Step By Step
This month’s whakataukī (proverb) is: “He ika kai ake i raro, he rāpaki ake i raro.” (As a fish begins to nibble from below, so the ascent of a hill begins from the bottom). In other words, you gotta start somewhere, right?! It’s all about taking the first steps, even if they are small steps. In fact, as one teacher used to tell us, small steps can easily be reversed, big steps not so much. In other words, if you start on a grand plan, don’t commit everything all at once.
But it is amazing to look back and marvel at how you managed to get to the top of a peak by making consistently small steps. Sitting in the hanger of MAF’s new operations centre at Tauranga airport on a sunny autumn Sunday afternoon, it felt like we had arrived at the top of the peak by helicopter to meet the NZ Mission Aviation Fellowship team there, who had climbed up the hard way! No doubt MAF NZ Director Mark Fox would say the development started with a few small steps, in pursuit of a grand vision. I am aware of some of the setbacks they had along the way, and I am sure there is a lot of frustration buried under the polished concrete floor of the hangar! Yet even as they reached the peak of opening the centre, still more peaks await them. Such is the way when traversing mountains.
It is amazing to look back and marvel at how you managed to get to the top of a peak by making consistently small steps.
My family and I have just summitted a couple of our own little hills over the past few months. One of them was the successful management of the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission’s 15th Global Consultation in Chiang Mai Thailand. No sooner was I descending that peak when we were looking up the cliff face of a house and office relocation. Thankfully, a couple months earlier we had managed to secure a property large enough for our small extended family and ministry offices. That in itself was an 18 month journey. On the tail end of running a global event, the moving task felt more than a little overwhelming, but we could see the objective and knew what we needed to do. Step by step, the journey was accomplished. We were settled in after four weeks, and now even the overgrown gardens have been conquered. Like the MAF team, we saw what the future could be, we added resource to the task, we worked persistently, overcame unanticipated obstacles, and achieved our objective—this far at least.
It is wonderful when you can control a project to completion. We do it all the time, especially if you carry leadership responsibilities. It can be a test of our will, but with a clear goal, the right strategy AND… resources fit for the task, there’s no reason why something cannot be achieved. But you restrict just one of those elements and, wow, you have a job on your hands! Our will can be tested beyond our limits by obstacles. The goal posts might get moved, or your vision can get obscured by doubts or reality-checks. Our strategy may prove to be less agile than is required, unable to adapt to the context of the project, like inclement weather to a hike. Finally, as Jesus warned concerning builders and warmongers, we may not have accurately assessed the costs and discover that our resources are not sufficient for the task. Many of us in missions service have had grand plans grind to a halt due to lack of funding. We conclude that it must have been God’s will that it not happen, but I can recall times when I thought something important and achievable should have been funded and secretly blamed God’s people for their disobedience by not giving!
We assume that God’s mission is a project for us to achieve, when it is actually not.
We tackle a lot of things in life as projects. It’s part of an industrial way of thinking. We find purpose in projects that, with persistence, create progress. We intuitively engage our ministries and missions from this perspective, but it is not always appropriate. For example, we overlay our project paradigm on our reading of Scripture and assume that God’s mission is a project for us to achieve, when it is actually not. We read prophecy as if sets us tasks to fulfil rather than as art that illustrates God’s concerns and intentions. Not even Jesus dared predict when or how God’s purposes will unfold (Matt 24:36). The full transition from this version of creation to the next will happen when it happens, there is little we can do about it except… prepare people for it.
Waiting for God to act can be frustrating. We would much rather see, plan and do—and there is much that we CAN do. Life needs to carry on after all. But we need to always hold our participation in God’s mission in the right perspective. We will not achieve God’s mission because God’s mission is not a project to complete but an eternal process to participate in—step by step in obedience to God as best as we can discern.
John R. Franke presents a challenging thought in this regard… “if mission is an attribute of God, an essential element of the divine character, then it will never come to a conclusion and must continue throughout eternity. This eternal mission has its origin in the life of God who from all eternity has been in an active relationship involving the giving, receiving, and sharing of love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Mission/missio/apostello = to send, which Franke interprets relationally. An eternal sending and receiving of love in covenantal relationship.
It is worth thinking deeply about our assumptions with regard to missions. But, as we move from one peak to the next, let’s not forget to savour the view for a while, together, as we #stayonmission.
Arohanui ki a koutou e haere ana ki te ao (love to you all as you go into the world),
Jay
