Nate Saint

And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives…and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.

Review: Don't Waste Your Life

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper isn't directly related to missions, but it's such a fundamental book that I think everyone should read it at least once. As the title states, it is about not wasting your life, but instead pouring it out for the glory of God.

Beginning with an analysis of what a wasted life is, and how so many people both inside and outside the church waste large proportions of their lives, this book is a wake up call to test us to see if we are truly using our lives for the advancement of God's kingdom.

Here is a quote from inside:
The path of God-exalting joy will cost you your life. Jesus said, “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” In other words, it is better to lose your life than to waste it. If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full… Some of you will die in the service of Christ. That will not be a tragedy. Treasuring life about Christ is a tragedy.

Missions is obviously one of the most important ways that we can lose our lives for Christ's sake. Reaching all the world is the last command that Christ gave before He ascended to heaven. How many hear the call to the mission field, either for the short term or the long term, but refuse to follow God's call in order to have more of the dross that the world has to offer?

This book is available for FREE at Desiring God.

Gladys Aylward

I wasn't God's first choice for what I've done for China…I don't know who it was…It must have been a man…a well-educated man. I don't know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn't willing…and God looked down…and saw Gladys Aylward…And God said - "Well, she's willing."

Book Review: Mama Jude

This (Mama Jude by Judy Steel) is probably the most secular missions book that will be reviewed – indeed, I didn’t even realise that it had a Christian perspective until I started reading it. It’s marketed as a general “person helps third world people” kind of book. I started it because it’s on the country that I’m about to go to… Uganda! Hence the review.

I actually really enjoyed this book. It is very honest about the different difficulties facing those who go into missions work (specifically in medical fields), both culturally, in terms of lack of finances, and the just plain obstacles that most people in these countries face, such as diseases, weather, etc.

It was especially interesting to me because she mentions the people I am going to stay with several times – Judy Steel even stayed with them twice. Which had me praying half-way through the book when she mentioned that they were temporarily living in pretty bad conditions with one of the most terrifying creatures known to man… rats. (Mice also rate). They have indeed moved (I did know this – but rats have been known to cause apprehension on my part).

One of the things I really liked about this book was that it made everything seem possible – Judy Steel is of retirement age (and was even the first time she went to Uganda), and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and continued to go back.

Another aspect that was really great was how she mentioned that her previous experiences on a farm in Australia came in useful when starting a mirco-loan scheme and helping the women involved start piggeries. It’s important as Christians to realise that God uses things in our background that we never thought would have a use.

The downside to this book is it is pretty secular. God is her reason for going to Uganda, and she mentions how He sustains her while there a few times, but He doesn’t appear much throughout.

Aside from this point, it was a great read (one of the best written missionary autobiographies I’ve read), and would be a wonderful book to interest seekers or baby Christians in missions, or to gather more information on what it can be like in the mission field.

Fundraising

One of the big things that put people off of mission trips is the costs involved. They aren't cheap - you can go on a holiday for the same kind of price, and it can be tempting to just go on the holiday instead. But a mission trip has a lot more benefits than just a holiday!

Anyway, onto fundraising. I've done a small amount of fundraising for this mission trip. I have definitely not raised anywhere near the amount that I would have needed to go (I'm funding myself with the rest), but I have raised around $300 in a month, with not that much time or effort.

My two main fundraisers have been selling chocolates at church and work, and making and selling felties. At the moment I'm selling the chocolates for $2 and making $1 profit per bar, and the felties for $5, all of which is profit, but involves a fair bit of work on my part (each feltie takes about 3 hours to make, but I watch DVDs or listen to sermons while making them).


(Felties pictured not made by me)

You CAN raise funds for a mission trip! When people know what you are raising your funds for, sometimes they will just give you money. Even two non-Christians have given me money ($10 each)! Be humble enough to accept it (not like me, who was ready to argue with the person who gave her $50).

Be creative, stick with it, and you can get there in the end!

Video from Liberia and Congo Mission Trip

Untitled from HIM Videos on Vimeo.

Click over to Hope Oceania Missions to read about the trip.

Jerry Bridges

I am dismayed at how little we Christians pray for the success of among the nations. If we honestly examine our prayers, we find that we give the greatest priority to our own earthly needs. We pray about health needs, financial needs, weather needs, and all other kinds of needs of this life. Perhaps we even pray about our own or our loved ones’ spiritual needs. But how many are praying about the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth? How many are pleading the promises of God?

From The Gospel for Real Life

Frankston Outreach

Frankston Centre was planted by pioneers from Waverley centre in 2007.
Report by Stephen Tan.


