For those of you who may be wondering, "What exactly does the Program Coordinator for Avance do?", I hope that this post will begin to answer that question.
-- Coaching/mentoring/discipleship/counseling. This is probably my favorite aspect of my job. I love pouring into the lives of the young women on the team, and helping them to grow in their personal walks with the Lord, as well as their maturity in ministry. Some are on the field for a mere two months, and others up to two years, but, regardless of the time that they spend, I am always delighted to see the work that the Lord does in and through their lives during this time ... and it is such a privilege to be a part of that work! Not only do I get to challenge them during their time on the mission field, but I also try to help them discern where the Lord is leading them as a next step after they leave the Avance program.
-- Cultural Liaison with host families, churches, and ministries. Our ministry is very personalized, in that each participant is placed with a local Mexican host family, participates in their church, and usually also serves with another Mexican-led ministry, as well. While we believe that this is a very effective learning and ministry model, it also means a lot of work for those of us who make the connections with the families, churches and ministries! We do a lot of communicating back and forth with our host contacts up front to set up the placements, and then also once our participants have been placed, we continue to follow up with our contacts to make sure that the relationships are going smoothly.
-- Educational talks and practicums related to culture and ministry. We believe that a large part of effective ministry on the field is due to ongoing training, both in terms of ministry and also an understanding of the cultural context in which one is serving. Sometimes our ministry can be unknowingly undermined by attitudes and behaviors that we bring from our home cultures, but are not acceptable in our host culture. Part of our job as leadership in Avance is to help to minimize any obstacles that might arise to hinder the message of the Gospel!
-- Mexican ministry involvement: Since the majority of my workload through Avance is helping our participants to be effective in their service with Mexican ministries, I have been focusing largely on the aspects of the Avance program for the past year. My own involvement in direct ministry among Mexicans has often been simply my participation with our partner ministries at events that they have. I have also been singing in a local worship choir comprised of young adults from many different churches. Finally, I have begun to get more involved in my church, in attending studies and building deeper friendships. Please pray for me that God would give me wisdom in balancing my ministry commitments and also that He would lead me to other ways that I can serve in local ministry here.
This is not an exhaustive list, and there is so much more that could be said, even under each of these headings! Please, as you have other questions, send them my way, and I will be happy to answer them!
Thursday, April 6, 2017
We Love Because He First Loved Us
Something that has been on my mind a lot this past week is the incredible love of God! I know, this should be on my heart every day of every week! It is true that I frequently see the love of God and His amazing grace throughout my life, but I wanted to share with you one specific aspect that I have been reflecting on.
I have often thought of the verse: "We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19) to mean, "we should love, taking the model that Jesus has given us". However, as I have reflected on this more this week, I find that it means something more foundational. If we are able to love God and others at all, it is because God loved us, and enabled us to love others and Himself.
The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind, and the second is to love our neighbors as ourselves (see, for example, Luke 10:27). So, how are we doing at that?
Tim Keller, in a sermon that I listened to recently, shed some light on what it is to love with our heart. He said that it is the thing to which our heart is inclined. The place that our thoughts and affections go when we have nothing else that we need to think about (or, sometimes even when we should be thinking about something else!). Do we love God that way? Do we daydream about Him and how we could better show our love for Him by our service? Are we, like the psalmist David, thinking about Him when we wake up in the night and throughout the day? Or do other thoughts and dreams occupy our waking and sleeping? Maybe we don't love and desire the Lord as much as we would like to think.
How are we doing on loving others? Do we want them to have the same joys and comforts that we do ... even if it means sacrifice on our part? Do we love enough to release our pride and overlook an offense? To even forgive freely? Do we love them enough to show up on time to events? To listen when we would rather be heard? To be overlooked while they are exalted? Maybe we don't love others as much as we would like to think.
And I submit that even knowing of God's love as a model is not enough to generate this love in us. We love because God gave us a new heart that is capable of loving. And even so, we don't love perfectly on this side of Heaven. But, for those of us who have been transformed by the love of God, we are beginning to show the fruits of love of even now. When our mind is set on Christ and things above; when we efface ourselves and forgive others; when we work for the good of others with no one to witness it; then, we are beginning to see the evidence of a heart of flesh. Then, we are beginning to love because He first loved us.
I have often thought of the verse: "We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19) to mean, "we should love, taking the model that Jesus has given us". However, as I have reflected on this more this week, I find that it means something more foundational. If we are able to love God and others at all, it is because God loved us, and enabled us to love others and Himself.
The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind, and the second is to love our neighbors as ourselves (see, for example, Luke 10:27). So, how are we doing at that?
Tim Keller, in a sermon that I listened to recently, shed some light on what it is to love with our heart. He said that it is the thing to which our heart is inclined. The place that our thoughts and affections go when we have nothing else that we need to think about (or, sometimes even when we should be thinking about something else!). Do we love God that way? Do we daydream about Him and how we could better show our love for Him by our service? Are we, like the psalmist David, thinking about Him when we wake up in the night and throughout the day? Or do other thoughts and dreams occupy our waking and sleeping? Maybe we don't love and desire the Lord as much as we would like to think.
How are we doing on loving others? Do we want them to have the same joys and comforts that we do ... even if it means sacrifice on our part? Do we love enough to release our pride and overlook an offense? To even forgive freely? Do we love them enough to show up on time to events? To listen when we would rather be heard? To be overlooked while they are exalted? Maybe we don't love others as much as we would like to think.
And I submit that even knowing of God's love as a model is not enough to generate this love in us. We love because God gave us a new heart that is capable of loving. And even so, we don't love perfectly on this side of Heaven. But, for those of us who have been transformed by the love of God, we are beginning to show the fruits of love of even now. When our mind is set on Christ and things above; when we efface ourselves and forgive others; when we work for the good of others with no one to witness it; then, we are beginning to see the evidence of a heart of flesh. Then, we are beginning to love because He first loved us.
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