The Mission Trip
Luke 10: 1-10

Introd. 1.  It is good to be with you again.

                   A. How many of you have ever been on a Mission Trip?  If it was a cross-cultural trip it was a great place for God to teach us.

          2. This morning’s text is a great text in making ourselves and churches missional. It is a text one needs to read over and over again, to dwell on this Word, to hear what God is telling us.

          3. Let me share what I noticed and then how we can take it home.

          4.  Jesus begins with encouraging words and a command.  “The Harvest is plentiful.  Ask the Lord of the harvest to send our workers into His harvest.

                   A. There is no way the 72 or we know this “plentiful harvest” experientially. Most often we believe the opposite, don’t we?  We have to take Jesus’ word for it. They did also.

                   B. He is the Lord of the Harvest. That means we are not responsible for results. He is.

                             1. Have you ever been short of SS teachers? BS leaders? Ministry people? Ask the Lord of the Harvest He commands.

I.   Jesus is sending the 72 out on a Mission Trip to villages, and he is not going with them.

          A.  This is a training exercise for the 72. If he went with them they

                would watch. Now they have to do what they have seen Jesus do.

          B. Secondly he sent them out in pairs. 72 entering a village would

                   not be effective. Nor 36. They would be intimidating.  If sent

                   them out by ones some would spend the day at Starbuck’s and  

                   not get the mission done.

                    Two’s gives partnership, companionship, communication, and

                   effective contacting without being intimidating.

          C.  Thirdly, the target was homes. It was not schools, churches, or on

                   the streets.   The home is a basic social unit for effective

                   contacting and communication.  Here one could listen while the

                   other spoke. Picture two visiting a home. In fact they were

                    to depend on those whom sent.  They were not in control.

          D.  Fourth,  Jesus was not there, But God was going before them. In

                   fact all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned in this text.

                   God opens hearts, draws out questions and needs. He is

                   Preparing for them. He is active and has passion to reach people

                   more than they do.

          E.  Fifthly, They were empowered by the Holy Spirit for this mission. They are not on their own power, personality, or skills.  It is not just social interaction about kids, schools, work, but a spiritual mission.

          F. Sixthly, They came to each home with a Welcome of Peace. They were kind, considerate, not argumentative,  nor hard sell.  This is related to the next point.

          G.  They came to serve, not to sell Jesus, or the church.  As they served

                   they discovered needs of sickness, and demon possession.

                    Recently I have become convinced that every miracle Jesus did

                    was a great display of God’s power, but also a great display of

                   serving people. Every exorcism,    opening the eyes of the blind,

                   the ears of the hearing impaired,    healing the paralytic,    the

                   leper are all examples of serving people.

II. Let me share one way I have tried to obey this text. PHASE I.

          A. I was asked to do the interim of a small church (35) people in Hayward, CA. I was with them over 2 years.  The question I was asking was: How do we reach this neighborhood?  Neighborhoods are important for

new church development, but quickly drop off the screen and no one knows who lives around the church.  There was a neighborhood next to the church.

                   1. I called a local realtor asking who lives in this neighborhood. She told me Latin America families; Asian families; older Caucasians, and a few African American families. They all have money because they bought their homes.  We had two of our Caucasian members who lived in this neighborhood.

                   2. The outreach elder made a computer map of the 16 streets. We sought God’s help in how to serve this neighborhood. A beginning vision came.

                   3.  We started doing Prayer Walks. How many of you have ever done a prayer walk? We went after church on Sunday.  I marked the map each street we did the prayer walk.

                             a.  A prayer walk is done with 2 or 3 people walking down the sidewalk with their eyes open talking to God about what they are seeing. Once one gets out of their car and walks the streets we see things:           saw tree with branches pointed toward God;   (worshipping!)

           saw toys in the front yard; (children)                  saw beautiful flowers;  

          saw lawns joining one another (must be relationship between owners);

          saw uncut grass (why? Sick, weak, away, old, unable, didn’t know, but

                    wondered);

           and saw people working in gardens, and garages. We did not talk with any.

                             b. It took us a couple of months to cover 16 blocks, but I did this at another church after worship and we covered all in one hour after church with multiple teams.

                             c. We then met together at the end and shared experiences. What did we see?  In a prayer walk we are connecting with God’s presence in the neighborhood. I had done prayer walks before but never so intentional. We even had a Moonie go with us. She had knocked on

doors before, but had never prayed out loud before this. We had many talks together.

                             d.  We got through the 16 blocks and didn’t know what to do next.  The church had done door hangers several years before, but were not effective because no relationships established.  We believed we still needed to serve, and perhaps connect to what we had seen. Then God spoke and none of us had done it before.

                             e.  PHASE II.   God said I want you to knock on each door (all 426 doors).   The Outreach Elder had knocked on doors in college selling books, and he was skeptical. It was a horrible experience.

