Children of the living God, driven by hope

So much hope was presented throughout Thursday night’s session. From a testimony from Roman Rakhuba about the political turmoil and warfare currently going on in Ukraine, to a spontaneous encouraging word from Andy Owen, to a message from Vic Wiens about the history and the current state of Christian mission in the world.

Our call “to go to the least reached” is being acted out in the MB family through resource sharing in war-torn eastern Ukraine where electricity and heat are precious resources that help demonstrate the love of Christ. And these basic needs are met, people are enabled to connect on a deeper level even as they connect to the outside world.

“God is never late and he is in no rush” – even when workers are not quite in time to offer hope and assistance a person in need, said Roman.

This was followed by passionate worship singing, and Andy’s encouragement that even though we all carry burdens too heavy for us to bear (for our families and our people), “Our God is able to do abundantly more than we could ever ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).

Veteran MB Mission worker Vic Wiens encouraged and challenged us with a history of Protestant mission around the globe and the particular legacy the Mennonite Brethren family has laid and will continue to leave for future generations.

As a young adult among all of these incredibly gifted, wise, deeply passionate church leaders, I was humbled and invigorated by the power we have as the body of Christ, standing on the Rock that is our Father God. We were encouraged by prophecies found in Isaiah 54:1–5 and Revelation 7:9–10 which talk about the many people groups that will be brought into the kingdom. We were challenged to check our perspectives of the importance of reaching unreached people groups and encouraged to consider that “our call is not to geo-political countries, but to ethno-linguistic peoples.”

I was personally challenged by the question: Do we find our identity in our people group or denomination, or purely in Christ?? It is so easy, when part of such an amazing family within the body to Christ, to have pride in our identity as part of the Mennonite Brethren tribe. However, that should not be the source of our pride. Our pride should be in our identity as part of the collective, unified body of Christ and as children of the living God!

—Katie Vogt is a member of Cariboo Bethel Church, Williams Lake, B.C. She is participating in MB Mission’s newly launch Discipleship on Mission program.