Amongst the young adults at Salisbury Baptist Church, we play a card game called “We’re not really strangers”. In this game, we ask each other get-to-know-you questions from cards, such as “What title would you give this chapter of your life?”.
Well, to trigger my journey, Alana asked me one that could go into the Christian version of the game. Alana’s question was, “What’s stopping you from becoming a missionary?”. However, before I can tell you how I answered the question and how it transformed the past year for me, it’s important for me to give some background.
5 years ago
5 years ago, through quite an adventure that I see God throughout, I found myself here in Brisbane, working at Creation Ministries and coming to Salisbury Baptist Church.
These last 5 years, from age 17 (2018) to 23 (2024), have been incredibly formative, scary and exciting for me. This isn’t just my experience, it’s the experience of my generation. These are years of moving out of home, studying at uni, starting careers, and grappling with big questions.
During these years of my life, God placed me amongst a wonderful community and people who infused the Gospel and God’s love in my heart. In these formative years, I experienced first-hand the difference it made to be surrounded by people who brought me closer to God during these years!
"What's stopping you?"
Then, in May last year, it was incredibly encouraging to learn through Alana what Power to Change was doing... Especially for my generation.
Power to Change doesn’t just bring people to Jesus and then leave them a bit unsure what to do next. Instead, Power to Change is about Connect, Build, and Send. On campus, this is about connecting students to Jesus, building them in their faith through discipleship, and then sending them to share what God has done for them with others.
Campuses are also strategic for international outreach. On UQ, 40% of students are international from 141 countries (UQ, 2023). This is a hub where we can share the gospel freely, in an environment where these international students are naturally curious, from where seeds can be sent around the world.
Internally, I absolutely loved what Power to Change was doing and was inspired by it! Externally, I must’ve shown more interest and passion than I thought as then Alana asked me “What’s stopping you from becoming a missionary?”.
What was stopping me?
In that moment of self-reflection, I recognised that God had been removing my own personal desires, dreams and passions that would’ve been obstacles and replaced them with a heart for the Gospel and people. However, saying yes to Power to Change would be a no to Creation Ministries. This is what I shared with Alana.
I was keen to explore the idea, and in my mind, was hoping I’d be able to make a decision pretty quickly, as I didn’t want to leave either Power to Change or Creation Ministries with uncertainty. However, trying to make this decision quickly, left me quite anxious and stressed, torn at the very “seams” of who I was between Creation Ministries and Power to Change. So, after several weeks in this painful state, I recognised that I’d need more time to make a wise decision and just explore the options.
Exploration
For the next 6 months, I observed and explored without the pressure of making an immediate decision. I wasn’t passive though; I drew up pros and cons, spent time praying, discussed my situation with friends, read relevant books, and utilised resources to help. All this was good and helped me, however the most significant event that occurred was passive on my part, and quite accidental (reminding me a lot of my journey from Perth to Creation Ministries in Brisbane).
During these months I made a new friend through disagreement on theology. (As you do 😂.) We spent significant amounts of time discussing and debating our differences. Through this, I found a new appreciation for the importance of theology that I didn’t have before. So much so that I started to wonder if I should consider Bible college over Power to Change or Creation Ministries.
So now, being even more confused 😆, I found myself at a dinner by Power to Change for exploring and asking questions about being a missionary. This was an unexpected answer to prayer and my confusion, as I learnt that Bible college is part of a missionaries training. This returned me to the 2 options but with a new insight as to what God was calling me towards.
Gold Coast Schoolies
Then, last year in November, 6 months later, I went on Gold Coast Schoolies, a 2 week mission by Power to Change to reach school leavers on the Gold Coast.
It’s one thing to hear from others what God is doing and to feel passionate about it, but to be a part of it at Schoolies, to share the gospel with school leavers, to encourage and walk beside others of my generation towards God, and to see the difference in their lives—This, this felt like my heart “erupting” or “escaping” from my chest!
During Gold Coast Schoolies, we have a “Day with the Lord”… a personal retreat to spend time with God. My intention was to wait till after Schoolies to make a decision, however during my “Day with the Lord” no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, or push it further away, I couldn’t shake the conviction that God was calling me to join Power to Change. So, that evening, after a 6 month journey of exploration, I began the process of becoming a campus missionary with Power to Change! 🎉