It has been awhile since I've done any blogging. For anyone who may have missed the updates I apologize. It has been a very busy summer.
Living Hope is preparing to send another team to Kenya. This will be a team of many firsts. This will be the first team that is going to work with the Kelly family in their role as full time missionaries in Kenya. This will be the first team to go on a trip in the fall of the year - which is the start of summer in Kenya. This is also the first all adult team to go on a trip. I am very excited to see what God has planned for the team that is going, the impact the team will have on the Kelly's ministry, the impact Kenya will have on the team and most excited to see what God will do through, to and with all of us. For any who haven't heard we will be leaving on October 7th and returning on October 23rd. There are 7 adults going. We will be working with the Kelly's and the Witt's in different areas of Kenya. Our primary purpose will be to demonstrate the love of Christ to the people we encounter throughout the trip. Our secondary purpose is to provide support for the ministry work of the Kelly's, the Witt's and David and Ann Kinyanjui. David and Ann pastor a church in Njorro. We helped start their church on the 2007 trip. We will be supporting these ministries through the materials we take over, the work we do along side them but mostly by showing the Kelly's, the Witt's and the Kinyanjui's the love of their Savior through the love of their brother and sisters. This is what being a member of God's family is all about - following Christ's example in serving each other and those who don't know who He is...yet.
In preparing for this trip I have been reading John Piper's book "Let the Nations Be Glad!" Quoting the book, "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church, worship is." When I first read this statement I did a double take. I'm passionate about missions for a number of reasons - after all Christ himself commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations - so this statement caught me a little off-guard. This is a book about missions after all. The book goes on to say, "Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more." This really resonates with me. We were made to have relationship with God - to worship God. But how can we worship someone we don't know. Missions exists to introduce people to God, and as people come to know who God is, worship becomes the natural expression of our relationship with the Father. Worship also drives missions. How can we tell people about someone we don't know and love? Worship is the goal and the driving force behind missions. Makes sense because God is the ultimate, the first and the last, our provider, our protector, our Father and our Creator. Nothing is greater than God because the created can never be greater than the creator. This is a great reminder for all of us, or at least me, that we are made to worship our God and it is only through our worship of Him that we can truly serve each other.
If you are interested in what the Kelly' are doing in Kenya you can follow them on Facebook - just look for the Kellys in Kenya page - or you can sign up to receive their email newsletter. To sign up for the newsletter click here and enter your name and email address. If you are interested in what the Witts are doing in Kenya you can follow them at the wittzend.blogspot.com.
Be blessed!
