February 2012

Go and make disciples . . .

Something very strange has happened among Christians everywhere.  It’s now commonly (mis)understood that one can be a Christian without being a disciple. These days a disciple is usually viewed as some kind of higher-level Christian; discipleship as merely an option for the highly motivated.  But is this right?

Well, no, it isn’t.  Before there were any “Christians” there were only disciples (see Acts 11.26).  Disciples were, of course, those who had made a decision to follow in the way of Jesus Christ. Their faith and manner of life was so distinctive that onlookers dubbed them “Christians” meaning Christ-like ones. Their faithfulness to the way of Jesus was the defining feature of of their lives. Would that it were true of Christians today but studies reveal that there is actually little to distinguish Christians from the general population.  Truth be told, most of us are better Americans than we are disciples of Jesus.

There are a number of reasons why it’s generally understood as possible to be a Christian without  taking seriously what it actually means to follow Jesus but none of the reasons are very good.  Simply put, Jesus did not give his life to move us from Category A: “non-Christian” to Category B: “Christian” and then sweep us off to heaven when we die while ignoring the reality of life in this world and how we live it. Indeed, Jesus came to save the world. His call was and is to turn and follow him in a new way of being human. There is a new way to be a man or woman in God’s world. That new way of life comes in trusting in and then following in the way of Jesus.  Be his disciple!

At ServLife we are all about making disciples, followers of Jesus, for the sake of God’s purposes here in this world.  It starts with our care for orphans and children in extreme poverty.  Kids are being cared for discipled in the way of Jesus. Then there’s our discipleship training of men and women who will themselves go out into the villages and towns of Nepal and north India to make disciples and plant communities of faith.  And, also in our efforts to help families in poverty create sustainable sources of income, we are inviting, calling, urging young and old to turn and follow Jesus Christ in a new way of life.

Someone once observed, “‘Go’ means a change of location.”  That’s stating the obvious, I know, but it brings to our attention that Jesus’ disciples cannot just remain in the comfortable and seemingly secure circumstances of the present moment if they are to be his followers. Thanks to all of you who have joined us and sustain us in our going on for God!

Jeff Romack

ServLife Stories . . .

Moving (small) Mountains (Raxaul, India) – We are doing some serious landscaping on the property of the ServLife Children’s Home in Raxaul, India where we’ve been blessed with a wonderful piece of land and a purpose built facility for the care of children. Albert Das, the director of ServLife Empowering Society in India explains, “We need to bring a sizeable portion of our property up to grade in order to make good use of the land we’ve been given.  This involves bringing in many cart loads of soil in order to make the low places high.  Once we’ve got this done we will be in a position to use our land more productively as we work towards greater sustainability in all we do.”

Super Bowl and Human Trafficking (Indianapolis, USA) – Indianapolis, the home of ServLife here in the USA, recently played host to the SuperBowl.  Major events such as this draw large crowds and with the crowds follows all the dysfunction typical of human activity, including human trafficking.

During the week of activities leading up to the game ServLife partnered with Steps of Justice ”  of an Anti-Human Trafficking 24-Hour Prayer and Worship Event. ServLife’s Director of Operations, Adam Nevins, co-led a 2-hour block and Rachel Moss was on hand to speak with participants about ServLife’s work with orphans and children in poverty, the most vulnerable targets laying squarely in the sights of the traffickers. ServLife is working on the front-end of this issue in Nepal and India to do all that’s possible to make children safe.

Rachel Moss at the ServLife table

Adam Nevins leads worship

“The LORD executes righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed.”
Ps. 103:6