Not Sent but they Went

A newly converted taxi driver in an Asian city went to a bar where the waitresses were prostitutes and the owner sold drugs. He made friends with the owner and showed them the love of God. 

The owner and prostitutes became Christians, and the bar became a church.

The taxi driver went on his own initiative. 

He was not sent but he went.

A young English woman went on a voyage to Hong Kong. She went to the most horrible slum where the police never went. It was a closed community of gangsters, drug addicts and prostitutes. God protected her and used her. The horrible slum was cleaned up and many became Christians.

She was not sent but she went.

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. 

Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. Acts 11:19–20 NIV

These first generation Christians were not appointed by the Apostles.

They were not sent but they went.

In fact these pioneers were sent by God, although not appointed by human leaders.

My wife and I started a prayer meeting at home on Friday evenings. We prayed with the woman across the road who belonged to a different church. My wife watched the crime statistics in our suburb. The number of crimes steadily declined as we prayed.

Then our pastor and his wife asked if they could come. Of course we agreed. Some time later they said the church didn’t have a prayer meeting. They took over the prayer meeting and relocated to another house nearer the church. Not long after that the church failed and closed, along with the prayer meeting. We felt cheated.

It is so important to encourage Christians to take initiative. How do you mobilise the Holy Spirit? Just let God do what he wants with anyone who is willing to do something.

My wife and I spent ten years in a church which had no membership list. People from other churches or no church were welcome to come to free flowing meetings on Friday evenings. The pastor told us listen to the Holy Spirit and just go out and do something.

God called me to go to Germany five times from 2011 to 2016. I did not ask the pastor for permission and when he found out, he just encouraged me to just go and do it. God blessed my freelance mission trips with many invitations. I preached many times and made lifelong friends.

I started writing Christian messages in about 2008. In the beginning it was a circular newsletter using email. Then I started blogging in 2009. Since then the readership has multiplied and I have received feedback from people who have reported their lives have changed.

When I started writing, my pastor was not at all supportive but then we moved to a better church and the pastor actually prophesied that God was using me.

If you have a gift or a calling from God, it may help if your pastor or your church appoints you but sometimes you need to just go and do something.

Church leaders can be great encouragers, but sometimes they can hinder what God wants to do.