Pray, care, give... GO?!

Those four words have been close to the heart of CMS Australia for as long as I can remember! 

It was a tremendous privilege to go on a pastoral visit to the Northern Territory last year. 

I got to visit and meet with people serving in Darwin at NungalinyaCollege, with the Anglican bishop, and with the Uniting Church Northern Synod.  I caught up with past CMS Victoria affiliates Steven Tong and Kerryn Gijsbers.  I got to visit Geoff and Hannah Harper in Nhulunbuy, East Arnhem Land. 

David Platt, writing in his excellent book Radical, describes how I used to think about money and visiting missionaries.  It costs a lot, so isn’t it better to save the money and send it over to them?  Why go through the effort and expense of visiting?  Platt was visiting a Sudanese brother, Andrew, who said:

“A true brother comes to be with you in your time of need.  David you are a true brother. Thank you for coming to be with us.”

Internet communications means that we can be in better touch than ever before, but nothing beats actually turning up in the flesh.  After all, that’s what God did when he sent Jesus.  Turning up is a powerful expression of care. 

But something else happens when we go.  We are exposed to the actual context and circumstances of life and ministry in that other place.  We give ourselves the time to relate, to share, to be affected, to walk and talk with God over there.  All that adds up to the possibility that our hearts might be changed as we prayerfully process the experience of being in that missionary context.  Hopefully, under God, our passion for Gospel ministry in that place increases, our prayerfulness is boosted, our own willingness to relocate and serve is increased. 

The evidence points to the fact that almost all of our current missionaries had some sort of shorter-term visit or exposure experience before going out with CMS long-term.  Going on an exposure visit can be dangerous if you’re trying to avoid God’s call to become a missionary long-term... 

Is there somewhere or someone you can visit as part of your travel plans this summer?  Is there a part of the world where some good is being done that you can get exposed to?  Have your heart enlarged - do it!