You know that feeling in elementary school when your teacher used your project as an example for the rest of the class? It felt nice that she valued your work, but even more than that, that she would use it to inspire creativity in other students. She wasn’t telling the class to make their projects identical to yours, but simply hoping yours would spark a unique idea in the minds of those who were stuck drawing stick figures.
That’s sort of how being on my team is. God is constantly planting new and innovative ideas for ministry within us. And together we help draw them out of each other.
When I was originally fundraising for this trip, I was anticipating a traditional route with ministry hosts in each country and set plans every day. Things got a little shaky before I left, and God led me to the Unscripted route. If you’ve followed along my journey, you’ve probably gathered that most days don’t involve a traditional ministry at all; our ministry is following the voice of God and loving the people He puts in front of us. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m aware that this sounds like a cop out, a paid for trip around the world, where wandering into cafes and making friends is considered “ministry”. I’ll also be up front that there have been several points along the race when uneasiness has crept in – this ”mission trip” shouldn’t be this comfortable, much less this fun. Shouldn’t I be working harder? I pictured things very differently.
The freedom that comes with this race was a lot to sort through in the first few months. My first team and I wrestled with the “tension” of not filling our days with tasks and serving people. But with practice, we’ve learned more and more how to rest in the Lord’s presence, seek his voice, and do the next right thing.
Some of His promptings led us to meet local Christians, who gladly responded to our willingness to serve and linked us up with a need we could help meet. These times looked much more like traditional types of ministry, such as the times we held babies at an orphanage in Indonesia, taught English and Bible stories to children in South Africa, painted a family’s home in Italy, and several other times the Lord allowed us to partner with him to meet a physical need. These are some amazing memories of my time so far on the race, but these are not what most days look like. Some of my FAVORITE memories have involved people we connected with by happenstance.
In the space with almost no plans, the Lord has actually allowed us to become creative in our strategies for ministry. Partnering with Him and a few other likeminded people with schedules as wide open as mine has proven to be an exciting journey where He allows US to be creative, and HE follows through by revealing Himself through our creativity.
What I mean by this is that, even though my instagram stories show picnics in front of the Eiffel Tower, boat rides through canals, and other seemingly touristy activities, we aren’t simply touring the world and waiting for ministry opportunities to arise. I can confidently say that everyone on my squad has a passion for Jesus and a strong desire to share His love, and we are creative and proactive in our methods of doing that!
A simple example of that is by using an app called Couch Surfing. I wish I had realized what an amazing tool this was back in Asia, but I’m thankful Ronny introduced me to all its possibilities in Europe. As sketchy as this app may sound, it was an avenue that led me to many of the friends I made in Europe. Aside from staying with locals, there is a feature on the app that instantly allows you to become available to hangout with any other couch surfers in the area. I began using this feature when we first arrived in Europe, and by the time we got to Amsterdam I was obsessed. By simply clicking “available” I could instantly meet up with other travelers and locals who I knew were interested in making a new friend. These hangouts led to great conversations because the people I met had open minds and hearts and were seeking companionship. What a great opportunity to introduce them to the ULTIMATE Companion, am I right?
Another aspect of the app is the feature that allows users to create local events. My team and I utilized this in Amsterdam to promote Hillsong Church there. Early in the week I created an event to get a group together to attend the afternoon service the following Sunday. Throughout the week, we met other couch surfers through hangouts, and we invited them to the event. Even by simply inviting them, we were able to open conversations about differing perspectives of “church” and how it’s not a building or a service at all, but the united body of Christ on earth. Many of the travelers we met were already on their way back home by Sunday afternoon, but we did have two Muslim men join us for the contemporary service at Hillsong, and we enjoyed giving them a glimpse of one of the ways we as Christians in this generation worship, which is often very different than what people from other faiths perceive.
Thankfully our Couch Surfing experience looked very different from this guy‘s.
Another aspect of Couch Surfing is the part where you actually crash on strangers’ couches. The only time my team has done this was when we went to Paris. A few weeks before we planned to be on the coast of France, our ministry plans there were looking less and less definite, and the Lord started putting Paris on our hearts instead. It became a joke on our team because we knew we would never afford lodging there so we essentially dismissed the idea, but throughout our time in a Eastern Europe, we began to see signs for Paris everywhere. We knew that if God really wanted us in Paris, He was going to provide free or insanely cheap lodging there.
One thing about Couch Surfing is that most hosts only accept one, MAYBE two, guests, and usually for only a night or two.
We decided to give Couch Surfing a shot, with low expectations. After reaching out to a few female hosts in Paris, I got a response from a beautiful woman named Ilham who said she would gladly host me and Jenna. If you’re unfamiliar with how it works, you should know that Couch Surfing is basically a free version of Airbnb with lower standards of cleanliness and more expectations to spend time with the host. The hosts and surfers need to get verified and they have reviews on their profile, so it’s safer than it sounds. Staying with Ilham was SUCH a blessing to us. Not only did she allow ALL FOUR of us to stay with her for three nights in Paris for free, she bought air mattresses and metro cards for us to use while we were there and she took us to some of her favorite places in the city. We became good friends with her and were able to have an authentic French experience, while sharing a bit of our culture and encouragement with her as well.
Accidental matching with Ilham and half the population of Paris…
Our time in Europe was jam packed. My team went to 12 countries and in 6 weeks slept in over 20 different places. I met over a hundred people, most of whom I will likely never see again. Most of their stories will never make it into a blog or onto my Instagram. But the Lord is constantly bringing new ideas to my team of how to meet and connect with people. Every day is an adventure. Sometimes it’s comfortable, sometimes it’s very uncomfortable. But it’s almost always fun, ya know why?? Because God delights in the creativity of me and my teammates, and He is empowering us more and more each day to think outside the box of traditional ministry. If that doesn’t sound fun and exciting to you, I don’t know what does!! As image bearers of the Creator, we are ALL, by nature, creative. We all have a plethora of avenues to share Christ’s love with people right at our finger tips (even in the States!) and lemme tell ya, it’s the BEST. How can you use your creativity and ideas to seek the kingdom of God in your own community, outside of participating in a church event or a structured ministry? If you’re unsure, I encourage you to ask God to show you!!
