You Have Already Been Called
While we await God’s timing for the next short-term missions team to be sent, we wanted to check in with past STMers and hear how God used past trips to impact their faith journey. May the upcoming series of blog updates be encouraging to you and open your heart to however God is prompting you to answer the missional call.
We kick off this series with a sharing from Sidney Gee. Sidney went to Ghana in 2018 with Pastor Isaac and other Edmonton students, forming one of the youngest teams that CIM has sent so far.
The sun was oppressive that day. Luckily my Canadian maple leaf hat provided some shade for my eyes, but it couldn’t block the heat. My attention drifted as I walked the dirt roads towards a large tree where we would share our testimonies to the entire village. Elder Nicholas and I talked after our team and the ECG elders shared their message and the crowd had cleared.
“You know…” Nicholas started. “I am worried that we will not be able to plant a church here –There is no building and no money to make one.” I saw his eyebrows furrow and the sides of his mouth tense as he fixated his eyes towards the distance.
“Well… Could people meet under this tree like we did today? I thought a church is when two or more gather in God’s name?” I immediately regretted that my statement overstepped boundaries by speaking without thought. I felt like a prideful Westerner here to try to be a saviour in another nation. Silence fell until we had to leave.
Rewinding to Canada, the snow piled knee high during our typical Edmonton winter. What will we do? What do we eat? Where will we go? What is the culture like? Pastor Isaac walked us through it all and we prepared diligently until the summer. However, it was difficult to visualize until we stepped off the plane into Accra, the capital city of Ghana. We met Daal, our local team-member, driver, and friend. Our team travelled through bustling traffic, supplied from road side vendors and supermarkets, were welcomed by a missionary couple, met with ECG leadership, then set off to Nkwanta where we served the surrounding villages.
We had long, but rewarding days, going to surrounding villages. With ECG elders, we shared the gospel through our personal testimonies and collaborated with ECG to plant churches. I have many great memories and experiences from this missions. One memorable experience was when an entire village gathered under a large central tree to hear another team member’s and my testimonies. The sun was blaring, but we were shaded by the canopy that shaded the large group of attendees. This is where I had my interaction with Nicholas, the ECG elder. After that interaction, I felt I had overstepped my boundaries. I’m an outsider who knew little of the country and culture. However, the elders met at the end of the day and proudly announced that they would be establishing 2 meeting points in the village. This is where they would start preaching. This may have been the result regardless of my input, but it was uplifting to hear their determination to this ministry and group that they intended to preach to.
The missions trip was about 4 years ago by now. It was difficult to imagine what evangelism would look like in Ghana, but I will never forget the interactions with the team, including Pastor Isaac and Daal, seeing and bonding with ECG leaders, and the people there. It inspired me to serve in my church’s missions committee that I’ve been serving for 3 years. I also serve in my high school youth group. Where I have helped share with youth how missions can happen globally, locally, interculturally, or in their own social groups. Overall, I found that missions God can take different forms, yet at the core they follow the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 16-20). God has called all of us to participate in missions, whether the ones reaching out to different people groups or sending our brothers and sisters to do so.
Either way, he’s already called us to make disciples of all nations, so how will you respond?
May Financials
1. General Fund - for general and administrative purposes, such as staff salaries
2. Designated Fund - for specific ministries in different field locations as designated (cannot be transferred between funds)
*All financial figures are in Canadian dollars and rounded to the nearest dollar
Pray With Us
Continue to pray for peace in Ukraine. Though much of the fighting has been concentrated in Eastern Ukraine, refugees continue to travel west to flee the country. Our partner, House of Mercy is working hard to provide for them and also send aid to the rest of the country. A lot of innocent people are still dying everyday and many from the Roma camps have also fled the country.
Pray for guidance and discernment as to when is the best time to start sending STM teams safely overseas again.
Pray for the pastors and teachers that CIM supports in Ghana. Inflation is currently very high as the cost of living including petrol, food, power, have increased significantly and many are struggling to get by financially.