the brown blog

1. Teach the Continuity of God’s Mission Throughout the Bible

I taught about the Great Commission, but I did not always show how God’s mission runs from Genesis to Revelation. God’s heart for the nations is not a New Testament add‑on or only revealed in two or three verses; it is the storyline of Scripture. I did not help my members understand where they fit into that grand narrative (Maybe this was partially why I wrote Theology of Mission years later.).

2. Cast a Vision of the Global Realities of Gospel Need

If I could do it again, I would show regularly the global landscape—where the gospel is flourishing and where it has little to no known presence. Numbers and maps do not save people, but they do awaken urgency. While the Spirit can lead the Church to the nations in her ignorance, He often works through a picture of the present.

3. Lead the Church in Prayer for the Nations

We prayed for missionaries, but not frequently and not for the unreached and unengaged peoples of the world. I should have woven global intercession into the weekly rhythm of worship and pastoral prayer. Prayer not only moves God’s muscles, but He uses it to move his people to the nations.

4. Provide Missions Education

Many believers do not understand the Great Commission. I wish I had taught practical missiology and how it could be applied to our church’s ministry at home and abroad. Missions education should saturate all ages and ministries of the church. I saw missions as a department, a silo unto itself.

5. Point Members to Resources and Agencies

There are incredible organizations devoted to mobilizing everyday Christians into mission. I did not expose our members to enough of them—including those within our denomination. A simple booklet, website, or conversation with a representative would have been helpful.

6. Equip Members to Go

I should have offered more training—intercultural preparation, evangelism tools, and practical skills—or found someone who could. I did not live up to my responsibility to equip the saints for ministry (Eph 4:11-12).

7. Platform Missionaries

Missionaries carry stories that ignite the apostolic imagination and deepen conviction. I regret not giving them more prominent and public space to speak, teach, and influence the life of our congregation.

8. Call Out the Called

I frequently challenged people to repent and believe the gospel, recommit their lives to Christ, and join our church. However, rarely did I call our church to go to the nations and pray for the Spirit to send others from our ranks. An unnamed Moravian was once asked what it was like to be a Moravian. He replied, “To be a Moravian and to further Christ’s global cause are identical.” We did not think this way; and I did not call our fellowship to take the gospel anywhere beyond our town’s borders.

9. Set the Example Through Short‑Term Trips

Finally, I should have gone myself—at least short-term. John Mott, when referring to pastors leading their churches in missions, wrote, “As the pastor so the people, is generally true in relation to this subject” (Evangelization of the World in this Generation, 192). A pastor who leads with a passport in one hand, a Bible in the other, and a heart for the world is a powerful influence that shapes a church’s commitment to her global task.

From his website https://www.jdpayne.org/

——

by Bruce Piercey

After a lifetime in development ministry, I believe I’ve discovered the most
crucial principles of good practice for Christian ministries engaged in development,
regardless of scale. These principles are theoretical concepts and practical guidelines
that can significantly impact your ministry’s effectiveness.

1. Care Before Cure
The first and most fundamental principle is prioritizing caring for the people we serve over fixing their problems. This principle sets the tone for the rest of our approach and is key to building trust and relationships.
Suppose you have been raised in a Western culture and education system and live in a developed country, especially if you have technical know-how (and we all have the access and ability to search for answers on the internet). In that case, you will instinctively start by identifying the problems in any given community and planning an effective solution. You will look for a fix or cure. If the solution doesn’t fix the problem (achieve results), you will examine the problem cycle, make changes, and try again. I have seen three or four cycles before the solution is abandoned.

Usually, along the way, you will identify “cultural” barriers or passive resistance from the community. Eventually, the solution will incorporate fixing the people to correct the problem. But now you have a new problem—people don’t like to be fixed. They don’t like outsiders telling them about their culture, that they are the problem. They resist the “transformation” we think they need.
Relationships and trust have not been established to overcome this. You have unconsciously put fixing the problem ahead of caring for the people. We must be willing to share in the suffering of the people we wish to serve. This sharing takes time, patience, and real listening. They must discover their problems and start small, high-risk, experimental, creative ways to address them. If the project fails, you remain a faithful presence and try, try again. Persistence, relationship, and trust form around the bond of caring you have established. Eventually, the question arises, “You really care for us? Why?” A door opens to share the truth of the gospel in the manner described in 1 Peter 3.15ff.

