Divine Voyagers

It’s now just been over a week since Patty and I attended the SMBC Global Missions conference. In short, we had amazing time. Titled “One Body,” the theme of this year’s conference was how the global church can unite and serve together to take the gospel to the unreached peoples around the world. It was a joy to take some time off work to focus in on what it means to participate in the sharing of the gospel to those who don’t yet know it.

Flavio DeSilva, the Associate Director of Pioneers International, preached each morning from Acts 11:19-26, helping us think through what our role is in God’s global plan to call people to himself. One of the most challenging things that he talked about was the overlap of needs and opporunities. Of course there is a need for the gospel everywhere. Walk outside your house and you will encounter someone who needs the gospel. But there may be places that we are personally called to or presented with, where we have the opportunity to take the gospel that others don’t have. For us, that opporuntity presents itself in the form of overseas mission. The conference was a confirmation of calling, a clear ‘yes’ to missions work as our life’s pursuit.

The second keynote speaker for the week was Gina Zurlo, the co-director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity. She was all about maps, stats, and graphs. And while that may not sound enthralling, trust me, it was. This map above shows the shift of Christianity to the Global South over the past 120 years. Gina and her colleagues predict that by 2050, 77% of Christians will live in the Global South (everywhere by Europe and North America).

Did you know that the global church dedicates 100 times more resources to planting churches in places where there are already churches established?

For us this raised the question of access. Are we looking to go to places where there is no actual need for us to go? That is something that really challenged us for a few days. Our conclusion is that both French Basque and Croatia have churches that are in need of the ministries we feel called to.

For me, it has raised the question of the possibility of Bible translation. The Basque people, for instance, do not have the Old Testament translated into their language. There are people groups in Croatia as well who need the Bible translated in their heart languages. Needs are everywhere.

As we continue to journey towards heading to the mission field, please keep praying for us as we figuring out exactly where God is calling us. Flavio quoted an African proverb on the final day of the conference that I think is very fitting: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”