Jesus’ Ministry Hyderabad

It’s been over a month since we’ve first arrived and begun a work here in Hyderabad. There have already been times of tears and times of joy, and I can already see how God has been using both the ‘feel good’ blessings, as well as the ‘trial’ blessings to help us to grow closer to His son Jesus.
You know, one of the difficult things has been that I’ve really had to think about what missions is. Coming from a ‘missions’ school, I am often asked what it actually means to be a “missionary”. I ussually give a response that says that one missionary’s work can look entirely different than another’s work because God’s work is so diverse. I’ll admit that it’s a very vague answer but really it’s true. So, for me, the question is “What has God called me to do?” I am here overseas, as a “missionary”, so what’s that supposed to look like, right?
Honestly, I am still trying to figure that out, but, I have a good notion that I’m on the right track. One thing, I am figuring out, is that I am one part of the body of Jesus Christ, and Jesus acts and functions through His body. The part of the body that I’m now involved with is CBN India, and they have a vision. The vision that they now have is to see 200 million people come in to the fold of Christ. Wow! 200 million? It doesn’t seem possible right? That’s right. But, neither is feeding 5,000 with a couple of fish and loaves. Jesus said that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved, so we know that salvation itself is impossible without God.
However, that passage finishes by saying that with God, all things are possible. So, who am I to dare say that 200 million is too high of a goal. Someone once said, that if you aim at nothing, you’ll be sure to hit it. These guys are serious, and they are not aiming at nothing. And, they are working at it. They are producing evangelical TV shows, they are out drilling wells and doing other relief works and they are not just peddling the gospel to get converts. They do their relief works expecting nothing in return to show the light of Christ. So, I am really trying to see where it is that I fit in to this picture.
It’s been really cool so far just getting to be involved in the behind the scenes work for the TV shows. I have been helping out in many ways, some overtly spiritual in nature, and others more practical (like helping them organize their video library). But, no matter what project it is that I’m working on, I really pray that God would keep revealing to me the bigger picture of what He’s doing in the world.
The fact is that I’m just one guy, and CBN India is just one organization in India, and India is just one country in the world, and the world is quickly fading. I want to keep perspective. If I can remember that God will soon be judging the earth, I will take His heart for the nations more serious. And, if I can get His heart for the nations, I can more easily adopt His heart for India. And, if I can allow for my heart to feel the way His does for this nation, then I can more easily believe that God would call an organization here to play a role in the redemption of this country–even 200 million souls!
Jesus alone can accomplish these great things and, He alone can choose how He will do it. All of our efforts would fall immediately to the floor if He is not leading. So, I really want to be led in what I’m doing, and as I said in the beginning, missionary work can look many different ways. For now, it means going with the flow, pressing in to God and listening to the pulse of His heart. It means catching the vision of where I am at and moving in the Spirit to help this vision get accomplished. It means believing God for a supernatural work when you can’t see the means. Yeah! I am liking missions!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 24th, 2006 at 6:55 am and is filed under John's Reflections, Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.