What is Mission?

J John said, ‘A missionary is not someone who crosses the seas, but someone who sees the cross.’

This week En Route has got us thinking about the nature of mission and reminded us of its centrality to the Christian faith.  We have looked at the commissioning of the disciples in all four Gospels, and at Jesus’ perfect model for mission. One of the most encouraging aspects of the week were ‘The Bible’s Big Story’ in which were reminded of the big picture of the Bible and God’s overarching plan for brining hope to the world, first through Israel and ultimately through Christ.

It has been fascinating too to find out about the ‘majority church’ and to reflect on how the huge expansion of Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa and China will influence faith and mission in years to come.

A Barnabus in Homerton

St Barnabus , Homerton

This Sunday Katy and I enjoyed our first visit to St Barnabus, Homerton. We were close to not finding it on time as we’d lost all our directions and our sat nav had packed-up a week before.  After some ‘laying on of hands' prayer the sat nav was miraculously healed and another congregation was able to hear about (and smell) the wonders of ele-poo paper!

This church visit was particularly special for me as their curate, Naomi Nguruvi had been a good friend and encouragement to me during my time in Tanzania in 2004.  It was fascinating and helpful to hear about her cross-cultural journey from Tanzania to England and how she was lead into becoming ordained, something that is still impossible in her own country.