The Great Commission - Who, Me?

South Africa Team 1824 Blog #2

10-6-2018

The Great Commission - Who, Me?

What makes me qualified to be a missionary? Not a whole lot. I don’t need to be qualified, I need to be equipped. But Jesus has been in the business of sending missionaries for a long time, and He’s very good at equipping the unprepared.

When I first talked with my husband Phil about going to South Africa with MOST, he had two concerns. One was for my safety, since the news out of South Africa wasn’t bringing him peace. The other was the expense. This is not an inexpensive expedition, and team members are responsible for their own fundraising.

To convince ourselves I’d be relatively safe, we consulted the state department website. The country South Africa is twice the size of Texas. Mhluzi, South Africa is in the northeastern part of the country. The unrest seemed to be in the southern and western areas. We also learned that MOST Ministries is in close contact with the state department and other agencies to ensure that when they send out a team, there’s a reasonable assurance of safety. When we learned South Africa is considered safer than Israel (a trip Phil and I are taking in January), we were satisfied. Check that one off! We were at peace with the safety issue.

The expense was a different story. We don’t have the resources to travel the world, and other than a few overseas trips we’ve been saving and planning for, we probably won’t do much travelling. I promised Phil that if I couldn’t raise the necessary funds to take this trip, I wouldn’t go. Then I prayed.

I asked God to make a decision for me. If He wanted me to go, my fundraising efforts would bear lots of financial fruit; if God in His infinite wisdom did not want me in South Africa, hearts and wallets would be closed. Now, the decision was no longer mine, it was in the infallible hands of God. It’s such a joy to have a Savior to see to my every need, including decision making. Why don’t we go to Jesus more often?!

We paid my registration fee, and I told MOST more about me than they probably wanted to know. We waited to see which way it would go. MOST does not have to accept anyone to serve on a mission team, and has the right to deny an application based on the background check or health considerations. I said in my previous post that I am not in the peak of health, and we wondered whether that would keep me home. I’m approved! Praise God!

After finding out I was approved for team membership, I launched into fundraising. When I say “launched” I mean crawled.

MOST suggests 'finding money' in three places. The first person to collect money from is the one in the mirror. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” Matthew 6:21. Phil and I had received a surprising inheritance from his parents. They were Lutheran school teachers, and we all know you don’t get rich doing church work, but they were wonderful stewards of all they received and were able to pass on some financial gifts in their will. We decided the tithe from our gift from Fritz and Helen would go to my mission. There, that wasn’t so hard!

The other two places to find money according to MOST were from fundraising activities and soliciting direct support. I was okay with coming up with a fundraiser, like a spaghetti supper or a karaoke night. I worked on those ideas a little. But it was the soliciting direct support I was SO uncomfortable with.

Self-doubt was running high, so I gave myself a break for a few days to pray and mull it all over. Days turned into weeks, and my prayer life stalled for a while. Satan was working hard, I believe, to convince me of my unworthiness. Memories of a misspent youth haunted me. I compared myself to others and came up lacking. Who was I to ask anyone to contribute to my selfish wish to travel? In my heart I turned away a little; things became blurry. I could no longer clearly see the face of the Savior who died to free me from such thoughts.

My Wednesday morning bible study group is a collection of outstanding Christian women. I’m so blessed that each of them is in my life! I confessed to them that I was stymied. They prayed a lovely prayer over me, and God bless them, I soon felt free again to pursue my goal of raising money toward my goal of South Africa. My prayer life was back on track; Jesus’ face was again front and center in my soul. God is good, all the time!

Now I needed to know the hows of soliciting donations. My brother-in-law Rev. Dr. Peter Meier is the Director of the Center for US Missions (C4USM), an LCMS church-planting organization. While a part of the synod, Peter’s work is funded by donations, so I told him I was having a hard time getting to the ‘asking’ part. Asking for money. For me. How would I get over feeling uncomfortable?

Peter gave me the following advice:

1.     Make a list of people I know. I used my Christmas card list.

2.     Narrow that list to people who I believe are ‘mission minded.’ Those who might want to contribute to a Christian mission.

3.     Further narrow that list to those people who I felt had the means to contribute.

This seemed to be the right plan for me, and it didn’t take long to come up with a list I was comfortable with. Next, composing the letter. I did it in the form of a card, with my picture on the front with the caption, “Send Me To South Africa!” (see the first blog post). I kept it simple, saying in the fewest words possible (not my strength) what I needed and why. I included ideas for giving; so much for one hour of the trip, so much for one day, how much was 2% of the total, how much was 5%. How to give online, how to give by check.

The letters were done. I prayed over the stack of stuffed stamped envelopes, held my breath, and mailed them. While I waited for the money to come flowing in (or not) I also made a poster to put up at church and to show on Facebook. I tried to make it fun, colorful, and appealing. It's pictured at the top of this post.

Dear readers, some of whom are my wonderful donors, between the poster at church, an appeal on Facebook, and the letters soliciting donations, I very quickly had more money in my MOST account than I needed. The newest version of my poster thermometer is topped off red and spurting out the top. I didn’t even need to do a fundraiser activity, it was all there and then some. I am overwhelmed with the generosity shown me.

God had answered, “Go, Linda!” He is equipping me, and I'm going, and Jesus is going with me.

Matthew 28:16-20 New International Version (NIV)

The Great Commission

 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Respectfully Submitted,

Linda Meier

Missionary (!)