Dear friends
and partners in the harvest of the living God, I want to invite you to reflect
on issues related to partnership as we continue to work together. Remember the
bible says just before He went away Jesus told His followers to “Go into the
whole world and preach the Good News to all creation”. Some might ask, “What does
that have to do with me?
There are
several reasons why His command should have everything to do with you. First,
it was Jesus who said it! Second, these
were among His last words and last words are usually very important. Third, it
was not a request, but a command! Jesus
knew that we couldn’t get the job done by ourselves so He introduced the idea
of partnership.
First and
foremost, it would be necessary to depend on
the Holy Spirit as our senior partner because Jesus said in Acts
1:8,”But you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about
me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of
the earth." (NLT)
The power for
witnessing would come through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Jesus said. He
underscored the fact that we wouldn’t be properly equipped to fulfill His
command until we have been filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus added another dimension to partnership
when He said, “Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will
receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he
is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward.” Matt 10:41 (NIV)
There is no
injustice done to the scripture when we replace the word prophet with the word
missionary. Jesus was saying that there would be a partnership formed between
those who go and those who send. If the senders are as committed in sending as
the missionaries are in going, the senders will receive the same reward as the
missionaries. What a privilege!
Jesus
commanded every believer to go into the world and preach the gospel. This seems
impractical, if not impossible, for most of the people in our churches. When
the missionaries visit the local church, they share opportunities for reaching
the lost in distant lands. As we respond to his or her vision, the missionary affords
us the opportunity for partnership. We are enabled to fulfill the Great
Commission. We become partners in soul winning around the world without ever
leaving home. The better we know our United Methodist Missionaries personally,
the more effective is that partnership. I love you friends; continue praying
for more partners to join us as we are preaching the Good News. I invite you to partner with me in this journey
of faith.
I will finish
this reflection by calling you to pray for our health and well being. Pray for
our protection from danger and difficulties. Pray for our children’s
well-being, both physical and emotional. Pray for our financial needs to be
met. Pray that many will accept Christ
and be discipled into a committed life- style and pray that more workers will
be sent into the harvest-field. Thank you so much for taking time to read this.
Your partner
in the harvest
Jean Claude
Masuka Maleka
“Not,
how much of my money will I give to God, but, how much of God’s money will I
keep for myself?”John Wesley
