Mission is on hold!

It can feel so hard to share Jesus with your mates in lockdown right? When you don’t see them regularly to have those natural conversations, pray for them or invite them to a church service or small group at someone’s home. There can be so many reasons (or excuses) why it feels like mission is on hold. But you know what? God’s desire for seeing the hopeless find hope isn’t on hold. His love for us and for our family and friends isn't on hold. So why do we make so many excuses just because it feels that bit harder to do mission because we can’t see people in person? 

Mission has perhaps always felt hard even pre-COVID because it pushes us out of our comfort zones. I know I have always found it daunting because it requires me to constantly step out of the boat like Peter and trust in Jesus. I don’t have all the answers to my pals questions and my life is full of mistakes that don’t reflect Jesus. However, Jesus commanded us to be missional. We see this in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:15-20)

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."

Nowhere does it say “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations apart from in a global pandemic. Then you can take it easy and have a year or two off from making disciples”.  God knew about this pandemic long before us and still commands us to make disciples and share our faith.

At Fusion we have been hearing constant testimonies of students getting saved in lockdown because of Christian students getting creative with mission and thinking outside of the typical mission box. God didn’t give us a 101 handbook on how to do mission, He gave us the freedom to be creative in how we share the Gospel with people in a way that they will most naturally understand. Whether that looks like:

  • Buying a mate a takeaway coffee and walking socially distanced to talk about who Jesus is.
  • Creating a book club where you read ‘Mere Chrisitanity’ or something along those lines and having a zoom call each week to discuss what you’ve read.
  • Serve with your friend to fill a gap in your city eg go around your neighborhood collecting food for Foodbank.
  • Invite your friend to try an evening online of listening to the Holy Spirit and see what happens.

The options are endless! This is you being given permission to step out of the boat and get creative with how you can share Jesus with your mates. Need a bit of inspiration? Mission styles can help to understand what way your friends are wired to hear the Gospel and help you recognise what you can do to connect with them more naturally.

Mollie Chappell

Student Mission Developer

Mollie started student ministry in her final year of university and is passionate about seeing students discover and grow in their God given callings.

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