President's Perspective: What Will Make Us Missions-Active Christians?

What Will Make Us Missions-Active Christians?

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By Hubert Harriman, President
July-September 2015

I heard the story of an exasperated farmer who was talking to another farmer about the lazy fellow he had hired some days before. Pointing in the man’s direction at the end of the field, the farmer said to his friend, “If it moves, it’s a post.”

It is our conviction that every believer is to be missions active. We view this, not as our WGM “thing,” but as a biblical mandate. But sadly, when it comes to real missions activity, some people are about as active as a post. I speak frankly, and with deep concern, when I say there is a terrible inertia that has gripped the American church concerning kingdom work. At best, many of our attempts at stirring up believers result in no more than sputters and stops.

As a young pastor, I had the responsibility of mowing the parsonage and church lawns, and my tool was an old push mower that gave me fits. One hot summer day, needing to mow the lawn in preparation for Sunday, I got the mower out and pulled the cord. It came to life, but within a few seconds it stopped. I did this innumerable times, and each time it would sputter and stop. Dripping with sweat and quite frustrated, I called our head trustee for help. (I’m not a mechanic.) Charlie could fix just about anything. He studied the mower awhile and then did something I had never seen a mechanic do. He turned the mower over and gave it a swift kick. To my shock, the thing ran all day! I started wondering if I could get the same results if I did that with my congregation.

Well, I can guarantee you that won’t work with people! There’s only one thing that will make us missions-active believers. Jesus left us neither doubt nor room for dispute when He said,“but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NASB). There’s absolutely no sense trying to yank people’s cords, hoping they’ll get started. The fact is, if we aren’t missions active, we have never been Spirit-filled. That’s all. While we might work ourselves into a sweat trying to get Christians stirred up, Jesus unbendingly calls us to get filled up.

What would happen if we started listening to Jesus? We need go no further than the book of Acts to know the answer to that question. So help me God, I want to be numbered with that crowd. Will you join me?

ACT: Ready to walk deeper into missions activity? The World GO! Manual is a good resource to really challenge and inspire you with practical missions activities. Purchase a copy at www.wgm.org/worldgo.

Prayer Calendar: September 27-30, 2015

Your missions prayer point for the week of September 27–30: 

PRAY that the Holy Spirit will fill the global Church with an unquenchable desire to serve Him.

What would the world be like if this was reality?

Nursing Outside the Box

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By Carolyn Wade, Missionary, Kenya
July-September 2015

Sometimes when I’m asked what I do, I say, “I’m a missionary nurse.” The next question is, “Where do you work?” That requires a more detailed response.

I’m a nurse who enjoys patient education, and God has given me my heart’s desire. Here are some of the places and ways I minister:

• Women’s Health Information: Preparing and distributing notebooks containing information on pertinent women’s health issues to regional, area, district, and local women leaders of Africa Gospel Church. Packets are sent by mail in response to Facebook requests. Kenyan medical professionals also benefit from copies of health documents and radio presentations.
• Radio: Presenting programs encouraging preventive health practices and early treatment and informing about diseases like ebola, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and meningitis.
• Office: Writing health articles for AGC’s Trumpetmagazine, writing and editing health documents, and doing radio preparation.
• AGC Primary and Secondary Schools:Encouraging good oral and personal hygiene while also focusing on morality and abstinence.
• Liaison with Tenwek Hospital: Facilitating consultations with doctors.
• Village and Urban AGC Sites: Discussing health information at church gatherings, concluded by distributing medication for intestinal parasites; offering medicine to church leaders and students at Kaboson Pastors Training College and Kenya Highlands Evangelical University; and discussing health information at women’s and men’s meetings and marriage seminars.
• Home Visits: Giving a gift of soap as we are washing hands before meals gives validity to proper hand washing and good health, and giving dish soap gives opportunities to stress preventing the spread of diseases.
• Our Home: Assisting the workers and their families at our building with health needs, such as treatment for malaria, typhoid, anemia, vision problems, ulcers, burns, or fractured bones.

