(no title)

Unity is a beautiful thing in the kingdom of God, and I love the opportunities that the Lord has given us to serve together with our brothers and sisters in ministry.  Last week, I again went to Chichicastenango to work with great friends from the Tulane Wesley Foundation and fellow missionaries from Guatemala.  We worked hard each morning to finish a building project to that will offer new space for a local Bible inistitute that trains rural pastors.  And in the afternoons, the Lord blessed us with time in a local orphanage where we shared the love of Christ with his beautiful children there.  The kingdom of God is growing here in Guatemala and across the world!  And together, we as God’s children have an important part to serve in this “ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18).  Although my daily focus continues to be microfinance projects in Magdalena, these short outreaches that I have been invited to participate in around the country remind me that our ministry is much much larger than the part that I personally have been called to.


In Ephesians 4, Paul calls us to be united as one body with different callings, and we can catch a glimpse of the magnitude of the body of Christ.

I… beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

Ephesians 4: 1-6; 11-13

May we all devote ourselves each day to maintain the unity of the Spirit and build up the body of Christ in our local communities and across the earth.  God has called us… friends!  Again we find great hope and promise from the Bible, John 15:15-17 says:

I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

You are all an integral part of this ministry of reconciliation and love.  I have been called.  You have been called.  We are God’s friends, and our Heavenly Father will produce great fruit in each one of us as we say ‘yes’ to his call.  May the Lord bless you as we love one another.


Finally, Praise the Lord!  We received our final approval from the SAT (Guatemalan taxing agency) today about our pending tax exemption for the microfinance association.  Thank you for your prayers!  God answered.

Advertisement