2. Balance Accountability and Trust
“I trust this man with my life. I would never ask him for receipts.” Less than a year later (albeit under tremendous pressure from persecution and death threats), “this man” absconded with all the funds in the church account. In Christian communities, asking for an accounting of funds or results is often interpreted as a lack of trust. On the other hand, putting large amounts of cash
in the hands of someone without adequate accountability, boundaries, and expectations is placing temptation in front of them.
This is even truer in cultures structured with patron-client expectations—the person you trust is under incredible pressure to use their access to the funds to benefit his own clients. We, in turn, stand in the position of being a bad or stingy patron if we don’t look the other way. Getting this balance right is one of the most complex challenges. The value of accountability for all stakeholders needs to be taught/learned, never assumed.

3. Ownership of the Problem
The patron-client (or power/fear) dynamic surfaces in the issue of problem ownership. We arrive as a well-funded outsider seeking to fix a problem. Our motivation may be entirely altruistic, but altruism is an alien concept to the people we serve. They think we must want something in return. The dynamic is that if we are willing to buy their problem, we are getting something in return. They may not know what the something is, but they assume it exists. In communities with a high level of experience in development projects, they know several things:

• We on the frontline are obviously receiving a good salary and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
• We are putting our expertise to work solving what has now become “our” problem.
• We are helping them grow more food, drill a well, and make a product to sell—we must be selling this at a profit or kickback.
• We will return to fix any future problems with “our” solution to “our” problem.
• We are likely to want something from them in return in the future, i.e., we are buying their problem, and they are willing to pay the price of a client’s obligation.
• The result is obvious. We are good patrons if we have bought the problem and
  the solution belongs to us. A relationship built on this transactional basis means
  we will remain good patrons and keep everything we have fixed. This is what we
  end up calling dependency. Take, for example, a district in one country where
  food was distributed after a famine in 1989 and continued to be distributed due to
  chronic food shortages until at least 2012. However, as long as the aid companies
  continued to bring the food, a great deal of back-breaking labour to scratch food
  out of the soil was avoided (an utterly rational choice to make). Food distribution
  had become a job for government workers and a source of income from foreign
  governments. Thus, a generation passed, making it so that if the aid ever stopped,
  too few actually knew how to grow food to feed themselves.

4. What are Your Expectations for Helping?
Charity is a relatively unknown idea in most cultures. Alms for the poor generates merit with their god or gods. They think the giver is expecting some measure of repayment, if not in kind, then in loyalty from the recipient. Acceptance of your help puts them in debt and makes them your client. One of the best questions is, “Why are you doing this?” This question is not often asked in the development sector, as our motive is assumed. With persistence, building relationships, and fulfilling our commitments, the question of ‘Why?’ results, opening the door to the subject of the love of the God who sent us and His mercy and grace.
But beware: If you hurry the relationship or press for their hearing and acceptance of the gospel—to make a decision for Christ—your motivation will seem offensive. This is a significant pitfall for ministry in a development context.

5. Understanding Worldview: Honour/Shame, Power/Fear, Innocence/Guilt
A Christian and biblical worldview understands how the gospel can be contextualized and effectively communicated to all three worldviews, providing freedom from guilt, fear, or shame. Sin accounts for all three, and Christ’s work on the cross and His resurrection deal with all three. For an international worker educated only in a reformation theology focused on the problem of sin, guilt, and punishment (death), it is almost impossible to understand why our atonement arguments fall on deaf ears. For someone raised in an honour/shame culture, that version of the gospel utterly fails to address their existential problem of unbearable shame. The gospel messenger in this worldview must continually highlight how Christ came to take away our shame and give us a
place of honour before the heavenly Father. Only someone of impeccable honour can restore their honour—Jesus on the cross for them. When working with people in a power/fear worldview, the gospel must be announced as coming to take away our fears, fears of evil spirits, fears of curses, and fears of the witch doctor. The messenger proclaims the good news that Christ came to give us the power to live without fear through His Holy Spirit.

