by: Jenna Kelly

As I'm sure you've been able to deduce, this is a cyclical blog;  the same 3 ideas in rotation -prayer, community and mission.  When Darrell and Paul first start developing this blog in communicating ideas and leadings they both had from the Lord, these three topics kept coming back to them.  Now, I will admit, I was a little slow on the draw with jumping on the bandwagon of returning to the same 3 ideas every quarter but I'm starting to realize that the depth of all of these topics are quite infinite and at the same time, intrinsically connected to each other.  I mean, isn't this really the way we're all supposed to walk out our faith in the Lord? First through the personal connection of prayer, then through the stable support of a community, and finally through the declaration and longing for others to join us in this process?  This third step is what we have come to title as "mission".

My idea of what "mission" is has definitely been refined and defined for me over the past year.  A year ago today, I was sitting through my college graduation ceremony patiently awaiting my diploma in hand.  Now for most of my peers sitting around me, this day could not have come soon enough.  Their exhaustion from finals, papers and professor meetings were soon to be relieved with long awaited and often overly abundant celebratory parties.  I, on the other hand was not quite in the celebratory mood.  I loved school.  I love school. I want to go back to school.  I wanted to go back to school so bad in fact that I was looking for job openings within the different colleges of the University of Minnesota with every intention of taking my GRE in the spring and recommencing the lectures, papers and exams the following Fall.  The Lord however, knew that wasn't the path I was taking...yet anyway.  Through a massive hiring freeze throughout the University, I found myself post-Bachelor of Arts degree...and jobless

An opportunity came along last May where the church I have attended all of my life was hiring for a needed position.  Believe you me, this is not where I had seen myself on graduation day!  At first, I was hesitant to take what appeared to me as the easy "way out" - working at the church where I have been the majority of my life.  But this was in fact the direction my life was supposed to take.  I now work as the Family Life Administrator and I co-lead our missions committee.  Now, this diatribe really has nothing to do with the topic of  what I would like to discuss regarding mission, but I digress for 2 reasons:

1. there are many of you out there whom I have not met so this was a brief glimpse into my life


2. this series of events is what led me to a conversation yesterday that will forever change my view of mission

This position to co-lead the missions committee at Oak Hills Church has offered many valuable opportunities, but none more valuable than actually getting to sit down with missionaries to discuss their vision, goals, and determination to do what the Lord has called them to.  Yesterday afternoon, I sat down with a lovely couple, Dave & Heidi Onker, who are raising support to go and work with Campus Crusade on the college campuses of Paris.  They are just celebrating their one year anniversary and about to start a huge adventure; both frightening and exhilarating at the same time.  When Heidi was explaining to me what their passion is, she said a phrase that took me aback and started a process of introspection over the last 12 hours.  She simply said to me, "God is my mission."  This phrase brought to the surface a question I haven't asked myself in a long time, "what is my mission?"

I think that we have been taught in our lifetime that it is good to question but it's best to question other people.  Because of this mentality, I have become a bit hard on our generation.  Paul and I have gotten into numerous, shall we say "heated" discussions over my frustrations with our generation/peers and his defense for them.  This has become a healthy debate in our relationship where we are sharpening and challenging the others' thinking but I will openly admit that I have a hard time understanding the cynicism and attitude of "blame" in our age (literally) of Christians.  Although Paul has brought forth many strong arguments for why this mentality has taken root among our peers, the statement that Heidi made yesterday opened a floodgate of  "ah-ha" moments for me.

With the changing dynamics of the American Church and our generation's counter reactions to that, I think much has come to the surface as to "who is to blame for this mess?" in regards of the Church's failed attempts to reach "the lost" (used loosely).  I am not a person keen on people coming short on their responsibilities or commitments so I do understand the disillusionment with leader's of the Church before us that have fallen off of a pedestal but perhaps we have gotten too engrossed with looking at the faults of others as a distraction to ignore the faults of our own.

Mission is a mentality that has to be borne and nurtured within the confines of individual revival and determination before it is able to spread among others.

In this case, I specifically speak of the mission the Lord has called us to do as his followers: share His love with those who have not received it yet.  For those of you who do have a relationship with the Lord, is this your mission?  What is your mission?  I really take this time to reflect,  not on, "What's the mission of the Church?", "What's the mission of the Assemblies of God?", "What's the mission of my pastor?", but I ask you the same challenging question I was faced with yesterday, "what is your mission?"  Plain and simple, what is it that the Lord has called you to do and are you doing it?  Today, are you living out the mission that you have been told?  Have you even really thought about this question on an individual basis?  If not, maybe right now is the time for you to do so.  Because until our mission that the Lord has given us is being lived out everyday, the mission of our greater institutions will never be in fulfillment because we will not have been able to fulfill our part within it.