Stories to Tell: Caleb

Tell us a bit about yourself

Hey y’all! I’m Caleb, a to-be 4th year studying computer science at UofT hoping to get into computer graphics. Music and sports are one of my favorite ways to rest and recharge. I love pretty much every sport out there (except baseball) and my music taste has been roasted too many times so I’ll just leave that to your imagination. This summer I have been working at code ninja where I get to teach kids how to code.

Did you have any frustrations in your missional journey recently? How did you find hope in the midst of it?

I think one area that didn't go as planned would be my job. My last job was remote work and all my co-workers were much older than me. I didn't really get any opportunity to get to know them let alone share my faith and so I was excited for a change this summer. At my work there is a camp running on weekdays where 3 ~ 4 teachers lead a class of about 10 ~ 20 kids. I thought it would be a great opportunity to use my love for coding and also build strong friendships with people that I work with. But on my first day I found out I would be teaching private lessons where I would be the only teacher with 1 or 2 kids and the last month I would be at an entirely different location teaching on my own. It was frustrating to not be able to use this job as an opportunity to share the gospel in the way I wanted. I find hope in knowing God can work in any circumstance to make his name known and is in control of it all. I work with the confidence that I can serve God with my heart no matter what work I do or where I do it and take any opportunity I get to reflect Christ to others, with the knowledge that as I inevitably fail to live up to Christ's example his mercy is greater than any of my failures.

How have you seen God at work this summer in your life / community / this world?

I've seen God working in the lives of my friends this summer. I have a close group of friends from high school that I keep in touch with and it's been hard to share much about my faith since none are really religious and our friendship was very surface level during high school. Over the past few years we've gotten much closer and I've seen them open up more, ask questions about my faith and p2c. This summer we even got to talk about life, death, and regrets and I was able to share my perspective as a Christian. One of them who's grown up christian that I've invited to church many times finally came out and is looking to start coming regularly. He even expressed interest in preparing for baptism where I can walk alongside him in clearly sharing the gospel and what life looks like with Christ. It has just been a huge answer to prayer and amazing joy seeing God working so powerfully in my friends' lives.

What are you hopeful for moving forward?

There's a lot that I am still wrestling with now and I've had many moments that brought sadness, frustration, anger, or just a feeling of impossibility this past year and yet I look back and all I see is God's faithfulness in my blindness to the great plan he had for me. With each trial, God has given me a stronger and stronger trust in him so as I look forward I am just so hopeful in God's magnificent work that I will get to witness and see knowing he is worthy and deserving of our trust and reliance on him.

The One Who is Leading

"Faith never knows where it is being led,
but it loves and knows the One who is leading."
~Oswald Chambers

Headaches from screaming children, marking tests on date nights, and holding my pee until the bell rings were not really what I had expected my vocational life to look like. My family is outnumbered by teachers, and I had always ardently defended the idea that I would never become one. My personal life was also a surprise to me; recently married, my husband and I were settling into our home and planting roots in the city where I had always lived.

What might be so unexpected about this conventional kind of life, you should ask? The fact that I had always expected something quite different. Though a timid and careful child, the freedom that Jesus had brought into my life around 18 years old ushered me into the realization that my life could be an epic adventure. He harnessed my love of fictional adventure stories to show me that He is the best author of real-life stories, and He desires purpose and meaning to be interwoven into each of ours. Biographies about heroes such as Corrie Ten Boom and David Wilkerson showed me how masterfully God could write epic stories in this day and age, igniting my passion to live a life full of courage and surrender.

My life with Jesus started off with one exciting adventure after another. From experiencing God’s enabling grace to work with challenging children, to sharing the gospel in an unreached country, He was teaching me to rely on Him to do hard things. I started to think my life would always look this exciting, and felt a stirring in my heart to live a life worthy of a biography. Though I still felt fear, I desired more to let my life be poured out for Jesus and used for His glory in the most difficult, unreached places of the world. And as I prayed and pursued this, I found God opening doors for me to navigate how to move toward vocational missions in an unreached country.

I began to prepare for what I believed God was calling me into. I connected with others on a similar journey, obtained a teaching degree as a vocational means into any country, and met with many different mission agencies. As these plans culminated, I found myself unable to move forward for a variety of reasons. Even after interviewing with a number of different mission agencies, I did not have any peace about moving forward with them. God began to redirect my attention towards injustices happening within my vicinity, and I began to wonder if He was steering me down a different path. Doors kept closing for missions abroad, and yet opening within my own city. I even found a friendship re-kindling with a man who had similar stirrings in his heart about Jesus and the injustice around us.

Needless to say, I was very confused. Was God truly leading me in a different direction, or was I merely allowing my heart to be swayed by proximity? Or swayed by desires for comfort and familiarity? Like a canoe paddling upstream against a strong current, I tried harder and harder to open the doors that seemed to be closing. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not do it. And even more strangely, I found an increase of peace and assurance when I began to let go of those dreams I had been so sure of.

As life has progressed, I have increasingly realized that I do not have as much control over my life as I once thought. When I was in high school and university, my dreams of the future seemed so idealized and attainable if I set my mind on achieving them. As I tried to bring them to reality, however, I found that the doors would open and close outside of my control. Only if a door was opened by Fate would I be able to walk through it. My control is solely over what I choose to do with the open and closed doors of my life.

Yet I found this truth very hard to accept. I realized that I placed a tremendous amount of value in dedicating my life to the areas where there was most need. Oswald Chambers’ Utmost devotional spoke strongly to me during this season of questioning God’s guiding hand. He wrote:

Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.

God wants our lives to produce the most fruit possible for His glory. However, He alone knows how to do that. He was asking me to trust His plan and purpose for my life, even if it did not make sense to me. Just as He had once asked me to surrender my inclination for comfort and familiarity to do missions abroad, He was now asking me to do the opposite. To give up the satisfaction of knowing I was labouring in the most needed areas of the world, and instead be willing to do things that may not seem as purposeful to me, such as raising a family or being a teacher in my hometown.

