What do you think of when you hear someone is a missionary? I used to think of people living in mud huts and trying to start churches, especially in places that had never heard of Jesus. Now, I can see that there are many ways of spreading the gospel.
We have a team with us at the moment, for an outreach part of their training, their desire is to really reach the lost. This is great, it means that along with some of the more usual day to day work of the community centre, we're going out with a sole purpose to tell people about Jesus and pray for them. Many times though, this isn't exactly going according to plan. We've had great times, with over 170 children one afternoon, but then we've also spent a whole morning inviting a town to a street drama (bearing in mind it seemed like nothing was happening in this town), only to wait and not one person came. We pray before, and we wait and sometimes it seems strange that if the fields are ready for harvest, why can't we find them?
We've also had the pleasure of working alongside nearby churches, who are so thrilled to have us that they bless us with amazing hospitality. Yesterday, was one of those days. We were ready for a full-on ministry day, but at times we couldn't find anybody. In the evening though, I really sensed that the dramas and talks by the team encouraged the church members. One man shared that God really stirred his heart when Matt was talking about God's calling and the roles we have to play in the body of Christ. So, we really need to just listen and obey and make sure we're fulfilling the role that God has called us to, whether it seems big or small.