What Is a Missionary?

What is a missionary? I mean, really?

Is it a full-time minister to India?

Is it a nurse to Mongolia?

Is it a school teacher to the inner city?

It's hard to tell these days. I heard someone once make the statement that she wasn't a "real" missionary. She had been traveling on a short-term mission trip, sharing the message of Jesus Christ every single day. But she didn't consider herself a missionary. Not in the purest sense of the word. Why?

Because she wasn't like the missionaries of old she had heard about while growing up in church. Not like the nice people her family invited for potluck dinners. Not like the characters in the old missions books she read. Not a spiritual heroine (at least, not by her estimation).

I think she is wrong.

A missionary in the general sense of the word is defined as, "One who is sent on a mission." My definition of a Christian missionary is someone who joins God in His mission on earth. This is often referred to as the "missio Dei" or "mission of God." A missionary is a minister in the sense that every Christian is called to minister--that is, to be a servant to others.

A missionary is anyone called by God, which is everyone who calls themselves a Christian.

In other words, you are a missionary.

The Children's Home is well along it's way to completion. The brick walls will now be put in place along with the windows and doors. If you would like to help in the finishing of this work, please Donate Now however God is leading you.

Prayer Requests
That God will provide a new US office.

That God will continue to work mightily in the land of India. 

Please pray for God's grace day by day. Satan is working overtime to discourage all of us and to prevent the vital work of this and many other ministries working within India.   

Asia International Mission is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry. 

All gifts are tax-deductible and 100% of donations are used as designated

Urgency

If we who know Jesus need Him, how much more do those around us need Him? Every person who does not know Christ is a dead person, for life comes only through Christ. So they need Jesus. If every believer were to tell one person about Jesus, what would this world be like? As the days go by, I ask myself the question, "What am I doing Lord?" My life is supposedly all about you,yet so many times I let it be about me.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)

What if we lived life based on these verses? Would we talk, dress, behave the way we do? Would we miss a chance to tell someone about Jesus? If these two commandments were on our hearts all the time, what would our life be like? These days, I seem to reflect on my life quite a bit. And as I begin to realize how short I fall from these commandments, I praise God for Jesus my Savior who forgives and covers up my shortcomings. Daily I look to see what I have done. Sometimes I'm proud of myself, other times I feel I could have done more. But if I lived every second of my life according to these verses, wouldn't my life be different?

Urgency, do you sense it?

Do you see the dying people around you? Do you sense the Spirit prompting you to say something? I do. It's not because I do the right thing all the time that I ask these questions, but because my heart aches for the lives that are doomed for hell unless we tell them about Jesus.  For He is the answer to all life's problems.

Urgency, do you sense it?

Please pray with me this week as I feel this urgency. Right now, during this time God has granted me, I want to live like I've never lived before, and want others to experience it also.Will you pray for me, and for the boldness I need?

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."   (Galatians 6:9)



Prayer Requests 

Pray for a harvest of new believers in India! Jesus said, "...Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest." (John 4:35)

Pray that young people will respond to the challenge of missions.

Pray that we will make use of every opportunity to serve Him and give Him the glory.

Asia International Mission is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry. 

All gifts are tax-deductible and 100% of donations are used as designated

Getting to the Heart of Poverty

                                                                          

We've all seen the awful pictures of emaciated little children, video scenes of long lines of desperate parents seeking help for the ones they love in fly-infested Africa or people living off the garbage piles in India. It breaks our heart and we wish something could be done to "fix" the problem and end the suffering. We feel helpless against such overwhelming need. Can anything be done?

Does the Church of Jesus Christ really have a solution to this problem?

There are many believers who feel that caring for the poor is one of their highest priorities. Others say that church planting and discipleship must take priority.  Perhaps God has called us to do both in ways that reinforce each other. But how do we go about helping to raise people out of poverty? Is it even possible?

Regardless of how good our intentions are, without the essential foundation of biblical character all efforts to overcome poverty will fail. There is nothing wrong with helping people, but we must focus our efforts on what helps people get out of poverty--not keep them continually dependent on outsiders for their survival. 

The Bible teaches that poverty ultimately derives from the fall of man and the four broken relationships that have resulted. These are with God, with others, with ourselves, and with creation as a whole. These broken relationships have affected us, but has become a crushing burden for the poor that satan has has used to convince the poor to believe a lie and keep them in poverty. These are the lies of fatalism, victim-hood, and powerlessness. They have lost hope that they or anyone else can change their circumstances. These lies must be defeated. And they can only be defeated by presenting them with the truth of God's love and power through Jesus Christ, which is just what the church is best able to provide.

Without a moral structure based on biblical principles, short-term self interest becomes the prime motivation, and people will lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want instead of doing the hard honest work that builds the trust and spiritual capital that makes successful economic interaction possible. Transformed lives are the foundation upon which any society can build and economy and overcome poverty.

AIM is seeking to change the lives of the people in India through building a relationship with Jesus Christ who alone is the source of true freedom and hope.

We are beginning to plan for next year's needs. Upcoming plans include increased Bible distribution, several evangelistic meetings in the north of Andhra Pradesh, and in the state of Karnataka, and an increased effort to reach out to the Lepers of India by providing food, water, clothing, and the gospel. Every $100 will provide 400 Bibles. You can help with a special gift or regular monthly commitment going here and Donating Now.

Prayer Request   

Pray for Johnpaul, his wife Sudha Rani, and their children as they faithfully press on in the kingdom work.

Pray for new partnerships to be formed throughout the world in supporting AIM
Pray for the ministries: Orphanages, Pastors, Churches, Lepers, and reaching the lost in India

Pray for the Unreached  Aghori of India  

Population: 66,000                                                 
World Popl: 66,000                                                                                                                               
Main Language: Hindi                                                                                                                             
Main Religion: Hinduism
Status: Least-Reached
Christ-Followers: Few, less than 2%          
   

    

Asia International Mission is an IRS approved 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry. 

All gifts are tax-deductible and 100% of donations are used as designated