God has shown me that to be led by Him, I need to abide in Him and not just in my thoughts about Him. Sometimes He will lead us in ways that are not the most logical or what we would expect of Him. A friend put it to me this way: “what do you want more – to do what is 'seemingly right' or follow the Lord?” What a subtle difference! However, I knew I wanted the latter. I needed His direction – Jesus’ presence Himself – in order to really follow Him. And if I disconnected from the branch when He was leading me away from what I expected Him to, the effectiveness of my life would be impacted.

So here I am – a newlywed, working in a public school in my city, sometimes wondering what on earth I am doing here. But at other times, I stand back in amazement at how the Lord has guided me to this place. I am married to a man that I love with my whole heart, who challenges and encourages me to be more of the person God created me to be. His strengths and weaknesses complement mine as though our union was intentional. We are praying with our hands open and starting to make new dreams together – dreams that are all about loving Jesus with our whole lives and sharing His love with those around us impacted by injustice. But even these plans we will hold with an open hand, because we know that God’s plans are not always distinguishable to us. He alone can lead us forward in the path of life. No matter what story He writes for us, whether overseas missions or the "obscurity" of teaching and family-raising (or both!), we will trust that it will bring Him the most glory.

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’ So I went forth, and finding the hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East. (Minnie Louise Haskins)

---

We are thankful to share this written piece by blogger Rivka Stone! 

It’s been our joy to journey with Rivka through different seasons of her ongoing discernment process through Missions Disciplers, Perspectives, Live Called, Book Studies, Church life and more! It’s deeply encouraging how she continues to hold her plans with open hands trusting God well in the path before her. 

Link to original: 
https://rivkamcstone.wixsite.com/myblog/post/the-one-who-is-leading

Stories to Tell: John

How has being a Christian impacted the way you made plans this summer?

This summer I spent six weeks on a mission trip to a closed country where Christians cannot openly do missions. After learning about the extremely large numbers of people in unreached countries who don't have much access to the gospel, as well as the access I have to closed countries as a student, I jumped at the chance to finally go on an in-person mission trip to engage others with the gospel. While a mission trip is not superior to other ways of spending the summer, and God might not be calling everyone to go on one, I thought it was an overlap of opportunity and need that couldn't be ignored.

What did it look like for you to live missionally this summer? How do you practically practice this?

On my mission trip we focused on building friendships with local students and sharing about Jesus through those friendships. We met local students in places where they gathered, and shared life with them as we got to know them. As we talked about our lives, values, and dreams, we had many opportunities to naturally share about how Jesus is important in our lives and the only way to be reconciled with God. In support of this, during the trip we received training on how to have conversations about spiritual topics and share the gospel, and would debrief as a team to share our experiences and lift each other up in prayer.

Were there any new (good or hard) experiences for you from this summer? Did these help or hinder the ways you engaged in missions?

It was a joy to live on mission together with a wonderful team of like-minded individuals, and also just have fun together for such a concentrated and dedicated period of time. I was encouraged and emboldened by being able to do ministry together with friends, share about our experiences, and keep each other in prayer. We also saw God answer prayer in many big ways!

Did you have any frustrations in your missional journey this summer? How did you find hope in the midst of it?

My greatest frustration came after one of the best spiritual conversations I had with local friends. After being excited at a previous meeting that we were able to share the gospel in full and that our friends had asked many good questions, I was looking forward to continue the conversation at our final gathering before our team left. My teammate and I prepared for the conversation and prayed together, yet when we met our friends they suddenly lost interest in discussing spiritual topics further (partly because of stress from exam prep), and seemed to have forgotten what we shared previously in response to their misconceptions about Jesus. In this environment where the biblical truth that people's eyes are veiled to the gospel of Christ was painfully obvious, it was helpful to meditate on how Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness of people's hearts–the light that the darkness has not overcome–that allows them to see him for who he truly is.

As summer comes to an end, what are you hopeful for moving forward?

After graduating from university, I look forward to investing more of my time in my local church, particularly our ministry to youth and young adults. With many new immigrants arriving lately, I have the opportunity to continue engaging in cross-cultural ministry here in Toronto!

Stories to Tell: Ayl

Tell us a bit about yourself

Hi! My name is Ayl (pronounced like ‘aisle’). I was born in the Philippines, raised in Toronto, and just transferred to Redeemer University from the University of Ottawa. I’m an ESFJ + ennea 2 who loves matcha tea, music, connecting with people, playing volleyball and spending time with those I love!

What was a favourite moment or memory of your summer?

This summer was a very eventful one! There are too many good memories to mention, but a highlight would be checking off an “Ottawa Bucket List” with my friends before moving to Hamilton. They also surprised me with two goodbye parties which I’ve often fondly thought about during this season of transition.

How has being a Christian impacted the way you made plans this summer?

I spent a lot of time back and forth between Toronto and Ottawa this summer, despite my original plan to spend it entirely in Ottawa. Although that may have seemed inconvenient (and in many ways, it was! Going back and forth took up a lot of time, money and effort), serving God is what mainly motivated all these trips. My reasons for going back home often involved some form of discipleship or serving with my local church, whether it be through our being a leader at our kids' summer day camp and youth retreat, sharing about my missions experience with my church, or just spending time with and supporting friends during milestones. I think if I had it my way, I would have saved that time/money and made the most of my time with Ottawa friends before leaving, but the Lord had other plans. Today I am able to reflect and see fruit from all the times I went back!

Were there any new (good or hard) experiences for you from this summer? Did these help or hinder the ways you engaged in missions?

