Checkpoint #3 on the MAP – 4 Things You need to Be

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Checkpoint #3 on the MAP – 4 Things You need to Be

iGo Global Staff • Aug 29, 2013

At iGo Global over the years we have developed a MAP for our students as they return from an overseas experience. This Missional Action Plan (MAP) won’t help you find your music appreciation class, but it will help you continue to continue the journey to becoming someone who lives on mission day in and day out. Check it out.

Checkpoint #3 – Stay on Mission

Ok, so this one seems a little self-explanatory, but we aren’t going to take any chances. Too many short-term mission participants see mission as a trip you take rather than a life you live. If you are going to embrace an on mission life you have to stay on mission after the trip ends. Which means that the things you learned and participated in on your mission trip, need to continue to be part of your life back home. While you were in Denver, Amsterdam, or the Middle East you were living on mission. So take a few of those habits and bring them into your daily life here. Here are four things you need to be:

1. Be a prayer walker. Have you gathered some friends and walked around your school campus praying for God to move and show you where He is working? That’s what you did before anything else on the field, right? Do you walk to school? Prayer walk to school, then. Do you drive? Prayer drive, but keep those eyes open! Ride a bus or a bike or a hovercraft? You get the point. To read a more detailed reminder about praying, check out Making Him Famous…On Your Campus Part 1.

2. Be an ambassador. Paul says we are Christ’s ambassadors in 2 Corinthians 5. The reality of that truth is God has already placed you where He wants you to represent Him…your campus. But let’s get more specific. Why do you have English when you have English? Why do you play that sport? Why are you in that club? The easy answers are that’s how your schedule worked out, you have an ability and passion for that sport, or maybe you are simply interested in that club. However, if you understand that you are His ambassador, the answers have new depth. God arranged your schedule. He gave you that ability. That passion. That interest. Why? So he could place you as His ambassador to the students that sit near you. That are on your team. That share your interests. God sees your campus as his field ready for harvest and He already has His workers strategically in position.

3. Be accountable. The Christian life and especially the life on mission is not meant to be a solo activity. This is crucial to understand. If you aren’t walking with some like-minded friends to live on mission, you are stacking the odds against you. Don’t know another like-minded believer? Then you and your mentor (See 3 Steps to Finding a Mentor) need to spend some time working on that. Living on mission takes place in the context of Biblical community. Pursue that even if it means pulling some others alongside you and investing in them first.

4. Be intentional. When you were on the mission field, you saw every interaction as a potential for sowing seeds of the Gospel. Every market transaction, every lunch order, every person on a park bench was a chance to see God at work. And as you were living on mission, you initiated those conversations, praying God would open doors for spiritual truth. Ask God to open up conversations with friends, classmates, etc. Pay attention to what He might be doing when you are paying for your latte or your Whataburger. Initiate conversations. The detour for this checkpoint is pretty serious. The enemy is always prowling about like a lion ready to steal, kill, and destroy. Here is the truth: While you were overseas you were praying like crazy, walking in community, and digging deep into the Word. It is really easy to come back home and let your guard down in those areas. And when you do, the enemy finds the opportunity to attack. And by attack I mean distract you, tempt you, lead you off course, discourage you, and lie to you like a dog. So be aware. Be on the lookout. Stay grounded in the Word. Embrace community. Keep praying. Resist the devil and he will be forced to flee. And you, with God’s help, will stay on mission.