Called to Serve? 5 Secrets to Starting and Finishing Well in Mission
By S. Crawley
"What are the things I can cultivate now that will serve and sustain me in the long race of life and ministry?"
This is a perceptive question, and it's always a joy to hear it.
When we sense God's invitation to dive deeper into the things He is doing around us and in the nations, the first question is often "What shall I do?"
But while projects and assignments come and go, our relationship with God (hopefully) deepens and endures. Our own character and transformation journey are in continual process. These are the things we will bring into eternity with us, and these are the things that will ultimately have the greatest impact on those around us.
Several decades into the journey of following Jesus and serving cross-culturally, here are 5 things I’d say to my 21-year-old self if I had the opportunity.
1. Commit to Pursuing the Father's Heart
Lean into His heart for you and for others—this underlies everything else.
It's not enough to know the words He says; we need to know His tone of voice when He says it. Because we can trust His goodness, His love, His wisdom, His timing, and His desire for us to flourish, we can abandon ourselves to His desires (Romans 12:1-2). As we delight ourselves in Him, the desires of our hearts become aligned with His and He releases them to us (Psalm 37:4). His heart is far bigger than ours, filled with more passions than we're capable of comprehending, but there are things He has shown us and is inviting us into.
What parts of the Father's heart have been revealed to you, and how are you responding? If we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, we'll have all that we need (Mt 6:33).
2. Stay Humble
(Worshipful, Realistic & Self-Aware)
Yes, we're chosen. No, we're not entitled.
God doesn't owe us anything. In the words of one of my friends, "The first lesson you learn from the Father is that you're special; the second lesson is that you're not _that_ special."
A three-year-old who thinks they're the centre of the universe is tolerable, even cute. A 25-year-old (or 65-year-old) who believes that is a menace. We can take nothing for granted except what God says about Himself and the promises He makes, remembering that the timing and exact outworking of those promises are in His hands alone.
He frequently leads His children into seasons of doing things they would rather not do - embrace that! The repeated pattern in Scripture is that faithfulness in unseen and uncelebrated tasks prepares us to be trusted with more.
The other side of humility is embracing the brutal truth about our wounds and brokeness - He sees everything (even the stuff in our hearts we're not aware of yet) and He still invites us to draw near and participate in what He is doing.
He is the loving Father, and we are the imperfect but deeply loved kids. This frees us to acknowledge our limitations and embrace assignments that are not so attractive to us.
We can trust His leadership, even when we don't understand it.
Proverbs 3:5-6 is a reliable life guide.
3. Take Note of Inspiring Examples
Who has God put around you that inspires you and gives you a picture of the child of God He is inviting you to become?
For me, there are a few people who shaped my early vision of faithful endurance.
When I first read the early books of the Bible, Caleb inspired me as someone who remained passionate and faith-filled across decades. We don't see much of his life, but the two glimpses we get are telling. His trust in God comes through strongly in the face of opposition at age 40 when spying out the land (Numbers 13-14). Then the same trust (and energy!) are there even after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness because of others' lack of faith (Joshua 14:6-14).
Geoff was a retired preacher in his late 80s whom I knew in my early years of following Jesus. Every year he was invited to preach at our community on "Finishing Well" and he would shares stories drawn on 70 years of experiencing God's faithfulness. I can still picture him - so full of joy that he would break out in laughter literally every few minutes.
Another leader in my life had spent twenty years serving cross-culturally in an unreached people group, enduring civil war with his family, before being relocated to lead (and significantly grow) a suburban church for 30 years. He then "retired" joyfully returning to his passion for unreached peoples.
Now in his mid-80s, he still works out daily at the gym so he can maintain a heavy travel schedule visiting hard places to mentor and teach.
Who do you see around you setting an example in their journey? There are precious lessons there!
4. Keep Learning
If we're not continually learning, we're becoming irrelevant - especially in increasingly complex environments like modern cities.
One of my middle-aged friends recently said, "I miss the days when I was 17 and I knew everything." We laughed because we remember being exactly there, and we've each had long and often challenging roads with God training that out of us. The older we get, the more we realize how little we know, but learning keeps us growing.
The earlier we can embrace this reality, the better it serves us.
5. Run Your Own Race, Sing Your Own Song
(In Community & Mutual Submission)
God has crafted us to make unique contributions to the Body of Christ and the harvest where He has placed us.
We need to learn from others’ examples or 'success stories' but be careful not to fall into a “copy and paste” mentality. Imitation of someone else's pattern can easily become an idol that distracts us from the Father's best.
At the same time, the Kingdom of God is not made of Lone Rangers doing their own thing and riding into the sunset. The Father reminds us of family - we need to find those He has placed around us and pursue our unique contributions in the context of team and community.
How has God uniquely shaped and formed YOU?
Who has He placed in your world to partner & journey with?
In a Nutshell
Our posture as we pursue God's invitations to mission or ministry is more important than what we do or where we go.
The foundations we lay now—drawing from living examples, pursuing His heart, walking in humility, learning continually, and running our own race in team/community — will serve and sustain us for the long journey ahead and position us for precisely the contribution He intends us to make in His Kingdom.
For Reflection
1. A Scripture - Psalm 37:3-7
What does this passage tell us about aligning our desires with God's desires? How does it speak to this season of life, and to your journey so far?
2. A thoughtful question
Where in your journey have you made the deliberate choice to pursue the Father's heart in hidden, uncelebrated ways? What was the fruit? How do you think it might be preparing you for what He has ahead?
3. A possible application
What tone do you 'hear' in the Father's voice? What is one practice you could cultivate this week that would help you know His tone of voice in addition to His words?
Discipling the Urban Harvest provides practical insights and encouragement to walk with God in multiplying discipleship in an increasingly urban world - growing as children of the Father, serving the communities He has called us to, and discipling those hungry to know Him.