Girls for God is back! How excited we are for a new year to begin.
Our focus this year? Discipleship. Am I a disciple? What does a disciple do? How can I disciple others? That's a year at glance. :)
Our first stop? A visit from our missionary, Ed, who lives in Mali, Africa. Here's a few thoughts I had on the topic of missions, as he spoke to the girls that night.
"What is a missionary?" That's the question Ed posed to the girls at our GFG meeting. My mind went scrolling back to my childhood interpretation of missionaries. "Those people who go overseas. They speak different languages, dress funny and we send them our offering each Sunday." Actually that was probably my definition up until a few years ago.
"The Missionaries". They seemed so distant...so untouchable. They were the chosen ones. Called to reach people for Jesus. To make those disciples Jesus was talking about in the book of Matthew. The rest of us were just supposed to support them, pray for them and go on living our lives. Maybe if I was lucky I would get to go on a missions trip once or twice in my lifetime. But that's as far as my missionary duties went. Those missionaries would take care of saving the world. And what they didn't get the pastors of the world would. I mean, God called them. That's their job, not mine. Right?
Actually, I learned I was wrong. Wayyyyy off base. My hunch is I'm not alone on this one. That kind of thinking is widespread. The question is, how did we get so off track between Jesus' calling to His followers and what we're actually doing? There is no difference between missionary-disciple-christian! Why do we continue to fight that? Why does there need to be chosen ones? Where does it say that in scripture?
Francis Chan says it best:
"After Jesus rose from the grave, He left His followers with a simple command: "Go into all the world and make disciples" (Matt. 28:19). The church should be known for this. If we are going to call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, we should be making disciples.
But most Christians today are not known for making disciples. We have developed a culture where the minister ministers and the rest of us sit back and enjoy "church" from a comfortable distance. This is not what God intends for His church. Every Christian is called by God to minister. You are called to make disciples."
Multiply by, Francis Chan
We are all missionaries! We have the power of the Holy Spirit within us to help us be those missionaries. Remember, it's Christ reaching others through us. We're just the empty vessel allowing Him to do His work.
It's not so untouchable after all. It was never meant to be. My challenge for you and I is this: How are we following Jesus' call to make disciples? How can we follow His call this very second?
Lea :)
Want to know what should be happening after salvation? Take a minute to watch this video. It's worth every second.
Our focus this year? Discipleship. Am I a disciple? What does a disciple do? How can I disciple others? That's a year at glance. :)
Our first stop? A visit from our missionary, Ed, who lives in Mali, Africa. Here's a few thoughts I had on the topic of missions, as he spoke to the girls that night.
"What is a missionary?" That's the question Ed posed to the girls at our GFG meeting. My mind went scrolling back to my childhood interpretation of missionaries. "Those people who go overseas. They speak different languages, dress funny and we send them our offering each Sunday." Actually that was probably my definition up until a few years ago.
"The Missionaries". They seemed so distant...so untouchable. They were the chosen ones. Called to reach people for Jesus. To make those disciples Jesus was talking about in the book of Matthew. The rest of us were just supposed to support them, pray for them and go on living our lives. Maybe if I was lucky I would get to go on a missions trip once or twice in my lifetime. But that's as far as my missionary duties went. Those missionaries would take care of saving the world. And what they didn't get the pastors of the world would. I mean, God called them. That's their job, not mine. Right?
Actually, I learned I was wrong. Wayyyyy off base. My hunch is I'm not alone on this one. That kind of thinking is widespread. The question is, how did we get so off track between Jesus' calling to His followers and what we're actually doing? There is no difference between missionary-disciple-christian! Why do we continue to fight that? Why does there need to be chosen ones? Where does it say that in scripture?
Francis Chan says it best:
"After Jesus rose from the grave, He left His followers with a simple command: "Go into all the world and make disciples" (Matt. 28:19). The church should be known for this. If we are going to call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, we should be making disciples.
But most Christians today are not known for making disciples. We have developed a culture where the minister ministers and the rest of us sit back and enjoy "church" from a comfortable distance. This is not what God intends for His church. Every Christian is called by God to minister. You are called to make disciples."
Multiply by, Francis Chan
We are all missionaries! We have the power of the Holy Spirit within us to help us be those missionaries. Remember, it's Christ reaching others through us. We're just the empty vessel allowing Him to do His work.
It's not so untouchable after all. It was never meant to be. My challenge for you and I is this: How are we following Jesus' call to make disciples? How can we follow His call this very second?
Lea :)
Want to know what should be happening after salvation? Take a minute to watch this video. It's worth every second.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPIOkdNL-QQ