Wednesday, August 22, 2007
PARIS UNIT -- Exodus 2007
So I'm back in France, but a different area this time. As you can probably guess from the name of the unit, we mission in the Paris area as well as the Western part of France and also into Belgium.
As many of you know, I feel such a tug and burden for Poland and the people there. I loved being a Covenant Player in Poland and many close ties and friendships were forged there with hosts as well as churches. I believe that I will one day return. But for now, the Lord's place me in France and I told Him that I would do throw myself into ministry here regardless of whether or not I had a natural affinity for the country/culture here. I don't want to hold back. I want to be wholeheartedly committed the way I was in/to Poland because it's not fair to cheat the people here.
While I'm glad to be missioning under the leadership of Alison and Russ Whismore-- longtime veterans for whom I have a great deal of admiration and respect, of course I'm still processing over the fact that we had to close down our team in Poland. In a way, it was my baby. I was on the probe team that went into Poland in Dec. 2002 to connect with people there in preparation for re-sending a full-time unit there. And then I was of course, a part of that unit. I believe the Lord gave me a specific call to the area and I loved missioning there so much. But everything has its season and this is a season where I've had to say goodbye to that. It's been heart-wrenching to be the one to have to close down the area and it's been hard having to sit down and write a letter that will eventually go to all our regular contacts and hosts there. Nobody teaches you how to close down a mission area. It's not exactly something we hope to have to do.
I'm glad we united as a ministry to pray over this though. It was very evident that I was very heart-broken and as Pam and Bart (our European Supervisors) prayed over me (along with Rachel and Jo who missioned with me last tour), I began to weep-- and I do mean weep. I don't know when I've ever wept quite that hard. But many many Covenant Players poured out tears that day and I think it was our cry to the Lord for help and for healing. It's been a bit scary to see how many people we've lost in the last few years and how drastic an effect it's had on the number of teams we've had to cut-- something like 9 units in the last 5 years.
Some thoughts about missions work and ministry...
I don't believe it's a reflection of the quality and effectiveness of our ministry. I don't believe God's hand has been removed from it. I do think there's a lot holding people back from committing themselves to ministries these days-- particularly ones that require a great deal of investment. Moreover, ministry where often the fruit is not always seen-- at least not immediately. I was talking with another CPer who pointed out that the only ministries that are growing ( in number) right now are short term missions organizations. She believes it's because it's low-cost investment and high-profit self-gain. Not that the work is not valid nor beneficial to the people. But you have to admit that you gain quite a sense of achievement when you spend a couple of weeks doing missions work and have a gymnasium built to show for it. I suppose I'm treading on controversial territory here but I thought it was a very good point.
So I'm back in France, but a different area this time. As you can probably guess from the name of the unit, we mission in the Paris area as well as the Western part of France and also into Belgium.
As many of you know, I feel such a tug and burden for Poland and the people there. I loved being a Covenant Player in Poland and many close ties and friendships were forged there with hosts as well as churches. I believe that I will one day return. But for now, the Lord's place me in France and I told Him that I would do throw myself into ministry here regardless of whether or not I had a natural affinity for the country/culture here. I don't want to hold back. I want to be wholeheartedly committed the way I was in/to Poland because it's not fair to cheat the people here.
While I'm glad to be missioning under the leadership of Alison and Russ Whismore-- longtime veterans for whom I have a great deal of admiration and respect, of course I'm still processing over the fact that we had to close down our team in Poland. In a way, it was my baby. I was on the probe team that went into Poland in Dec. 2002 to connect with people there in preparation for re-sending a full-time unit there. And then I was of course, a part of that unit. I believe the Lord gave me a specific call to the area and I loved missioning there so much. But everything has its season and this is a season where I've had to say goodbye to that. It's been heart-wrenching to be the one to have to close down the area and it's been hard having to sit down and write a letter that will eventually go to all our regular contacts and hosts there. Nobody teaches you how to close down a mission area. It's not exactly something we hope to have to do.
I'm glad we united as a ministry to pray over this though. It was very evident that I was very heart-broken and as Pam and Bart (our European Supervisors) prayed over me (along with Rachel and Jo who missioned with me last tour), I began to weep-- and I do mean weep. I don't know when I've ever wept quite that hard. But many many Covenant Players poured out tears that day and I think it was our cry to the Lord for help and for healing. It's been a bit scary to see how many people we've lost in the last few years and how drastic an effect it's had on the number of teams we've had to cut-- something like 9 units in the last 5 years.
