Today was my last day of ministry on the World Race. I can’t believe how long I have been out here and how quickly it has flown by. We got up at 6am to catch a bus out to the village and as usual we were met by adorable screaming kids climbing over the walls, shaking our hands and giggling. The line up for the day was sermons down by the river, baptisms, girl’s program, men’s program, leaders program and close the month in prayer… of course none of those things happened as planned.
Two hours later I found myself sitting in a field, surrounded by cows, sheep, idols and temples, listening to my squad mates tell 30 children how they can lead their community to Christ, the power and worth that they have and how special they are in Jesus’ eyes. When we got back to the house a man was waiting to ask us to baptize him. Let me take a second to try and communicate the significance of this. Here it is not too difficult to get people to believe in Jesus, the problem is they just put Him on the shelf with the other million+ gods they worship. It is incredibly difficult to get them to make a public declaration that Jesus Christ is Lord of their life (Baptism). So the fact that this man came and sought us out is a big deal. We went down to the river and the man was baptized in front of his friends and it was beautiful. He even dunked himself under a second time just to make sure he was completely soaked.
Water has played a big role this year- from freedom literally raining down at training camp, to the worship out on Bangla road, to water Baptisms and ending with a word four of us got at the beginning of this month: the washing of feet. I thought the highlights of our day were over when I walked outside and stumbled upon one of the most beautiful things I have seen this year. My squad mate Cassie was on her knees in front of a woman with a big bowl of water and some soap in between them. She thanked her for her servant heart and spoke over her boldness, love, encouragement and significance. After praying and encouraging her to continue being a leader in this community Cassie washed this woman’s dirty, worn, aching feet. I watched Kingdom touch earth in that moment.
Surprise!!! We suddenly got invited to a Christian wedding an hour rickshaw ride away in a random village. The ride was hilarious, the wedding was beautiful, the food was… Indian, the crowd treated us like celebrities, our translator acted as a bouncer to keep the children from tackling us and a little girl gave me the earrings out of her ears. Two of my squad mates were even forced, I mean chose, to go up on stage and sing a beautiful, spontaneous rendition of Amazing Grace.
As it was our last night of ministry we did something special to finish well: we worshipped, we prayed, we took communion and then we anointed and commissioned each other. At training camp we sat in a circle surrounded by candle light, listening to worship music and our leaders washed our feet and prayed over us. On our last night of ministry we sat together, no longer strangers, but family. We went around and drew crosses on each others feet with water as we spoke life and commissioned one another into the next season of our lives. It was incredible. And we ended right at midnight.
So the name of this blog was 18 hour church, but all I have done is describe my last day of ministry… confused? Well here is something I have learned this year:
Church is more than a building
Worship is more than a song
Prayer is more than words
Jesus is more than a name
For 18 hours I did church, I worshipped, I prayed and I was Jesus to people. I ended ministry the same way I began and have finished the Race: in God’s will. For 11 months I have learned what it means to be the Church around the world. I have seen what it looks like to fellowship with people who speak a different language, to love dirty children who haven’t been hugged in years, to give chocolate to a child who has never tasted it before, to share the Gospel with people who have never heard the Name of Jesus and to praise the Lord with all my soul. I’ll end this blog with the song that has shaped and defined my month and the end of this season.
There’s no place I would rather be, there’s no place I would rather be.
There’s no place I would rather be than here in Your Love! Here in Your Love!!!
Set a fire down in my soul that I can’t contain that I can’t control,
I want more of You God! I want more of You God!
-Set A Fire, United Pursuit Band
Photos by Greg Houghton
