How to integrate missions zeal into daily life
By
David Bryant
Quote: World Christians are Christians whose life direction has been transformed by a world vision.
David Bryant, author of In the Gap, With Concerts of Prayer, and Prayer Pacesetters Sourcebook, is the founder of Concerts of Prayer International, a ministry mobilizing and equipping movements of united prayer worldwide. He and his wife, Robyne, have three adopted children from India .
On the way back from Manila last summer, I was trying to catch up on some correspondence when a young man interrupted me: "You're David Bryant, aren't you?" Soon after I confessed, a crowd of people surrounded me, as much as they could in the aisle of a 747. They were all members of a short-term missions team returning from a two-month short term in Manila . One burning question brought many of them to my seat: "What do I do now?"
Perhaps this is your question, too. Maybe as you think about living life back home again, you realize that you can't maintain the same patterns, the same relationships, and the same habits that made up your life before. What do you do?
As I've talked to many people in that position, I've received comments like these:
"I'm scared I won't stay on target."
"Won't I become imbalanced and too fanatical for my friends?"
"How do I keep from coming off elitist or super-spiritual?"
Though none of you may use these words, you are really asking: "How do I integrate? How do I allow my newfound commitment to Christ's world vision to mix with everything I am and everything I do in daily discipleship?"
I like to call someone who's going through this process of integration a "World Christian." World Christians are Christians whose life direction has been transformed by a world vision. This isn't a term for frustrated Christians who feel trapped in the missionary movement, who sporadically push a few buttons to say they've done their part. World Christians are heaven's expatriates, camping where the Kingdom is best served. For the World Christian, discipleship must lead into primary ministry with those totally cut off from God's Good News.
I've met many Evangelicals who are overtrained, but underemployed and bored. In light of the tremendous needs, we must move on from our short-term experiences into growth patterns that free us to be laborers at the ends of the earth.
When my wife Robyne and I returned from a summer in India , we knew we had to grow like this ourselves. It had been a hard two months, part of which had to do with the culture and living conditions, and part of which had to do with us. In fact, our little team had a pretty substantial falling-out about halfway through. It took the rest of the trip to try to patch it back together. The whole ordeal reworked some things sadly lacking in our discipleship.
What we realized was that back home, our own approach to spiritual growth - for years, mind you - was so pea-sized in its perspective that, in turn, our view of Christ Himself was also limited. Consequently, in the trauma of culture shock, indigestion, stimulation overload, strange smells, and stranger words, something snapped. It wasn't our team. It was me!
More accurately, my relationship with Christ caved in (thankfully, however, Christ didn't cave in). Why? Because my isolation from previous concern for His global cause had, in the end, warped my vision of Christ Himself. I was ill-prepared to trust Him on the mission field the way a World Christian should, because, simply put, my Christ was too small!
How do we grow as World Christians? How do we grow a world-sized vision of Christ as Lord of our lives? On returning from India , Robyne and I dug into that issue above all others. Here are some practical suggestions we came up with:
1. Wake up every day with a grand intention. When you wake up, tell God, "I am willing this day to seriously explore any new possibilities in Your role for me in Christ's global cause, and to obey immediately whatever You show me." God's primary role for us isn't going or sending, but being unconditionally willing. Tell Him each morning that you are.
2. Let the Holy Spirit give your life a world dimension. He is the Spirit of Christ's global cause. He resides in our lives to give us everything that belongs to Jesus, the Lord of all (John 16:12-15). As He roams throughout the whole earth doing the will of God (Rev. 5:6; John 16:7-11), He remains our constant, most intimate companion (I Cor. 6:17). Be led by Him the way He longs to lead you. (Compare Rom. 8:26-27 with 8:18-25.)
3. Dig into Scripture as a World Christian. I often paraphrase a familiar adage this way: "God has a wonderful plan for the nations, and He loves you and me enough to give us a place in it." Scripture unfolds that awesome blueprint. The more we study it, the more God will show us right where we fit into His plans.
4. Foster prayer as a World Christian. Join with others in prayer for spiritual awakening and world evangelization. One invaluable by-product of pursuing such a prayer agenda is the environment it creates for greater sensitivity to God's voice and for a livelier freedom to obey. (See Acts 13:1-4.) The more we actively pray about the whole counsel of God in world evangelization, the better we'll understand our specific roles, both short- and long-term.
5. Build your world vision. As a minister of the Gospel once put it, God can't lead us into a world mission on the basis of a world vision we don't have. As we couple the blueprint of Scripture with current facts on the opportunities, on people yet to be reached, and on the ministries and people God uses, we'll become better able to respond intelligently and strategically to God's role for us.
6. Explore the possibilities with others. This is no time for loners. Who else in your Christian fellowship desires fuller involvement in the world mission of the Church? Gather regularly with them for Bible study and prayer. Enlarge your world vision by sharing weekly reports. Help evaluate each other's gifts, experiences, and strengths in light of current needs and opportunities. Since Christ calls us into a Body-life, He sends us out in a Body-mission. Therefore we all need to be part of a Body-search as we each seek to determine God's role for us in that mission.
7. Start reaching out now. This may involve cross-cultural ministry in your city. It involves asking yourself the question: "Who can I love for Christ today?" You see, none of us is standing in an unemployment line waiting for a heavenly job-placement counselor to take up our case. There is no unemployment in God's Kingdom. Only as we're faithful to what we can do this day, with the opportunities available to us right where we are, will our Father count us worthy to uncover additional specifics regarding our long-term role in world evangelization (II Thess. 1:11,12).
8. Construct a World Christian lifestyle. In a sense, all of the previous steps help us to do this. We need to actively work at integrating a world vision into everything we think, say, and do, and into the decisions we make along the way. In other words, our current commitment to the cause of Christ will define how we spend our money, what we study in school, what TV programs we watch, who we marry, how we serve our local church, what magazines we read, and how we disciple new Christians.
Even before we've fully determined whether God intends us to be long-term "goers" or "senders," we should be living each day so we know that our lives have counted for Christ's global cause. Learning to live such a lifestyle every day is foundational in learning God's will.
"Every day?" you might ask. Yes. Every day. If you have a spare 15 minutes you can begin right now:
Five : Spend five minutes in personal devotions, discovering some of what Scripture teaches about Christ's global cause.
Four: Spend an additional four minutes reading current world-related literature such as magazine articles or books.
Three: Take three minutes to carry out a mission to the world through intercessory prayer, using what God gave you in the previous nine minutes.
Two: When in conversation with other Christians (such as with your family at the evening meal, in a Bible study group, or in a letter), share for two minutes what God has given you in the twelve minutes of reading and prayer.
One: Finally, before retiring at night, give God one more minute of complete quiet when He can speak to you about who you are becoming as a World Christian, based on the other aspects of your daily discipline.
Fifteen minutes a day. Anyone can do it. Who among us can't find or release an extra quarter of an hour out of twenty-four hours to get equipped for the sake of Christ's global cause and for the billions currently beyond the reach of His Gospel?
Of course, fifteen minutes is only a beginning - a minimum - that may eventually grow into much more. But at any length, it allows you to come to the close of each day, saying with confidence, "I know that today my life has counted strategically for Christ's global cause, especially for those currently beyond the reach of the Gospel."