The Sunday morning radio health program closing is “Prevention is better than cure. ‘Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well’ (3 John 2, NIV).”

I am one happy missionary, grateful for a Mission and a church that allows the freedom to think outside the box to practice nursing and help meet health needs.

GO: Nursing opportunities, both inside institutional walls and “outside the box,” exist on several of WGM’s locations. To find the nursing opportunity that will work best for you, visit www.wgm.org/go.

Prayer Calendar: September 20-26, 2015

As we begin another week, there is a new missions prayer point to focus on from The Call. If you are unsure what an "outside the box" ministry looks like in missions please take time to read Carolyn Wade's article found on page 4. 

September 20 – 26: PRAISE God for Carolyn Wade and many other missionaries who willingly serve in their area of expertise, but “outside the box.” 

The Quest

An excerpt from...

The Quest: Community Transformation

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By Joy Phillips, Compassionate Ministries Coordinator
July-September 2015

“No one in my family got sick with malaria this year,” reported Alice, one of the Community Health Evangelism participants in South Sudan. After putting into practice what she’s learned, her family gets sick less often. Yay, that’s what we want to hear! Others are planting banana and papaya trees in their yards, enhancing their families’ diet. Another participant reported that they have formed a prayer group that prays for their community on Tuesdays and Saturdays. All of that must please the Lord, don’t you think?

This process of community transformation didn’t just happen. It took a team and lots of networking. John and Beth Muehleisen, in the role of Africa Regional Transformation Training coordinators, have mentored WGM international missionary Adhanom Hidug as a CHE facilitator. Volunteer CHE Champion Rick Morse joined the Mango Ministries training team and others have helped as well. I’ve also been able to use my experiences from serving with Tenwek Community Health and Development in Kenya to help develop this new ministry in South Sudan.

WGM’s central ministry focus is wholistic transformation. As you can see from the ministry in South Sudan, this is best facilitated when resources, personnel, and ideas are shared. One of my favorite books that has helped me gain a better understanding of transformational development is When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. It’s a great read for anyone interested in missions.

I’ve been connecting with many missionaries in WGM as I take on the role of WGM’s Compassionate Ministries coordinator. It’s been amazing to hear about where God is already at work. From Argentina to Arizona to Africa, WGM missionaries are involved in all kinds of creative ministries that are resulting in transformed lives and communities. I’m excited when I see people following Jesus and reaching their God-given potential.

If you look at the nightly news, it appears that communities in our own neighborhoods as well as around the world are in serious need of transformation. Will you join WGM in our quest to see communities transformed?

ACT: Is God calling you to share a kind word or deed with someone where you live or in a nearby neighborhood? The peoples of the world have come to us; who can you reach out to today?

PRAY: Grab a friend and ask them to join you in praying for the CHE participants from South Sudan this quarter. Pray that God will continue to grant opportunities to get this team involved in His transforming story.

Prayer Calendar: September 13-19, 2015

Community Health Evangelism's approach is community-based, dynamic, and participatory as multidisciplinary and multicultural teams are established to empower communities to live with dignity and hope through Jesus Christ.

Team members concentrate on the areas of health, education, water, agriculture, church leadership, and income generation as they work with communities to identify problems and develop action plans to tackle the issues.


Your missions prayer point this week will support Community Health Evangelism workers. Join readers the week of September 13 – 19: 

PRAY for Community Health Evangelism workers, who are teaching principles of health living and discipleship in their communities. 

Gifts, Accounting, and Mr. Potato Head

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By Heidi Buell, Missionary, Honduras
July-September 2015

“Okay, kids, what’s wrong with this Mr. Potato Head?” I asked the after-school Good News Club as I held up the toy.

Giggling, the kids pointed to the nose part where his arm part should have been, and his arm was where his mouth should have been. As I put the body parts into their proper places, I explained to the kids how God made each of us with individual gifts and abilities and how we are all needed in the body of Christ.

Growing up, I’d had limited exposure to missionaries. The only stories I had heard were of preachers, teachers, or medical workers, but I had no interest in those things as my career. So, when I was called to missions after high school, I wondered how God was going to use me on the mission field.

