There I was, on my once in a lifetime DTS outreach.
I loved the lecture phase, but I wanted to go and do the real thing.
I wanted miracles, conversions, people giving their lives to Jesus, baptisms, everything.
But I was in for a surprise…
My first shock:
Miracles and conversions are not tasks you can accomplish.
I am a Dutchie, so I am very task oriented. I was ready to go to work and get things done. But somehow, in Gods Kingdom, it doesn’t always work that way. I was confused.
My second shock:
Why did God ask me to speak in churches, go to Christian teenage small groups? These people were already Christians, why didn’t he send me to the ones that didn’t know him yet? Why did he want me to work on the base moving stuff around, improving the Wi-Fi, set up a tent for a conference, cook for our team? Where were my victories, where were the people I was supposed to save?
I got stuck in this mindset. Did I do something wrong? Was I really in a relationship with God and was I obedient enough? Did I miss the point?
In the churches we were in we got to share about being a missionary, but in a broader perspective. It says in Matthew 28: Go and make disciples of all the nations. Interesting fact; even when you are at home you are in a nation! So being a missionary isn’t just for adventurous people who love to travel. Missionaries are not the weird people who sell everything and go somewhere new. We are all missionaries.
Then I realized: the people I get to talk to already know God, but they are here to stay. I leave in a couple of weeks… Telling people about Jesus often needs a relationship. If we get to encourage the people who are here to stay and they are able to build relationships with their neighbors, their colleagues or the lady they see every day behind the cash register in the supermarket, then I am part of a miracle. Let’s call it a long-term miracle.
That is why it is so important that we have the opportunity to share our testimonies with the Christians in Barbados.
So, my outreach is and isn’t about miracles and conversions. It isn’t because I might not see any conversions myself. It isn’t because I might not see any miracles, healings or unexpected things myself.
But it is after all. Every time I go out and do what the Lord is asking me to do, I am part of His great work. I might be laying the foundations for a strong house of faith and not even be aware of it. I might be empowering other laborers and not even know what the power of my words is. God is the project manager, I want to trust that He is using me, even if I don’t see it.
And, to be honest, it is an amazing miracle that God brought me here and uses me as an essential part of His plan!
Hanneke