It has been a long time since I have written here – too long. I guess getting settled in a new culture and environment is more strenuous than I remembered.
But now we are ready to sink roots and fully invest ourselves into the task at hand: strengthen the church and help build His kingdom. I have some exciting areas to work with, and one of them is what we call ”missions”, or cross-cultural ministry. I think it was Todd Hunter, the successor of John Wimber in the US, who said, ”mission can never merely be what what we do, but what we are”. But what does that mean? The only reason there is a church is the fact that God has a mission: To redeem a people from every people, and to rule a kingdom over all kingdoms!
As His church we can never delegate this calling to any other entity or organization. I am totally convinced that God raised up missions organizations and so-called para church organizations, because the church was sleeping and not doing her job! But with the coming restoration that will change, and the mission of God will once again become the mission of the local church.
In order to raise the awareness for missions among us I have created a Facebook page that will hopefully inspire us, as well as connect us with our friends and partners in other parts of the world. Go check it out: www.facebook.com/StockholmVineyardMissions
On that page I have also proposed short-term outreach to Thailand from June 3 to June 19, 2013. The idea is to take a team and visit our four Vineyards there in order to bless and encourage them, as well as help with their social projects among the poor. Of course there will be plenty of time for sight-seeing and lots of fun! Spread the word and contact me for more information.
Let the kingdom come!
Norbert