It was the first time in a while that the school had kicked us out in our 5 years of tenancy. They needed to run a school event so we needed a temporary location to run church. After a comprehensive search we decided that the best option was the Frankston library. The heart of Frankston. Just the location awakened a greater sense of compassion for the city as we saw the different people passing by. I reflected on how we were reaching people at uni but not many Frankston natives.

As God would have it we were back in the library within a month and this time we had a plan. Led by me we split into three teams of two. Boy girl pairs. There was Phil-Hannah, Kien-Nicole, Sarah-yours truly. Phil was concerned that girls may get hit on as boys may ask for their number but with boy-girl pairs, the boy could offer his number instead. We split up in different directions so we would not encounter the same people.

The plan was to pray for people's needs, evangelise if given the opportunity and to let them know about Hope church. Sarah and I took the direct approach and aired people if they wanted prayer as our opening question. We met an old Italian lady who was smoking outside savers. She had come all the way from Brighton to shop at savers. She was a lapsed catholic. She asked us to pray for her son but she didn't want to stay for a chat. We were turned down by many people who didn't want prayer. Several were confused as to what we were doing and one lady looked really freaked out!

Kien and Nicole headed to the bus stop where they encountered a friendly man who knew a lot about vegetables. They took the indirect approach and started talking to the guy about food. They managed to talk to the guy for almost half an hour and kien was about to start talking about God when his bus arrived. Kien then vowed to be more direct in future.

Hannah and Phil headed for the beach and God gave hannah an image of a large African lady sitting on a bench who needed healing in her right leg. Whilst looking for said African woman they tried to pray for a man but he wasn't keen. They then saw a large dark skinned woman sitting on a bench but she wasn't african. They decided to approach her anyway and asked if she needed prayer. They found out she was South American and a Christian! She said she had osteoporosis which had affected her right leg! They proceeded to pray for the woman's leg and she started praying in spanish. The woman was overjoyed and greatly encouraged in her faith. Although hannah didn't get the race right everything else was. What an amazing word of knowledge that God showed Hannah. Everyone was encouraged by the demonstration of God's power.

Although we would have liked to do better, our first street outreach was a success and we will continue to reach out to Frankston to fulfil God's calling for us as individuals and as a congregation!

Just Prayer

There are still thousands of people groups around the world who haven’t yet heard the message of Jesus due to cultural, political and linguistic barriers.

Thousands! Is this just?

We invite you to prayer.

It’s not just prayer. It’s prayer for justice.

From the Just Prayer website.

I know that our church is not Baptist, but let's join with our Christian brothers and sisters to see the work of the gospel go forth throughout all the world.

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
Luke 10:2

Be In Prayer

There are several mission trips conducted by various churches over this coming summer. Do pray for the teams and believe for great things.

Sending Church Mission Location

Hope Melbourne City Centre - Hope WA (Dandaragen, Busselton and Esperance) Oct 5-18
Hope Auckland - Lautoka, Fiji, Oct 10-18
Hope Brisbane - Suva, Fiji, Oct 12-17
Hope Adelaide - Chennai, India Oct 25 – Nov 2
Hope Hobart - Hope Newcastle, Nov 23-28
Hope Brisbane - Perth & Katanning Nov 23-30
Hope Brisbane - Chiangmai, Thailand, Jan 2-8
Hope Brisbane - Manila, Philippines, Dec 8-15
Hope Brisbane - Liberia, Jan 2012 & Mar 2012

Check out this post at Hope Oceania Missions for more info.

Injections

So, I'm (I'm Sam, btw) actually going on a mission trip. To Uganda. Which is exciting. So, I'm going to be blogging about a few things that are happening, so that you can all learn from all the stupid things I do.

So, on to the first post. Which is acutally not about me being silly, but sensible. Injections are very important when travelling to 3rd world countries. You are going to be a blessing, and you are not going to be a blessing if you are sick with Yellow Fever.

See your doctor (or a travel clinic) a MINIMUM of a month before time. You might need more than 1 dose of certain vaccinations (rabies needs 3) and you don't want to have multiple doses all at once, or be only partially covered.

I tend to react to everything under the sun, and was expecting to get really sick from the vaccinations, because I'd heard from several people about how sick they got. I even told work I couldn't guarentee that I'd be in the next day. But I was, because I didn't have to have so many injections all at once ("just" 4 injections, to cover me for 8 different things). I have more vaccinations scheduled, and doing them at the proper intervals means that my chance of having an adverse reaction is minimised.

The other thing is, vaccinaions are EXPENSIVE. Remember this when you're budgeting for your trip. I spent over $400 last night on my vaccinations, and I still have 2 rabies shots, cholera, and another one to go. Plus I need to get medications, insect repellant, and other things to hopefully keep me healthy. If you are sensible (not like me, I forgot), it might be a good idea to check how much each injection will cost BEFORE you go to the doctor.

So hopefully this will help you if you are preparing for your own mission trip.