I am taking this course called Perspectives. It's a 16 week course to help believers from all walks of life see how they can get threaded into God’s story of redeeming people from every tribe, tongue, and nation to Himself. From Genesis to the prophets, Jesus Christ to the early church, and Constantine to today, I will see how God has been moving, how the global Church has responded, and what the greatest needs in world evangelization remain today. It isn’t a class about missions, but a course on how every believer can be intimately woven into the story of God using His people to be a blessing to all the peoples of the earth.
Perspectives has been a great new
experience for me. I am so glad I decided to take this class. After I had
decided to take it, my Aunt signed up too. It has been a really fun experience so
far, especially since I can ask her if I have questions about the review. I
have listened to all the speakers with the greatest intention to take in their
every word. They have some great perspectives themselves. I also really like
that the study guide goes along with the readings. I didn’t realize it would be
so intense, but I am up to the challenge! This course is really eye-opening to circumstances,
ideas, and viewpoints that I have never thought about before. Each chapter
introduces me to new ways of thinking about verses I have read over and over.
And I never knew that there was so much in the Bible about missions! The
authors of these articles are using scriptures I’ve heard a million times and
completely flipping my perspective one hundred eighty degrees in a better
direction. I can’t believe how this course has changed my life and my view of
most verses and of missions in general. I am so excited to continue this course!
I have learned a lot over these
last five weeks. Being a high school student while taking this class is really
opening my eyes to the rest of the world in contrast to the daily routine I am
so used to. I know now that there are 16,000 people groups that are unreached.
That seems like a lot more than I thought there were. With all the many times I
hear about missionaries going out on trips it seems like I am not needed
because there is already enough called to do the work. But over these past
weeks I have realized that I and every other believer are to be a part of this
global purpose God has for us. We are to evangelize the world and we have a lot
of work to do. From the first week I learned from Philip Nelson that the
biggest ability we have with God is availability. I have come to understand
that I need to be available for everything and anything God wants me to be. I
found out the first week that seven countries have launched perspectives classes
which seems like a lot to me, but in retrospective, it’s really not, because
there are over a hundred countries. I also learned the first week that I need
to integrate my story into His story because His story is history. I love that
it fits together into like a little pun. After learning that a billion and half
people haven’t heard the gospel, I am ready to run over and tell them right
now. The fact that those many people have not heard about Jesus is so appalling
to me.
Throughout the many weeks of taking
this class I have also learned that the purpose of missions is the glory of
God. It’s not to have more people in heaven. It’s not for creating a Jesus
cult. The sole purpose that God has revealed for missions is for the worship of
Himself. Now that I say that it, it kind of sounds selfish of Him, but I
understand it in a non prideful way. I have also began to question what my
identity. I have ever really thought of myself as anything but a Christian,
student, and lifeguard. But I am following Jesus and to disciple other people. My
identity is Jesus and I model after his life. I also learned just this past
week that not only did Jesus call to disciple the world, but he did it in three
different ways. He systematically called to the Jews for faith in Him, of His
own people, in His own nation. Secondly, he sent seventy disciples out to the
seventy gentile nations at the time. And lastly, but not least, he called all
peoples from all nations to follow him. It was a threefold mandate. I had
really never thought about Matthew 28:18-20 that way before. I have really
enjoyed learning these and many other new things and look forward to learning
so much more. We are blessed to be a blessing!
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