Day 2 - Casting Your Cares on Him

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (NIV)

Gathering up the courage to join a short term ministry team is a daunting task. Our first day let us see the plight of the lost, now it’s time to take the first step towards making your mission a reality. You will need to join a short term mission team that is supported by your church. Ask your local church if they are planning to send a short term mission team. The team should be led by a strong and faithful leader. The leader is usually the pastor of the church or an experienced spiritual leader. You should also seek like-minded members that have a heart for the lost.

You should also seek your spiritual leader’s advice to prepare you for the coming challenges ahead. Don’t be discouraged if you feel spiritually and financially unready. God will provide for those who cast their cares on Him.

Gia, a student from the Emilio Aguinaldo College, had a desire to join a short term mission when she saw information about them on the envelopes distributed in her church. Since then, she has dreamed of one day joining such a team and spread the Gospel to the world.  That’s why she eagerly joined a mission to Macau when a call for a Ten Days Missions was announced in her local church, VCF U Belt.

However she was greatly discouraged when she learned that it would be a difficult task for her to raise funds for the short term mission. She is quite unsure if the people she knows could spare enough resources to support her since her circle of friends is composed of mostly students like her. She believes that those who are single have an easier time raising funds as they have a job to support themselves.

But instead of blaming her difficulty, Gia believed in God and continued raising funds for her trip. She believed that the God of the Singles is the same as the God of the Students. She knows that she only needs to do her part and God would do the rest to bring the missions to completion. And indeed God proved faithful as someone blessed her with the required funding through tithing.

Day 1 – Breaking your heart for what break His

Matthew 9:36 (NIV) When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd 

Motivation is the first step in moving towards Short Term Ministry. And how does one become motivated in going to ministry? By learning what God sees in the lost.

When Jesus walked here with us, He saw the plight of the crowds, how helpless and bewildered they are without a person to guide them. It is here that we see the compassion to sympathize with the lost.

How do learn to have to compassion to the lost? By following what He did, He went and “see” them. In our fast paced life, we fail to see how others live. It is when we search for them, live with them, would we be able to understand, at least a little more, on how they understand and view the world. But surely with further exposure and research, we would learn to sympathize with them. Compassion, like love, takes time to build.

This is unlike the brief sympathy that we feel for the poor and the helpless that is flashed in the Internet and the television, no this is more than that. This is God’s Spirit in action, this is a means of falling in love with His people.

Acts 13:47 “For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

People bond with each other by spending time together and the same principle could be said for becoming closer with the country that we plan to reach out. Study the people, the local culture and if possible, contact a native or a returning Filipino worker that has worked/study in that country. Usually, you do fall in love with it after visiting in for a few times. Or perhaps rather than that, you fall in love with the Commission itself, by visiting various countries.

Let me tell you about my friend Nomer. Following the Great Commission is his passion and he wants to share what he experienced in God to the nations that have not even heard of Him. A Campus Minister by trade, he aims to join a short term mission every couple of years and have been sharing God’s word in areas such as in Beijing and Bangkok. He has seen how a few days in the Short Term Ministry have the potential to change a life.

Kuya Nomer did not choose Nepal at first, instead God lead him to the nation. His first visit there was very refreshing. He enjoyed the country’s tranquil atmosphere and simplicity. Their food was also exotic to his taste. But above all else, he loved the people there and how they reach out for the lost. In fact, he returned to the country with a fresh team to support the long term church workers that remained there.

Perhaps going to a country is not an option for you this time but that would not mean that you can’t reach your goal.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus said that the disciples should go as witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth. It is an ever widening territory that expands from the place that they were based (Jerusalem) until they cover the earth.

In the same we should start small until God gives hones the skills that He gave us and present the opportunities for growth.

So where is our Jerusalem? It begins by ministering on our family. Love them, obey your parents and show them how God changed your life.

Our Judea? It is our friends and other relatives.

Our Samaria? That would be our own communities. Show them why Christians are the light and salt of the earth.

Who knows what parts of the Earth God has prepared for us!  

A Leap of Faith

“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.”

William Carrey, pioneer missionary to India

They say that the first steps are the hardest. They we’re right. It is usually in the first few days of deciding to join the ministry when fear and worry assail the potential missioner and dissuade them from going to the nation that they’re called to go to.