Staying On Task

A lesson we keep re-learning in our life and ministry is that it is very easy to get off track and actually become consumed with "good" things -- time/energy/money-consuming activities (even ministry activities) that do not align themselves with where and how the Spirit is working around us.  We revisited Scripture as well as our original calling into missions and felt a rush of peace and certainty that the Lord wants to use us to reach people groups that are both unreached and unengaged with the Gospel.  We already knew this, but along the way we complicated it and added several other counter-productive ministry activities to the mix.  It has become necessary for us to once again reform our way of thinking and narrow our focus exclusively on what matters most, eliminating everything that distracts or competes with the specific task of sharing the gospel and making disciples among unengaged unreached people groups.

We have been given the task of reaching South Asians in the greater Toronto area.  There is no doubt that most of the South Asians here are both unreached and unengaged with the Gospel.  Despite being in a western culture, many of them still maintain a very intimidating profile.  Muslims are often more Muslim here than back in their home countries!  The same applies to Sikhs and Hindus.  These people live and work and go to school alongside everyone else, but they also build huge mosques and temples and cling very tightly to their religious and cultural heritage.  They maintain their unique dress codes and diets and many of them (especially the older people) do not even learn to speak English or French.  The majority of South Asians that live in the Toronto area would be considered wealthy by South Asian standards.  With the exception of the newcomers, most of them are here because they have money, education, and marketable skills.  They are content and happy to be here.  They have everything they could possibly want.  Though they often miss family members back in South Asia (as well as the warmer weather!), they are able to have the best of both worlds here in Canada as they make good money, send their children to good schools and universities, and still maintain a vibrant South Asian culture right here in North America.

The majority of these people are not looking for Jesus.  In fact, most of them put up their guards when they get to know us and realize we're zealous followers of Jesus Christ.  In light of this, it is very tempting for us to try and conceive of some ministry strategy that would allow us to fly comfortably under the radar without upsetting anyone.  But can't we have genuinely loving relationships with South Asian Muslims and Hindus AND be bold in sharing the Gospel as well?  Please don't panic -- we are not that socially-challenged that we don't know how to use tact in conversation with non-Christians.  It's just that it seems like we almost always err on the side of caution rather than boldness and that has never produced much fruit at all.  It seems like authentic Christ-love would compel us to not ONLY do acts of service among South Asians here, but to balance that with a boldness in sharing the Gospel with them as often as possible.

So, we are narrowing our ministry strategy to this:

We will aggressively and exclusively search for "persons of peace" -- those people who are receptive to the Gospel, rather than waste our time trying to manipulate or attract those who are not open to the Gospel.  For those that are not persons of peace, we will plant seeds by giving them Bibles in their language, sharing the Gospel in a way they can understand, and genuinely loving them through acts of service and kindness.  If they are persons of peace, we will begin the disciple-making process as soon as possible and invest everything into them, encouraging, enabling and resourcing them to be missionaries to everyone within their own spheres of influence and beyond.

We also want to multiply ourselves (2 Tim. 2:2).  We are on another very exclusive search for men and women who are already believers, but who are teachable and want to be mentored at a deeper level and challenged to live a missional lifestyle among South Asians and other unengaged ureached people.  Our desire is to develop a missions "team" around us and broaden the scope of who we're able to reach with the Gospel.  We will spend significant time mentoring and laboring alongside these brothers and sisters.

So, hitting the streets and college campuses as sidewalk evangelists every day, as well spending considerable time mentoring and training a handful of others to do this will be our very focused strategy.  Isn't that simple?  It requires very little skill (and we're embarrassed to admit it requires very little education or ministry budget), but it does require a lot of faith and risk.  Discovering Muslim/Hindu/Sikh persons of peace is not possible without God's supernatural intervention.  There are conditions placed on those who would seek these special people (read Luke 10 again) and we must be completely dependent upon the Spirit if we're going to see this kind of fruit.  A very large barrier to this ministry strategy will be ourselves -- our own sinful tendencies, our own understanding of how things work, and our pride/fear.  Please pray for spiritual renewal and dependence on Christ -- and pray against the enemy as he attacks us on this level.

If you feel called to join us in this task, then please pray about coming on a "vision trip" for a week or so and hit the streets with us.  Please remember us often in prayer, and plead with the Father for these two things: believers to mentor (a missions team) and persons of peace.