Step into Something Bigger: The transforming Power of Mission - 26 Jan 2017
Mission Teams are an incredible way to serve other communities overseas. Yet, we often forget that mission often has a great impact on us too, as one of our friends living in the Middle East shares:
"I had tasted something in Cairo - what it meant to be empowered with a conviction that God was on the move through me..."
When I stepped up to the wall overlooking the city of Cairo, I had no idea that the trajectory of my life was about to be forever changed…
I was 20 years old; a university student with certain expectations of what the future held for me; home, family, community. All good things - none of which included learning Arabic, being forced to flee a country because of war, or raising my children on the frontline of the greatest crisis of our generation.
I didn’t know what I was being invited into when I heard God whisper to me on that wall in Cairo - but I knew it was into something bigger than myself - into heavenly longings worthy of my entire life, which captivated my imagination. 14 years later, I’m still grateful for this journey.
And the reason I had landed in Cairo was because I’d signed up for an overseas summer mission trip.
Over the years I’ve come to see with greater clarity that experiences like these are powerful statements in our lives. They represent our willingness to experience the life of God’s kingdom in a way we are unable to do within the bounds of our regular routines.
Mission trips inevitably transform the way we see Christ at work among the nations of the earth; including our own.
When I came home from Cairo, it was nearly five years before I moved permanently to the Middle East. Yet, from the day I returned from that summer trip, I couldn’t help but live differently.
I had tasted something in Cairo - what it meant to be empowered with a conviction that God was on the move through me. I had no reason to believe that feeling should be limited to an exotic location or the temporary construct of a mission team. My friends and I began doing team and mission on our own turf, discipling young people and reaching out to international students.
Those days were filled with some of the most beautiful church experiences I’ve ever known.
I believe the Spirit of God aches for our world. He aches for lives willing to see what he sees and feel what he feels, and then live accordingly. In light of such a God, and such a world, perhaps the thing to do next is to go and see for yourself...
Be part of our 2017 summer mission teams - you could head to the Middle East, Lebanon, Ibiza, Iceland or East London: 24-7prayer.com/missionteams
