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On a Mission from God

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Jeff Foerster

What is a missionary? One description I found on Wikipedia defines a missionary as, “a member of a religious group sent into an area to promote their faith or perform ministries of service”. 

Allow me to recalibrate my question: Who is a missionary? 

The Apostle Paul was a missionary. In the back of my Bible are maps that trace three missionary journeys he took. Paul was imprisoned, beaten innumerable times, whipped, stoned, beaten with rods, shipwrecked, and faced many other hardships.  With Paul’s exploits I find it hard to identify.

I recall hearing of missionaries when I was a child and thinking of a land far away inhabited by people of a different tongue and living in poverty and ignorance. Like you might see in commercials where a white, salt-and-pepper bearded man approximately 60 years of age, walks slowly toward a camera among destitute black children surrounded by an obscene number of flies. He carefully gesticulates to accentuate the surrounding poverty while asking you for donations. If you’re like me, this takes place while resting comfortably on a couch while digging greasy fingers into a waning bowl of butter-slathered popcorn and binge watching several episodes of whatever-the-heck.  But I digress.

We have missionaries connected with our church whom we support financially and through prayer. They, like my missionaries of childhood, are, for the most part, in a land far away and among a people speaking a different language. It is possible for any among us to become a missionary, in this sense, and indeed some have sacrificed much in doing so.

However, I don’t see myself leaving everything behind and moving out of the country. For several reasons this is currently not realistic. Indeed, if many were to do so those left behind would find it difficult to financially support those working abroad.

Yet, here we are faced with the Great Commission commanding us to go out into the world and make disciples of Jesus among all people.  What to do?  How are we to fulfill our mandate?  Is it possible that each one of us has been given a mission to a unique people in our sphere of influence? Has God made us to be missionaries to those at our workplaces, in our neighborhoods, even in our own home? Is there any place or any time or any person to which the Great Commission does not apply?

At Elim, just above  the double doors at the front entrance is a sign that reads, “You are now entering the mission field”.  Is it possible that this sign is correct and each of us is a missionary to those in our path, in our influence, in our lives?

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Surrender Never Gives Up

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By Jeff Foerster

The commands of God can seem daunting—there are over 600 listed throughout Scripture. That may conjure an image of a multipage checklist that might best be used to overwhelm rather than instruct. Add to this what James says: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” Now that’s a downer if I’ve ever heard one. Breaking even one command, even once, bears the guilt of breaking it all. Now before you throw caution, and good theology, to the wind and say, What’s the use? it’s important to understand the purpose of the law—the commands of God.

The law has become our instructor, our “tutor,” to give us a clear picture of our dire situation before God. All religions build a stairway to heaven, one step after another—works or actions, things to do or things to deny oneself. Not so with Jesus. He, and He alone, has completed the law, living a perfect life on Earth, in the presence of man and God. Our pathway IS Jesus, not mimicking His behaviors or tailor selecting some commands of God to emphasize and proudly display to others. You bring nothing to salvation. God’s work in you produces a humble spirit, one willing to say as Jesus did, “Not as I will, but as You will.”

And there it is. A right understanding and heart acceptance of the commands of God produces obedience, not hopelessness. It brings life and not burden. It brings contentment and joy, not anxiety and despair. This idea strikes a chord in me, personally. I recall a few years back when I was frequenting the King County jail system, visiting inmates. We would organize an informal service with singing, a message, and prayer. It was in this regular time that I heard my fellow worker (we went in as pairs) as he spoke of “peace.” He did so frequently and, quite frankly, I wasn’t feeling it. I felt exhausted, tired from work, tired from service—just plain exhausted.

I remember hearing about the fruit of the Christian life being joy and contentment. And I thought, “Great, something else on my plate.” I felt I had yet another task: to produce a smile and a positive attitude to attract nonbelieving folks to Christ. That, as I saw it, was my duty as a follower of Jesus. Exhausted. The commands of God can look the same—more work to do. What was the problem? My way of living was heavy on “doing.” Living in Christ is like being saved in Christ: works follow, they don’t construct, they don’t create a relationship with Jesus. Works don’t maintain or replace a relationship with God—time spent is what nourishes.

More and more, my enthusiasm for life and service comes from my time of quiet, my time with the Lord and His instruction, His commands. Instruction comes from Scripture and from prompting of the Holy Spirit applying God’s word. “Your word I have treasured in my heart.” If you desire detail and precision on working this out, I understand. Many questions I myself have asked. Yet the answers don’t come from me. We must go directly to God.

