Mission 4.0

Dr. Allen Hilton February 21, 2017

Dr. Allen Hilton

What is mission? To this question, a cross-section of Christians would offer three main answers.

“Mission is evangelism,” say some. Jesus calls his followers to ‘make disciples of all nations,’ ‘be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,’ and offer the ‘message of reconciliation’ between God and people. (Matthew 28.16-20; Acts 1.8; 2 Corinthians 5.11-21) Powerful missionary biographies track twenty centuries of the nearly-miraculous transmission of the Christian good news to those who haven’t heard. Mission obviously means spreading the gospel.

“Au contraire,” cries another. “Mission is service!" John the Baptist told people with two cloaks or two cans of tuna to hand one to a neighbor without. Jesus met need with help; and in a powerful moment before his trial and death, he called all of us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, visit the sick and imprisoned. (Luke 3.11; Matthew 25.36-40) Pinnacle members experience God’s work through direct service in Haiti or at Open Table. Mission is helping the least of these.

A third voice interrupts: “No, justice is mission! Moses brought Pharoah down. John the Baptist told power-brokers like tax collectors and soldiers not to extort their status inferiors. Mary celebrated and Jesus preached God’s intention to raise the poor and the hungry from their lowly station and bring the rich down a peg. (Exodus 3—12; Luke 3.12-14; Luke 1.46-55; 6.20-21, 24-25) Christians do mission when we call a congressperson or march for the rights of the voiceless. Mission is doing justice!”

Which is it, then? Some do argue an either/or choice, but I say both/and/and. Evangelism, charity, and advocacy all deserve a loud “Amen!” Robustly missional Christians and churches do all three.

In fact, I propose a fourth kind of mission – call it Mission 4.0. Here’s a clue: you’ve been doing this kind of mission for a while, and you haven’t even known it.

Last Sunday, as American emotions are running hot around terrorism and its link to radicalized Islam and how both connect to immigration policy, 125 Pinnacle people gathered in the chapel to do a hard thing. We asked the controversial question: “Is the U.S. a Christian nation?” We listened to one another – even listened for God through one another. No vote was taken, no resolution passed. We simply set out to listen when most Americans are shouting, to imagine that our opposites are also trying to get this right – even to imagine how our differences might help us. Our Courageous Conversation was civil and mutually affirming. We left a little less divided.

So, was that hour education? or fellowship? It had elements of both, and a survey at the back door would have produced both answers. But here’s something odd: whenever Jesus tells his disciples to “love one another as I’ve loved you” or prays for them and the people who come to church with them, that “they all may be one” (John 13.34-35; 17.20-23) – in fact, whenever he pictures his followers staying together through difference, Jesus says it will change the world. People will know that we’re Jesus people, he says, by the way we love one another.

Christian unity is mission, too, friends. When a white church pairs with an African-American church, when red listens to blue and blue to red, when difference comes together peacefully, God moves the world. This truth is both exhilarating and alarming. It thrills us, because faithful folk always look for more ways to reach the world with God’s love; it disquiets us because we have such a bad track record. Christians are infamous for being divided and divisive. Last Sunday we set out to change that record just a little; and because we gathered, the needle moved, and the world will change a little. God redeems the world when we do small things like that. God is very good!

Category: Mission, Justice, Conversation, Evangelism

Haiti

Fabric, Ribbons and Smiles

Rev. Kelsy Brown February 7, 2017

A few weeks ago while in Haiti we gathered with women and teenage girls in a room. There were many easily identifiable differences in the room, but what mattered was not what divided us—in this moment it was what united us.

We all had the same blessings and challenges of being women. We stood in front of these women who were just like us, girls hoping to go to school and change their lives, and women who wanted to work and take care of their families. The difference between us was that when our monthly menstrual cycle came around each month our days went along as normal, but for them, life stopped. Girls could not attend school and it would be difficult for women to take care of their family.

We were able to connect over these challenges. We Pinnacle women wanted to bring help and support through a women’s hygiene kit made from fabric, ribbon and smiles to help our sisters in Christ. For the past year women and teenage girls have been putting together these kits developed by Days for Girls International.

Often, men and women in America don’t think twice about what a menstrual cycle might mean. Some see it as embarrassing, annoying, maybe a little painful or just get in our way, but it doesn’t often stop our daily lives. We grab a tampon or a maxi pad and go on with our day. But for some women around the world time stops.

