by John O’Malley
Recently, an interviewer asked me:
“What was one of the biggest changes for you as you transitioned from the mission field to directing or helping missionaries and churches in the area of missions?”
My answer:
Missions-work, Gospel-work, and people-work are not about the worker. It is about the One for Whom we work.
Changes are His decision. His changes for me meant He chose to make me better for Him, His work, His glory, and the good of the Gospel.
Phil 1:13-17 teaches two things about changes, challenges, and obstacles: hardships set our determination to the furtherance of the Gospel, and hardships establish our positioning for the defense of the Gospel.
In leadership, whether Pastor, Church Planter, or Missionary Helper, if I know God picked my context, He believes I am capable of the task. How I feel has nothing to do with my responsibility.
The big change? Practically speaking, it was nil.
Yes, geography changed. Yes, accents and culture changed. Responsibility changed. But the work of the Gospel means I am where the Lord of the Harvest placed me. If I spend all my time worrying about how change affects me and not what He is doing in me, then the change becomes my focus.
I don’t want that.
I want to be poised or set for the furtherance of the Gospel and the defense of the Gospel. I am not more significant than the Gospel. I don’t want my hardships to be my testimony. I don’t wish the way people treated me to be my testimony.
My daily questions should be, will I further the Gospel today? Did anything I faced yesterday change me in my defense of the Gospel?
Gospel work is about Him, not about me.
If we fixate on the personal impact of a context or condition, our stories supplant the Gospel. Our message is the Gospel. No matter where He puts us or what He asks us to do. Our story is what He has for all of humanity.
Big changes? My hope is I am changed more into His image and less into my image.
What is your response to change, challenges, and obstacles?
Do they strengthen your resolve?
Do you permit them to advance or further the Gospel?
Do you allow them to solidify your defense of the Gospel?
May God give us biblical responses to changes, challenges, and obstacles.
Yours for the harvest,
John O’Malley
If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. O’Malley to let him know.