This summer, part of living missionally looked like going on my first mission trip! This was a new experience for me as I NEVER saw myself going on an overseas trip. Overall, it went really well and I really experienced that 2 Corinthians 1 comfort as I engaged with locals and my team. One of the harder experiences for me was reconciling the Christian missional mandate and the sovereignty of God, as I observed a nation full of people that did not know Jesus as saviour, friend, and Lord; a nation of people who don’t have the same access to the gospel that I do. That thought discouraged me multiple times throughout my trip and even made me doubt God’s character. My discipler used Scripture to remind me of God’s infinite wisdom, that his ways are not my ways, and that no matter how I feel or what I think, He is good and knows what He’s doing. Instead of discouraging me, I hope these feelings further motivate me to share the love of Christ with people around me. (J.I Packer’s “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God” is next on my to-read list! Shoutout to my old roommate Rebekah ❤)

As summer comes to an end, what are you hopeful for moving forward?

Moving forward, I am super excited to finish my degree at Redeemer. Classes have just started, but I am already so encouraged by the quickness of my professors to pray and point our subject matter to Christ. I hope and pray that this education will better equip me to  live out God’s mission regardless of where I end up, as I hope to take up space as a Christian wherever I am without the secular/sacred divide.

Stories to Tell: Rebekah

Tell us a bit about yourself

Hi, my name is Rebekah! My home country is called Mauritius (Google it!). I was born, and mostly raised there. I’m currently an undergrad student in Chemical Engineering at UofT. This summer, I turned 20 & it feels OLD!!! I do feel that I’ve aged a lot this season - in the best way though - spiritual growth! If you caught it right, I’m high on the feeling spectrum aha. My Myers Briggs personality is INFP-T and my daily interaction with people reminds me how accurate it is! I love hiking, pre-WW2 biographies and embroidery. While I like recharging with slow-paced activities, I’d still consider myself quite adventurous. I LOVE travelling! Watching the sunrise from an aircraft’s porthole is always fascinating! Last nugget, I find it HILARIOUS the way your heart almost misses a heartbeat if you are unprepared, and way too amazed by the scenic view while on a drop tower ride XD

What was a favourite moment or memory of your summer?

There are too many beautiful moments but I will share the first one that comes to mind! I went sailing for the first time this summer. It was on the day of my online interview for a fashion design course I applied to. This is also the day I overcame my fear of dark, translucent lake water and entangled seaweed around one’s skin! But hay, let’s get back to the point. I was tired, drained and cozy in sweatpants from a warm shower + shampoo, with full curly hair routine. I definitely did not want to get back in the water. After a persistent verbal tug of war, my hosts - at the cottage - convinced me to get half wet. The bait was this: anything that won’t cause me to go through the hair journey again!

And yes, I did end up sailing! Here comes the moment I wanted to share. While sailing, to catch the wind, you’ve got to pull the rope connected to the mainsail. This also means that the side on which you are sitting will come very, very, very close to the water! For a sailing first-timer, that knows only backstroke, that overcame fear of deep water at age 14, and fear of seaweed in translucent water 6 hours ago, that was a HUGE leap of faith! I was excited and scared! Pretty much what Peter felt while walking on water I bet!!!

How has being a Christian impacted the way you made plans this summer?

Throughout this summer, I felt hungry for meaningful and edifying conversations. This made me spend a lot of time with the Christian communities around campus like P2C, Luke 10:2, NL!Toronto, Grace YA, and especially Missions Hub! I cherish every moment spent with the beautiful souls I met!!!

While I did make plans outside of Christian communities, it often felt spiritually draining at some point. I was looking for something deeper and more meaningful which I could find only in those Christian milieux ( could not resist! I had to add a snippet of French somewhere ;D). I would like to touch on something though. I know the audience might not always be a Christian one which is why I want to point this out: Christians are not perfect, Christ is. Toronto is filled with marginalized, oppressed, and alienated people. They might be sinful, but who here, is worthy to cast the first stone? The entire city (especially my neighbors on Church St!) vibrated to Pride month this summer. How did you live this as a Christian? Did you judge, or did you show love & compassion prayerfully? And I want to leave you with that thought, What Would Jesus Do (WWJD)? That’s what was on my mind while making plans this summer.

Describe a moment from this summer, big or small, where you felt God affirm you in your journey pursuing His mission

Probably last July. It was my first day at Luke 10:2. Jason & Caleb from P2C came to share their respective mission trip testimony. I mean, it started first by this yearn to hear how God is moving hearts around the world. I had never heard of Luke 10:2 before that. I was just curious and hungry to hear more. It’s hard to explain. If I can illustrate it that way, it felt like that guy in the Bible that would climb on a tree, just to see more, hear more, and feel more of the wonders Jesus was doing. It’s a feeling hard to resist, and I can promise, it’s very satisfying when this longing is met! I came in that night, sat there during those 2+ hours, hanging to every word that was shared. I had found this community where fresh living water was overflowing from. There was not one aspect of their vision I did not resonate with.

I then joined the small group, ‘prayer for the Middle East’ where I met John, an engineer that did his Professional Experience Year (PEY) in the UAE. That’s what brought everything back to focus. I remembered that day I met that Mauritian girl in Nazareth that was studying engineering in Tel Aviv. She was there, alone in a country at war, purposefully driven by this heart for the lost. I was reminded when, how, and why I chose engineering in the first place - it was to pursue His mission.

As summer comes to an end, what are you hopeful for moving forward?

I hope this journey does not end here. It’s easy to fall back in that casual zone of comfort where we merely go to church on Sundays or socials organized by Christian fellowships. We ditch one quiet time, then two, and continue until we lost that boldness to share the Gospel. We become lukewarm. John describes it well in his message to the church of Laodicea. That’s the worst state we can be in. A state of denial. We convince ourselves that everything is still the same. I hope I won’t reach that point anytime soon. Anytime at all would be quite a stretch. As usual, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And even if I do, I pray I will be supported by this community to shift myself back into perspective.

Stories to Tell: Regina

Tell us a bit about yourself

Hello, I’m Regina! Currently going into my 4th and final year at UofT, studying Criminology, Human Resources, and Sociology (I know, it’s a mouthful). I’m an international student from Indonesia, Chinese by blood, but I’d say I’d identify with an amalgam of cultures because I grew up in an international school and travel a lot. I’ve been to ~15 countries and my favourites are Australia and New Zealand. People would say I’m highly social but deep down I’m an introvert (INFJ) at heart. In my spare time, I love to explore cafes and bookstores in Toronto, engage in deep convos with friends, sit by the Harbourfront, and go through my To Read list (I have a goal of 50 books/year!). 

