre, called Praying for the Nations, joining several calls until I yet again went back into a season of withdrawal, misery, and confusion of where God was calling me to be or to do. 

At this point, I didn’t know if having a music career was the path I wanted. I started wrestling with my thoughts, and living in the basement of my house (instead of my room because it was way too hot) wasn’t doing me any good either. Though the more I prayed, pondered and read, the more I found the space and time to learn about myself. I stepped away from thinking about missions and started to talk to God, discern, and wait for what God was showing me. In my misery, He met me. 

What does it mean for you to live missionally right now? How do you practically practice this?

Fast forward to now, I am continuing to learn more about myself through introspection, contemplation and meditation (Lectio Divina). God made me realize the importance of the self in relation to others. In other words, I see myself being called to more than just being a missionary, but to be a discipler. I no longer see myself as someone who is going to go on missions, but as a discipler, who will be called by God to do his mission (Missio Dei) through whatever means he calls me to be, with others. 

In this season now, as I am back in Toronto, I am called to practice living this missional life now by making disciples in the UofT P2C Global community. I have felt a deep sense of urgency to invest, connect, live life together, love, and disciple international students who are coming in from many different places throughout the world. In the upcoming Fall semester, Tyndale will be a place where I will engage in various different conversations with others about missions and find opportunities to study, learn, and grow in the knowledge of missions through seminars, classes, and future internships. 

Mission Stories: Alana

Tell us a little bit about yourself

My name is Alana and I’ve recently graduated from my undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in music education. I’ll be starting my Masters of Teaching at OISE in the fall, and I want to teach in elementary school one day. I am a panda lover, music fanatic and an avid Yelper! I love discovering new food places and it’s always a great way to spend time with friends as well. As an ambivert, I’m pretty flexible with going out and being social, and also staying home by myself (which I did a lot during the pandemic). 

How long have you been a Christian and how has this impacted the way you view and interact with the world?

I committed to following Christ at the age of 12 and although there have been many ups and downs in my walk with Him, making that decision has definitely changed the way that I view my life greatly. It has given me a great sense of purpose and direction in what I do. It has taught me what is truly important in the world, not chasing after money, relationships, success, etc. but walking in relationship with the one true God. 

Do you recall the first time you were interested in Missions? What led you to eventually acting on this interest?

I grew up in a pretty sheltered Christian environment, which meant that I was not aware of a lot of the need for the Gospel in the world. I would occasionally meet or hear about missionaries, but I would think, “That’s not for me.” However, my mom worked for a Christian organization called Child Evangelism Fellowship of Ontario, and they had an annual summer missionary program for youth, so she encouraged me to go, and eventually one year, I decided to listen to her.

That summer, I spent time in training, learning how to share the Gospel with children, and then I went around Ontario to different churches and groups to lead Bible clubs at summer camps. It was a truly eye-opening summer. Not only did I learn to clearly articulate the Gospel for the first time, but I started to understand the great need for the Gospel in the world. That summer was also my first time leading a child to Christ, which was the biggest blessing - to experience God’s love touching someone in a way that they chose to follow Him! Although I wasn’t actually so interested in missions before this summer, I am thankful to have been encouraged to do so by my mom and it was what kickstarted my desire for evangelism and missions in university! 

How have you been spending your time during the pandemic? Have you been doing anything Missional?

Over the pandemic, I have been able to take part in two online mission trips to East Asia with Power to Change. As I have mostly been doing local missions before, this was my first experience doing missions overseas, albeit from home. Our team would meet together on Zoom each day to pray, receive training and plan. We connected with students in EA through the short term missionaries there, or through language learning apps. Then, we would develop friendships with them, and invite them to our English Corner events, where we were eventually able to talk about God with them. It has been so eye-opening to me to see the possibilities of online missions, as we have had students who are seriously engaging with the Gospel, doing Bible studies online with EA students, having spiritual conversations, etc. even though they have only met online. I have a few friends that I am still in touch with regularly who are receptive to what I share with them about the Gospel. I am really thankful to have continued to have opportunities to stay missional even when we have been at home because of the pandemic. 

