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Ellen Sherby
Coordinator, Equipping for Mission Involvement
(800) 728-7228, x5612
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God’s Mission Matters
Open your eyes
Faith stories: Encountering Jesus with new eyes
By Karla Koll
“Come and see what God has done” (Psalm 66:5)
When we venture into new places in mission, we often encounter sisters and brothers whose experience of God has been very different from our own. Many of them have learned the stories about Jesus in a language other than English. They express their praise and prayers in phrases that our ears strain to catch. They strive to follow Jesus within patterns of relating that their cultures have formed over centuries or millennia. We may find their worship of God exuberant and bewildering.
When our sisters and brothers offer to share their faith with us, they teach us anew about Jesus. A person following Christ in another culture knows things about God that we can’t even suspect unless that person is willing to share with us. If we open ourselves up, we will learn new things about God and God’s work in the world.
Our sisters and brothers can give us the gift of new eyes, to see not only Jesus in new ways, but also ourselves and our church. In their questions and challenges to us, we see ourselves from a different perspective. We might not always like what we see. We may find we need to change in order to be faithful to the new understandings of Jesus we have gained. We may discover that walking together in mission with believers in other places will change and deepen our faith.
Download this episode of “God’s Mission Matters” and hear stories by Dennis Smith, mission co-worker in Guatemala since 1977, and by Heather Grantham, a Young Adult Volunteer in the Philippines from 2004 to 2005.
Open your eyes episode toolkit
Use these resources to equip your congregation, network, youth group and other groups in your church for mission involvement. You may use any of these for activities in the context of Bible studies, Sunday Bible class, Sunday worship service and committee or session meetings.
God’s Mission Matters: Open your eyes!
Prefer printed? Download and read this ready-to-print booklet including the text of the podcast, a study guide for group leaders and a reflection on popular culture. This is a great tool for a learning session in your congregation or mission group context.
Sample Faith Map
Matters from Pop Culture: The Blind Side
Reflections on the movie The Blind Side by Alcon Entertainment. It relates the true story of a family that takes in a disadvantaged teenager. The movie shows how they ended up helping each other.
Print version
My Story Matters
Watch and listen to other stories on “Open your eyes” as a good practice in mission.
Video — Dennis Smith: Smith, mission co-worker in Guatemala since 1977 tells a story about a Guatemalan woman who showed integrity when she had a chance to harm those who murdered her nephew.
Video — Mark Adams: Adams, a mission co-worker with Presbyterian Border Ministry in Agua Prieta, Mexico, since 1998 shares a story where he is ministered to by the people in the Bible study.
Video — Gary Payton: Payton, a mission co-worker and Regional Liason for Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Poland, shares a story about how a Christian community in Russia faced persecution during the Cold War. Gary tells how his eyes were open when he saw the faith the Russian Christians had and how it healed old wounds over the generations.
Matters of Worship
Prayer:
Loving God, you are the Author of life, and our lives are part of the story of Your creation. Help us to have the eyes to see You and the ears to hear You in the lives of those around us – both near and far. In Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.
Online hymn suggestions:
I Sing a Song of the Saints of God
Hymn 364 – The Presbyterian Hymnal
My Life Flows On/How Can I Keep from Singing?”
Hymn 2212 – Sing the Faith
“Open the eyes of my heart”
in Spanish “Abre mis ojos, oh, Cristo
WHAT IS MISSION CROSSROADS?
Mission Crossroads is a web-based wisdom community which facilitates networking among mission participants, aids communication among members of mission-related groups, and provides a forum in which those engaged in mission may share ideas and experiences, both good and bad, so that future mission endeavors can be more effective.
WHAT IS MISSION CROSSROADS MAGAZINE?
Mission Crossroads magazine is a free, three-times-a-year periodical focused on the worldwide work of the PC(USA). It offers news and feature stories about mission personnel, international partners and grassroots Presbyterians involved in God’s mission in the world.
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