Don’t have time to spend with God? Allow me to stab at the heart of American consumerism: we all need downtime. We don’t need entertainment. If your pace is frantic, entertainment, often found in screen time, will not bring you the peace that your soul needs. Only time with Jesus can do that. Know anyone who says they spend too much time with God? That their life could benefit from more entertainment? There is fulfillment in no other thing and no other person. We were made for relationship with the Almighty, for communion with our true soul mate.

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MOST

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Jeff Foerster

Russell Wilson is the most successful quarterback in the history of the Seattle Seahawks.

Jeff Bezos runs the most successful retailer, Amazon, in the history of the interweb.

The Avengers franchise is the most successful in box office history, holding four of the top 10 spots for highest-grossing movies.

For the year 2019, Facebook is the most searched keyword, California is the most taxed state in the nation, and Halloween’s most popular costume so far is, you guessed it, the clown.

When I was a kid, I had a book that I pored over on many an occasion, called The Guinness Book of World Records. In it was documented the “highest,” the “greatest,” and the “most” in any and every category. I loved that book.

I bring this to mind and to your attention because we are in a time of “most.” What do you want most? What do you greatly desire? What are you working toward? Where do you place your time? Where are your efforts directed? Which things, when they don’t go well, cause you the most pain or discomfort? What do you want most?

At Elim, we are in a time of discerning “most.” What is it that we want most as a church? Where will we spend our time? What are we working toward? What are our desires or goals? I ask these questions because the answers will, in large part, determine the type of person to lead us.

What does Jesus want most concerning us? How can we know this? Thankfully, this has not been left to guesswork, nor left to individual preference, nor abandoned to confusion. Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit and by the word of truth, the Scriptures, we have been given all we need to navigate this life. I have been reading through the four Gospels, looking at how the religious establishment, the church of that day, interacted with Jesus and vice versa. I will soon begin to study the book of Acts and examine the beginnings of the church, which is the body of Christ. I invite you to join me in the process of seeking what God values most.

We see it lived out in the life of Jesus and know we are called to be like the Father’s Son, but we are far too easily pulled in other directions. It is simple for me to see the uniqueness of the Son of God and place Him on a shelf to be admired—rather than acknowledging His position as Lord over my life, every single aspect of it, and following Him in utter dependency.

God calls us to much more than a moral life. He calls us to love and to sacrifice, as Jesus demonstrated, in a way that the world is not worthy of and cannot comprehend. So, I ask you again, “What is it that you want most?”

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Foreign Languages

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Jeff Foerster

Traveling outside the United States is eye-opening. Suddenly, surrounded me are people speaking a “foreign” language. At first glance, it seems like some elaborate immersive stage drama concocted for my amusement. Each display of writing is a puzzle of interpretation, and my pocket-dictionary attempts at conversation or, at a minimum, seeking direction feel clumsy.

And so it is with loving others. It’s easy to love others when we speak a common language. If I appreciate receiving physical touch, it may feel natural to give a handshake, pat on the back, or hug. We very often “speak” the same love language that we long to “hear.” Loving outside our “language” requires learning and humility.

Knowing oneself and how we desire to be loved is essential, but it’s only the first step toward loving others. Hebrews 13:1 commands us to love, to set aside ourselves in deference others. Engage with someone else in conversation about their love language, watch over time how they act when they love others; it can be quite revealing. Use what you find out to target that person, sharing the love that you have received from God in a language they can understand.

And herein lies the rub: to be a sustainable action, this love must come from a deep place, greater than any human can conjure. Only with God, filled with His Spirit, is this possible!

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Do this in remembrance of Me . . .

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Finders of Good

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Jeff Foerster

When I was a young lad, “finding good” meant getting stuff I wanted. Stuff requires money, and I had a plan—buried treasure. My method for uncovering hidden wealth? A metal detector, of course. I had seen models advertised in glossy brochures, and I just knew this was my ticket to a boatload of goodies. All I needed to get started was $129.95!

What is the world’s method for finding good?

Get some “me time”—take a vacation, entertain yourself.

Consume something—go shopping for a new outfit, new kitchen, new car, new you.

Do what is “nice”—perform correctly in what you say.

This is Americana, 21st-century style: surface level and two inches deep. No chance of drowning here, folks.

Well, enough about that. Let’s move quickly to where we need to be as followers of Christ. We are sojourners—strangers and pilgrims passing through this world. How are we to find good? Simply put, God grounded us on the earth and raised up His Son that we would lift up our eyes, fixing them on Jesus as we walk this life.

