The World Is Here

 This is my Radical Read-along post with Marla for week 4.  This chapter is about God's global purpose which is to glorify Himself.  Platt argues that as believers we are all commanded to impact the entire world for Him.

 I think this has been the hardest chapter for me.  I struggled with it on my first read through and I still do, just not for the reasons you might think.  Perhaps I should start at the beginning...

 Just over thirty years ago, a man on a short-term building trip met a full-time teacher at a little mission on the Texas-Mexico border.  He asked her to marry him and she said yes.  Two days after their first anniversary, I arrived.  My parents never forgot their missions experience.  It wasn't all positive, but their desire to serve God even in another culture, another climate(let's just say the Mexicans didn't believe my dad's stories about snow) and another language shaped how they raised me.  My dad is a story-teller, a very good one at that.  Throughout my childhood, he told my sister and I many stories about how my parents met and about that little mission in that little border town.  Between my dad's stories and my mother's speaking to us in Spanish, a desire to go grew in my heart.  My parents nurtured that desire.  My mother's bookshelves held stories of missionaries that I read over and over.  While I attended a Christian school, I read and re-read the missionary bibliographies.  I was fascinated by these people who heard a call, sacrificed everything and went.  I wanted to go too.

 As a teen, I had a subscription to Brio magazine.  Every year, it came with a full-colour short-term missions insert.  I read the descriptions with an aching heart. Each description filled me with a desire to go there, to serve there.  My parents couldn't send me on their own, so we asked our pastor about raising support.  Unfortunately, I attended a very conservative church that did not support anything outside of their particular group. After reading through the brochure, my pastor pronounced it a waste of money and if I wanted to see the world it could be done a lot cheaper than that.  I was heartbroken.  But the call of God didn't leave.

 This call hasn't left yet.  I still have this unspecified longing to go into the world and preach the Gospel.  But this funny thing happened...God said no.  We've tried to go at least three times on a short-term mission trip and each time God has said no.  It's been frustrating.  What makes it even more interesting is that my husband and I are full-time missionaries.  We are commissioned by our church to spread the Gospel.  Not only that, but we raise and live on support.  We've tried to go overseas, we want to go overseas, but God keeps saying no.  Instead, Steve works at the Canadian head office using his considerable tech talents for God's glory.  So when I read this chapter about how we are all supposed to go, I struggled.  Is God wrong?  How can this be His plan for all of us to go when He won't let me?

 Or maybe His plan for us is different.  I live in a very multi-cultural area.  It isn't as diverse as some of the bigger cities, but for this size of city, it's quite multicultural.  Not only is this city one of six refugee settlement areas across Canada, it is also home to two major universities.  People from all over the world come here for their undergrad, masters and graduate degrees as well as for post-doc studies.  Because we live in inexpensive housing close to the university, many of our neighbours and friends at school are from different nations.  Many are students, some are immigrants, some are refugees.  We also live right near a major tech hub.  Perhaps you've heard of the BlackBerry?  Yeah, they make that here.  Not only are the massive RIM headquarters down the street, there are also many high-tech companies and research institutes here including Ratheon and the Quantum Institute.  Who works there? Well, people from all over the world.

 At our very small school, there are over 30 languages represented.  Among my friends, I know people from Russia, Israel, the Bahamas, the Philippines, Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, China, Vietnam, Laos, Scotland, Australia and India to name a few.  After meeting all of these wonderful people, it hit me that I could whine about how much I wanted to go into the world and reach others for Christ, or I could get off my butt and start reaching out to my neighbours.  While some of my friends are here to stay, others will be going back to their country of origin.  Most of those that chose to stay still have contact with their countrymen.  What would happen if these people from all over the world came  to Christ?  What would happen if they were discipled, trained and equipped to spread the Gospel in their country in their language?  Would this not be accomplishing God's great global purpose of spreading His glory throughout the earth?

 I still want to go.  The problem is I want to go everywhere.  Well, that and that God keeps saying no.  But He does seem to be saying yes to serving here.  He even seems to be equipping me.  Since I'm a member of a missions organization, albeit a member who hasn't been off the continent yet, I've gotten a lot of extra training.  I've taken cross-cultural training, have sat in on discussions on engaging our world for Christ, and have even been able to attend a workshop on ministering to M*slims.  As a member of this organization, I have access to some of the best misisional minds out there.  If I need training, I can get it.   Even as I type this, I'm starting to get excited about the possibilites of accomplishing God's great global purpose here.  Like I mentioned last week, I'm praying that God will bring everyone connected with my school to Christ.  Can you imagine the possibilities?  I am excited to reach my friends with the Gospel with the purpose of enabling them to reach their friends, family members and people-groups.  It  could spark a never-ending chain of faith explosions.

 The bottom line?  Are all Christians commissioned to go into all the world and preach the Gospel? Definitely!  But does this look the same for everybody?  Probably not.  Go then, discover your unique calling, and impact the world for Christ.