Joining Jesus

Joining Jesus in His Mission. An opportunity my family and I received and accepted recently when The Mission Society, a global sending organization near Atlanta, Georgia, offered me a full-time role as senior director of church ministry.

The Mission Society adopted this gold nugget of Joining Jesus in His Mission as a significant piece of our organization’s mission. It’s growing on me, especially as I rethink theologically and practically the ways in which I function in missional ministry. Here is what I’m learning:

By Joining Jesus in his mission I daily acknowledge that Jesus owns the mission. Like some of you, much of my life has been as a self-starter: owning a paper route business as a kid, launching a new church, and now owning a small coaching and consulting business. It’s natural to think about “my vision for kingdom ministry” or “my business” as if I’m large and in charge.

In Jesus’ kingdom economy there can really be only one boss, CEO and chair of the global mission, and that’s him. Further, he has the capacity to sustain the mission, with or without me.

I can take a day off and the mission will go forward.

And what is that mission? To redeem hopeless and sinful people who are eternally lost.

Joining Jesus in his mission means I retain the power of choice, that I’m free to join Jesus or not to join Jesus. It means I daily choose to raise the white flag of surrender - it’s his mission, he’s in charge, and I am not. 

Joining Jesus in his mission means I take each day as a step of faith. In his book, Wild Goose Chase, Mark Batterson addresses the reality of circumstantial uncertainty when we follow Jesus. He writes, “A part of us feels as if something is spiritually wrong with us when we experience circumstantial uncertainty. But that is precisely what Jesus promised us when we are born of the Spirit and start following him. Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time.”[1] If I’m honest, I want the certainty and control that comes from knowing I’m in charge of my destiny (or at least today’s food supply) instead of walking by faith each step I take.

To hear stories from many of our cross-cultural co-laborers of the tangible ways Jesus is miraculously making his mission happen around the world is a powerful reminder that it is Jesus’ mission. For example, to hear how Jesus was able to take a friendship that began in Wisconsin, USA, causing it to bear fruit thousands of miles away in another land is simply amazing. Jesus is doing so much around the world, yet we see and hear only a fraction of it. Perhaps that’s a reminder to us of how Jesus is working through us without our knowing it, or perhaps despite us, when we’re unwilling to acknowledge his Lordship of the mission.

Joining Jesus means many things. But, I don’t think it means operating from a blank slate. I’m still riding the learning curve of how I submit to Jesus’ mission while holding close to my heart those deep desires and dreams for the team I lead.

Like many of life’s dilemmas, Andy Stanley’s advice is priceless: it’s not a tension you solve…it’s something that you manage.[2] I’m giving myself permission to slow down the envisioning process for my new role in order to fully understand the ministry reality (by the way, my first job as team leader is not to define reality, it’s to represent Jesus well before co-laborers).

In coaching myself forward, I’m asking, what has Jesus been doing in this place, with these people? How can I listen well to Jesus so that I let him connect the dots for me in my new role? How does Jesus want to bring together the skills, experiences, gifts, passions and mistakes that are of him in order to contribute to the fulfillment of his mission here? what does it say about my view of Jesus and my humanity in relation to Jesus when my works are planned and my plans are worked with little thought to learning and discerning how to join Jesus in his mission that is happening? What is lost by working hard at the wrong work? As these questions are addressed, my goal is to learn and discern the roles and responsibilities Jesus has for me in his mission.

Perhaps you’re thinking that the “learn and discern” approach is for mystics or contemplatives.  “Jesus has given us a Great Commandment and Great Commission; we do have an Acts 1:8 calling to be witnesses to our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the whole world,” you say. “Time is better spent getting busy for God because God blesses hard working Christians.”  If we have to first pray Jesus into our work then it’s possible it’s not his mission in the first place. Of interest to me is that the letters used to spell “listen” are used to spell “silent.” To listen is to be silent before Jesus.

And, lastly, because Jesus’ mission is already happening, the investments I make must be about leaving a legacy that honors Jesus, a lasting example that points my co-workers to a life of self-surrender to Jesus’ principles. 

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[1] Batterson, Mark. Wild Goose Chase, Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Press, 2008:2.

[2] Retrieved on 09 September 2015 from https://vialogue.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/leadership-summit-2010-andy-stanley-the-upside-of-tension/