“Daddy, I’m packing my bags” our six-year-old daughter announced on 14 July 2012. “Where are you going?” I asked her. She replied matter-of-factly: “To the other side of the world to tell people about Jesus.”
My daughter’s missionary zeal that evening was brought on by last year’s Gen12 – a fantastic missions conference put on by BST. My wife and I had been wondering for some time whether God might be wanting us to think more about overseas ministry, and Gen12 was the perfect opportunity to explore that question very practically.
We took our two daughters (then aged six and four) along with us to the conference and they mostly played with their toys in the back of whichever room we were in. We didn’t really expect them to sit quietly and listen to what was going on.
The day was packed with interesting topics, the main speakers were so passionate and genuine about the importance of all different kinds of mission and the individual seminars were very down-to-earth and informative. We left feeling greatly encouraged and that we’d had many of our questions answered. Yet we never expected that later that evening it would be our six-year-old who felt moved to respond so immediately, so powerfully and so humbly to the message of the day. (Although we did have to explain that we weren’t going overseas quite yet so she could unpack her bags, at least for now!)
But thanks to the conference we were able to connect with Interserve and a number of other organisations, and have subsequently made contact with a group of dentists involved in mission work in Cambodia. Although we feel that the time is not quite right yet for us to go overseas, we have a great network in place for when God calls us and there are some interesting short-term possibilities on the horizon too.
Gen12 was inspiring and enjoyable; the seminars opened our eyes and gave us lots of practical information; and the time we had to connect with ministry organisations was very personal and meaningful. If you feel that God is calling you into mission but haven’t figured out where, when or how, I wholeheartedly recommend this year’s Gen12 on 20 July.
Just be warned: like my daughter, you might feel inspired to go home and pack your bags!
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