Pray big prayers, and see what God does.
Greetings all from Johannesburg, South Africa! It’s so great to be able to be back in the loop with you all after almost no contact with the outside world for the last two months– I hope this finds you all doing well (and if not, shoot me a message this month because I can actually respond!).
But ANYWAYS, about prayer. So I already spoke of where my team and I are at, but I want to go more at depth about the church we’re being hosted by this month.
First off, I want to acknowledge and give thanks to the wonderful community of believers here, from our hosts in Hendrik, Jeanette, and Frank to those that have prepared many meals for our team (such a blessing on the missions field!) to all those that have prayed over us and more. Since day one they have met us with heaps upon HEAPS of hospitality; they definitely are a church that exudes that particular spiritual gifting, and I can safely say we all are beyond grateful!
I also want to thank them for how much they have taught both myself and my team in this short time we’ve been here, too, and that leads into the heart of this post.
So this is a reformed church for some fifty years now if I recall what Hendrik said correctly (Hendrik, if you’re reading this I apologise for any mistakes and omissions and pray you are merciful on me when you joke about it!). He explained that the goal of that reform lay in moving away from the traditional way of conducting “church” and becoming a church that is lead by the Holy Spirit and the vision God has for them as the body.
Some thirteen years ago, as I recall the story, Hendrik came on the scene here as a youth pastor. It wasn’t long after that it God revealed to Him and other members here that a healthy, Christ-centered church is a missional church. He and the members of the church had a vision; the vision of not being confined to the walls of the church building; that the church was not a place to gather people into on Sunday morning but a place to unify, equip, and send disciple-makers and kingdom-minded people out of.
And as much as it is a physical place to equip such people, he saw it is also a place to host other members of Christ from around the world much like we read of in the Epistles in the New Testament, of how churches were constantly sending out as well as receiving brothers and sisters, to both equip those that went out but also receive the blessings of the help, giftings, and teachings of others from other healthy churches.
So about ten years ago they embarked on the first leg of that mission, seeking to bring in missionaries from around the world, to have pour into them and help them as well as pour back into those missionaries.
And it was about seven years ago, as God would have it, that one of the men spearheading this vision, Hendrik, caught wind of what would someday be a direct answer to that prayer: an eleven month missionary trip based out of Gainesville, Georgia called The World Race.
With the answer clear in front of him, he reached out to this little known missions organization from the United States seeking information on how his church could partner alongside them and host teams some day. For next seven years, him, his team, and His church would be praying fervently for the Lord to bring to fruition the answer to he vision He had given them.
(Picture of their mission map!)
Seven years later, the answer to that prayer would FINALLY arrive!
It arrived in the form of a team of eight Americans who went by the curious name of team One Fiddy Tree (153 WOOT!).
(The number seven, I might add, is the biblical number of completion.)
This isn’t to boast, to be sure, though to be able to refer to oneself as an answer to a prayer DOES have a nice ring to it. ;P But I hope that this has taught you the same three valuable things I have learned from it:
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Prayer those big prayers and pray them WITHOUT ceasing!
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Wait expectantly on the Lord and truly know everything is in His perfect timing.
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Seek the Lord’s vision for YOU! And chase after it!
God answers prayers no less now than He did in the past. Nothing is too big for Him, remember. Seek His will, brothers and sisters, be willing to be whatever part of that He intends, and watch what He does. 🙂
Until next time! As they say here in South Africa: CHEERS!
