quick exit

Yesterday I was sent an invitation to check out the website of an organization that is fighting against human trafficking... in Baltimore. I was clicking around learning about their mission and history. The website was put together well so I was admiring the layout as well as looking at the different design aspects. Then I noticed a button on the side of the screen; it said 'quick exit.' It caught my attention and so I clicked on it -- my browser immediately took me to the Google homepage.

Then it dawned on me what the link was for... That link was there for people who might have found this website seeking to escape slavery, for victims of human trafficking here in our city who might be stealing a few minutes on a computer to find rescue from their situation. Perhaps people have clicked that link fearing that they might be caught, or worse, been too late to 'quick exit' and...

It caught me totally off guard. I was about to take our staff's Starbucks order. Instead, I broke down crying.

...

That moment yesterday was totally overwhelming for me. Realizing how fortunate I am not just to have a great job, a loving family, enough food to eat and a roof over my head, but that I am free -- that realization gave me a quick glimpse of how undeserving I am of these blessings in my life and how great God is to pour them out on me nevertheless.

I'm so excited for the upcoming series at Nativity, Highly Favored, which is all about God's grace. Grace is God's unmerited favor. Moments like yesterday are helping me to regularly acknowledge that I have done nothing to merit or earn God's favor yet I have been chosen as a recipient of grace as a gift of God. Learning that God is a God of grace has changed my life. And seeing evidence of God's grace in my life has led me to one conclusion, one that I wish I was better at staying mindful of...

Gratitude is the only reasonable response.

What are you grateful for today?
How have you seen God's grace at work in your life?

unqualified? perfect!

As we've begun promoting our upcoming summer mission trip opportunities, I'd like to post two short lists: basically reasons why you should and should not apply to go on one of our short-term international mission trips. A mission trip is an incredible way to experience God's power and allow him to use you to serve others, but we're not always ready to be used by God in that way.

Don't apply for a mission trip if you...

5. Have always wanted to go to Africa/Haiti -- it's not about tourism
4. Want to make up for doing some lousy things in the past -- you can't earn God's favor
3. Feel that you have some great gifts and talents to offer -- it's not about you
2. Want to dig a well -- our mission trips are about building relationships not buildings
1. Can afford it and think it would be fun -- it's about loving God, others and making disciples

Please do apply for a mission trip if you...

5. Feel unqualified -- trust me, I do too
4. Want to connect with others at Nativity -- our teams grow very closely together
3. Have a heart for the people you'll be interacting with -- God designed you that way
2. Are in a Small Group and Ministry and are wondering what's next -- it's your next step
1. Went 5/5 on the "don't apply" list -- God might want to change your life!

summer trips

Nativity Missions is making Church matter by influencing the world for Christ. We mobilize members to grow in their relationship with God by creating environments where we love others and make disciples through local, national, and international partnerships.

We believe that it’s all about relationships – connecting people in our community with those outside our church. Jesus gave us the ministry of reconciliation and told us to be witnesses to the ends of the earth, starting with our own neighborhood and extending to the ends of the earth. By sending mission teams to build relationships with our international partners, Nativity Missions aims to empower others to glorify God and live with dignity and to embrace the call that God has put on our lives to be witnesses to our faith. We’re all broken, just in different ways. By walking with others in relationship, we believe that God will change our hearts and use us to change the lives of others.

Our upcoming summer mission trips are great opportunities to put your faith into action and get connected to others at our local church. You'll learn more about the vision God has given our church, how he's called us to engage with our partners, and the larger work that he's accomplishing in the world. Our missionaries grow a close connection as a team, praying for and encouraging one another, having fun and facing challenges as well as looking inward and reflecting on topics like grace and brokenness.

As you consider these opportunities, I encourage you to learn more about our strategic partners on our website (churchnativity.tv), pray and ask God what trip he might be calling you to apply for, and attend the Mission Trip Info Sessions where we'll be talking about some specifics and answering questions about the different trips.

APPLY FOR A TRIP HERE

it's not about you

This wraps up the end of the vision and values "blog series." To recap, in no particular order, the values that Nativity Missions hold near and dear to our hearts are

partnership -- relationship -- story -- dependence -- growth

prayer -- life-change -- generosity --  focus

and the last value is...

it's not about you

"It's not about you." is the first line of Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life. And it's true.