Why are Missions important to you?

Missions are important to me because it was important to Jesus. As I learn more about imitating Christ, I am continually encouraged by the ways Jesus went out of his way to reach the sick and the lost. One of the prime examples of this is when Jesus chose to meet the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. He took the path that was less common, more frowned upon, to be able to reach her! I think there’s a lot of talk nowadays about how missions can seem like imposing one’s beliefs on another. However, when looking at the life of Jesus, he never did this. He simply loved them, shared with them the Good News that he had, and lived alongside them. God has shown his love through his son Jesus on the cross, and the least that we can do for him is to share that with those around us. 

What would you say to someone who has not yet engaged with or does not know how to engage with Missions?

I would say, I was definitely there before. I think the most important thing to do is to just try. There’s a lot of fear in not knowing how to do missions or feeling “ready” for it. However, we forget that we are already equipped with the most important thing- the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is what gives us boldness, the words to speak, and the love that we pour out on others. 

For more practical things to do to engage with missions, I found it really helpful to be praying for unreached people groups using the websites Joshua Project and/or Prayercast! It helped me expand my understanding of the world and the need/urgency for the Gospel. It is also important to start being “missional” wherever you are. With your school/work community, your neighbours, etc. These are people God has placed in your life already, and so if you are able to reach out to them, that is a wonderful way to start sharing the Gospel. If you have a heart to be engaged with missions, God will make a way for you to do so. 

Mission Stories: Khevna

Tell us a little bit about yourself

I would describe myself as an outgoing individual who loves seeing the ways God allows me to journey and trust him more with all the joyful chaos of life. I am currently the Missions Hub Director in Toronto where I get to build and catalyze partnerships amongst campus groups, missions agencies and churches. I live in Scarborough with my husband, teens and cats - and love getting to live life closely with my neighbours who come from all around the world. Some of my favourite things include meeting people over coffee or bubble tea, discovering new foods in the city, planning events, and spending time in different countries. Fun fact: I have spent time in nearly 30 different countries in the world starting with being born in Kenya!

What’s your favourite thing to eat? Why?

Pani Puri, Zanzibar Mix, Khao Soi, Satay, Elote… honestly, there are so many different favourite foods I enjoy, and my favourite changes all the time which makes this question too difficult to answer!

If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

After this pandemic, I feel like I would be really happy to go anywhere!! If I had to make a decision on where to go immediately, I would probably choose Indonesia or Russia. Generally, I prefer visiting large cities (rather than more outdoorsy locations) since I really enjoy getting to connect with people and learn from them. Strangers who become friends is my favourite part of any trip!

Do you recall the first time you were interested in Missions? What led you to eventually acting on this interest?

When I was really young before I even came to know Christ, God was already increasing in my heart a passion for engaging in global missions. I look back to some of the people he allowed me to meet (including Mother Teresa, that’s a fun story!) and am in awe at how God included me in his plan to see all peoples know and worship Him! When I came to know Jesus personally, I wanted to see others experience this same great relationship and was eager to share the goodness of God with those around me. The more I read scripture, and the more I understood God’s heart for all nations and all peoples to know Him, the more I started making decisions to participate in this. From being intentional about what I chose to study to choosing to live in certain neighbourhoods, I want to continue exploring where God intends for me to best engage faithfully in missions.

What does it mean for you to live missionally right now? How do you practically practice this?

