I recently heard this story from Joanna Chapa, a Mission Mobilizer from the southern United States who recently returned from serving for several years in Peru. Joanna is a living example of a legacy of faith and discipleship only because someone else was first sent to her people two generations ago. This is her story:
I grew up hearing my Grandma Guadalupe often say, ‘Porque ellos vinieron, nosotros conocemos al Señor’ which means, ‘Because they came, we know the Lord.’ She was one of the first disciples of Mennonite Brethren missionaries from Oklahoma and Kansas who came to our south Texas community of La Grulla in the 1930s and 40s. Grandma remembered those missionaries by name and would often tell and retell us the stories of their love and compassion. She was so thankful for the freedom and purpose in Jesus that they passed on to her, and to us. She was always calling us to remember and not to forget. I can still hear her voice, saying, ‘It is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us!’ Like Timothy, I’ve had the gift of sharing the genuine faith that first filled my grandmother, Guadalupe, and then was passed on to my mother, Idalia. Also, like Timothy, I’ve had many Pauls (and Paulas) in my life. Each one has fanned the flame of faith in me, and because of that, I’ve been enabled to fan the flame in others! Grandma would say, ‘What we got, we now get to give!’ We were introduced to Jesus and now we get to introduce him to others. Now I like to add to her phrase, ‘Because they came, we know the Lord, and now we go and do the same!’
This is how a legacy of faith is built—we are invited by Jesus to follow him, to become like him, to enter into his kingdom, and to experience all that he has for us, and then we invite others to join us on this journey, one generation of faith to the next. It is a person-to-person journey with family, friends, and strangers. May we embrace this amazing invitation from Jesus today.
PRAY:
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For a personal renewal of your call to follow Jesus and make disciples.
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For our MB churches across North America to facilitate a disciple-making movement within our own families and our local context.
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For the effectiveness of Multiply’s mission training programs, that we would serve our churches well by helping to mobilize the next generation of disciple-makers.