I started at Asbury University (Kentucky), majoring in missions and Spanish. Then, someone gave me some great advice about how it’s really helpful when missionaries have a practical skill to offer. I looked into education, but God quickly closed that door. I’d always liked math and numbers, so after some thought and prayer, I declared accounting as my major. Just three weeks later, a speaker came to campus and talked about the need for accountants and businessmen on the mission field. They support the ministries and other missionaries and enable the field to function well. This was confirmation to me that my calling to missions and my gifts in organization, logic, and math were not mutually exclusive. We are one body, and we all have to work together as our various parts.

Back at the Good News Club, Mr. Potato Head helped the kids understand this. We talked about that no matter what your gift is, God can use it on the mission field. We can’t all be mouths or feet or hands or ears; that’s not a good representation of the body of Christ. If God gives us skills in a particular area, it often doesn’t work right when we try to use them someplace else. And when we try to fit into a role that we’re not supposed to fill, it’s exhausting.

When called to missions, I felt like I was supposed to be an arm and help in practical ways; yet, I thought I had to be the mouth (preacher). But how can an arm work in the place where the mouth is supposed to be?

If we live out a biblical worldview, we see how everything can be used by God to draw people to Him. It matters how we plant crops, treat diseases, administer funds, organize ministry, steward our money, and, yes, preach the Word. I’m just a few months in to my first term in Honduras, serving in accounting, and I can’t wait to see how God will work in the months and years ahead.

GO: Treasurers and accountants are a vital part of the mission field team. Opportunities to serve in this capacity are available in multiple locations. To find out more, contact Jared Gleason at recruiting@wgm.org or 765.671.7226.

Prayer Calendar: September 6 – 12

God creates each of us uniquely skilled for the purpose He calls us to. That's the reminder this week in our missions prayer point. Please join The Call readers in praying this request for the week of September 6 – 12: 

PRAY that those who God has called to missions will understand how their skills and abilities can be used uniquely for Him. 

Support Ministries Are the Foundation

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By Lisa Fish, Missionary, Argentina
July-September 2015

When you think of support roles, you think of accountants, field leadership, those doing printing or writing ministries, donors, and many more. They really do support and are foundational to “front line” ministries. How on earth could we do missions without these humble servants?

Where would the money come from if not for ministry partners? As a missionary, I can’t get to the field without those who donate. Because of their obedience and generosity, I have seen firsthand the fruit of their sacrifices—in souls saved and lives transformed, including my own.

Where would we be without prayer warriors? People who commit to pray diligently are the soul of the foundation. Not only do they bring prayer concerns and praises to the throne, but they also call, send notes and emails, and offer encouragement.

Where would I be without my leaders? WGM leaders keep people like me in line and on task. They have helped me see that I may be in a certain circumstance “for such a time as this,” and they remind me to not run ahead of Jesus but to walk faithfully beside Him. They challenge me to grow in my faith and in knowledge and experience, and they support me so kindly and lovingly when I fail. They hold me accountable. If not for our servant-leaders, ministries would be flailing and falling everywhere.

I was called out of Uganda last year and into a year of unknowns and “Where to next, Jesus?” It’s been a difficult transition. I love Uganda, its people, and our ministries there. Yet now I am called, at least temporarily, into a support role ministry myself. I get to participate in training Latin American missionaries by helping direct an accelerated English learning program in Argentina. I will be working with other missionaries to help grow the next generation of missionaries, some of them coming from the very places we used to consider the front lines of missions. They have heard the call themselves and are now seeking to follow the Lord as He continues to expand His kingdom.

It reminds me of the backwardness of the kingdom of God. In order to lead, you follow. In order to gain, you give. In missions, we are a picture of the backwardness of Christ’s kingdom. We start out in what the world perceives as a frontline ministry, but really, in order to grow His kingdom, we work until we are seen no more. Only His hands and feet are seen, and that is how it ought to be.

GO: Do you have a particular skill set that needs to be passed on to others on the mission field? A variety of training positions are available. Visit www.wgm.org/go for more information.