5 things you can do to join in God’s global purpose

I remember growing up, my grandmother would tell stories of the waning days of the Great Depression and the first years of World War II.  I was captivated by the way she and the whole country seemed to respond to the crisis of war and depression.  She told stories not only of the young men who willingly signed up to defend freedom but also of the ways those who stayed behind stepped up to serve, sacrificially rationing and growing gardens and doing anything they could to support the war effort.  Those stories left a longing in me to live a purposeful life of sacrifice and meaning.
  
The Covid-19 pandemic is our crisis.  For many of us, we are looking for purposeful ways to respond.  Somehow, “stay at home and watch Netflix” just doesn’t seem all that meaningful, even though we know it is the best thing to do (at least the stay at home part).

As followers of Christ then, what are the ways we can respond that are meaningful and in partnership with the mission of God.  Nearly six billion people in our world do not yet call themselves Christians and over two billion don’t even have access to an opportunity to hear the gospel.  Here are five different ways you can be a part of God’s global mission, even as you stay at home.

LEARN
As the global pause button continues to be depressed, take the extra time you have to learn more about God’s mission and how you can be a part of it.  Here are several ideas:

• Crescent Project’s Online Bridges Study
• OMF’s Six Ways to Reach God’s World
• ​Beyond's Nugget Trainings
  
• Multiplication Concepts Training Videos
• 7 Books to Fuel the Missions Fire

ENCOURAGE
Isolation and loneliness are real issues in a time of pandemic.  I trust you are already doing your part to discover creative ways to encourage those in your neighborhood, your church family and your immediate family.  But missionaries and our global brothers and sisters in Christ are also isolated in times like these.  Here are a few ideas for encouraging them.

• Write a letter to a Missionary - find out who the missionaries your church supports and consider writing them a letter or sending them an email.  Maybe even send them a gift card for iTunes or Amazon.
• Write a letter to persecuted Christians.  You can learn how at Open Doors International.
• Send Bibles to Believers in Restricted nations. Partner with Voice of the Martyrs to send a Bible to countries where Bibles are difficult to access.

PRAY
Too often, followers of Jesus underestimate the power of prayer.  It seems that in the pandemic and the forced slowing of life, prayer would be the greatest response would could give to the Lord.  Here are a number of resources to help you pray more.

• Ramadan Prayer - Today (April 24, 2020) marks the first day of Ramadan in the Muslim world.  Sign up for Prayercast’s 30 Day Ramadan Prayer email series.
• Develop a personal prayer strategy. 
• Learn from the leading edge of Paul’s disciple making strategy. 

GO
Mission trips have been canceled, missionaries have had to return from the field and stay at home orders abound across the globe and yet the opportunity to go into the Muslim world has never been greater.  Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, more people on every continent are home bound than ever in world history.  They are isolated, alone, and wondering what tomorrow will hold. Hundreds of thousands of young Muslim men and women who speak English are also sheltering in their homes, smartphone in hand, surfing the Internet in search of answers, hope and friendship.
  
What if they met you?

Volunteer with Embassy and they will teach you how to connect online with Muslims in difficult to access nations.  You will almost certainly be the first follower of Jesus they have ever met.  

Sign up for a free one hour introductory training or stop by the Embassy website to learn more.

FILTER
We live in a media saturated world.  Messages come fast and furious from every device we own and many are wondering if we can trust any of the news we hear.  How do we filter through all the nose? 

The reality is that we are all being discipled - being formed -  by the messages that dominate our days.  Because of this it is imperative that we shut off the noise and immerse ourselves in the word of God.  As we do this, the word of God will increasingly become the filter through which all other messages have to pass. 

If the dominant source of messages in our day is our favorite right leaning or left leaning news outlet, it will become the filter, even filtering the way we read the Bible. 

Nobody is making you listen to the news or keep scrolling through your Facebook feed.  Nobody is forcing you to not read your Bible.  It’s a choice we all have to make. We have an opportunity to filter what we read, hear and see.

As we do that and as we prayerfully seek God’s direction each day we will find the things we can do in this season of global pandemic and God will use us in his global purposes.  

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