In church the other week we were studying through the book of Ephesians and I was reminded of one of my favourite passages in Ephesians, namely Ephesians 2:8-10:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” The passage is discussing salvation by faith alone through Christ, not through works, “lest any man should boast”. That caused me to reflect on the past few weeks of full-time fundraising that Lauren and I just completed. It has been an extremely busy and emotionally, physically, and spiritually intense few weeks, but our support levels have increased more in the past few weeks than we even hoped for. I’m not boasting though, because I cannot. Despite our efforts in the past month almost none of our increased support has been the fruit of our own efforts, it has all been from the Lord. We hosted an event where not a single person felt called to support us, but then throughout the month we discovered that some of our partners had doubled their monthly support, another had tripled, and one had even quadrupled! We send out emails without getting a response or make countless phone calls with no answer, but then the next day someone emails or calls us “randomly” and asks how they can be a part of our ministry. Likewise, we have had some people who have taken our fundraising burden on themselves and have gained us supporters through prayerfully sharing our ministry with others. This is why I can say that it is not the result of our own efforts but a result of the Lord’s provision that our support levels are increasing. While we will not stop working hard and doing all we can, we cannot boast that our increased support levels are the results of our late nights and back-to-back meetings because truly our support levels are the result of the Lord’s provision and His faithful servants heeding His call, not our own efforts.
0 Comments
|
AuthorChristopher and Lauren Merke have joined Wycliffe to help fulfill the goal of seeing the scriptures translated into every language of the world! Christopher and Lauren live and work in Mbeya, Tanzania doing linguistic, language survey and vernacular media work. As a linguist, it will be Lauren’s responsibility to analyze and evaluate the linguistic and cultural data that is collected by language survey workers. Her role is very important because it speeds up the Bible translation process and makes translators for effective, ensuring the Good News of Jesus Christ reaches people as quickly as possible. Christopher will be fulfilling two roles as a language surveyor and as a vernacular media technician. As a language surveyor, Christopher travels to remote villages in order to gather linguistic and cultural data about various people groups and language groups. This is critical information, as it lays the foundation for Bible translation work through seeking answers to critical questions in the first stages of the Bible translation process. As a vernacular media technician, Christopher’s role will be to help translate various materials, such as the Jesus film and Christian radio programs, into other languages in Tanzania to ensure that the Gospel reaches as many people as possible. Christopher and Lauren are thrilled to be able to use the gifts that God has given them and would like for you to prayerfully consider partnering with them in this journey! Archives
September 2016
Categories |