6. Freewill and Determinism
The majority of humanity, from all religions and worldviews, sees life through the lens of fate. Their outcomes are either predetermined by merit or lack of merit in a previous life (Hinduism and Buddhism) or by the will of their god or
gods based on their karma. This is the most critical barrier to development I have encountered. The poor believe that being poor is their fate/karma, regardless of their sin or wrongdoing is unknown in a previous life or known in the present life.
This is also another opportunity to open the door to spiritual change. A good development project will demonstrate to the beneficiary how the positive change in their life (handwashing, hygiene, improved health, school attendance) directly results from their own efforts. It will plant the seed of the concept that they can overcome fate by making different choices and efforts. That seed will become the basis for any number of transformational changes, including receptivity to the gospel.

So, in summary, here are six fundamental principles to think through before engaging in a development project:

1. Relationship, relationship, relationship – putting CARE before CURE .
2. Finding the right balance of trust and accountability.
3. You must own the problem to own the solution – avoiding handouts and dependency.
4. What’s in it for you? (or what do they think your quid pro quo is?)
5. Understanding worldview – honour/shame, power/fear or guilt/innocence.
6. Freewill and determinism – self-help vs karma.

This is chapter 10 in this book.

I noticed the tall man in religious garb as I stood in the waiting room of Libya’s second largest city. Of Italian descent, he had been raised in this country but now was the leading religious leader for Libya’s Roman Catholic Church.  My traveling companion asked if I would like to be introduced to him. After a few pleasantries, and recognizing that he had spent a lifetime in this country, I queried him on what religious trends he might have observed during his lifetime of Christian service in North Africa. His observation stunned me.

He talked of the constant migration of black Africans from south of the Sahara who kept moving north in hopes of someday getting to Europe. A great number of those were Sudanese from the Christian south Sudan trying to escape warring factions. Others were from poverty stricken African countries hoping to find a better life in the developed world north of the Mediterranean Sea. What he explained next was a revelation to me. He said many of those coming from black Africa are Christians, the fruit of mission efforts over the last century. In the migration process, as they arrive and settle in a certain area, they are quick to discover people of faith and gather them in community. They are quick to evangelize and to speak about Christ their Savior and it is not unusual to see households of faith communities springing up due to aggressive evangelism by black African migrants.  Over the span of recent years this has brought an understanding amongst Libyans that Christianity is a black religion, originating south of the Sahara. This was something different from the usual understanding that Christianity originates in the Western world.  When there was already a posture of animosity against the West, it seemed to me that in the sovereignty of God,  the Good News of Jesus was trickling into the country via another more acceptable channel, an African channel.

How should we then live?  I remember on several occasions following that visit some years ago speaking to sub-Saharan pastors where there is a strong Christian church and giving them the challenge of sending gospel workers to North Africa where there was a door slightly open. Might revolution be opening that door ever wider? We pray, “Lord, Thy kingdom come to Libya.”

 

It was 9:45 Sunday morning and I was on my way to the pastor’s office. As a high school senior this felt somewhat akin to heading to the principal’s office. Questions abounded – what would this conversation be about? Had I done anything recently that merited the call to this meeting?

I later learned that Pastor Melvin Sylvester made it an annual practice to have a serious conversation with each of his church’s high school seniors to talk about their future. His intention was that the take-away from that session would be that each senior would have Christian vocation in his or her mind along with all the other career options they had in front of them. That session with the pastor, the shepherd of souls, served to make space for the question – might God want me in fulltime Christian ministry? And if He does, how should I best prepare for that?

So there I was – seventeen years old, in the pastor’s office, having my pastor (age 34) look me in the eye and ask me serious and pointed questions. My answers to those questions would determine how I would spend the rest of my life.