                             f.  But God gave us a serving question. We went in twos or threes.

                                      1. We introduced ourselves with first names and told them we were from Mt. Eden Church or the church over there. Still not directly selling the church. The Presbyterian name is less and less important today.

                                      2. The question was, “Do you have any concern we could pray for you about?”  [Church people know how to pray, and our culture is Spiritual enough to not be turned off by the question]  We could offer this service.

                                      3. I took a small notebook and marked each street name and each house number on the street.

                                      4. We did not do any Phase II without doing Phase I the Prayer Walks.

III. What responses did we get?

          A. Going about noon on Sundays about half were not home. NH on my pad.

          B. The first house closest to the church we found a lady who looked close to death and her daughter. We entered the home, introduced ourselves, and pointed to the church. She told us she attended the church a number of years earlier. I asked if she had a prayer request we could pray for and she said, “Yes, for my health and my family.” I assured her we would pray for her and left. I asked the two others if their guts told them we should have prayed for her right there. “YES” they said.  I was so set not to push and sell I

backed off too far and God opened us up to  pray then if the request was

intense.  I wrote down her request on my pad.

                   C.  Some had no requests and our job was to listen and not to give them a prayer request. We wished them well and left. It is my sense that leaving early is a great witness and message. Some may have wondered if we were going to pray then and it frightened them. It won’t the next time.

                   D.  We met two Christian families who lived on the same block but didn’t know each other. We introduced them to each other. One came to church twice, but we did not have enough resources for their children, and they went back to their previous church. That was OK with us.

                   E. One husband said we were the first Christians who ever knocked on his door. He was excited and we had a good conversation about Jesus.

                   F. We met an older Christian lady who belonged to First P. Hayward and didn’t know our church was there. It had the reputation of being a hidden church. When she couldn’t travel to 1st P. H any longer, she would come to our church.

                   G. We met an older couple who told us they were Jehovah Witnesses when the question was asked. I said that was fine, but asked the question again. They couldn’t believe we would pray for them.

                   H. One lady was a member of a Catholic church who had experienced many loses earlier that year: her brother and father died, and her

health was not good. We prayed with her on her porch. We told her our goal was not to get her into our church, but to encourage her in her church. She thanked God for bringing us that day.

                   I. We discovered an Asian family who spoke little English. The wife was obviously pregnant. With fingers we found out in 1  month she would deliver.

We went back to make certain the baby came and they came out to show us

They were excited to show us the new baby.

                                      1.  I asked the Deacons to buy a receiving blanket and the following week we went back and gave them the blanket.

                                      2.  We believe they have seen the church three times.

                                      3. After I left and moved up to Seattle,  a new part-time pastor came who started a class, “Learning English As a Second Language” and this family was invited. This became a link to what we as a church could give and serve. [You folks have many natural links with families in your neighborhood with young adults and children].

                             J.  One lady said (and this was the only person) said in response to our question, “ I would like to go to your church, but I don’t know anyone in your church.” The elder said, “ Now you know two.” She was at the beginning of her Spiritual journey, knowing nothing. She came, connected with our Women’s fellowship, fixed sandwiches on Monday nights for the needy, became a Christian and joined the church.

                             K. The neighborhood became personal.  Doing this can be done over time, or one or two Sundays with multiple teams.

                             I. How often could we go back to the same neighborhood?  Since we were not selling directly, but serving, I think every 4-6 months. I think some who did not have a prayer request the first time will, after the second or third time being asked kindly.

                             J. Often we heard requests about the war,   service men they knew,   health issues,   job problems,   financial needs,   and friends who had needs.  I was surprised how open people were.

                                      1. Yet being assured God was going before us I didn’t need to be surprised.  Mostly we prayed for needs on the way home and after we returned to the church.

K.  There is a book entitled, “The Conspiracy of Kindness” by Steve Sjogren which gives hundreds of examples of serving. It comes from where they have lots of snow, but many examples are transferable. Mowing lawns for one who can’t. I had been sick for several months and my energy was low. Three neighbors offered to mow my lawn and did. I have a passion to reach my neighborhood for Jesus and know I felt closely connected, deeply appreciative when I was served. “A Parents Night Out” is another serving action that can be shared with new people.

IV.     *Dwelling on the Scriptures;

          *Being open to God’s direction;

          *Getting out of our cars;

          *Organized prayer walks; and

          *Offering open ended questions kindly,

          *Connecting to the needs--all in serving unleashes the Work of God in powerful ways, and effective conversations.  Then keep it going.

In the book, “Reimaging Evangelism” Rick Richardson says we are more Spiritual Travel Guides than Salesman in evangelism.  God is still the main actor in genuine conversion.

Let’s Pray,

Father you have a passion to reach un-reached people including children. Give us that same passion and vision for the neighbors around Wallingford Church. And we will rejoice in what we see you do in us and through us.

For Jesus’ sake, Amen