How has being a Christian impacted the way you made plans this summer?

Being a Christian and striving to live a lifestyle that is Christ-like means that I see my time and energy as investments to build God’s Kingdom. As I’m graduating next year, I knew that I’d have to form my post-grad plans soon enough. I’m torn between going into full-time ministry and working as an HR professional in a secular environment. Going into the summer, I decided that I’d invest my time and energy into experiences and environments where God would mould my heart toward His will for me — it could be either of those two or something else. 

One of my highlights from this summer was joining Zoe Toronto’s (a microchurch) Greenhouse Program. Greenhouse is a summer program for accelerated spiritual growth. For 1.5 months, we received training, invested in deep relationships with one another, and were challenged to reorient our lives toward living missionally daily. Besides that, I did an internship at a fintech company because I wanted to explore what working as an HR professional in a secular environment is like and if it’s something I’d pursue post-grad. At the beginning of the summer, my heart was pretty much 50-50 between working in full-time ministry and as an HR professional in a secular environment. Now that the summer is closing, I feel that God has drawn my heart closer to one of them. We’ll have to wait until next year to see if that’s where God will direct me!

Did you have any frustrations in your missional journey this summer? How did you find hope in the midst of it?

Early this year, I deeply wanted to go on a mission trip with Power to Change (P2C), a student ministry I’m involved with at UofT (and I still do). I knew my parents would be hard to convince so I typed up an 8-page formal proposal on reasons why I wanted to go, the logistics of the trip, and addressed potential counterarguments. I felt a deep conviction to go and was very convinced my parents wouldn’t turn down my proposal. They called me a few days later to tell me that I couldn’t go. It was the most painful experience I experienced this year — I cried a lot, I was angry, and I felt that my parents were putting a roadblock on my journey toward God’s calling for me. 

Thankfully, God surrounded me with the Body of Christ which affirmed and encouraged me. It took time to heal and understand. After mourning the possibility of what could have been, I realized a few things: 1) I could desire a God-honouring and Biblical thing, but that doesn’t mean that God will give me the thing when I want it the most, 2) God’s “not yet” does not always mean a “no” and God is constantly preparing me for the “yes” that I desire, 3) I learned a lot about forgiveness, reconciliation, humility, and trust through this experience. Ultimately, I found hope in the midst of it all by recognizing my hope does not come from any opportunity I have to serve Him, but that my hope comes from Him who says “yes,” “no,” and “not yet” according to His good and perfect will. 

As summer comes to an end, what are you hopeful for moving forward?

I’m hopeful for the work that God is continuing to do in my heart, community, and life! God is so good and amazing. Going into my last year of school, I’m excited to continue serving at P2C. This year, my leadership role involves a lot of vision-casting and vision-implementing for the student ministry as a whole. Not only that, but strategizing, planning, and disciple-making — all that I love to do! Being in a position of leadership entails spending a lot of time with God to seek His direction and steering the ministry toward that direction. 

I trust that God will equip our ministry to live out the vision He has entrusted through my co-leader and I. Not only that, I’m hopeful that He will provide us with the joy of seeing its fruitfulness. Another thing that my co-leader and I are focusing on this school year is building up the next generation of leaders. We want to provide them with the environment, culture, and resources to grow up as followers of Jesus and as fruitful leaders. That way, when we graduate and leave the student ministry, God can continue the work He is doing on our campus, through them!

Stories to Tell: Katryn

Tell us a bit about yourself

Hi everyone! My name is Katryn and I’m currently going into my 4th year at the University of Toronto! I grew up in Boston my whole life but moved to Toronto in 2019 for uni. I am currently leading in my fellowship, UTCCF and I find joy in seeing God at work in my fellowship and the lives of people around me. I like listening to music and taking long walks no matter the weather conditions, and I enjoy making friendship bracelets or doodling when I have free time. I would say I’m pretty introverted by nature, but I love connecting and getting to know other people!

How has being a Christian impacted the way you made plans this summer?

For me, being Christian has impacted the way I look at meeting up with my friends during the summer. Recognizing that God gives me opportunities to share the Gospel through hanging out with my non-christian friends, as well as building upon kingdom-oriented friendships with my Christian friends, made the time I spent with them seem more meaningful and intentional. Understanding that the time spent with these friends has eternal significance has definitely impacted how I planned my time during the summer.

How have you seen God at work this summer in your life / community / this world?

This summer, I was originally supposed to go on a summer abroad trip to Ecuador and I was excited to finally be traveling again after COVID, so I bought new gear and emotionally prepared myself for what was supposed to be an adventure of a lifetime. Ultimately, God closed the doors to go on that trip but opened doors for other opportunities that He had in store for me. Since I couldn’t go to Ecuador, I was able to stay home and spend time with family and friends as well as help out at a Christian summer program for kids in the Greater Boston area. Through volunteering at the summer program, I was able to see their childlike love for Jesus and how even at such a young age, God was already at work in them. Being able to grow alongside the kids and see how God was working daily was such a blessing and it made me realize that while my summer plans were disrupted, God instead led me to serve my community and see the love of God in action. 

As summer comes to an end, what are you hopeful for moving forward?

As the summer comes to an end, I'm hopeful for the opportunity God has given me to be salt and light on campus and to share with others the hope that I have in Jesus. I’m hopeful for those who don’t know Christ yet to one day understand God’s sovereignty, grace, and love for us and in turn live to glorify God.

Stories to Tell: Caleb

Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Caleb and I am going into my third year at U of T for Computer Science. Within computer science, I am hoping to go into computer graphics and get involved with game development, engine development, or research. I love pretty much any sport that exists but my absolute favourite is soccer which I have been playing since kindergarten. Fun Fact: I grew up in Japan because my family were missionaries there. I am now involved with Power to Change at U of T and it has pushed my faith so much I can’t imagine the university experience without it.

