Commissioning & 1 Cor. 3:5-9a
It is a humbling circumstance to stand before a church family who loves and supports you in every way and be commissioned for specific service to the Lord. Pastor Max, our missions pastor, introduced me and gave a brief explanation of the ministry the Lord has led me to in Chuuk. Then Pastor Jones, our pastor emeritus and on the Micronesia ministry committee, led in prayer. The entire pastoral staff and the board of elders laid hands on me while the congregation stood. Pastor Jones told of how it was a "great moment" in the "life of a church" to send out "one of our own" that has grown up in this church, that God would use this church to help form my heart and mind. He prayed for safety of travel and physical health as well as a quick adaptation to the climate and culture. But he also prayed for the students the Lord will give me and that God will use me to change their lives for all eternity.
A paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 3:5-9a:
Who are those who go, and who are those who stay and pray, but servants of
the Lord? Some go, some stay and give and pray, but God gives the increase. So
then neither those who go are anything, nor those who stay and give and pray,
but God who gives the increase. Now those who go, and those who stay and pray
are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
For we are God's fellow workers....
(from my sister's pastor at the commissioning of her Bolivia mission team)
Thank you for partnering with me! May the Lord richly bless you!