I urge you, know Him deeply, spend time with Him, and think on His promises. I’m in the midst of reading the gospels and am reminded of Mary, mother of Jesus, who heard great prophecy spoken of her Son that He is Savior and a Light of Revelation to the Gentiles. Mary treasured these things up in her heart; she pondered them—bringing them to mind frequently, searching out their meaning, and looking with hope to their fulfillment.

How precious a thing. How glorious a tribute. How wonderful to be known by a practice of finding good. You’ve heard it said in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

Remember also, then, the foundation given in Philippians 4 that enables this: “stand firm in the Lord, my beloved” and “Rejoice in the Lord always.”

If you want to be a “good finder,” you’ve got to be a Jesus focuser. Straining to put on a happy face or pursuing a fake-it-until-you-make-it policy will only end in exhaustion or self-delusion. The Apostle Paul found a different way:

“I have learned to be content in any and every circumstance.”

It is through this attitude of Paul’s, founded in focus on the person of Jesus Christ, that we turn to one of the most misused verses in all of Scripture: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” It’s not a call to achievement or abundance, but a call to contentment. Not to pursuing more, but through saying, “Enough.”

But what about when life just stinks?

There is time for recollection of difficulty and trauma experienced. There is value in reflection on one’s being and situation. When those things are brought to light, bring them to the Light. Give Jesus the final say on every hurt, every hindrance, every idea, every stronghold that stands in opposition to God!

In line with childish desires, we can spend our days sifting through sands for nickels, or we can send our eyes skyward, to the Lord of glory and to our future together. Find good. Not in “good” circumstances that may come, but in the good Savior, that is now and forever will be!

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A Season of Change

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By Jeff Foerster

Each year brings predictable cycles. Spring follows winter, which follows fall, which follows summer, which follows the previous spring. Our lives are made of rhythms as well—cycles of sleeping and waking, eating and fasting. However, it’s easy for those things to go unnoticed unless we stop to consider them, reflecting upon their importance.

We are in such a place at Elim, a place of reflection. We have been served and loved for the past 25 years by Martin and Kim. And now the season is changing. We, as the body of Christ, have responsibility to discern and move with intentionality further into the mission Christ Jesus has for His Church. In order to do so, we want to move with deliberate action, formed from godly discernment, born of willing reflection.

To walk well in this new season, we have chosen to seek an independent voice to speak into our community. Interim Pastor Ministries (IPM) has decades of experience helping churches move with intentionality through transitions. We have located and thoroughly vetted a well-qualified candidate to help us in this time: Pastor Steve McCoy.

We asked him to join us in our transition process, and he accepted our offer. Steve and Andrea McCoy will be visiting with us this Sunday, June 2. We are then planning toward June 23 as the first Sunday Steve will be here as interim pastor. Pastor McCoy has served as a senior pastor for approximately 35 years in New Mexico and California churches. Following this service, he joined IPM, and he now comes to us with four prior experiences leading churches in transition, including an EFCA church in our district at Canby, Oregon.

Steve also knows the Northwest, having been born and raised in Portland, Oregon. Yet his experiences have taken him across the country as well. He and Andrea met while at Southeastern Bible College in Birmingham, Alabama. Eighteen months later, they were wed while he attended Dallas Theological Seminary. Their family grew over the years with four children and then the additional blessing of four grandchildren.

His decades of experience as a senior pastor and his training and experience at IPM have prepared him well to assist us at Elim to thoughtfully and deliberately navigate our transition process. Pastor McCoy’s preaching is seasoned and, as we have listened to many hours of it, conforms to the EFCA statement of faith and the Scriptures from which it came.

One of the essential requirements of IPM is the agreement that anyone serving in the role of interim pastor will not seek, be considered, or be eligible in any way for the permanent senior pastor position at the church he serves. This prevents any conflict of interest now or in the future. This policy also enables the interim pastor to speak with clarity, conviction, and courage that which must be spoken. We believe Steve McCoy is extremely capable and will fulfill his role with dedication.

While Steve is joining the staff at Elim, Andrea’s role will be one of support to her husband. She will not be taking a leadership position at Elim, but she will engage at a participatory level at her discretion.

After having spoken with both Steve and Andrea via videoconference, we are excited to welcome them both to Elim this Sunday as our next step in the adventure God has planned for us. Please continue to pray for Elim, for discernment and wisdom, and that our faith and love would grow daily by the renewing of our hearts and minds!

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