What did it look like for you to live missionally this summer? How do you practically practice this?

One way would have to be my mission trip to Vietnam at the beginning of the summer. I got to build relationships with local Christian students to be mutually encouraged and lifted up, and also with non-Christian students who I was able to share the gospel and my testimony with. Another big part of the trip was sharing with people back home. I got to share my experiences through a youtube interview, post-trip support letters, Luke 10:2, sharing with people at church, and also while hanging out with my friends. I also had the opportunity to help lead a summer discipleship group with P2C and grow together with all those involved. Finally, I think my personal time with God and taking time to rest has best equipped me to live with a missional mindset over the summer.

Were there any new (good or hard) experiences for you from this summer? Did these help or hinder the ways you engaged in missions?

One hard experience was having a job that was guaranteed to fall through due to some complications. I was looking forward to work at the same internship from last summer but my summer suddenly opened days after I was supposed to start work. I was left with a very open summer and was disappointed looking forward. But because of that, I had so much more time to spend time with my friends that I usually don’t see during the year. I was challenged to use my time to be a light to them and take the initiative in sharing the gospel and what life looks like with Christ. 

Did you have any frustrations in your Missional journey this summer? How did you find hope in the midst of it?

I had many opportunities to spend time with my friends who don’t know Christ and talk about deeper topics or just share my life as a Christian and yet I did not see any change or fruit in that. I think I am quick to forget God’s faithfulness and what he has already accomplished and impatient when things aren’t going as I would want them to. There were many moments where I would feel down after not being able to share as much as I wanted to or not getting the response I wanted but looking back to this summer there has been so much fruit and seeds that God will continue to work through and that brings me so much joy.

As summer comes to an end, what are you hopeful for moving forward?

I am first hopeful that God is continuing his work in people’s hearts that I was able to reach and that the result of that is not up to me. Looking into the new school year I am excited for a brand new year of P2C with awesome returning leaders and students and even some early new faces. I looking forward to all the opportunities that post-covid school will bring to our impact on campus. We recently had our Frosh Launch event and just seeing so many people there ready to serve God and make his name known on campus was so encouraging.

Stories to Tell: Tiffany

Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Tiffany. I was born and raised in Hong Kong, and I came to Toronto in 2017 to study Kinesiology at UofT. I came to Christ at the end of 2017. Currently, I am doing a Master of Physical Therapy at UofT, but I am also deeply passionate about evangelism, apologetics, and biblical studies. I love Biomechanics and the Bible. They both start with a ‘B’ (:P); one deals with the body while the other speaks to the soul. During the summer, I have been doing a bit of studying/research in both, and a lot of meeting up with people… keep reading to find out more. 

What did it look like for you to live missionally this summer? How do you practically practice this?

I co-led a weekly discussion group called Christianity Explored (CE) and I am usually mission-minded in other social engagements. We ran CE for 7 weeks. We invited our non-believer friends to come and have dinner with us and learn about Christianity. Half the group was a few summer exchange students, one of whom I met while I was coaching a group fitness class on campus. These CE nights always turned into engaging discussions into the late night, and the group became good friends with each other. No one professed to be a Christian yet, but everyone gained a better understanding of the gospel and a more open mind towards the Christian faith. We trust that God is sovereign over the seed sown and we ask that you pray for these participants. 

I also spent time with these international students outside of the CE setting, cultivating a genuine friendship exchange with them. These international students are new to Canada and are only here for a short time. Some of them come from countries where Christianity is the minority. But a lot of them are open to trying and learning new things. It was during one of the excursions I had with them when the topic of church came up, and 4 came to church with me the following Sunday. One of them brought home a Bible and one of them came to church with me a few more times as well.

How have you seen God at work this summer in your life / community / this world?

God is amazing and He does wondrous work! I have been able to see changes in peoples’ attitude towards the Christian faith. One of the CE participants went from disregarding Christianity to engaging in the sessions, asking thoughtful questions, and being open to faith. Another one went from being intellectually curious about Christianity to asking for prayers to find her own faith. God has used us to soften people’s hearts and slowly turn them towards Him. In this summer, I also had the opportunity to witness a close friend I journeyed with from undergrad since 2018 came to Christ! My walk with the Lord has been encouraged by actively praying for each session and each person. 

Stories to Tell: Henar

Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Henar, I’m a second-year doing Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics at UofT. I’m a very sociable person so naturally I got to meet and make a lot of friends during my first year which eventually lead me to joining Global Community! GC a student group that cares and serves international students in Toronto so it was the perfect opportunity for me to let my extrovert self thrive. I started attending the GC microchurch where I currently serve full time.

How has being a Christian impacted the way you made plans this summer?

Even though I was doing school this summer, I gave my full commitment to my ministry, serving international students and my community. My plans were basically centered around my ministry with GC, meeting up with people, sharing the good news with them, and most importantly working on my own spiritual growth. One of the main themes of my summer was discipleship. I got discipled by Matthew Chan, a very beloved member of Missions Hub and GC (SHOUT OUT TO MT). It was one of the things that God orchestrated perfectly at a time I needed to know what discipleship really was. It greatly affected my vision of the ways I could serve God and my mission.

Describe a moment from this summer, big or small, where you felt God affirm you in your journey pursuing His mission

God has been working with me the entire summer and I’ve seen that in the ways he placed the right people and right opportunities at the right timing. One of the biggest highlights of my summer was doing Greenhouse. Greenhouse is a summer program run by Zoe Toronto, the network which Global Community is a part of. As a group of believers, we gathered seeking a life resembling Jesus. In doing so we received training of how to be intentional, implementing disciplines to live out that calling. I’ve learned that with the fruit we bear we can transform our communities in miraculous ways. Through Greenhouse I discovered my desire for church planting and it reawakened my passion for long-term mission.