Various events had led up to that meeting in Mel Sylvester’s office. Mel had himself been shaped for the ministry by significant input from influential people in his life. His mother, who was raised in the Salvation Army in Calgary, had birthed two daughters. She then prayed to her heavenly Father in the words of Hannah, “If you give me a son, I’ll covenant to raise him as best I can, to be your servant.” Mel had never known that story and we can only imagine his great surprise, many years later, when he heard his mother, visiting him in the very first church he pastored, tell this story to a Sunday school class.

Some years after Mel’s mother’s prayer, one of the early church planters of the Alliance in Western Canada, a woman named Mavis Anderson, had noticed young Melvin in the church at Beaverlodge, Alberta, and one day when she ran into him at a youth rally where she was speaking, she said, “Melvin, you need to go to our Alliance School in Regina (WCBI). I believe God has great plans for you and it needs to start with Bible School.”1 Two years later he enrolled in Bible school.

Mel Sylvester had also been impacted by Gerald McGarvey, a young missionary candidate doing home service in Beaverlodge, who would encourage Mel and friend, Neill Foster, to always speak to students. He said, “Covet students for the Lord and for the ministry.”

The influence of Mel’s mother, the encouragement of Mavis Anderson and the challenge by McGarvey shaped Mel Sylvester but there were other notable influences in his life as well which mentored him along these same lines.

Another influential person in Mel’s life was Rev Lowell Young, who came one time for a week of meetings when Mel was pastoring in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Lowell Young’s philosophy was to begin recruiting fulltime workers in churches and to meet with grade 12 students and challenge them to Christian vocation. He saw great value in being able to say with integrity, “I see potential in you.” and then challenge them to prepare for ministry. Lowell Young felt that affirming youth was huge; it was the pastor who should be proactive in this way.

Not surprisingly, Mel made the affirmation of students a part of his ministry. One day this decision to affirm caused him to have a coffee with Ben Elliott, a college freshman. Mel said to Ben, “I feel prompted to tell you that you seriously need to consider vocational ministry.” (Ben and his family served for a time as International Workers in Indonesia and then in the pastorate).

Others beside Mel Sylvester have had this ministry of affirmation to young people in their worlds. Miriam Charter, in 1977, was a French teacher in the Calgary public system, deeply involved in the ministries of Foothills Alliance. One Sunday morning after the service, a number of elders and Pastor Gordon Fowler spoke with Miriam in the lobby of Foothills saying, “What are you going to do with your life? We’ve been watching you and want to affirm your giftedness. If you want to go to seminary, we’ll help with the finances.” Miriam recalls, “I remember going out to my car that morning and thinking I’d explode — these men thought I had gifts for ministry! I began, immediately, to look into CTC in Regina (now Ambrose Seminary in Calgary).” Dr. Charter has gone on to hold a variety of ministry positions in Eastern Europe and North America.

In Myra Brown’s baby book her mother wrote, “We gave Myra to God before she was born and we pray she will be a missionary.” Myra grew up with this sense of destiny, she never considered anything else – her years in Africa with Global Ministries spanned nearly 30 years.

While we are hard pressed to find a missionary call defined in Scripture there is sufficient narrative in both Testaments to show a pattern of God leading women and men into a life of kingdom service; part-time for some, full-time for others. Mission history, including that of our Alliance family, is also replete with examples of God’s leading individuals, young and old, into Christian vocation.

It is clearly the time to move with renewed intention to nurturing the call of God in our family of churches and in the networks where God has placed us. We need to recognize the gifting of God in the next generation and be much more alert to the nudging of God’s Spirit to speak to those in our church who should be considering Christian vocation, those who should begin preparing for Kingdom service.

While we understand the teaching of the priesthood of all believers we also know that it seemed good to the Antioch church leaders and the Holy Spirit to set aside two individuals for special vocational ministry. It is clear from Scripture that God’s plan is for some to become pastors, international workers or evangelists.

Are there young people in your network who need your influence? Call them into your office, look them in the eye, and say with integrity, “I see great potential in you. Have you considered training to be a pastor or international worker?”

