The comment surprised me: “You guys live with a different set of values.”
I was a weekend visitor in the congregation, invited to present a leadership and planning workshop on Saturday and to teach and preach on Sunday. Some of the elders invited me to share Sunday lunch. Also present was Roberto Miranda, a coworker in Latin American leadership training. Several of us were visiting after the meal.
The conversation naturally turned to missions and the task of building strong local churches. We talked about the challenges; we talked about the opportunities. Roberto mentioned my work as board chairman at Baxter, and I was delighted to tell of the difference Baxter graduates are making in various parts of the world. As the group talked about the need for leadership and effective teachers in the churches, Roberto described the Latin American leadership work as it has developed over several years. We talked about receptivity and our desire to respond as quickly as possible to needs. We shared the story about how more and more congregations and training schools are seeking to develop strong leaders.
I told how Jan and I have been dreaming for at least 35 years about the goal of paying our own way to serve in smaller struggling churches. Along the way, God turned our attention from domestic missions to international missions, but the goal remained, and our ministry and mission work today is the result of a decision made long ago.
Roberto’s story is also a story of God’s guiding hand, for his work in leadership training developed after years of work in the secular world.
As the conversation wound down, one elder remarked, “You guys live by a different set of values.” So it is with Christians. Call it what you will. “March to a different drummer–set your affections on things above–seek the kingdom first….” The description fits not only ministers and missionaries. It is for all who serve in the spiritual kingdom of our Lord Jesus. We live by a different set of values. May that difference be reflected in our lives today!