Over the past four months, I have been fortunate enough to be able to be part of two Four12 outreaches – one to Est337 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in October 2016 and one to His Love Church in Kimberley (South Africa) over a weekend in 2017.
All I can say is that my life has been changed!
Quite simply put, love, trust and relationships didn’t come all that easily to me, following rejection and hurt through ‘the church’ in my past. Then last year, I reached a point where I knew that I had to make some drastic changes and choices. So I put aside 2 weeks in my busy season at work and I bought my ticket to Brazil. Work worry, insecurities and hurts loomed but the hope of MORE in Christ, more of His love and His freedom beckoned me.
God met me in that place. I felt years of hurt roll away in Brazil. I felt years of feeling like an outsider fall away. And I felt hungry and eager to contribute to my greater church family in any way possible.
I was and am still overwhelmed by the selflessness of God’s children. It is perhaps my favourite thing to observe on outreaches – people laying aside their own needs, wants and desires and pushing forward for the Kingdom’s sake.
Don’t let your fear of being uncomfortable keep you from growing in character… It’s just not worth it.
Outreaches are always such a special time of fellowship, because we are temporarily removed from the everyday grind of life and we have an amazing opportunity to really focus a lot of our energy on intimacy with Christ, our brothers and sisters in the body, and God’s voice speaking into more than just ‘our own little world’.
In saying that, it is also true that outreaches aren’t always easy. They can be really stretching. You may end up eating at weird times, sleeping on the floor in someone’s office, struggling through translation difficulties. However, God calls us to be content in all things, as Paul says in Philippians 4:12-13, ‘I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want’. Outreaches are not supposed to be comfortable. God calls us away from comfort into character.
Don’t let your fear of being uncomfortable keep you from growing in character (for the Kingdom’s sake, even more than your own). It’s just not worth it.
God’s Kingdom is huge. It extends past the comforts of our homes, over borders and into distant hearts. It is sometimes uncomfortable, often exhilarating. It shakes and breaks and builds. It asks you to lose yourself and it gives back abundantly more of the things that matter most. It makes you forget about the ‘me’ and remember Him. It makes you let someone share your space. It makes you share your last stick of gum (or give it away completely). It makes you see a floor as a lavishly prepared bed. It makes you step outside of yourself and your own hurts and preconceived ideas and ask first, ‘What are You saying, Lord?’, ‘Who can I love, connect with and encourage?’ and it shouts, ‘GO, GO, GO! Go love others like I first loved you.’