I’m so grateful that fifty eight years ago, my pastor, Mel Sylvester, was nudged by God to set the missional trajectory of my life.

************

1 Howe, Barbara. Forgotten Voices: Women in Ministry in the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. 2010, p. 10.

This is a link to Mel Sylvester’s autobiography (https://globalvault.ca/5-biography-2/ scroll down to Global Focus #7) and in it he lists the 28 vocational workers that went into ministry from the churches he pastored in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

The world is changing. God is on the move. In the past decade we’ve seen much much light come to what used to be called the dark continent. A century ago it was Christian workers, both Catholic and Protestant who followed the colonial powers of France and Britain into Africa. God’s kingdom has been established now to the point that Ghanaian, Dr Yaw Perbi, in 2022 published Africa to the Rest – From Mission Field to Mission Force (Again). Europe in the meantime was becoming more and more secular…and now change is happening in some countries like France. This first video explains some of the story and the second video shows the MLK church in Paris which has thousands of weekly worshippers and as you can see has a good many of the diaspora Africans worshipping. In most of the cases these are second generation Africans, born in France, after their parents left crumbling economies and instability in some African countries. The lead pastor explains that in his church now 20% are black; 20% are white; 10% are Asian and 50% are mixed blood.

by Nikki Howell – living and working with a global team in Senegal.

(With names for God in Wolof)

Yàlla Aji Kawe Ji (God Most High)

You are great and most worthy of praise. You created the heavens and the earth. You give breath and life to the peoples of all nations. Yahweh is your name. All glory to be God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Yàlla Aji Leer Ji (God of Light)

You are the God of Light, who has called us out of darkness to make us a covenant and light for the nations. We are surrounded by those imprisoned in darkness, many of whom desperately grope for the light but remain blinded. We ourselves only see through a dusty window; your ways are higher than our ways and beyond our understanding. May we, like sheep, follow the voice of our Shepherd, ever deepening a dependency on you alone.

Yàlla Aji Yakkaar Ji (God of Hope)

Because of your promise, we hope for what we do not yet see. We wait patiently, yet eagerly, for your sons to be revealed: those you have summoned by name. We long for the fruit of the harvest. As we scatter seeds, would you take ahold of our hand. Lead us in new ways, turn darkness into light before us, make smooth the rough places, and demolish strongholds. Let this be done for the glory of your name, that it would not be given to another.

Yàlla Aji Sax Ji (Eternal God)

You have declared new things are coming. For a long time you have kept silent and held yourself back. Behold, you are crying out. Let us perceive it. Keep up from striving with human strength or wisdom, but rather, following the example of Jesus, may we only do what we see our Father doing. As we long to be ambassadors of your truth, would we be transformed to the uttermost. As we reflect your light, conform us to the image of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Yàlla Aji Kattan Ji (God Almighty)

Therefore we will not fear, for you will not forsake your chosen ones. You yourself will help us. Thus says the LORD: “I have spoken and I will bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it.”

Amen.

We’ve all been in terminals around the world. From Nairobi to Dubai, from Sao Paulo to Amsterdam they have all served us with the same purpose – they received us from one part of the world and launched us on another leg of our journey to another destination.  None of us have ever lived in a terminal, although I once enjoyed a movie by that title. I’ve sat and rested in a terminal, I’ve drunk coffee and snacked, I’ve slept in a corner, and at times I’ve walked around for exercise looking at expensive things to buy and of course the terminal is the best place for watching people from everywhere.  In the end every terminal I’ve passed through was used to facilitate my journey from A to B.

Could I think of my church as a terminal? Could my church function as a facilitating enterprise helping me on my journey from A to B?

So as a Christ follower I am on a journey through life. I could say my purpose is to join God in His mission in the world. I am engaged with the people of the world, the nations, around where I live. So, in what way does my church serve me in this metaphor?