Some thoughts about missions work and ministry...
I don't believe it's a reflection of the quality and effectiveness of our ministry. I don't believe God's hand has been removed from it. I do think there's a lot holding people back from committing themselves to ministries these days-- particularly ones that require a great deal of investment. Moreover, ministry where often the fruit is not always seen-- at least not immediately. I was talking with another CPer who pointed out that the only ministries that are growing ( in number) right now are short term missions organizations. She believes it's because it's low-cost investment and high-profit self-gain. Not that the work is not valid nor beneficial to the people. But you have to admit that you gain quite a sense of achievement when you spend a couple of weeks doing missions work and have a gymnasium built to show for it. I suppose I'm treading on controversial territory here but I thought it was a very good point.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Listening to God...
I just returned yesterday from a five day Covenant Player retreat. I was so physically exhausted I slept almost 14 hours last night-- almost as much as I slept the entire retreat! I was kept pretty busy at the retreat because I was directing a play for the very last day in our worship service. It was a great honor to be chosen to direct for retreat. But it was a lot of work too. The play was a play called PATHWAY RECYCLED and in it, the main character, Pim (short for Pilgrim), re-meets 2 people she met earlier on, who chose a different way and criticized her for the choice she meet to follow Christ and everything He called her to. It's really touching because at the end, they tell her how much of an impact she left on them last time they met and they decided to join her on the Path this time. So many times, we don't get to see the fruit of our interaction with other people and we have no idea how the Lord can and wants to use us. In other retreat plays we saw this week, we witnessed incredible conversion/ transformation experiences. It was so refreshing to see this because a hard part of being primarily a seed-planting ministry, is that we often don't get to see the fruit.
We spent alot of time this Retreat in silence and stillness, really trying to listen to what the Lord was speaking to us-- both individually and corporately. I would like to write more but my battery is going to die any minute so I'll have to wrap up.
It's been a really special time for me this summer. I had a really cool experience as two people were praying for me and a picture came to one of the ladies and she shared it with me. It was just a very special picture and since I'm a very visual person, it sticks with me and I think it's something for me to hold on to. The Lord calls us to greater heights and sometimes I think we're afraid of what's going to come next, but in this picture, I was not afraid. I was gazing at the Light, never looking down as I stood on the first flight of unending stairs, gowned in a beautiful dress. It's an incredible picture and I think there's alot that the Lord wants to say to me and I've only scratched the surface.
So I'm trying to learn the art of being still and listening to God and perhaps even more importantly, I'm trying to learn how to just sit in His presence.
I just returned yesterday from a five day Covenant Player retreat. I was so physically exhausted I slept almost 14 hours last night-- almost as much as I slept the entire retreat! I was kept pretty busy at the retreat because I was directing a play for the very last day in our worship service. It was a great honor to be chosen to direct for retreat. But it was a lot of work too. The play was a play called PATHWAY RECYCLED and in it, the main character, Pim (short for Pilgrim), re-meets 2 people she met earlier on, who chose a different way and criticized her for the choice she meet to follow Christ and everything He called her to. It's really touching because at the end, they tell her how much of an impact she left on them last time they met and they decided to join her on the Path this time. So many times, we don't get to see the fruit of our interaction with other people and we have no idea how the Lord can and wants to use us. In other retreat plays we saw this week, we witnessed incredible conversion/ transformation experiences. It was so refreshing to see this because a hard part of being primarily a seed-planting ministry, is that we often don't get to see the fruit.
We spent alot of time this Retreat in silence and stillness, really trying to listen to what the Lord was speaking to us-- both individually and corporately. I would like to write more but my battery is going to die any minute so I'll have to wrap up.
It's been a really special time for me this summer. I had a really cool experience as two people were praying for me and a picture came to one of the ladies and she shared it with me. It was just a very special picture and since I'm a very visual person, it sticks with me and I think it's something for me to hold on to. The Lord calls us to greater heights and sometimes I think we're afraid of what's going to come next, but in this picture, I was not afraid. I was gazing at the Light, never looking down as I stood on the first flight of unending stairs, gowned in a beautiful dress. It's an incredible picture and I think there's alot that the Lord wants to say to me and I've only scratched the surface.
So I'm trying to learn the art of being still and listening to God and perhaps even more importantly, I'm trying to learn how to just sit in His presence.
