Encountering Purpose and Mission

What is Call?

All Christians are called to live and share the gospel wherever they are. What we mean by calling is a deep, abiding sense of passion and commitment to serving Christ  in another culture. That kind of calling needs testing – in fact calling is often a process more than it is a tangible thing – your family, local church leaders and pastors can all play a part. Interserve works with you to help make sense of calling.

Isn’t it dangerous?

Yes.  It certainly can be.  We get some help from the New Testament on this. First, Jesus tells us to expect threats to our safety if we follow Him. Then there’s the stunning example of Paul and the early church as they strived to take the gospel into regions hostile to them and their message. Indeed, Paul spent much of his ministry in prison, yet did so gladly and with tremendous impact.  Sometimes, safety and sharing the gospel appear mutually exclusive.

In reality, many safety concerns are largely unfounded. The media loves to report dramatic stories of fearful events in far-flung places. Yet most cross-cultural workers live and work in these so-called trouble spots safely and enthusiastically. We are just as likely to be a casualty on our own roads!

That’d be financial suicide!

Some people have thought the same about their flat screen TV…it’s about priorities right?  We live in a time and place that is experiencing more wealth than in the history of humanity. If you earn $50,000 per year you are one of the top 3% richest people in the world and there are 5,809,565,217 people poorer than you!

A report released by The Australia Institute several years ago found that Australians waste over $10.5 billion on goods and services they hardly ever use. To put that in perspective, this is more than the Australian government spends on all our universities and roads. Australians spend more on their pets than on charity. We CAN afford to send people cross-culturally.  However, it will require us to go against the flow of our culture which says it’s more important to buy a bigger house, get the latest must-have gadget or, dare we suggest it, build a new church building instead!

Is mission for you?

It’s a huge question.  If you can avoid a call to overseas mission, you should.  Really.  The point is, if you can avoid it, it’s more than likely not a call.  If you’re still interested give us a call!