Relational Care: The Heart Beat of Avant

“You’re a Missionary? So you must be…” Many of us can fill in the blank.  For better or for worse we all come to the question of ‘what is a missionary’ with our own perceptions which have been shaped by our own unique experiences and sources of influence. This can be a powerful motivator - the rich missions history we have as believers is full of wonderful examples to press us into the mission that Jesus has left for us to walk in. Hudson Taylor, Maude Carey, Jim and Elisabeth Elliot - amazing people with amazing stories that have shaped many of our perceptions of what a missionary should be. And therefore for many of us - who we should be. 

The interesting thing about this is that as you dig into the stories that were just mentioned we find that though God did extraordinary things through these people - they were actually very human. And what did this mean? It means they were sinners saved by grace, who felt the affects of the fall. They are people who though they have experienced the saving grace of Jesus, were also people who were being made new day by day as they struggled on towards future glory. Complicated, hurting, joyful, depressed, anxious, courageous people that God was redeeming and using to accomplish His purposes. 

We are finding these same things, not surprisingly, are also true of Avant Missionaries. We are a group of people who are humans being transformed by the gospel. Being used for extraordinary things, yet dealing deeply with our own weakness, struggle, and sin. In our role in member care, we are getting the opportunity to get into people’s individual stories. And what we are finding is real people, with real gifts, with real sin, with real faith, and with real struggle.

But how do I know this? How can I reference the contents of our missionaries hearts? Because Avant has set aside people and resources for people to be cared for in real and intentional ways. To create space where our members can feel safe to be known, as well as resourced as need be. Our hope is that member care will be used by the Lord to bring relationship where there would have been loneliness. That these relationships will be used to bring truth where there were lies. May the relationships in Avant Ministries continually grow into these types of redeeming images of who our Lord has made us to be.