I currently practice living missionally by praying, learning, welcoming, sending and mobilizing. There is often so much going on in our world, and I want to always be careful not to be my own solution to the brokenness I see around me. Prayer has been so important for me to trust God in His power and grace, and also for me to cling to his promises when feeling hopeless. I regularly learn about and pray for different nations, so that I continue to have my eyes open to what God is doing around the world and participate by praying for places far from my reach. In addition, I often pray for and encourage missionaries who are faithfully engaging in different places. I love being a part of teams to send and support them in their work! I also love how we can find people from all nations right here in Toronto, and am thankful for opportunities to build relationships with unreached neighbours, refugees, and at-risk youth. As I continue to journey with different families, I want them to see and know Christ through all my interactions. Lastly, in my workplace, I get to be able to connect those exploring how to engage in missions with opportunities to go. I love how God allows me to mobilize and walk alongside others as they discern what it looks like to live missionally. I hope these practical examples are helpful!

What is the greatest frustration in your Missional journey? How do you find hope in the midst of this?

In my own missional journey, sometimes I get frustrated by wanting to accomplish goals or see the end result of my actions. So often, God is reminding me to trust him in recognizing that this is a journey and not a task that I need to reach an end for. I’m often reminded of how Abraham and others faithfully journeyed and trusted in God even when they did not yet see or receive the end promise reached in their own lifetime (Hebrews 11 vs 13 and 39) which gives me much hope to trust God in the process. This also helps remind me that it is not about my works, but God’s work through my obedience and surrender.

Seeds in the South: My Digital Mission Trip Experience

Why do missions? This is a question that I have struggled with for a while now. Having grown up in a Christian bubble, and still currently living in one, missions have often felt too abstract a topic for me to tackle. I felt it was too complex, too advanced for me to begin to even conceptualize, let alone see myself taking part in it. But should Christians do missions? Should I do missions? This is a question that is at the very core of the teaching and ministry of Jesus. Over the last two years I have wrestled with Christ’s call to make disciples, and with the very extensive, sometimes violent and at many times harmful history of missions in the church. While missions still remain a fairly complex topic for me to even understand, Christ leads us to consider the gentle and simple spirit of his call to the Church. 

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). Jesus’ call at its very core is to come and partner with him, to learn his unforced rhythms of rest. And his rhythms of rest are not difficult, his burden is not heavy. He says so himself! So why do missions scare me and, I believe, many other people like me? Maybe it's because we don’t know what missions work really is, or haven’t seen it modeled in a healthy way. It might be that because we have all been formed in one bubble or another, we have as a result perspectives that aren’t rooted in the richness of the Great Commission. 

This summer, OMF (in partnership with Wycliffe) held a virtual mission trip to both South East Asia and South America. This was my opportunity to take a bold step, albeit a little one, and look past my bubble, if only for a split second. I won’t sit here and tell you about all of the tiny details about the event, which was amazing! Neither will I tell you about what I learned from both cultures and those serving there, which was a lot. What I will tell you is to look beyond yourself, to look past your bubble and peek into what God is doing in and around you, both abroad and at home. Missions is God’s heart for all of creation. It does not have to be harmful. It doesn’t have to be scary. It doesn’t have to be complicated. And it doesn’t have to be done by someone else many times ‘more spiritual’ or ‘more passionate’ than yourself. Allow yourself to be exposed to God’s passion, and let that set you ablaze, even in your bubble.

There are opportunities all around you. Look! And take a step. It might be a baby step like praying or going for a virtual mission trip, it might be a huge step like committing to learning or serving locally or abroad. What really matters is that you look beyond your bubble and into how God is inviting you through his Son to partner with him as he heals and restores all things. 

This blog post was written by Guershom Kitsa, student at the University of Toronto!

Theology of Suffering: Luke 10:2

This past Sunday’s discussion addressed the rising dangers and suffering involved in cross-cultural missions work. Pastor Daniel Mills who is currently serving as the Associate Pastor at Unionville Alliance Church presented a thoughtful and compassionate lens through which to begin developing a theology of suffering. Pastor Daniel has been active in pastoral ministry for the past 19 years and spent a significant amount of that time pastoring throughout the United States and church planting in Puerto Rico and Mexico. 

