A Life in Exile

In my book, When Doors Close: Changing Course in Missions Without Losing Your Way, I talk about how we can sometimes struggle because a door suddenly closes to a place we felt called to serve. That’s hard, and it can lead us to question God’s plan, but what happens when the door to the place hasn’t closed, but the makeup of the team changes? You thought you were heading to a place that had a strong team presence, but then learn some are leaving or transferring before you get there.

You know the importance of being a part of a team. You are a team player. Your family needs the community a team brings to the table. With unexpected changes, we begin to ask:

Did God really call us to this place?

Do we look at changes in team dynamics in the same way we view closed borders, rejected visas, sudden geo-political conflicts, or health issues? My mind wanders back in Scripture to the first man we know to have answered a call from God—Abraham. He was a man of community. He loved his family. Yet, when God told him to leave his family and go to a new land, he didn’t think twice. He didn’t have any children, but along with his wife, he did take his nephew, Lot.

We don’t know why Abraham did this. Maybe Lot heard about his uncle’s call and wanted some adventure. Maybe Abraham saw him as a surrogate son. For whatever reason, Lot came along. But with Lot came baggage. Not bad baggage, but flocks, servants, herdsmen, and most likely his wife and daughters. If God really meant for Abraham to leave his extended family behind, he didn’t totally comply.

Then came a crisis. In the new land, the flocks and herds of both men prospered to the point that their herdsmen began to argue over space. What was the solution? Separate the groups. So Abraham let Lot choose from all the portions of the land and move on. He did. We know the story. Abraham is finally back to just him and his wife (of course with flocks, herds, servants, and herdsmen as well), but back to where God had wanted him in the first place—able to focus on the voice of the One who’d called him. And, when he did, the Lord told him to lift up his eyes and see the good land he was giving him, and Yahweh renewed his covenant with the one he had chosen.

God’s call is not reliant on others.

Why do I tell you this story? As a reminder that, though God does put us in community to serve his purposes, his call is not contingent on community. His call is to a place or people group. His call may be to do a very specific ministry in a city or village. We answer the call to serve, not always knowing with whom we will serve, if anyone.

We have several advantages in our modern age that early missionaries never enjoyed—air travel, video calls, and instant communication. If I believe God is calling me to serve in a place, it’s easy enough for me to fly over for a “vision” trip, as many call it. Let me check things out first. Make sure my family can handle living in this place and if I like the teammates who are already on the field.

While this can be all good and proper, I think sometimes it takes away the aspect of acting on faith in relation to the call of God. Hebrews 11:8 tells us: “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and set out for a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out, even though he did not know where he was going.” What two things do we notice here? He went out by faith, and he went out not even knowing where he was going.

There was no vision trip for Abraham—he received all the vision he needed from God.

God surprises us when we step out in faith.

Yes, we can experience a crisis of faith when stuff happens that seemingly messes up a perfect plan. But if God is not surprised at what’s happening, why do we panic? The loss of a potential teammate may be for the best. Maybe God is opening the door for a national believer to step in as a partner in the work, or he is preparing the heart of another person or couple to come later in your term.

Or, maybe he’s simply stripping away any chance for you to lean on anyone but him for your needs. It can be scary when we’re the only couple on the field, or the work of what was a bigger team now falls on the few. I get it. Will this be a chance for your faith to waiver or be made stronger?

Whatever crisis is happening in your place of service, I pray you will go back to your call, lean in to the fact of God’s sovereignty in all things, and see this as his way of increasing your faith and trust in him and him alone.

Grace and Peace

If you missed the last Mission Monday post, click HERE, or check out these other posts on the call and crises: The Many Shades of Calling, Did I Hear Your Right, God?, My People, When He Spoke: Verses of the Call, and God’s Call.