Missionary Work in Mexico

My daughter, Meghann, has just finished her DTS with YWAM San Diego-Baja and is starting her Outreach Phase tomorrow. She will be preaching in Mexico City about "Identity" and sharing her testimony along with practical work that expresses the love of Jesus to people who have not encountered His life changing love. Megs and her two children, Shya (5 yrs) and Hunter (3 yrs) will be able to experience this together which I think is a wonderful blessing! I love that my grandchildren are carrying on the family call to the nations!

Here is an update in Meghann's own words:

"Buenos dias" from Tijuana! We are blessed to inform you that after 12 weeks of Discipleship Training School, we are ready for outreach! I have grown so much closer in relationship with the Lord through my class lessons. Its so amazing to be living in the freedom of the Lord! He has exchanged the unholiness I had in my heart for purity, He has showed me what true love is, as a Bride of Christ, through the intimacy of hearing His voice and quiet times. I have traded my orphan spirit for a Heavenly inheritance and living daily in the truth that I am a child of God! He has been my provider for all I need- whether it be spiritually or physically. I am completely in love with God and am whole in Him. One of the best things I've learned is that the mistakes I've made in the past don't determine my value, my true value is just simply in knowing God and His love! Having intimacy with Him and reading His Word daily is so transforming that my identity stays firm in Him and having that Fear is so healthy and is awesome!!!! I now have 8 weeks to bless others with what I've learned. The kids and I will be going to Mexico City for two weeks to serve a church through doing a Kid's Camp & teaching a sermon on "Identity" and will give my testimony in the Sunday service and be evangelizing locally as well. Then we'll be back in Tijuana for the remainder to help out with ministries here. I will be helping in the Women's Prison, tutor English & Math to the poor youth in Circulo Andante Ministry, and also be a part of the Zone Kids Ministry that reaches out to the kids of the Red Light district community in Tijuana with Bible stories & crafts & games at the local park. We ask that you please keep us in your prayers as we commit our lives to showing God's great love to those in need! Thank you for your support and God bless! :) 

Please prayerfully consider sponsoring Megs for her Outreach by clicking on this link: Support Megs

Please search for her name (Meghann Walden) and follow the link to donate.

Blessings from our family to yours!

Attractional vs Incarnational Missions = All About Love

Being in Norway again has brought up so many thoughts about what 'missions' really is.  I have come to a very simple conclusion: It is loving people in Jesus' love and sharing His thoughts about them in the context of relationship.

Consider these words from a website I happened upon that addressed the issue of drawing people to Christ:

If Jesus were alive today and his mission was still to ‘seek out and save the lost’ what might he do?…

Would he hire a building, set up a sound system, develop a music team, drama team, and then do local letterbox drops advising people that they could come and be part of his church on Sunday? Frankly I don’t believe this approach to mission would rate a blip on his strategic radar. The so called ‘attractional’ mode of mission centres its focus on the church service and is dedicated to producing an event that pagans will want to come to. The theory goes that the more professional the service is, the funkier the music, the better the coffee, and so on” the more likely the punters will come, hence the term ‘attractional’. As such the success of mission in this mode is almost always measured by the number who attend on Sunday. While a small minority of larger churches do experience some success with this approach, the overwhelming majority of smaller churches attempting to be Hillsong [an Australian mega-church] clones continue to haemorrhage members every week because they cannot offer the same quality of music, preaching or other services that their mega-mall comrades down the road are able to provide...

I would argue that this ‘attractional mission’, while effective for a few, is actually a case of putting the cart before the horse. Deciding on a form of church and then trying to make it so that people want to come is mission in reverse....

By contrast the incarnational approach to mission is refreshingly simple. It requires us to live amongst the people in our communities, love them, share the good news of the kingdom both in action and in speech and then as people become followers of Christ to form up indigenous communities of faith that reflect the specific context. This requires no great resources or buildings, no slick marketing plans and no highly talented people. In incarnational mission the gatherings exist to support the believers as they move out in mission rather than being seen as the place to bring people to. While attractional churches will continue to dominate the landscape of the Christian world, I strongly believe that hope for the future lies increasingly with an incarnational approach to mission that takes both gospel and context seriously and sends Christians out as missionaries rather than calling pagans to come and attend church. 

http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2005/08/incarnational-v-attractional-mission.htm

Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's righteousness doesn't grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.  James 1:19-21 (The Message)


Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God's eyes and the eyes of the people. Proverbs 3:3-4 (The Message)

I am bursting with God's love for Norway and I have determined to choose 'love' in every situation!