The Ministry of Encouragement (Willie)

Let’s be blunt for a moment. For many of us, the purposes of this trip always seemed a little strange, or nebulous. We heard words like “relationship” and “ministry of encouragement” and just couldn’t get our heads around what was supposed to transpire. That certainly was the case for me. I knew I was called to this trip, and I was pretty open to being flexible and learning, but a huge part of God’s purposes were completely foreign ideas to me.

It has been paradigm-shattering to witness ministries here in Africa devoting themselves and significant resources to the “ministry of encouragement”. Grace Mission Outreach (GMO) regularly puts together small teams to visit their missionaries, to bring along fellowship meals, and to witness what is going on in the field. They pray with the missionaries and then return home.

In Nairobi, we’ve heard person after person point to how encouraged they have been by God in their visions, the encouragement coming through the vessels of Sam and Lynn Owen. Sam has confessed to having a hard time concisely summarizing to people what he and Lynn “do” in the mission field. In my mind, the best description of a huge part of what they do would again be the “ministry of encouragement”.

A fantastic group of Sam and Lynn's friends that blessed us and talkked about how they have encouraged each other and how Sam and Lynn have been such encouragement to them.  It was just one more amazing night of our Kenyan mission!

For Westerners like me, there has been an attitude that for our missions endeavors to be legitimate, there must be something concrete or tangible attached – like mouths fed or churches built or at least some recognizable institution of people affected.

But that focus on tangible results is ridiculous in the spiritual realm. For the first time, I’m recognizing the express purpose of Biblical missionaries like Timothy or Epaphroditus, whose job was sometimes just to encourage those on the front lines. Jesus had very little concrete or tangible workings to show for His three years of ministry. I mean, talk about wasted resources – every atom of the universe at His command, and when He was finished, there was still disease, hunger, injustice, and conflict around the world...

Joe Mucheru, Regional Lead, Sub-Saharan Africa (THE guy in charge of Google in Africa) talks about the encoragement he and his wife receive from Sam and Lynn and visa versa.  This is the level of people that is touched by this ministry.  Small world - after Scott arrived earlier in the day with a Google hat and noted the connection to Google in The Dalles, Sam called up Joe and he and his wife joined our gathering.  We were all bless this evening.

Sometimes God’s call is going to be counter to our Western attitudes. He may call us to spend $30,000 “just” to visit, pray for, and witness the ministry of a handful of faithful workers. He may call us to continue supporting annually the work of people whose ministry is largely relational. He may call you or me to center a family vacation around encouraging a minister closing in on burnout.

I’ve been humbled to learn this completely new outlook, corrected about how God chooses to use HIS resources. Personally, I even feel like this ministry of encouragement might be a big part of my future life. Please be in prayer for Gateway, the Church in The Dalles, and the greater Church in the West, that we might discern ways in which God’s Spirit is calling us to change the way we do missions. I look forward to dialoging with you all in a few short days!


Willie