Mission mummy tagline

Items

Selling outFebruary 10, 2016

I’m going to do it tomorrow

My kids ministry website – Jesus without language – has been a constant work in progress since it’s first incarnation at the beginning of 2011. Every year I’m trying new ideas. I’ve tried adding video’s and even a game, I’ve reformatted, redesigned and revamped some lessons multiple times. I’ve also taken things away, like the said videos, and just this week I’ve done some major pruning!

There has always been one steady necessity, that the material is freely available, not hidden behind any payment walls or subscription needs. It’s been great to offer to the world of kids ministry, school teachers, kids groups and homeschoolers the doodling and musings, paper creations and craft explosions that’s come over the last 5 years, nothing can diminish that. Sadly distinguishing between free and freely available is a constant battle lost. The donate button is seldom used considering the demand.

The one think I kept returning to, kept being bough back to, was making the material publish worthy. I’d tinkered with the idea, made a few trials… frankly, it was just so much work. People could just build the lesson from the parts I provided anyway, couldn’t they? The idea wouldn’t die though.

Eventually I embraced it. I sold out? I’ll put something behind a payment wall, sort of, not really, kinda… OK I didn’t sell out at all, I just figured I’d help all those people who could afford to be lazy! Because ultimately that’s what this was, it was a tool for people to be lazy with, a lovely pretty layout that would print nicely so they didn’t have to juggle papers. It wasn’t needed and I wasn’t holding anything back by putting a minimum donation price on it.

The more I pondered the more the idea rooted itself. I had been given a talent and I must be prudent and wise in it’s stewardship. I must take account of human nature, of the belief that the whole internet is free as long as you hunt hard enough. I must acknowledge that God has given me this talent as a way of survival, to bless but also to be blessed with. I must see these keyboard taps and glue sticks just as Paul saw his tent canvass and needles. Even if it fails I must try, because this idea really doesn’t want to die.

I’m going to hit publish tomorrow – I’m sorta terrified.

the uncomfortable pyramidJanuary 30, 2016

I finish writing, upload a picture and hesitate, do I want to, dare to hit the publish button on this?

The weeks word prompt was metaphor : a word I’ve toyed with and wrestled over, for so many things came to mind and yet nothing had stuck. It wasn’t until we were wandering home and ended up talking about pyramid schemes that something hit a nerve, twanged the strings long dormant and yet still tightly tuned. For me, pyramid schemes have echoes of evangelism resonating through them. Frankly, pyramid scheme evangelism is both wonderfully effective and sure to scare the pants of most of us.

I grew up in the heyday of Graham Kendrik – not only did we have the infamous ‘Shine Jesus shine’, we also had the gloriously bouncy, ‘One shall tell another and he shall tell his friend’, and that’s the very template of evangelism I’ve seen glorified again and again. Many a talk of evangelism can leave you feeling the need to be retail minded, peddling the gospel. To go make friends with a goal in mind, to identify those to may come, and they will bring more, who will bring more. It’s so innocuous, logical, practical and yet we baulk. We don’t want to sell our faith, it’s not just that it’s uncomfortable, it’s that we want to have relationships that don’t have agenda’s.

Jesus calls us to ‘go’ and to ‘tell’, to ‘share’ and ‘show’ – and while being at the top of your own mini pyramid shouldn’t be either the aim nor a sign of success, if we are honest many treat it as such. Nowhere is this more true than when we are engaged in work for the wider church. I used to really struggle with this. In the early years of my mission here I found myself craving opportunities to get anywhere near the pyramid. I wanted pictures and glorious stories of how God had transformed lives to share with my supporters. I felt like I was failing because I didn’t find opportunities to gently preach, for wasn’t it my aim to convert? Eventually God lead me into a community but to work mostly on-line, and sadly the faceless comments of thanks seemed a weak substitute.

When I look at our greatest guide, the life of Jesus, I just don’t see the salesman. He lived and preached surrounded by people, he shared and showed people the message of the gospel in a way more genuine that any peddle. When we live and breathe and get excited about our beliefs we will share them, in a myriad of ways not possible to convey through the spiel. And the gospel, the church, the faith, isn’t just about getting past the starting line. It’s not limited to signing up, saying a prayer, and shouting I’ve been saved.