 Suffering is a heartbreaking and complex reality for many people and places. Pastor Daniel provided three main points to begin establishing a Jesus-centric perspective:

1. At the foundation of grasping a Christian worldview towards suffering, it’s crucial to begin with understanding the sovereignty of God. 

2. The life of Jesus provides the pattern for the Christian life- suffering was an integral part of his life and death. 

3. There is no shortage of risk involved in missionary work. Whether it’s COVID or other global or local issues, to participate in the mission of God is to risk suffering.

 From Pastor Daniel’s perspective, these three points provide a starting framework for confronting and addressing danger and suffering in cross-cultural missions. 

Make sure to catch the next Luke 10:2 gathering on the second Sunday of the month!

This blog post was written by Caitlin Normore, summer Creative Communications assistant!

How God Changed Me at Perspectives

During this summer at the Missions Hub, many brothers and sisters in Christ across the GTA meet up every Wednesday with the Missions Hub in downtown Toronto. We’ve been going through a Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Course which takes an in-depth look at cross-cultural ministry and global missions through a Biblical, Historical, Cultural and Strategic lens. As our Perspectives course drew near to its final weeks, we asked various students questions on their experience taking Perspectives. Here are their responses:

Could you share a bit about yourself and how you first heard about Perspectives?

1. My name is Jason and I’m going into my second year of Masters in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto. I first heard about Perspectives from Chez who works at the Missions Hub. She told us that it would be a summer-long course talking about global missions and that it would be very packed with lots of wisdom being shared from missionaries, directors from missionary organizations, and pastors. It sounded like a great opportunity to learn about global missions. - Jason Chan, UofT P2C Student Leader, Trained Engineer.

2. I worked as a Chemical Engineer for about 8 years until God called me into ministry recently. Being connected with Missions Hub was how I heard about Perspectives. - Jimmy Chao, OMF Canada Missions Mentorship Coordinator.

3. I’m a recent graduate from the University of Toronto where I completed my undergraduate degree in life science. I got connected with the missions hub through P2C and that’s where I heard about Perspectives. I knew about it the previous years it was run too, but finally made it out to this one. - Caroline, UofT Alumnus and UofT P2C Student Leader.

4. I am a 28 year old TCK. I heard about Perspectives through word of mouth. - Christine Park, TEAM International Missions Coach.

What are some key lessons/stories you learned throughout this Perspective Course?

1. Through the Perspectives Course, I love how it goes through the Biblical, Historical, and Cultural perspectives of global missions. One of the biggest things I learned was how the mandate for global missions didn’t just come from the great Commission at the end of the Gospels or from the beginning of Acts, but really it was laid out ever since the covenant with Abraham and has spread out through all the Bible, so that for me was very powerful to know that this is a mission that God has given to man to partner with Him for all eternity. That was one of the key things I learned. Another thing that has been conveyed to me from an article I read was that every believer has a duty to partner with God in missions - no believer has the right to stay unless they’ve truly considered and prayed about going to the world in the name of Jesus. That made me really reflect and ask myself, “All this time have I been thinking about staying because that’s comfortable or that’s the easy thing to do? Have I really been ignoring this call to go because that seems to be out of my comfort zone?” But this article completely flipped it for me and changed my perspective. - Jason Chan, UofT P2C Student Leader.

2. The concept about Modalities & Sodalities really hit home. A point was made that when we got rid of the sodalities after the Protestant Reformation, there was a 200 year lull in World Evangelization. That’s to say that we need the missions agency structure to co-exist with the local church body to complete the great commission. Another implication is that a local church (modality) cannot have the attitude that “we don’t need partners. We can fulfill the great commission on our own.” History would prove otherwise. - Jimmy Chao, OMF Canada Missions Mentorship Coordinator.

3. The importance of adopting a spirit of humility and reliance on God. - Caroline, UofT Alumnus and UofT P2C Student Leader.

