One of the many frustrating side-effects of the Covid 19 lockdown and worldwide social-distancing is that for many students and young adults their plans for an extended overseas mission experience have been shelved. Yet like so many difficult and negative situations, God can redeem this time and turn what would have been a disappointment into something positive and fruitful.
My wisdom would simply be this: Let what would have been overseas mission become home mission, determine that as you can’t ‘go’ far you will ‘go near.
In the book of Ephesians, Paul talks about Jesus like this:
He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
The understanding of this verse can be read in a spiritual context or a geographical context. I completely believe in the value of short-term overseas mission experiences to shape and re-prioritise a person’s life, and I know God is still sending his people into the nations. The call of God to go into the world, is always a spiritual call of obedience rather than a geographical wish to see other countries and experience other countries, and I’ve long reminded people that sometimes they can fulfil God’s call to go simply in their own street or their own nation.
So if you were due to head off on an overseas mission trip this summer, but won’t be doing so now, here are some practical steps to take:
- Contact the organisation/church/ministry/person you were due to visit and tell them that although you can’t be there in person you have not forgotten them.
- Find out some ways you can pray for them.
- Send some of the money you would have used for you trip- perhaps find out a specific need you could help with.
- Maintain a relationship with them online- short messages of encouragement will mean a lot.
- Expect to learn something by reaching out- you can still grow even with online connection.
- If you were travelling as part of a team from a home-based mission organisation, you may want to pray for them and also give a financial donation- chances are they have been hit hard by the pandemic.
- Begin to use the unexpected extra time on your hands to serve locally. Speak to your student leaders/church leaders about the most fruitful way you can serve for a few days, weeks or months.
- You could focus your serving opportunity on the poor, or the elderly, or the marginalised, or on a specific ethnic group. In the world we live in, with so much ethnic diversity in towns and cities, God has given us ways we can reach the nations literally on our doorstep.
- Begin to think and pray about how you might experience an overseas mission trip in years to come… but don’t miss the privilege and the thrill of extending God’s Kingdom right where you are this summer.
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