With Christmas in just a few days like most families we've discussed budgets, presents, when we need to post Grandma's present by and what's on the menu this year. It can feel all-consuming and quite stressful. So, my wife and I decided to sit around the table with our five teenagers, pray together, and ask how we as a family can reach out to others at Christmas.
Collectively we decided to commit to supporting a global project that would encourage us all to look beyond our own needs, not because we should feel guilty about enjoying Christmas as a family, but because it helps us put things in perspective. The reality is that whatever new clothes, shoes, toys or gadgets we all get this year, it's probably not going to mean half as much as what receiving a Bible will to our brothers and sisters in South Sudan.
Christmas can be a precious time of reflection with God, where we gain perspective on the past year, pause to truly take in the wonder of how the Word became flesh and came to dwell with us, and start to pray for vision into the year ahead. Looking back on 2020 there have been incredible challenges as a result of the pandemic. With people queueing up at food banks as jobs and income are lost, brave frontline key workers working themselves into the ground caring for the sick and those who are most at-risk, and the mental health crisis that has arisen from social distancing, the list feels never-ending.
However, I'm immensely encouraged to see how churches across the UK are reaching out and tangibly demonstrating the love of God in their hard-hit communities. I fully understand that the need for church leaders to look after their own flock and meet the growing needs of their local communities has been overwhelming. And this, along with travel and other practical restrictions, has made it very difficult for churches and individual believers to think about, let alone go on mission trips abroad. Which has meant that as a missional movement, we've experienced an understandable decline in enquiries at Operation Mobilisation (OM).
If we here in the UK are struggling when we have a national healthcare system and a Government able to pay wages for those on furlough, imagine the overwhelming issues facing poorer nations with no safety net, facing record unemployment, malnutrition, starvation and limited access to healthcare. As the Church perhaps we need to set an example for others, by guarding against becoming too introspective and thinking beyond the immediate needs we see around us, remembering our brothers and sisters who are suffering around the world and those who are yet to hear of the Good News of Jesus.
This Christmas, maybe more than ever before, is the season to do just that, to change our perspective, move from the ordinary to extraordinary and take time to look at the incredible story of Jesus' birth with fresh eyes. When we hear the same story every year that can sometimes be difficult to do, especially if we've been Christians for a while. But it's good to stop and consider the truth, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Wow! Do we deeply believe and live out this wonderful truth in our lives? Surely, when we really grasp the beauty and power of this truth through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, then it's a natural progression to want to tell others, to share the good news that's bubbling up from inside and wanting to flow out of us.
Jesus said as much in His last words to the disciples before ascending into heaven: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
As someone who has served in a mission movement and been involved in global mission for over 25 years, I appreciate we need to first reach out to our own Jerusalems. But Jesus doesn't stop there. His vision and commission for us, His disciples, was to reach the whole world. Do we tend sometimes to stop at our Jerusalem and then believe it's someone else's responsibility to go and share the love of Jesus and the truth of the Gospel with the 81% of non-Christians globally who don't personally know a believer and are therefore unlikely to hear about the love of Jesus?
I've served with churches who have said their members were not ready for global mission, feeling they needed to prioritise the needs of the local congregation and community, only to then take a significant step by starting to pray about training, equipping and sending missionaries overseas. And then, through those prayers, something wonderful happens – key workers within the church engage and are sent out on mission and it inspires the remaining church members to think that, if their brothers and sisters can go and be witnesses in a far flung place, why can't they be more active locally?
The Church can grow in many ways as a result of looking beyond immediate needs and prioritising global mission. If we can keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, encourage more people to go and be a blessing to others, both locally and globally, we may just become more healthy as followers of Jesus.
My experience serving with churches here in the UK and in Eastern Europe is that often times it is the individual who hears 'the call' to go on cross-cultural, overseas mission, whether short or long-term and then tries to persuade their church to support them in that. The initiative seems to sit with the individual. In Acts 13 however, we see a slightly different emphasis. The church at Antioch was worshipping the Lord and fasting when God, through the Holy Spirit, told them to send out two of their best workers for the work to which He had called them. The disciples didn't hesitate to send out Paul and Barnabas, both of whom would have had significant roles in their local church and community. We see the local church, led by the Holy Spirit proactively seeking to send out workers to those who are yet to hear. Local churches praying, growing in vision and sending out workers into their communities and to the ends of the earth.
Our vision for 2021 in OM is to inspire and encourage others to join us in seeking God and praying. Asking the Lord of the Harvest to raise up disciples to engage in their local communities, but also be willing to go to the ends of the earth. As we make our plans for the year ahead, my prayer is that our eyes and hearts would be open to and stirred by the vision Jesus expressed in His Great Commission, that we will go out with the power of the Holy Spirit to share His Good News with the peoples of this world that as yet no nothing of God's love for them. There is so much to be done, and it all starts with prayer. May God envision, equip and empower us as His Church to do the work He's called us to do.
Matthew Skirton is from the UK but has spent more than half of his life serving in Eastern Europe. Together with his wife, Helen, he pioneered OM's work in Moldova in the mid-1990s, handing over field leadership in March 2015. He also served as Regional Leader for OM in Eastern Europe for seven years. Matthew took on the role of UK Chief Executive of OM in 2016 and hopes to inspire Christ-followers to reach out this festive season and support OM's Christmas appeal via: www.uk.om.org