Did you have any frustrations in your missional journey this summer? How did you find hope in the midst of it?

I’ve had many seasons of stress, burn out and exhaustion this summer but every single time God reached out and comforted me. Telling me that he’s with me through it all. To lay all my worries and burdens on him and find rest in him. I’ve heard his voice through people and the word. God constantly kept proving that his word is alive. Even though it has been written thousands of years ago, it still speaks to us to this very day.

How have you seen God at work this summer in your life / community / this world? 

For the past few years God has been taking me on a journey of wonders showing me glimpses of what it looks like to live for nothing but his glory. Seeing brave young people take the decision to submit their lives to the Lord and follow him was a wonder that I strongly felt He wanted me to see and admire and I witnessed that this summer. 

I’ve been blessed to see God using me to evangelize and invite nonbelievers into my church. And even more doing so with fellow church members that are so faithful to the Lord. Global Community is one of the greatest works that God has done in my life. 

Because of my faith I had to leave friends and loved ones but I always held onto the promise that God made me, that he will reward me a hundred times more of what I left in his name. And because of the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness he never breaks a promise. Through GC, Jesus has so generously put one of his daughters in my life and she eventually became one of the most important people in my life. In only three months she became my best friend, my soulmate, and my sister. The love that God has given us to one another was nothing less than a miracle. She was a fulfilment of God’s promise to me. The Lord has been good to me in many ways during this season.

Stories to Tell: Matt

Tell us a bit about yourself

My name’s Matt, and I’m finishing up my grad studies in civil engineering in a week or two. Super excited to wrap up the academic portion of my life and get out there ahaha. 

I’m a raging extrovert and love to meet anyone and everyone. Nothing fills me with more life than big rowdy gatherings with loved ones, whether at karaoke nights or potlucks.

When I (must) slow down, I like to hermit with my guitar, get lost in a bookstore, and indulge in my nerdy obsessions.

Been a Christian for most of my life and have been blessed to have some amazing people walk with me and encourage me in my faith and missional journey. Been a joy to have gone to school at UofT and be connected to the Missions Hub early on as well as the amazing work being done there. MH was key in helping me discern about the missional heart that God had been preparing me for!

What was a favourite moment or memory of your summer?

Early on in the summer, God used some pretty coincidental and divine ways to send me and a couple church friends to Vancouver to learn from a pastor and church movement who offered to take us in and show us how God was at work on the other side of the country. We were expecting it to be a more formal type of a visit but were surprised when the pastor and church leaders then proceeded to speak into our lives. They helped us each discern deeper about the season of life God had called us to and the people that God wanted to form us into, with the logic that our leadership of churches in Toronto would benefit more from our personal development rather than just a series of workshops. We left Vancouver feeling refreshed, not just from the moments of sightseeing and rest we had, but more so from the prayer, prophecy, and blessing we received from some really great role models.

What did it look like for you to live missionally this summer? How do you practically practice this?

The microchurch that I am a part of, Global Community, has regular rhythms of missions every week, in which we engage with international students through outreach and personal hangouts. God has been using my experiences with church to learn so much about cross-cultural missions, all starting here at home. Through the outreach events it’s been such a pleasure to throw myself into the different cultures present and meet all our international friends while getting to show and exemplify God’s love and community along with my church, and it’s through the personal hangout times that we plan where we get to really dig deep and learn more about their backgrounds, worldviews, and get to share the gospel with them.

How have you seen God at work this summer in your life / community / this world?

In church, I’ve seen God work through the way that He opens the hearts of our international student friends to hear the gospel. This past summer we’ve been able to welcome 1 or 2 of our friends into our church family as new believers, and after hearing the stories of how God led them through life and eventually to hearing the good news, I’ve been really encouraged and inspired. In addition, seeing the way that all the other international student friends are so open to listening and asking questions shows me that indeed the harvest is plentiful, just as God says.  

In my own life, God has been using a couple different ways to teach me new things that were all kind of tied together in crazy ways. I’ve seen Him use everything from a car license plate to indicate what day to fly out to Vancouver, to using me breaking my arm in an arm wrestle as prophecy in my life. In each of these circumstances, trusting God has led to unexpected blessing and healing, for which I am very grateful.

As summer comes to an end, what are you hopeful for moving forward?

Really looking forward to the next semester, where I will be spending 5 months in Southeast Asia for a mission/intern trip where I’ll be doing civil engineering work alongside getting involved in ongoing ministry there. I’m grateful for the opportunity that God has given me to get exposure and a bit of experience in overseas mission, and I hope to learn so much about what missions in my life might entail, everything from learning a new culture to discerning what value I can bring to a context. 

Stories to Tell: Cathy

Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Cathy, and I've just started teachers' college at York. I was born in China but I've been in Toronto for more than half of my life. I love learning about different cultures & I know 4 other languages aside from English. Although I was only baptized 2 years ago, missions has always been something that God has put on my heart.

What was a favorite moment or memory of your summer?

My favourite moments from this summer are going on my first physical missions trip, reuniting with old friends & meeting new friends!

Were there any new (good or hard) experiences for you from this summer? Did these help or hinder the ways you engaged in missions?

There were definitely both, but one memory that stands out to me was when I had to meet a lady during my internship. This summer as a church intern I was to write a plan on relaunching international students ministry, and I felt the pressure to do it well. Because of this spirit of performance, I did not respond well to the stress, so with unclear meeting expectations I went to the appointment. With expectations that weren't so clear I ended up sounding like she has to do something with us now. She pointed this out to me, and I was very convicted that day. Thinking back, God had to use this experience for me to remember to depend on Him for all things, so I believe it was a valuable lesson.

How have you seen God at work this summer in your life / community / this world? 

I can see & feel that God has been so active this summer. In my life, He has prepared my next assignment for me to intern with Power to Change (it was a whole discerning process, but that's a story for another time). In the community, I met so many old & new Christian friends my age who're on fire for Jesus! Truly a blessing.