"It's not about you." is the introduction to a book all about living out the calling that God has placed on your life. Living out God's purposes is the only real way to experience true and lasting joy and fulfillment, and it begins by realizing that we're not the center of the universe. God is, God was, and God will always be. God is the main character in the story of your life and of life itself. He's the unbegotten begetter. He's upholding and sustaining creation right now. And he's the only one in control of bringing the world to an end.

Nativity Missions begins with realizing it's not about you. It's a little backwards that this is the last value, because it's foundational not just to Missions work but to Christian life. We are participants in God's story -- granted, we're chosen, adopted, and appointed to do God's work, but it all comes from him and ultimately it's all about him. At Nativity, we care more about seeking and living out God's purposes for our church than we do about personalities, opinions, and ideas that come from men.

"But Peter and the apostles said in reply, 'We must obey God rather than men.'" Acts 5:29

All these values are our attempt to stay obedient to the vision God has called us to pursue:  making Church matter by influencing the world for Christ. I do pray that these values will be absorbed into the culture of your teams and visible by the way you interact with one another.

focus

Here's one of the last posts on the values of Nativity Missions. Have you been following this series? Have you found them to be helpful and informative? Do you agree or disagree with any of the values? You're always invited to leave a comment with your thoughts; we're dedicated to being life-long learners and the best ideas come from conversation -- chime in! Today's value is

focus

We've been commissioned to go, literally, to the ends of the earth with the Gospel message. That gives us a world of possibilities for our work (pun intended). Nativity's strategy of partnership means that we're embracing our limitations, it gives us a system to practice the value of focus. We could do a hundred things, maybe even a thousand things in an effort to serve others locally, nationally, and internationally. We could spread out our resources across initiatives like food drives, clothing drives, and diaper drives, dresses for Haiti and pennies for the poor, serving homeless men and single moms and children and the elderly, and on and on. These things are great, but it's not the best way for our community to engage. Nativity chooses to focus our efforts, to do a few things and to do them really, really well.

Valuing focus gives us direction for our partnerships and it informs the way we operate internally as well. Missions is one of many great environments for growth at Nativity, so we have a focused approach to promotion giving equal footing to each opportunity. Focus also gives us the ability to measure our results. Perhaps you've had experiences like me where you have volunteered to serve a meal at a local soup kitchen, an experience that is almost exactly the same each time you serve, week after week, maybe year after year. We want our partner communities to change as a result of our involvement. Focusing our efforts helps us make the maximum impact, measuring our efforts, being wise stewards of our resources.

growth

We're about to wrap up this short series of posts about Nativity Missions values. I hope that it's been helpful for you -- and if you're just tuning in, I encourage you to check out the last ten or so posts to catch up. Our vision is making Church matter by influencing the world for Christ, and our values set the tone and trajectory for how we pursue that vision. Today's value is

growth

When we say growth, we mean spiritual growth or discipleship, growing specifically in the area of our relationships with Jesus, our individual walks of faith with Christ. When asked what it is to do the work of God, Jesus responded "This is the work of God: to believe in the son whom he sent" (John 6:29). Our movement begins with our own discipleship. And our influence is limited by the extent to which we're willing to surrender. As Christians, seeking God's face and his will for our lives is first and foremost. If we gain the world by lose Christ, all is lost.

Growth happens in different ways in all sorts of different areas of our lives. The environments that Nativity promotes for growth are Ministry and Small Groups, and as missionaries we believe that these environments are essential to a growing relationship with Jesus. Ministry at the local church that reaches out to those seeking God, and fellowship with other believers in a safe, challenging, Christ-centered group give us tools for growth that we cannot find elsewhere. NativityMissions values growth, and these environments promote, encourage, and facilitate growth. Discipleship is fundamentally about surrender, giving up more and more of ourselves to God to be used by him. We cannot be used by God to influence the world unless we're seeking him and growing in relationship with him.

generosity

Thanks for checking out the Nativity Missions blog -- we're having a little discussion about our values, those things that set the tone and trajectory for how we get things done. There are quite a few, so look back to the past couple days to catch up. Today's value is

generosity

Giving sacrificially, being good stewards, bringing the whole tithe to the storehouse is a huge part of being a disciple of Christ. Jesus talked a lot about money because he thought it was important, so we take him at his word and believe that our obedience in this area of our lives, our finances, is key -- after all, where our heart is, there will our treasure be. Generosity is not just a value for our missionaries and our leaders but also for our church.

