Scotland Trip: Missions

I'm not even sure where to start...I learned so much and so much happened during my trip to the UK!


The first thing that stood out to me was the faithfulness of the people working full time with 20 Schemes. In talking to different people I learned that only about 5% of the people who look for help are successful. Many make professions of faith, and live a "christian" life for a while, but they fall back into their old vices and sins. You really have to rely on God to get you through each day in Niddrie, when you have no clue what a day may bring. Someone who you thought you could finally trust might turn their back on everything and leave.
I realized how little I rely on God. I do pray and I know He's in control, but I also find myself thinking about how I can fix things, when I need to go to the bible, listen to what God has to say and pray.

I realized how wealthy I am. My family has never had very much money, so I didn't feel like I would be too out of place in Niddrie in that aspect, but I re-realized how rich I am in the gospel. I've been raised in a Christian home and have been spared from so many painful experiences. I was saved at a young age, and have always gone to a church that was faithful to preach the bible. I wouldn't give up being "poor" in a material way for the world if it meant I also had to give up all that I have spiritually! And the only reason I have what I have is because God is a gracious and merciful God!

 Missional living often means doing a lot of mundane tasks. I've heard of people saying, "You flew thousands of miles to paint walls and clean their church? Why?" Well, Jesus washed the disciples feet, even though he was the son of God, didn't he? And he was constantly traveling to different cities. I know it's not exactly the same thing, but our team was there to serve in any way we could. We traveled there to encourage the church in Niddrie to continue their work. We were also there to observe how God works in his church in another context. And it was worth every single penny. I would do it all over again countless times!

So, what did a typical day look like?
Everyday we got up at 7-ish and met at the church for breakfast at 8:30 then we would have a time of prayer before having a learning session lead by Mez or Sharon. at around 10 some of the team would head to Mez's house to paint, while the others stayed at the church to clean and paint. There were also other community projects we did, like hanging out with the neighborhood kids, painting a local art centre, or doing bible studies with people in the community. A lot of the time what we were going to do was unpredictable, because random stuff would come up that needed immediate attention from Mez, or it would rain, so we couldn't do outdoor projects.

Everything that goes on is about the community. The primary goal is to present Christ to the community by living the gospel in front of them. The principles that are taught in the bible are lived out. This is so different from what I've experience with all the other churches I've been to. With all the other churches, and the one I'm currently attending, I would go to my church with my family and we would come home. If we went out to socialize, it was only with other Christians. I remember some people would go door to door giving out tracts, and I think there maybe have been a ministry where people gave food to homeless people. That's how we related to the "world." The churches were away from neighborhoods and shut during the week (except the one that was also a christian school) or no one went there except for services. Of course we were taught that we needed to not only act like Christians at church on Sundays, but we needed to be Christ-like all week long. I kind of knew what that meant, but I'm not sure I exactly understood it until I saw what was happening in Niddrie. The church building is open at various times during the week and isn't just used by the Christians but by all of the members of the community. We were told not to assume that everyone there was a Christian. That's different than what I'm used to in the churches I've gone to. Everyone's a Christian or at least labels themselves as being Christians. And we don't hang out with anyone outside of our group.

So if I could change people in my town, that's how I would change them. Instead of being so involved with ourselves and being so inward focused, I would love for the Christian churches to be more outward focused. Instead of focusing on getting more information in our heads, it would be awesome to somehow be sharing what we know with other people who don't know. I want people to make friends with people who don't go to church and spend time with them instead of focusing on staying "unstained from the world"