It’s a big world after all!

Peter Baker | 22:19, Saturday, 2 October 2010

Met a guy called Pete Baker on Tuesday - and with a name like that he’s got to be OK! His bag is Pais UK (google it).  I love their strap line: “missionaries making missionaries.” He was on his way to Arlington Texas for a Global Summit of other Pais Directors. Among them some very good friends of mine I visited this summer, Rob and Keren Johnson, who are Mr. and Mrs. Pais USA.

Then I really enjoyed a Highfields Missions CentrePoint on Thursday.

We heard from a woman whom we have prayed and supported into ministry among UK Prisons. Then there was another woman who explained her vision for setting up a special English Conversation class in Highfields to help Asian women. Did you know that there are 11 Mosques in Cardiff, and the one planned to be built at the bottom of our road is going to be seven stories high and 3000 people strong?

We were also treated to a Friends International video. Did you know that there are over 10, 000 International Students coming to Wales this term, and 4, 000 of them are based in Cardiff?!  Alison Williams told us about the exciting strategy of UCCF Wales for reaching students with the gospel.

We also heard about a ground breaking, creative initiative for a Christmas nativity in the City Centre - complete with actors and puppets. Did you know that 55% of primary school children have no real idea of the Biblical nativity narrative?! 

Roger Pomeroy shared with us his plans to return to Pakistan to see what is happening on the ground after the floods, and how the 5k we gave is being spent. In similar fashion Hywel Meredith, Wales Director of Tear Fund, thanked us for the gift of 10k we sent towards relief work in Haiti, as it used to build schools and orphanages.

Finally, we heard about the Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, where 4000 Church Leaders, the largest gathering of such people ever, will meet to construct a Missions agenda which will shape the global church for the next generation. Our Mission Partner, Lindsay Brown, is the Director, and our Missions Pastor, Phil Jenkins, will be in attendance. And we can all be there because Highfields is one of the two sites in Wales to have a live satellite link to some of the conference sessions! 

Just as we were finishing, a delegation of mainland Chinese turned up – family and friends of Ray and Apple (British names!), who are getting married on Saturday. Apple was baptized two years ago among us.

Big God, Big world, Big mission! And for that we need a Big heart!!

So I sat this morning and prayed; “Lord, enlarge my capacity to see how wide is your mercy, how deep your love, how high your purposes and how long your faithfulness.”