As a priority, Nativity is committed to giving away a percentage of our income to support the work of our strategic partners, and we're committed to growing that percentage over time. (Over the past few years we've raised money through direct gifts and our Advent Conspiracy campaigns. Moving forward, tithing our income to Missions creates a sustainable system for funding projects, it models stewardship for our congregation, and allows us to commit ourselves to long-term projects.) We also believe that it's of great value for our team members and missionaries to be giving sacrificially to support the work of the local church. Generosity sets the tone for our Missions efforts. We're able to love because Christ first loved us. We joyfully and generously give to God what is rightly his, knowing that he's doing a great work in our hearts while using our resources to do a great work in the world.

life-change

Here's another post about the values of Nativity Missions. Our values are principles that we believe are essential to the way we carry out or work. They are words to live by, things to be mindful of, attitudes to adopt as you carry out mission work at Nativity. Today's value is

life-change

A few days ago I wrote about our value of story. That post talked about the value of telling stories of life-change, but maybe I should have posted about life-change first... In church world, the numbers don't tell the whole story. Numbers matter, they represent lives, but attendance, giving, program sign-ups, etc. don't give us the full picture. Changed lives is the win for Nativity. The Gospel message isn't meant to just influence, inspire, or educate people, it is meant to completely change lives from the inside out. Life-change is the win, but it has a twist...

We don't have the power to change lives. (If you do, please leave a comment or e-mail me!) But God does. He wants to change us, to make us completely whole and perfect in him. The part we play is in preparing the atmosphere, creating the environment in which God can move and work. We prepare our own hearts to be used by God and we prepare experiences (like short-term mission trips and small group discussions) where God can show up. He said he would give us the holy Spirit and power to be witnesses locally, nationally and internationally. We're after life-change, only God can do it, so we do our part to set the stage and expect him to show up in big ways.

dependence

Thanks for tuning into this series on values. Nativity Missions is all about making our Church matter by influencing the world for Christ. In order to be used by God to carry out such an amazing task, we have a few values that we think are very important to our culture and the way we engage in our communities locally, nationally, and internationally. Today's value is

dependence

No fruit can be borne apart from the vine. God wants us to rely on him, depend on him, lean on him. Our Mission work, if it can be accomplished by our own power, would be worth nothing. We set our goals high so that when they're accomplished, God can take all the credit. When we depend on God, he gives us the grace to bear fruit, and by that our Father is glorified. Check out John 15 for a picture of what it's like to abide in God in your life.

Nativity Missions has been a part of accomplishing some pretty awesome things, we're involved in some fairly risky things, and we'll continue to set our sights on even more amazing things in the future. God is a god who loves to provide for us, he loves to show up for us when we put our faith in him. One of the ways we remain mindful of our dependence on God is through prayer, accepting that he can do immeasurably more than all we ask of imagine. We believe wholeheartedly that God is good and that he is great -- that God's promises are true and that he has the power to carry them out in our lives. Nativity Missions values dependence on God; when we depend on his provision he honors our faith and blesses us with what we need.

partnership

Over the next few days I'll be blogging about the values that Nativity Missions holds. They're not in any order, and they're all important. Values are principles that we believe are essential to the way we carry out or work. They are words to live by, things to be mindful of, attitudes to adopt as we carry out mission work at Nativity. Today's value is

partnership

Nativity Missions carries out all our Mission outreach and service through strategic partnerships locally, nationally and internationally. Partnership is a core value for missions because it allows for us to make a maximum and measurable impact. Church of the Nativity is a church; we're not a soup kitchen, a school, a homeless shelter, we're not experts at providing treatment for AIDS patients in Africa or equipping men and women to enter the workforce in Baltimore City. Our focus is to reach disconnected Catholics in Timonium by creating irresistible weekend environments. But, as a church, we are called to be relevant in our community, we're called to serve others, and we're called to spread the Gospel outside of our community. Partnership makes that possible.

By partnering with other organizations and churches that do understand the assets and needs in their own local communities, we can build relationships with partners that bring about lasting change. We can be a blessing to other organizations, offering resources to further the already amazing work they are doing, while still remaining focused on our vision and mission. Partnerships also give us the ability to measure our impact. By sustaining long term partnerships, we can see how God is using our relationships to bring about change in those partner communities, rather than spreading our efforts across a variety of initiatives and not making a significant impact.