As we explained how to use each item in the kit we watched their eyes open as they realized what this bag of fabric would do for them. We demonstrated each step to use the kit and they watched eagerly. This kit would gift them their life back one week each month.

I will never forget their faces as we handed out these kits. Their simple questions about a woman’s body. The light gleaming through their eyes. The person whose face has stayed with me is a man who was waiting to see the doctor. He became more and more interested as we continued our education until he realized what this kit was all about. He said through the translator, “Please give me one of these kits for my wife, it will change her life.”

While this kit would change their lives one week a month, they most definitely changed my life. Even as we prepared these kits, sewing each piece with care, it is hard to imagine what the smiles on their faces would really look like. It is hard to realize what this kit might really mean for a girl in school or a mom whose hard life demands that she is working and taking care of her children every day, not just three weeks a month.

That day we all bonded, the gifts of the women and the smiles that beamed not only from their faces but from ours as well. They blessed us by telling us once again what it means to be united as women where color of skin, language and status don’t define us, God does. Where the gift of a woman with a menstrual cycle doesn’t keep us from life but blesses us instead. I am still smiling from ear to ear.

Thank you for your support! Please keep these women in your prayers as we continue to work on more Days for Girls kits for our Sisters in Haiti. To find out more about this program see daysforgirls.org

Category: Haiti, Helping, Mission, Relationships, Unity

Mission

The Team Does All the Work

Rev. Kelsy Brown November 10, 2015

“Can you help me?”, “Is this right?”, “Will you hold this?” and “How do we do this?” were all common phrases heard last week on our mission trip. Our team of five spent a week in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area building sheds, fixing fences, putting tar on roofs, and cleaning up yards filled with debris from the March 2015 tornadoes.

The trip was moving and powerful as we helped people who needed so much help. We worked with people who could not help themselves, didn’t have the funds to do the work, nor the physical ability to do so. Our team worked very long, hard days and had lots of tasks to keep us busy.

One of the most meaningful parts of the trip was watching the teamwork together. It is not possible to build a shed from the ground up, install a chain link fence, or move logs alone. It took the whole team to measure, mark, hold and cut the wood. It took a team to raise the walls, paint the building and install a roof.

None of these jobs are things you can do on your own. You need at least two people, if not more, for each one. And truthfully, there are no cushy jobs on a mission trip. Everyone is doing everything—cutting, cleaning, building, and getting very dirty.

What I couldn’t help but think about while nailing another sheet of shingles on the roof was that this type of teamwork is exactly how our relationship with God works.

A life of faith means that we no longer are going about our life on our own. No longer are we forced to figure out the solution without help. Now we have Jesus to lead us, the Holy Spirit to guide and the Father to care for us. They are the ones that are measuring, holding, cutting and working alongside us. They are ones with the building plan, vision and the solution in mind. God is the one who knows what it will take to get through the next step in whatever challenge you are going through.

It takes a team, and that is why God sends church members, friends, family and random people on a mission trip to walk into our lives - to help us raise the walls in life, fix the leaky roof, and clean up the debris from another challenging situation.

Don’t forget that you have an amazing team of people ready and willing to work alongside you in whatever challenge you are going through. You don’t have to do it on your own—Jesus is ready to help you.

Category: Mission, Rev. Kelsy Brown, disaster relief

Kelly Horn

A Heart for Mission

Kelly Horn August 4, 2015

And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:40

Over a lengthy term of my life in education, I have heard many parents’ dreams for their children. They, of course, have ranged from such things as success in careers, happiness with life, financial security and finding true love. I can only think of one conversation among hundreds, where a father said his greatest wish for his daughter was that she would become a missionary. If you are thinking, “better his kids than mine,” you are not alone because that was my thought at the time of this conversation years ago.

There is a little more to this story. Dan had also been a missionary several times, both as a child and an adult. His father was a doctor, and his mother, a nurse. They spent their entire lives on mission trips, too. You might say serving God was the family business. I remember Dan telling me that he wanted his children to see the same sort of world he did; a world stricken with poverty and disease, a world discouraged and distraught, but also a world full of hope and promise. Knowing this world brought Dan closer to God as it had with his parents and, by now, certainly has with his kids. Dan, however, didn’t see the world as a messy place. He just looked around and saw Jesus. He saw his Savior time and time again in the least of these.

