Lessons on being sent

Last week our team went to the winter conference for the ministries of all the schools here in Melbourne.  For an entertaining account of our time at Lake Hume, please check out Teo's post (the previous post on this blog).  One of the main themes of the conference, though, was very relevant to our time here, and I wanted to briefly share that with you.


For the entire conference, at our main meetings we were taught out of John 17.  This is a long and beautiful prayer by Jesus, often called the High Priestly prayer.  In it, He prays for and reveals many things; among them is the fact that He was sent.  Some excerpts:

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 

They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

In fact, 'sending' on mission seems to be one of the foundational principles of God's interaction with the world.  God the Father sent God the Son.  God the Father and God the Son sent God the Holy Spirit.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit now send us to "make disciples of all nations."  Jesus captures this final thrilling piece of the puzzle in His prayer as well:

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

This is not only an amazing truth for all followers of Jesus, but it resonates especially strongly for us while we're here in Australia.  We aren't just here arbitrarily-- we have been sent with a mission.  


Please pray for us as we begin to hit the campuses of Melbourne this week for prayer.  Next week we begin our three weeks of forming relationships and sharing the message of Jesus.


Also, take a moment to consider... to whom is God sending you?