This is the first in a monthly series (I'll try to remember to publish them on the first Friday of the month). It's about the life of the biblical prophet Elijah and how his life resonates today, particularly in the world of mission.
I am standing in a queue at a huge missions conference in Bogotá, Colombia in August 2017. It’s an event so massive, with thousands of people attending, that you can meet someone delightful in the queue for a meal and never lay eyes on them again. I have been a missionary in Colombia since 2008 and I know that I am going to leave Colombia within six months but I haven’t told anyone except my parents and my two best friends. I began my missionary career teaching English in a Bible Seminary in Medellín, Colombia’s second city, before working in a project training churches in areas affected by conflict to disciple the children in their communities. At that moment, I am just a little bit burned out.
In the queue I meet Myles Wilson, the world-expert on the financing of mission and writer of a book called Funding the Father’s Business. “I’m very well supported,” I tell him smugly, “I have never needed to ask for support.” “Look at the story of Elijah,” Myles counters. “God’s miraculous provision to Elijah in 1 Kings Chapter 17 is immediately followed by his need to ask for help from the widow. It’s not unbiblical to ask for help.”
This encounter sent me to investigate the story of Elijah again and although my reflections on the story have taken me in a different direction from the one suggested by that initial conversation, I will always be grateful to Myles for directing my attention to a story I thought I knew well. It turned out to be a very profitable seam to mine: first, with the help of my colleagues in my mission team, I was able to structure a whole weekend retreat of our mission team round the story of Elijah. We found so many helpful aspects that I think we got eight different talks, reflections and activities out of it. Later, when I returned to Scotland in 2018, I used the story of Elijah as the framework for my final missionary talks, allowing me to give the most candid talks I ever gave.
And now, I am publishing this on my Buy Me A Coffee site.