I mention Dan’s story as a reminder to us all. Whether young or old, parent or not, we all have a duty once we enlist in the church. God calls us all to see Jesus in everyone, to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to spread the Word. We can listen to sermons and read books. We can dream of making a difference in the world. We can send money to starving children. These are all wonderful and amazing things. But, I am growing convinced that if we want to inspire the next generation with a heart for mission, it comes in lessons that are caught more than in the lessons that are taught. We can talk and talk and talk about how important it is to love our neighbor, but if those around us don’t see it in action the words are meaningless. If the reach of our faith extends no further than a Sunday morning service, then too, the reach of our servant heart will be only a fraction of its potential. The next generation’s faith will only mirror our own.

My friend has a heart for mission because God has inspired him to continue in his family’s ways. I have a growing heart for mission because the more I see, the more I do, and the more I do, the more I see. If you are struggling to find a heart for mission, if you are trying to instill selflessness in your children or family, or if you just think maybe God has more planned for your life than the status quo, I have some simple advice. Roll up your sleeves and get involved. Just like Dan’s spirit descended through his parents and then into his children (and likely someday into his grandchildren) we need to pass on a heart for mission to the children in our care. The fact is that we all learn best though doing. So let’s all do something!

Category: Kelly Horn, Kindness, Love, Mission

Mission

Let Our Eyes See

Rev. Frank Harmon June 17, 2015

Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. ~Matthew 13:16-17

I spent last week with 14 high school students and four leaders serving the people of San Francisco and Oakland. While we were there, we had the opportunity to help feed the homeless, serve in a hospital, and deliver food to those who were sick. Besides helping others, we had the opportunity to help ourselves too. When I say help ourselves, I am not talking about a buffet or a much-needed vacation; no, we got the opportunity to help ourselves understand, hear and see. We could have worked in soup kitchens and passed out food to nameless people and had a very successful trip, but that is not what we did. We spent a week eating with people, walking with people, and hearing the stories of the people we served.

On our first day in San Francisco, each of us was given $2.00 and four hours of time. We broke into groups of four and five, and were given the task of feeding ourselves and helping someone we met on the street. To feed four people with $8.00, when we typically spend that on a meal for ourselves, is difficult. But the most difficult thing about this exercise wasn’t feeding ourselves, but what to do with 4 hours of time. It raised questions of “what do homeless people do with all of their time?” “How do they find resources they need?” “How do they communicate with each other without cell phones?” This exercise helped set the tone for our understanding the people that we served in San Francisco and Oakland, as well as the people of Phoenix.

Often in our lives we get so focused on what we have to get done that we don’t see what is going on around us. As we walked the streets of San Francisco it wasn’t hard to see people on their cell phones texting or talking, walking past and sometimes over, the poor and less fortunate. If we had our cell phones while in San Francisco, we might have found ourselves in a similar situation. Fortunately we didn’t, because we were forced to turn our faces away from our screens. This allowed us to see people, meet people and have face-to-face interaction with people we might not ever have noticed; and not just in San Francisco, but also within our own group.

Often times we get so caught up in “liking” someone’s comments on Facebook or Instagram, texting our “friends” emoji’s or playing games that we neglect to see. But Jesus wants us to see.

From the beginning, humans were created to be in relationships. We are told that it was not good for Adam to be alone. Yet as our society evolves, we spend less and less time in relationships and more and more time acting like we do.

I got a lot out of this last week with our Sr. High teens in San Francisco, but if there was one thing that I truly understand after this trip is that we have eyes to see and ears to hear. Eyes to see injustice, see poverty, see hurt as well as hope, love and compassion. God gave us ears to hear the cries of the poor, the sick, and the hungry, as well as the sound of prayer and songs of praise. However, it becomes very difficult to see these things if we are always buried in our phones, and it is hard to hear if we always have something in our ears.

I would challenge you this week to set down the phone and turn off the music. Take time to look and listen so you might see and hear what or whom God is calling you towards. Maybe it is taking an extra bottle of water with you to give to someone on a street corner during these hot days. Maybe it is giving up your seat to someone else. Maybe it is getting together with a friend you haven’t scene in a while, actually face-to-face, and listening to what is going on in their lives. I challenge you to have the courage to set down the phone turn off the music so you can see and hear.

Category: Mission, Rev. Frank Harmon, Youth