'Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about to the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I am just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then'
Joshua 14:10-11
These verses have been coming to my mind again and again. In six years we visited quite a few churches in Gloucester and beyond its borders. One and the same thing occurred to us, that churches are aging. Of course, this is not a new discovery to many of you. Sociologists, missiologists and other scholars noticed this phenomenon years ago. I thought it is interesting that many aging church goers or better to say believers think or assume that mission is for young, lively folk like us. I dare to say that neither churches encourage elderly people to be active in church life. Personally, I believe that there is so much to learn from elderly folk, because not long time ago they were our age and did amazing stuff. Thus, the younger generation should remind them about 'no age limit' in God's mission and get them up from their comfy seats to share and encourage the young! Does older generation think that they have no gifts, skills and not vigorous enough for mission? Or missionary organisations have set up age limits? I do not think so! We are all exited to see young people going to mission. Also, we admire and perhaps pray for ourselves to have the same strength and joy of being a servant of God when a 70 year old lady or a gentleman gives a testimony of his walk with God. We need all generations to be active for the kingdom of God!
A few months ago we have been approached by an elderly man. He asked us if we would help him to 'restore' their church. According to him, church has lost all its congregation and now there are four elderly people praying for revival of their church. He was about the same age as the Caleb son Jephunneh Kenizzite, who approached Joshua by reminding him of the land that Moses promised, but also assuring Joshua that he is not too old to look after it. What Jephunneh was saying, that there is no age limit for those who serve God. There is no battle that people in their 80's could not fight.
But the man that approached us showed no interest in God's mission himself. He surely loved God, but according to his own standards. He was sure that only young people have a gift of evangelism, preaching, encouraging, teaching and etc; only young have time and skills. In fact, he had a vision of a church that he wanted to have. But here is one problem, he forgot that church is not man's, but God's. Sometimes we all think that a particular church belongs to us. We have ideas and desires how this church should look like, but the good news is that church is God's and all we need to do is to follow His lead.
This Sunday we visited our partner church, Brunswick Baptist church were a women stood up and prayed, ' Lord I know I am not young, but please, show me how can I please you and how can I serve you despite of my old age!'. This is a woman who seeks the Lord wholeheartedly and seeks not according to her own understanding, but God's, who has no restrictions to the age of His servants. I truly pray that we all would have a character of this woman.
On the Sunday afternoon we prayed that we would grow old and never tired of serving the Lord. We asked God to fill us with strength and passion for His kingdom. We prayed that when we will be eighty we would be vigorous as forty years ago and ready to face a new day, new battles, new tasks, new skills and gifts. And if we'll lay in the bed of death we would pray for zealous followers of Christ to take our place and serve the Lord wholeheartedly.
But while we still young we praise the Lord for:
Rugile has shown a great deal of interested in Lithuanian language. She has been reading and writing very well. She is proud to have a second language and she thinks that she might be able to learn the third. She is doing well at school, enjoys playing piano and loves going to church club on Thursdays.
Recently, she was diagnosed with psoriatic plague. It is a skin condition that becomes hard and sometimes painful or itchy and can spread all over the body. The common place of psoriatic plague is elbows and knees. At the moment, her both elbows has been covered in hard yellowish spots. The doctor prescribed a special cream. Please, pray for Rugile's illness that she would feel as comfortable as possible about it. But also that God would heal it!
Vidas has been busy during the holidays. He painted our bedroom, kitchen and the corridor. It looks tidy and nice! He is working hard at Redcliffe. He is a shy man, but while he is at work and do not see what I am writing here I must tell you something: he is a very gifted man not only fixing stuff, but he has a gift of encouragement and prayer. He enjoys hanging out with teenagers, he says, 'I will always be young in spirit'! His gift is to inspire young people! Please, pray that he would have a chance to witness to teenagers at Kendal Road Baptist church as well as to Eastern European men.
English teaching is going well. The Bible reading as another way of learning English slowed down, but I know that this is a very unusual way of learning English, therefore I prefer to wait for Edita to feel more comfortable and see a benefit of it.
We visited our partner churches St. James and Brunswick Baptist Church. Both churches are very welcoming and encouraging! We are happy to be partners with them and seek God's will together.
On the 6th of November we will be having a Polish couple at our house to discuss a possibility of having a Polish Bible group. Please, pray for us to be able to explain our vision and encourage this couple to be part of it.
Needs:
We are still struggling with support raising! Please, please, please pray for people to come alongside to support us financially.
Pray, that we would seek God's guidance and take time to pray.
Pray, that more churches would come alongside us and recognise mission at home as their calling and responsibility.
Pray, for Gloucester churches to be open to mission together. People to be open to enjoy diversity and praise God for being faithful in their communities and beyond.
We thank you for your prayers and courage to walk an extra mile with us. Please, remember there is no age limit in serving our Lord Jesus Christ, just a challenge of trust and submission to Him.
Please, write us and tell us about your ministry, challenges, difficulties and joys over defeated battles.
Our contacts:
rita.rimkiene@ecmi.org
vidas.rimkus@ecmi.org
In Christ,
Rimkai
No comments:
Post a Comment