4. God is a missionary God with a mission to bless all the families of the earth, and we get to be a part of that blessing. - Christine Park, TEAM International Missions Coach.

Do you currently serve in any ministries (e.g. local church, campus fellowships, parachurch organizations)? What are some ways in which you could apply what you learned at Perspectives into your own ministry context?

1. In the upcoming year, I’ll be serving in a leadership position at [UofT] Power to Change and also a Sunday School teacher at my local church. I guess some ways in which I could apply what I learned at Perspectives at Power to Change is sharing what I’ve learned with the students there and really taking in this Perspective of the mandate for global missions. Through whatever material we’re going through, I would like to draw from what I learned from this course and share that with my discipleship group or people that we [individually] disciple. - Jason Chan, UofT P2C Student Leader

2. This was a great training course for my role. It is potentially a Seminary credit after all. - Jimmy Chao, OMF Mobilizer – Missions Mentorship Coordinator.

3. I’m currently in between serving at ministries having just left P2C and being a little delayed in getting involved with my church. However, learning about cross-cultural missions has really inspired me to pursue learning about other cultures while in Canada before going overseas and serving a certain people group here first. - Caroline, UofT Alumnus and UofT P2C Student Leader

4. Yes, my full time job is with a missions agency and I serve with the Children's ministry with my church. I learned a lot from each lesson, but the Spontaneous Multiplication of Churches lesson really stood out to me, maybe because that one was the most recent. Finding a pioneer for a vision to reach those in the peripherals of our Sunday services and knowing the people that God has placed in my city and how my church congregation is adjusting to convey the gospel in a way that would be understood well by those in my church community would be really helpful to identify, consider, and implement. I also learned again of the importance of house churches(home churches) to have a perspective to multiply and not just add. - Christine Park, TEAM International Missions Coach.

If you were to chat with yourself when you were a new Christian on missions and cross-cultural ministry, what words of wisdom would you share with your younger self?

1. I guess ever since I was younger, I had this view of missions as something closely tied to colonialism because of what I learned from school or social media. I guess when I first became a Christian, my view of missions was still the same - I thought it was an imposition of thought on these people who wanted nothing to do with it. I even thought that as a Christian, but after going through this [Perspectives] course, what I would tell my younger self is that God wants every tongue, tribe and nation to worship Him. It’s not about imposing one single culture to all the nations of the earth, but instead the opposite way - embracing all the cultures that God has created to know His name so that we can have this huge plethora of people worshipping Him in every language and in every unique way that they are made - we want to see how beautiful that is. - Jason Chan, UofT P2C Student Leader.

2. Don’t be so gung-ho. There’s a lot to learn from the greats of the past and from current trends in missions. Missions isn’t meant to be a solo activity. We need the wider body. - Jimmy Chao, OMF Canada Missions Mentorship Coordinator.

3. Remember God and why you are serving before just doing. - Caroline, UofT Alumnus and UofT P2C Student Leader.

4. Ask lots of questions. Be curious and read and connect with missionaries and mobilizers to hear their stories. - Christine Park, TEAM International Missions Coach.

Random Bonus Question! If you were a fruit, what would you be?

1. The first thing that came to mind was papaya - I have no idea why. I don’t hate them. I don’t love them, but they’re okay. - Jason Chan, UofT P2C Student Leader.

2. Pineapple – Yellow on the inside. Refreshing. Don’t touch me. - Jimmy Chao, OMF Canada Missions Mentorship Coordinator.