• The church is a place where I meet fellow travellers who pray for me, and where I find fellowship and courage to continue on in my weekly journey
• I receive biblical teaching on God’s mission in the world and I learn how I can work with Him to accomplish His purposes
• I don’t live in the church, I live in the world, but my regular visits with my church clarify my vision and give me strength to keep engaging with the nations in my world.
• I am particularly thrilled to worship with people from many nations, a foretaste of our time to come in the presence of Jesus.
• My church doesn’t keep statistics on how many people come into the church to call it home, instead they track how many members of the church this week developed new relationships and engaged with the nations.
• A monthly report from the terminal treasurer appears showing how much money went through the terminal and out to local and global ministry destinations; and how much to maintain the terminal.
• The programs in my church are less about Christian – centered activities and more about teaching me about other cultures, about the issues faced by new immigrants and refugees and how we as church members can engage and develop relationships with needy people so different from us.
• My church has programs and activities that appeal to newcomers and facilitate their settling in our country as they move from A to B.

So like a terminal, a missional church is focused on facilitating Christ followers to make an impact in their world as they journey with God on His mission in the world.

This blog first appeared here https://simplymobilizing.outreach.ca/blog/view/ArticleId/3929/The-Church-as-a-Terminal

(a blog from 2011)

One of the most heart wrenching things we do as international workers is say goodbye to family at airports. We do it. We hate it. I can point to places in the YYC airport where I have been emotionally scarred for life. The worst was one time as we headed back to Congo after kissing my very aged father goodbye.  I got to seat 22A and just cried and wept as I realized maybe that was the last time. The grief overwhelmed me. So still today, there is this love hate relationship with airports. But as Ben Elliott reminded as in a sermon two weeks ago at Southview; God is patient, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance; and so we continue to leave Canadian airports; to say goodbye to family in order that those not yet redeemed, will have a chance to hear about the Hope we have in Jesus, our Redeemer.  Saying goodbye to family at airports is a way in which we today as Christ followers enter into His sufferings; the incarnation model is there as He left all in order to live amongst the depraved human family. Jesus, who at one time kissed his father goodbye, sees us as we walk through these painful events as we choose to join Him in His redeeming activity.

For the sake of the cross, we kiss goodbye.

This is a story from 2025 told by two Arab women in ministry.

They traveled to serve in a refugee camp across the border from an Arab country that was experiencing war. They prayed before entering one tent and one of them said the Spirit told her to tell the Parable of the Lost Sheep. This wasn’t a story they usually told, but they decided to do it anyway. 

The two of them entered a tent. In it was a woman and her daughter. They begin to share the story about the shepherd who went and found his sheep lost on the wilderness. And when he found it, he picks it up and puts it on his shoulders. 

At this point the woman interrupts, “This is my story!!”

“What do you mean?” they asked. 

“This is my story!” She repeated. Then she tells them the story of how she got in the refugee camp. 

Her husband and sons died when a bomb landed on their home. Her leg was injured in the explosion and she now walked with a cane. She decided the best thing to do was to flee with her daughter to the neighboring country. She sold everything and gathered money from other family members to pay the traffickers to help her cross the border. 

Everything is prepared and they are loaded into a large truck and driven to an area near the border. The traffickers gave them instructions. They were going to walk a long way through a valley. At a certain point they will tell everyone to run as fast as they can. The army patrols the area and they will shoot if they see people trying to cross. 

The woman was worried, because she needed a cane to walk and won’t be able to run well. The group started walking. At a certain point, the men start yelling,”Run!” Everyone starts running, but she can’t. One of the men runs up to her, “Come on! You need to run and keep up with the rest!” 

She replied, “I can’t. See. I am injured and need a cane.”

He snapped back, “We can’t wait for you. You will put all of us in danger.”

“I’m sorry. I just can’t run.” 

“Then you and your daughter will have to stay here.” then he takes her cane, breaks it, and runs off, leaving her in the wilderness with her daughter. 

As they sit in the middle of nowhere, crying out to God, thinking they have been left to die, a man approaches them. “Do not worry. I have come to help you.” Then he lifts her onto his shoulders and takes her daughter’s hand and they start running. 

She interrupts the story to say to the two visitors, “Look at me! I am a fat woman. How can anyone carry me like this.” 