It’s about the the uncomfortable pyramid, the strength to remain part of a crumbling structure, the resolve to continue to be sculpted daily, the enduring of obedience. As much as we need those who welcome you through the front door, we need others who prop you up, excite you, resource you, challenge you, and rebuke you.

It took me a while. A while of wishing, comparing, self berating even, but sometimes a missionary is not just about converting, it’s about the equally hard work of keeping those who have honoured us by joining the family we love. Obviously, it doesn’t stop me loving the opportunity to share what I believe when the chance arises!

Linking up with Velvet Ashes where the theme this week is “Metaphor”

From the sapling to the seedlingJanuary 21, 2016

I’ve found myself loving the Facebook memory feature of late. January is full of eventful memories, interviews for jobs that weren’t to be, excitement as I prepared to visit Serbia for the first time, early days in married life and adapting to Serbian celebrations. I found myself reading a set of house rules from when I was in a particularly tough place and wishing Velvet ashes would make the weeks theme ‘home’ so I could once again share them. Then, to my surprise, they did. It felt like answered prayer, to write the words I wish I’d known back then, the way home has become such a powerful word.

“Dearest little seeding, I’d like to welcome you home. I know it doesn’t feel that way yet, this out of sync land full of strange words and barely perceptible norms. Perhaps your mission here will be little more than an elongated holiday with a purpose. Perhaps you’ll never even come to consider this corner of the planet anything but slightly less alien, but it is home just the same. Perhaps, at first, home will only be the familiar bedding you brought with you, the hairbrush tangled with your locks on the side unit, and your shampoo in the shower. One day home may become the front door behind which your refuge lays or the building, the street, or even the sign that marks the village, town or city.

Some days it will still feel alien, even if years have passed. You’ll hug close to stories of Abram, weary from the travels, knowing this is the land promised but unable to claim your position. Some days your supports will feel weak as wet paper, they will flop on your unsteady feet, the very ground quicksand to your enthusiasm, swallowing your resolve whole. But dearest little seedling, this is still your home. Other days you’ll remember to lean into the strength of the universe curator, his spinning web of consequences will decorate your movements, make your clumsy graceful, and your friendships firm. Home will be an easy word though still only held by that which adorns your passport. But dearest little seedling, this too is your home.

Take it from the sapling, it’s branches still weak and fragile but it’s roots established, ‘home’ is a word you want to use. It was foretold that we would be the strangers in a land not our own, passers though looking for a home that fits like a key into the aching hole in our souls (Hebrews 11). This travelling and movement will redefine that word ‘home’ for you, it will break it’s physical connection and leave you nestled in the arms where your true home always lay. It may be tempting to drop the word home or brandish it as a promised light at the end, but please don’t.

Home is a powerful thing, home is the primal place of protection, it’s the place you fight for, pour your love into, rearrange to accommodate, redefine as you grow. By calling this odd place home your heart will invest a little deeper, your roots grow a little firmer, your wandering stretch a little further, and your adaptability bend a little smoother. Call it home on the good days, the rough days, the days you feel safe and the days that safety laughs in your face. And if all else fails plan how to make it the home you will be of.

In my struggling days I wrote my homes plan, it was ideal, it still hits me when I read it. I’m still striving to live up to what I envisioned.

Inside these walls
nationality steps back and allows others in
and they bow to recognise the ground they walk on
inside these walls everyone is included
to the furthest reach of each individuals ability
those we enjoy and those we struggle with
inside these walls
love lives and breaths and allows imperfections
inside these walls
confusion is accepted
and tears are as valid as laughter
inside these walls
we build collectively rather than individually
things that last seconds and memories that last a lifetime

Oh my dearest little seeding, all will not be well, there will still be days you just can’t cope, days of great sorrow, days your soul will ache for a faraway dream, but you don’t build this place into a home on your own, you never have and you never shall.”

Linking up with Velvet Ashes where the theme this week is “Home”