3. Peach - Caroline, UofT Alumnus and UofT P2C Student Leader.

4. Coconut - Christine Park, TEAM International Missions Coach.

The Harvest is Plentiful, but the Workers are few. As these students are completing their Perspectives coursework, please continue praying that God will stir their hearts to bring the valuable truths covered throughout this summer course to be applied into their own respective ministries and to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Revelation 7:9-12, English Standard Version9

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”----

Our greatest thanks to Justin, who volunteered to write this piece! Justin is a nursing student at McGill who serves with Power to Change, and has trained as a Missions Discipler with the Missions Hub. If you would like to connect with the Missions Hub, or write a piece for us, please email khevna@missionshub.ca. We would also like to take the opportunity to thank Knox Church, Christ the King Church, Chinese Gospel Church and Runnymede Community Church for their generous collaboration this summer for Perspectives! From May 15 through Aug 21st, we averaged 75 people coming every Wednesday evening. This would have been completely overwhelming except for our wonderful volunteers; we could not have done it without you! We thank God for the 49 students and 102 other visitors who joined us over the summer!

God Uses Failure and Sacrifice for His Glory

Psalm 127:1a (ESV)

Unless the Lord builds the house,

    those who build it labor in vain.

During this summer at the Missions Hub, many brothers and sisters in Christ across the GTA meet up every Wednesday at Knox Presbyterian Church in downtown Toronto. We’ve been going through the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course, which takes an in-depth look at cross-cultural ministry and evangelism through a biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic lens.

Our lesson this week was on spontaneous multiplication of churches. Our speaker, Dr. Stephen Beck (Author of The Mosaik Miracle, Pastor of Mosaik Frankfurt-North, Church Planter, and Professor of Practical Theology at the Gliessen School of Theology), shared from his wealth of experiences planting churches in Canada, Germany, and the US. As a McGill University student with a campus ministry focus on leading community/social events and discipling first years, I didn’t think there could be much to apply from a church-planting seminar… but God always has a way to surprise us.

The Remedy of Combating Ministry Risks and Potential Failures is not a Greater Desire to Control, but rather Firmly Resting in One’s Identity in Christ

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

The heart of man plans his way,

but the LORD establishes his steps.

Dr. Beck shared about ministry strengths and barriers inherent within German culture. When it came to creating innovative automobile industries such as Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes, they were top quality and world class. However, such impressive quality came only through a time-consuming, meticulous analysis of all risks while heavily controlling and minimizing every confounding factor. This desire to control every factor and avoid every risk often fails within church ministry, simply because church planting almost always has risks inherently involved and relationships are often messy - or as he humorously coined, “some good Holy Spirit-ordained chaos!” He stressed the need to create a solid plan for church planting, but also an expectation that God will likely determine that some things will never really go according to plan.

How often have I tried to find my own worth and identity in my successes in academics, work, and even ministry! The slightest failure would have me doubting my own credibility or becoming defensive, pushing the blame onto factors which were outside of my control. Conditional worth based on my own performance only leads to overwhelming insecurities, a critical view of others, and an insatiable desire to control everything. How can anyone partner with others in ministry, let alone plant a church, with those qualities dictating their life?

Reflecting on his young adult years serving in ministry, Dr. Beck shared that the greatest barrier to church planting was an unwillingness to consider the wisdom of well-seasoned church planters and an arrogance which demands to do everything his own way. He explained that we must avoid thinking that church planting is primarily about building and expanding our own churches and more about expanding God’s kingdom. It is a foundational shift from thinking that we will serve God on our own terms to celebrating the privilege of joining God in His global mission to redeem all people to Himself and to serve under His guidance.

The remedy to combating risks and potential failures is having a firm identity in Christ, as a beloved child of God (1 John 3:1-3, ESV). As I reflected on the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32, ESV), Tim Keller’s quote on the gospel rang more true than ever before: “The gospel is this: we are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope” (Keller & Keller, 2013). Even in the face of ministry failures, I can rest in the knowledge that God does not see us ultimately by our failures, but rather as His child who is already loved and accepted by Him. No failure or blunder can ever change that identity, for it was never our own work which brought it in the first place. It is only through the work of Christ on the cross that we become children of God, and that is why we can still have hope for God to continue working through us, even with our failures.