As summer comes to an end, what are you hopeful for moving forward? 

Going into the new school year, my hope is to not only do well in school but also be involved in the faith community. I hope to see a united and thriving Christian community at York too, (when I had a meeting with ministries at York to my pleasant surprise many felt the same). I'm also learning about sabbath these days, so I hope to find a more regular rhythm to rest in God. Last but not least, look forward to support raising and starting my internship!

Stories to Tell: Jason

Tell Us A Bit About Yourself

Hi, my name is Jason! I’m a recent grad from the University of Toronto. If you’ve been to anything like Luke 10:2 or Friday morning prayer, you’ve probably seen me around. 

What was a favourite moment or memory of your summer?

I’ve done a lot of fun things this summer so I’ll have to list a few: kayaking by harbourfront, visiting friends in Ottawa, a church BBQ, treetop trekking, a couple weddings, and a visit to the CNE! 

What did it look like for you to live missionally this summer? How do you practically practice this?

One challenge coming out of university has been figuring out what it’ll look like to serve God outside of university. During my undergrad, I was involved with campus ministry but over this summer it has looked different in terms of serving. I’ve been helping out at church, intentionally meeting with individuals, and of course, being involved in Missions Hub initiatives like Luke 10:2! 

How have you seen God at work this summer in your life / community / this world?

Over this summer, it’s been really cool to see God answer prayers on transitioning from student life to working life. He’s shown me revelations from His word about my life: (INSERT MY BLOG LINK HERE NO SHAME PLUG https://jasonreadsthebible.home.blog/). He’s provided a community in the form of many many friendships and through the church. He’s offered discernment in where he is calling me. And He’s offered me so many opportunities in serving, in pursuit of him, and in leading others to him as well. 

As summer comes to an end, what are you hopeful for moving forward?

Just continued discernment in where He’s calling me next along with humility and an open heart to whatever He is asking of and teaching me! 

Mission Stories: Matt

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

Ireland or Scotland! I enjoy to their music, breathtaking sceneries, and deep history, both sacred and secular

Can you share any embarrassing experiences that you’ve had overseas?

During a trip to Ghana, my team and I indulged eating a lot of mangoes. Unfortunately, due to the amount of fibre, I felt my stomach churning in the middle of the night, and I only had seconds to get to the washroom. However, the washroom was outside the compound, and it was too dark to unlock the door. Thankfully not everyone woke up!

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

I have been a Christian for almost ten years now. There are two strands which my faith shaped the way I see the world. The first is my pastoral heart towards believers. Prior to my conversion, the spiritual wrestling I had shaped my desires to help believers to develop maturity in their faith. I love discipling younger men and help them to follow Christ.

The second is the desire for evangelism. During the time of my conversion, my church leader at my church shared the gospel each time we met. The Lord opened my eyes to see that I was a condemned sinner and there was nothing I could do to save myself. Knowing Christ’s finished work on the cross assured me of my salvation and allow me to taste the glory of forgiven sins. Moreover, the same leader invited me to do mall evangelism where I saw that the gospel is not only for me but for others.

When were you first introduced/interested in Missions? How did this experience impact you?

My mom went on a few short-term trips to Africa when I was a teenager and I joined her on two trips. Prior to the second trip, I initially told my mom I wasn’t interested. However, through a missions’ simulcast my church hosted, the Lord convicted me of my sins of relying on my feelings as the grounds of obedience. This taught me the nature of obedience and has shaped a lot of other decision I made in the future.

What passages of Scripture have challenged or inspired you personally in your missions engagement?

During a missions conference I attended in 2016, one of the speakers (Afshin Ziafat) was instrumental in my call to missions when he quoted John 12:24– 26. I was convicted of the cost and rewards of Jesus’ call. Unless I die to myself, nothing will grow. While I am fully aware that the results of all my endeavors for the Lord may not come during my lifetime, I know Jesus is worthy of all my life in knowing and serving him. God has promised that we will see saints from every tribe and nations worshipping the Lamb who was slain!

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

Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33 has shaped how I live missionally, whether he calls me locally or overseas. First, God ultimately calls me to be conformed to the image of his Son because this is why he has saved and purchased me. Second, there are gifts that he has entrusted to me just as Paul tells Timothy to practice, not neglect the gifts. Lastly, I am to trust him that he knows my desire and longing, and he will provide what I need in order to do his will. This may include my aspiration to go overseas or to serve a specific people group.

What would you say to someone who has not engaged with missions?

Romans 12:1–2 is a passage I would use to guide them. Our engagement in God’s work begins with knowing him who saved us because it shapes our priorities. Has the glory of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ convicted me to wholly follow and obey him? Unless one is convicted of this truth, there can be no true direction to engage in God’s work. Once this is understood, I would advise them to examine their own context and discern how they may serve the Lord, whether it be in their own church, work, or school. I know for myself, that if I do not know how to serve here, how can I be prepared to serve overseas.

Mission Stories: Andre

Who/what led you to consider Missions?

Usually when people ask me what led me to Missions, I think of three factors: the intensive Perspectives course that I took at Knox Presbyterian Church in 2018, P2C+ Conference Speakers/Breakout Sessions, and my friends at P2C. The Perspectives course was informative with veteran speakers, role-playing, practical and open discussions between groups, and a time to reflect on different cultures, the history of the Church, and the Great Commission. I had similar experiences hearing the passion and seriousness that speakers challenged students at the P2C+ conferences, and I’ve also heard many good things about the CROSS conference. Lastly, I was influenced by my friends who were my age and were going on summer mission trips or were intentionally sharing their faith with others in their life.

Ice-cream flavours? Or bubble tea?

I’ve never had this ice cream flavor but Blue Bell’s Cookie Two Step (Cookie Dough + Cookies n Crème) sounds ballin. Otherwise, I like any fruit flavored ice cream and I also love all bubble tea flavors as well, but it was only in the last 3 or 4 years that I began to enjoy Milk Tea with Pearls!