She continues the story. The man takes them and starts running. It was so fast she couldn’t believe it. They even got to the other side before the rest of their group. When they arrive, she asked the man, “Who are you? Why did you help us?” 

He replied in a kind voice, “In two weeks, I will send some of my followers and they will tell you about me.” 

She thought to herself, “Who is this man that he has followers? I am going to a refugee camp. How will he know where to send his followers? How will they find us?” She turned to look and the man had disappeared. 

She then told the two visitors, “That was exactly two weeks ago today that this happened. Please, tell us who this man is!”

They went on to tell them that he is the Prophet Isa the Messiah. And they proceeded to share all about who Jesus is and what he has done for them. They remember the little daughter exclaiming, “Isa! Prophet Isa held my hand!”

This woman now shares about Jesus to people in the camp, leads Bible studies, and has seen a growing fellowship emerge among fellow refugees. 

DD, an international worker friend in North Africa forwarded this story to me.

by Nikki Howell, Senegal

Lord, today my heart is heavy with the weight of impending departure—and all of the emotional labour that must be carried out in the approaching days.

I come before you God, already drained, knowing that I do not have the strength it will take to leave well on my own. Keep my heart from running dry. Fill me with your compassion and fuel me with your presence.

Lord, I confess that leaving again feels like pulling a bandage off a wound that hasn’t fully healed since our last departure. I can still picture the exact scene when my father broke down sobbing with his hands on my son’s shoulders, devastated at the thought of not seeing him for two years. And now we are leaving for four!

When I think of having to endure that moment again, my stomach lurches and my jaw clenches. I don’t want to wade into that sadness and feel the grief wash over me wave after wave with each additional farewell. I want to skip past it. Remind me that hard work is required to leave well, but it is worth it. As in all things, help me to labour with excellence, as if working to please you, not others.

I confess, Lord, that I feel temptation close on every side, urging me to:

• numb myself to the pain and detach
• excuse my irritability and self-centredness
• keep a record of words said (or left unsaid) and things done (or left undone) in challenging and charged moments
• make remaining time an idol
• torture myself with guilt over the pain I’m causing others

Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ.

I praise you, Lord, for the restoration and deepening you have brought to my relationships this year. Remind me that pain in parting reflects the depth of intimacy in each bond.

Father, my soul is troubled and my heart is anxious when I consider how this transition and separation will affect my children. They have only partial understanding and precious little control over this life you have called them to live. How long, O Lord, must I watch them hurt, struggle, react, and cry out over these hardships?

Today, obedience feels like a heavy price to pay. In this season, sacrifice feels suffocating.

My twisted heart keeps looking for my ‘reward’… as if you owed me anything. Reset my perspective, Lord. Remind me of the great need for joyful obedience in your servants. Show me more fully the depth of your sacrifice for me. Anchor me in the knowledge that my home is in you. Comfort me to remember that you left your heavenly home and emptied yourself to become the lowliness servant on earth.

As night falls and darkness surrounds me, I feel sadness smothering me and despair waiting at the door. Do not hide your face from me, O Lord! Cover me with the blanket of your nearness and comfort me with the flicker of eternal hope: deep abiding joy in the midst of sorrow.

I entrust you with the hurts of my loved ones left behind: may they turn to you for strength. I bring my children before you: reveal yourself to them in startling ways and empower me to guide them to you as a sure foundation, unshakeable and unchanging. I surrender my aching heart into your hands. I cry to you for help: be near me Jesus, for in your gentleness and lowliness, you are accessible. This is what you long to do. Lead me deeper into your heart of green pastures and still waters of endless reassurances of your nearness and comfort.

And when I fail and fall short in all the comings and goings of this life on mission: unleash your abundant stores of forgiveness upon my soul; to the praise of your glorious grace that you lavished on me with all wisdom and lovingkindness. Enlighten the eyes of my heart to truly know and experience the hope to which you have called me: the riches of your glorious inheritance in the saints and the incomparably great power for all who believe.

May this understanding soothe my broken heart, restore the light to my eyes, and enliven my service for the Kingdom, to the glory of my King.

Amen.