God Uses what the World sees as Failures and Reckless Sacrifice for His Glory and Kingdom Work

John 12:24-25 (ESV)

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

In a Western world of high-speed communication and updates, busy work cultures, and social media that promises instant gratification of one’s emotional and social needs, it’s easy for our church ministries to feel the need to meet those same expectations. Short-term mission trips involving building houses in a developing country and booming worship nights with an altar call seem to promise that we’re making life-changing impact in a relatively short period of time with relatively low risk for ourselves. However, we often find throughout Scripture and church history that God has his own timeline for doing His will, and usually it involves intentionally walking alongside communities in joy and suffering, making tremendous sacrifices, and working through the unlikeliest of people. God can use even the most painful losses and failures to bring about his kingdom. 

The violent death of Stephen, the first martyr of the early church, was the catalyst for the Apostle Paul’s journey to Christ: from Saul of Tarsus, a vehement persecutor of the early church, to an apostle to the Gentiles who planted churches across the Roman Empire and wrote the vast majority of the epistles we enjoy today in the New Testament. God used the death of Stephen to powerfully impact Paul’s testimony and strengthen his conviction for the Gospel (Acts 22:1-21, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, 1 Corinthians 15:8-11, ESV).

Even the most central doctrinal foundation (and perhaps the most iconic symbol) of our Christian faith is found in what the ancient Roman world saw as the most humiliating and gruesome method of death: the cross. When the world - and Jesus’ disciples and best friends - watched him hanging on the cross and thought his mission had failed, God used His death as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, and his resurrection put death to death and invited us into new life in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:55, 2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV).

To share one last example: In 1955, Jim Elliot and his four missionary colleagues answered the call to bring the Gospel to the Huaorani people of Ecuador. However, after two years of initial friendly contact, one of the tribe members, Nankiwi, spread a false accusation on the missionaries, which led to the missionaries’ brutal martyrdom (Taylor, 2016). Although the world saw their deaths as a waste of life and reckless sacrifice, God used their deaths to move the missionaries’ families to continue their legacy, working with the Huaorani people and living out genuine love and care for the tribal communities. Eventually, as members of the Huaorani turned to Christ, the missionaries’ legacy glorified God even more as the world witnessed these communities powerfully transformed through love, forgiveness, and grace which could only be found in the Gospel! Therefore, Christian, rest in the knowledge that there is no “failure” or “reckless sacrifice” which happens outside of God’s sovereign and almighty hand. There is no loss or sacrifice great enough on this earth - even your very life - that God cannot use to bring glory to Himself and make His name known.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” - Jim Elliot

Our greatest thanks to Justin, who volunteered to write this piece! Justin is a nursing student at McGill who serves with Power to Change, and has trained as a Missions Discipler with the Missions Hub. If you would like to connect with the Missions Hub, or write a piece for us, please email khevna@missionshub.ca. We would also like to take the opportunity to thank Knox Church, Christ the King Church, Chinese Gospel Church and Runnymede Community Church for their generous collaboration this summer for Perspectives! From May 15 through Aug 21st, we averaged 75 people coming every Wednesday evening. This would have been completely overwhelming except for our wonderful volunteers; we could not have done it without you! We thank God for the 49 students and 102 other visitors who joined us over the summer!

References:

Keller, T., & Keller, K. (2013). The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the complexities of commitment with the wisdom of god. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Taylor, J. (2016). They Were No Fools: The Martyrdom of Jim Elliot and Four Other Missionaries. Retrieved from https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/they-were-no-fools-60-years-ago-today-the-martyrdom-of-jim-elliot-and-four-other-missionaries/

The Toronto Missions Hub: Anatomy of a Missions’ Mobilization Movement

In January, we had the pleasure of hosting Mark Stebbins of MissioNexus. He wrote about his time here. We are so thankful for such kind words! 

https://missionexus.org/the-toronto-missions-hub-anatomy-of-a-missions-mobilization-movement/