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

For me, I practically engage with Missions by asking people “What is your name?” When someone asks me my name, I feel at home. I get the impression that I belong and matter, that I am seen. I recently started working at the Vancouver International Airport as a Quarantine Officer for the Public Health Agency of Canada. On my first shift, there was a man from Life Labs who needed Public Health’s help for a traveler who was angry she had been fined. I had no idea what I was doing, and I was simply walking to the primary inspection line to shadow my mentor. I had my red vest on and a binder in my hand, so I must have looked official to outsiders. When the man saw me, his eyes lit up; he was so excited to see someone from Public Health and he asked me if I could help. I was hesitant, but I wanted to help, so I went and did the best I could (which in reality, amounted to nothing more than listening and letting him know today was my first shift). But after that encounter, he asked me, “What is your name?” Now this same man always smiles when he sees me, and we wave to each other. He always speaks highly of me and praises me. I have never felt such love and compassion from a stranger. It is awe-inspiring. Not too long ago I asked him, “What is your name?” and he replied, “Heyder.” Now this man is no longer a stranger or a “Sir,” but he is “Heyder,” a neighbor and a friend, and if he were to no longer show at work, my heart would ache a little.

Why are Missions important to you?

Missions is important to me because I want people to taste the love I have tasted and to experience God’s overwhelmingly powerful but tender embrace. If I have had my life changed by something so real as Jesus Christ, I want others to experience that change as well.

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

I would encourage them that Missions is maybe not as complex as we fear it to be. To partake in Missions, you can start with something even as simple as asking “What is your name?” When I think of Missions, I think about all the ways I can share my life to help those who are physically proximate to me know that they are loved and capable of loving. I honestly believe that this one question contains within it an inordinate amount of love and vulnerability, and I want to carry it wherever I go in the workplace. When someone knows your name, it means they are taking the first step to know your individuality. Time and time again we see the importance of names in the Old and New Testament and their ability to communicate a person’s qualities. For example, in Acts, the disciples ecstatically proclaim that there is salvation in no one else but Jesus for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

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.

Mission Stories: Leah

I’ve been spending a lot of time in my home office.  Travels, visits to campuses, meeting new people have all been canceled.  I sit at my computer consuming my time with zoom calls, coaching, virtual conferences, and administration.   To the left of my desk, hanging on the wall is a 20 x 26 inch picture. If you look at it, you will see a “dark and stormy ocean.  Over it the black clouds hang heavy, through them every now and then vivid lightening flashing and thunder rolling, the wind moans and waves rise and foam; tower and break.   Myriads of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and screaming- they rise and shriek again and then some sink to rise no more.  A mighty rock that rises with its summit towering high above the black clouds has a vast platform attached to it.  On it, a number of poor struggling, drowning people climbing out of the angry ocean.  A few who are already safe on the platform are helping the helpless people still in the angry waters.  However, a number of those who had been rescued are a mixed company.  Very few  seem to make it their business to get the people out of the sea.  All of them had been rescued at one point or another from the ocean, yet nearly everyone seems to have forgotten about it.   The memory of its darkness and danger no longer seem to trouble them.  They don’t seem to care about the perishing ones who were struggling and drowning right before their very eyes.  Some on the platform are engaged in different pursuits and pastimes.  Some in trading and business, some in storing their savings in boxes, some painting or playing music.”   

 This is the picture that hangs in my office and reminds me of how I want to live my life.  It is a vision of lost souls that God gave William Booth in the late 1800’s.  Please read his powerful and more detailed vision here.  The artist Mauricio Palacio titled his interpretation of the vision as “Who Cares?”.   William Booth goes on to say, “My friends in Christ, you are rescued from the waters.  You are on the rock.  He is in the dark sea calling to you to come to Him and help Him.  Will you go?  Look for yourselves.  The surging sea of life crowded with perishing multitudes rolls up to the very spot on which you stand.  Leaving the vision, I now come to speak of the fact- the fact that is as real as the Bible, as real as the Christ who hung upon the cross, as real as the judgment day will be, and as real as the heaven and heal that will follow it.
Look! Don’t be deceived by appearances- men and things are not what they seem.  All who are no on the rock are in the sea!  Look at them from the standpoint of the great white throne, and what a sight you have!  Jesus Christ, the Son of God is, through His Spirit, in the midst of this dying multitude, struggling to save them.  And he is calling on you to jump into the sea- to go right away to His side and help Him in the holy strife.  Will you jump?  That is, will you go His feet and place yourself absolutely at His disposal?”

To be honest, the people who are on the platform ignoring the drowning people calling out appals me.  They seem so ignorant as they go about eating, painting and doing business. Don’t they see?  Don’t they care?  Yet…if I am honest with myself.  Those appalling people…are me!  So often I forget about the dark angry ocean of drowning souls around me and I focus just on myself and my comforts.  May I look at this picture and  remind myself of the truth of eternity.  That there are so many lost souls desperate in need of rescuing from the domain of darkness and into Christ redemption and victory.  

A third of the world is still denied the access of the gospel.  That is 1 in 3 people.  A third of us on earth are “unreached” with no Bible, no church, no believers.  Each one of us has a role we can play in being active in the rescue.  For some it is Bible translation, some church planting, some discipleship, some evangelism, some technology/media, some in financially sending and praying, some in sharing with those closest to you.  

Since I was a young teen girl, the passage in Mark 8:35-37 has been one of my life verses- “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.  What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” 

For me, right now living missionally for the Lord is mobilizing and raising awareness of the unreached in our world.  “How then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  Romans 10:14-15.  Finding men and women who are willing to “place themselves absolutely at God’s disposal”.  God can use you.  He made you, designed you, rescued you.  You can join Him in what He is doing and instead of being consumed about your comfort you remember that you too were rescued and can be a part of “rescuing the perishing, care for the dying- Jesus is merciful, Jesus saves.”  

This blog post was written by Leah Vanderlaan, mobilizer with Avant Ministries.

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!