An Assignment ...

As part of the process for going to Korea I have to take a short online course called "Preparation for Missions." I just had to write a reflective paper about my call to mission and how it effects my goals and motives. Is only supposed to be a few paragraphs - but I've never been able to write a few paragraphs about anything. I thought I would toss the assignment up here since I haven't blogged anything for a while. 

Promised philosophical thoughts and Bible studies have been a long time appearing - being my usual pedantic self, making sure that every i is dotted and every t is crossed and every relevant verse is accounted for and explained ... you may be waiting a while but I am having fun. In the mean time enjoy the offering below.

Reflecting On My Call To Mission

God’s Call

Where to start?

I grew up listening to Eric B. Hare stories and I tended to take them personally because I was related to the Hare family. I heard the stories of how my family came into the church and they seemed quite miraculous to me.

(My Great Great Grandfather owned a boarding house and just happened to be going past the door of a visiting evangelist and heard the evangelist praying for him and his family which eventually lead to the whole family accepting the truth. On the other side my Grandfather was away from home when he went to an evangelistic tent meeting. The next morning he excitedly rang my Grandmother to tell her what he had learned, she interrupted him half way through and told him the rest of the meeting. When he asked how she knew, she answered ‘I saw it last night in a dream.’)

So from a young age I wanted to do ‘something’ for God. Life happens, I drifted along, never really doing anything ‘bad’ but not having a real relationship with Jesus either. I ended up teaching in an Adventist high school and then Jesus captured my heart. For the sake of complete honesty I have to admit that I did not go looking for Jesus, I was quite happy as I was (I thought) and if He had not actively pursued me I would not have come to know Him. He has been very patient and long suffering with me!

Over time I became dissatisfied with teaching chemistry to High School students. I want to teach something important to people who want to know it. Instead of shoving esoteric knowledge down the throats of kids who generally don’t care. (Think about it, unless you want to be a nurse or a doctor or something in the field of science why do you need to know about the insides of atoms?)

Two years ago I took leave from my job (I have since resigned) and started to travel. In the last year I have experienced personal reformation and revival in my life, and learned to rest in Jesus rather than striving to make myself righteous. Through a series of events I ended up at the Amazing Facts Centre of Evangelism, taking the four month course offered at Weimar College.

Part way through the Amazing Facts course after praying about what I was going to do next I received an unexpected email telling me that I had a job in South Korea teaching English if I still wanted to come. This email was the result of an application I had filled in 18 months before and never gotten a reply to. (Apparently my application had ended up in a spam folder and they had only just found it.) I still want to teach. I love teaching. But, I want to teach important and useful things to people who want to know them. English is useful and Bible is important. In Korea I will be able to teach both. Plus as an added bonus I have wanted to go and teach in Korea ever since my College days when a number of my friends did exactly that.

Before going to AFCOE I had been praying the prayer from Luke 10:2 (He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.) Praying for God to send me out into the field. It was then that the door opened for me to be trained at AFCOE. I believe that the call to Korea is another part of God’s answer to my prayer.

How does this call affect my motives?

I would not be honest if I did not say my motives were mixed. Yes I want to be in the centre of God’s will for my life and I believe that in going to Korea I will be. However I will also be filling a personal desire for adventure. I want to teach people to find that same rest, joy and peace in Jesus that I have found and I want to experience life in a non-English speaking country.

How does this call affect my goals?

This is a harder question; I’m not really sure what my goals are anymore. I don’t see Korea as being the rest of my life, but I also have no desire to go back to high school teaching. My one goal is to remain in the centre of God’s will.

I think what I would like to do is to teach/challenge people who are already Adventist to have revival and reformation in their own lives. Imagine how many missionaries there would be if all the people who say they are Adventist took the gospel commission seriously. I suppose I see the call to Korea as something that could potentially move me into this kind of role at a later date.

Basically this is something I am praying about and I am looking forward to seeing where God leads.