An honest chat about mission

This week, I just want to be radically honest with you guys about mission and me. 

But first, you will know that I am writing this in the middle of Share Life Go and I am aware that for some of us, when we talk mission, we are automatically excited and it’s more like Share Life Let’s Go! For others, when we talk mission, we are automatically struck with fear and it’s more like Share Life No!

We all know, of course, that the normal way people come to know and love Jesus is through ordinary people like you and me. God uses people like us who are rough around the edges, full of doubts and fears, who don’t really know what to say, to draw people to himself. So as we think about mission chats, our confidence and courage is not to be found in ourselves but God. It is his gospel that is the power to save. It is his word that reveals Christ. It is his Spirit that convicts hearts. It is God who has placed eternity in the heart of humankind. It is God who seeks the lost and finds them in Christ. And he does it through people like you all over the world.

You might remember a few weeks ago in church I talked about Epaphras. He heard the good news about Jesus in Ephesus and went back to Colossae as a new Christian. Can you imagine how he felt? No one in Colossae knew Jesus. But he risked his relationships, his livelihood and his future by talking about and living for and sharing Jesus. And it was so worth it. People became Christians. A church was started. The world was changed. 

It only takes one Epaphras to change a person’s eternity, or maybe a family’s eternity, or even a city’s eternity. 

It only takes one person taking one risk to chat to one friend, or to invite one friend to hear about the one Jesus to change their eternity. The joy of seeing someone’s eternal destiny change, the joy of seeing someone full of faith for the first time, is something you will truly thank God for all your days.

We all know this. Now let me be honest. 

I don’t always make the most of every opportunity. Colossians 4:5 tells me I should but I don’t. Sometimes when the opportunity comes up, I am the one who shuts it down. I think of a chat I got into recently where the conversation started pretty normally, and then we came around to the job question; ”What do you do Nigel?”. So Here we go. I give my answer, “I’m a church minister.” And almost every time the person I am chatting to says, “Really?” They end up asking what I actually do, and I share about how I talk about Jesus and the fact that people become Christians at church and it’s not just for people who grew up Christian.  

Now, at this point, almost every time the person I am speaking to tries to shut the chat down. They say, “Ok” or “Good one” or “Right”. And so the ball is in my court. I could ask lots of things; “Have you been to church?” Or “Have you got a history with Jesus?” Or “What part has religion played in your life?” Here’s my chance to get into a great chat. But my heart pounds, my skin tingles, my mind races, all the symptoms of anxious awkwardness set in.  

And sometimes I just move on. 

I don’t find mission chats super easy. But I know they are super important. So I reflect, pray, think and commit to having another go next time. And sometimes I do ask the next question and sometimes I don’t but I am conscious of the need to keep pushing forward to get better at being me in mission chats, at being naturally missional in my chats and to more naturally bring up Jesus. I am conscious of the need to make the most of every opportunity. 

I don’t need to become someone else, I just need to observe and understand my own patterns and see what I can do to make mission chats more naturally me. And I just need to keep remembering that it’s worth it. I don’t berate myself when I fail, I just remember that someone was my Epaphras. And I can be Epaphras for others. I determine to have another go. 

So, if you are anything like me, if you get the symptoms of anxious awkwardness, let me encourage you today. It’s normal. But don’t let it hold you back. Reflect, pray, think. Have another go. Someone was your Epaphras. Who could you be Epaphras for?