[3 minute read]
Hello friend,
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada published in their "Canadian Evangelical Missional Engagement Study Series" in 2017, that "nearly two in five (39% of) Evangelical church lay-people and just under one-fifth of pastors (18%) think that Long-term Career Mission service typically lasts 5 years or less" [EFC 2017].
But what if we looked at the long-term perspective in the way we saw yesterday, where over the course of time, disciple-making movements are birthed through pioneers leading eventually to partnership? Imagine it: by as little as a single follower of Jesus making contact and living as a witness, enlivened by God's Spirit, fruit reproduces and grows as two or more repeat the process, giving life to a community of followers on mission together, and joining God's work to the nations. Not every Global Worker gets a chance to be a part of the entire process; in fact, most do not.
But what if we're in this together, led by the Spirit? Isn't that how Paul describes workers in First Corinthians?
'For we are fellow workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labour. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. '
The long mission-sending history that we have in the EMCC has inspired generations of the church to pray, to become engaged, and to build upon what God has done through others before us, along the timeline of history. And as a result, we now belong as co-participants with a global family, and is the reason our Directory includes both Workers (from EMCC churches) and Partners (that resulted from earlier chapters of pioneer workers from North America). We take a long-term perspective.
With a heart for “seed planting, watering, nurturing, and reproducing" EMCC's global workers are a part of a much larger narrative, living their lives as followers of Jesus, in such a way that produce long-term fruit, to the next generation, and to the future shaped by indigenous or "national" leaders in their own context, living and proclaiming good news.
Learn more about the long-term investment of these friends. Watch the videos here:
