I don’t know about you, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the world around me. Because I am a person who feels and thinks deeply, I am acutely aware of the frustration, the confusion, the disunity, and the weariness we are all struggling through. I wonder not just about our culture and our world today, but what these will become.
My deepest thoughts and prayers have included questions about what our role and response as Christians should be today. The answer God keeps bringing to my heart may seem so obvious that it doesn’t need to be stated. Yet, I think it does. In an increasingly divided society, it is up to us as Christians to unify and rally around the Gospel. Our loudest message should be that of hope in Christ.
Both Christians and non-Christians will rally behind various social justice or humanitarian causes. Many of these causes are worthy and noble. But we are the church. Our primary motivation and unifying purpose has been and should continue to be, rooted in our desire to help people accept Jesus as the ultimate solution for the brokenness of their lives. If we lose that purpose, we truly are lost.
I strongly believe in the role of the local church in defending and sharing the Gospel. Throughout the world, local communities of believers connect with and share Christ with the lost. It is the pastors of those communities who relentlessly work to unify believers towards that Gospel-centered purpose. That is why MPI’s core identity includes working in godly partnerships with pastors & churches.
We are the “connective tissue” between communities of believers here at home and in Ukraine. We don’t live in Ukraine, but our ninety-five Ukrainian Missionary Church (UMC) partner pastors do. They are true heroes of the faith. They and their church communities are praying with the hurting, counseling the broken, rescuing the abandoned, and guiding lost hearts to freedom in Christ.
You, our donor, are an integral part of this Gospel story in Ukraine. Your partnership with us in this Kingdom purpose goes far beyond financial gifts. We carry your love, your prayers, and your faith to these men and women of God. They send the same back, through us, to share with you.
I know that these pastors are committed to persevering and ministering, often with few resources. But together we can help them be even more effective. Our annual Christmas Blessing is a very special and much-anticipated gift for these pastors. The “Christmas Blessing” gives pastors special tools, like teaching books, that help them stay encouraged, be full of faith, and enhances their pastoral training.
We want to invite you to be a part of a pastor’s faith story and a part of growing the Kingdom of God in a Ukrainian community. You can give a Christmas Blessing Package to a pastor for $48. What better focus for our thoughts today than the unchanging, eternal hope of our Saviour? What better desire than to stand with those in ministry and encourage each other as believers on a mission?
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