Never before have I been happier to have a hand-me-down from my brother. He just gave me his old iphone. Years of gaining worn t-shirts and scratched CDs finally paid off.

I couldn’t quite believe it when I first started using it; it changed my life. Gone were the days of carrying a phone, ipod and camera in my pocket, of not knowing answers to meaningless questions like: “I wonder what she would look like if she was really fat?” or thinking “If only I had an imaginary shotgun in my pocket”...Real transformation was in the palm of my hands.

I couldn’t stop telling people how brilliant it was, how much it had changed me, how much better my life was. It got me wondering about mission. If I spent as much time going on about Jesus as I did about my iphone, then I’d be a pretty good evangelist. But often we think mission is difficult. It is not as simple as getting someone to sign an eighteen month contract. Mission sounds hard. It sounds like I’m going to need abs like Tom Cruise, and a face like Brad Pitt, like I’m going to have to struggle through the toughest perils and dangers and come out victorious when my mate gives his life to Jesus. This is intimidating. We feel unprepared and end up leaving it to someone else. Mission can’t be for me. I have abs like Johnny Vegas and a face like Josh Cockayne.

But I don’t really think that ‘mission’ is this difficult, or at least it shouldn’t be. The iphone changed me in some ways. It made things easier, and I would tell anyone to buy an iphone. Jesus has changed my life so much more. He has transformed my character, he has stretched me and grown me, he has achieved things through me I couldn’t have done alone. And the transformation doesn’t and shouldn’t stop with me. Unlike the iphone, the Kingdom of God isn’t about convenience and personal gain, but it is about real transformation in everything. I’ve seen the kingdom of God transform the lives of my friends, feed the hungry, restore the broken, heal the sick. God’s Kingdom is definitely better than the Apple Store. I want to invite my friend with a rubbish Nokia into the Kingdom, not send him to the high street.

Be encouraged that mission isn’t scary or difficult. It’s not about convincing people to agree with you. If what Jesus said was true, if you seek this transformation in your life and if you’re authentic with people, then it’s simple. Let’s not spend hours talking about how to do it and never end up doing it. Let’s be change seekers in places where change seems impossible. Allow mission to be something that flows out of you everyday rather than something that needs strategies and events. Be genuine with your friends about what God is doing in you. God doesn’t need you to beat someone into intellectual submission. If it is the real deal it will speak for itself. 

I believe the transformation is underway. Mission is just telling people about it and I know I can do that. If I can harp on about my iphone to someone I’ve just met, then surely I can do that.