Lets get the conversation going about God's call to serve.

PASIFIKA MISIONARE

Taloha ni everyone.

 "God's mission" calls us to serve God and to serve one another.

There is a growing awareness among young people who still work tirelessly in local Pacific multicultural congregations of the need for the Church to have a fresh approach to God's Mission in Aotearoa New Zealand, particularly if we wish to have youth and young people become part of the workers in the "harvest".

God's mission is tied in to the saving act of our Lord Jesus Christ in his death on the cross as an ultimate sacrifice of one for the salvation of the many. This need to be made crystal clear according to the young adults that I have spoken to in the course of my work in the month of March.

For someone to begin the process of Making Jesus Christ known, one must first find Jesus exciting challenging and faithful, bearing the good news worthy of being told. It has to be real for you in order for the communication to be electrifying and meaningful. It need to be affirming of the things that God has gifted you in your years of being in the world.

One may experience Jesus in one's high moments, but not in one's low moments.
How far from the truth this notion; if only we take a moment to realize that he came for the sick and the needy. He said so himself, that he did not come for the well but to save sinners. Isn't it at our low moments that we feel Christ the most, embracing us, and placing us on his chest, making sure that we are OK.

I have spoken to Pacific young adults both in congregations supported by the PI Synod and others that are supported by the local presbyteries. They all seem to share something in common. They share excitement of walking with Jesus in their lives and being involved in youth ministry within their congregation. Some hold strong views about maintaining their language and culture as being part of this Christian walk they have with Jesus.Others find it difficult to securing a place in the church with all its tradition and its protocols, because they don't have the luxury of speaking the ethnic language fluently (often the only mode of communication in church matters as well as in the services.) and not knowing much of the culture as do the migrant members of the community.

For these young pasific islanders, the frustration often lead to looking for a place that communicate the gospel in the form and medium that they are accustomed with at university or at their workplaces.

Those who do follow the protocol because they are migrants themselves still struggle to make an impression on the governance and structure of the church which still belongs to the adults, fathers and grandfathers of the church. The functions of traditional families are still strongly practiced. The respect that is given to the elders of the family ensures that the duly elected members of such families are the only ones authorised to speak on behalf of the family.

To nurture this age-group that we have very few of, in the life of the church,  call for us to once again observe the gifts that Jesus made for all of us. The great commission sends us out to participate in God's mission. He granted us all, authority TO GO and MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS. (Matt 28)

What does not seem clear is the fact that once people get struck down with the Holy Spirit, we must be ready as the church to continually excite them with the glory of God in sharing the Word of God in Scripture and a hearty sermon that impresses on the heart of the observers the great joy of being follower of the living God. At the moment, everything is against this free flow of the evangelical nature of God's calling to us.

So I raise the challenge, for each congregation to take stock and listening to the voice of our young Pasific Islanders, with all the talents in the world gathered around us, and yet not featured in the life of the church.

We need to let go of some of the protocols that have brought us thus far, and be willing to allow the young people to assume some of the roles that call for younger heads.

Matthew 18: 2-5
"Jesus called for a child to come over and stand near him. Then he said: I promise you this. If you don't change and become like a child, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.But if you are as humble as this child, you are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. AND WHEN YOU WELCOME ONE OF THESE CHILDREN BECAUSE OF ME, YOU WELCOME ME"

This was Jesus' response to his disciples when they asked him "who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
I often wondered how this passage would apply to us in the Church today. Is it possible that we can be so caught up with the maintenance of the Gospel as it was passed down to us, that we miss the call for us to resume the nature of a child in us. The Innocence of a child, with a total dependence on God.  The complexities of church in all its ministries and traditions may overlook the call to welcome these young people and to bring about the necessary changes that will allow them to grow, and pick up the role of leadership and ministry in our congregations.

How can we change the way that we do things to allow an emergence of young leaders into the councils, eldership, and even paid youth pastors.

Please feel free to make comments at the end of this blog that may help us develop what could be a way forward for us as a church. A church that listens to her people will grow in numbers and in spirit as she discerns the will of God that comes from his divine intervention at times, and through the wisdom of elders and its members. "priesthood of ALL believers" is our nature and makeup.

Rev Don Ikitoelagi

Pasifika Misionare.