Mission Resolutions

A new year. I don’t know about you, but I am thankful for this annual cycle. While I don’t necessarily like that it means adding another year to my age, there is something exciting about resetting my calendar to January 1. It’s a time to reflect on the previous year, rejoicing in the successes, and yes, mourning the losses. It’s also an opportunity to reevaluate my priorities and recommit to living with more purpose.

I am also keenly aware that it means we are one year closer to Jesus’ coming. And with that perspective comes the realization that before me stretches another 365 days of opportunities to participate more fully and intentionally in God’s mission.

As we begin a new year, I want to challenge you (and myself) to make some New Year’s resolutions to help us stay mission-focused. Here are just a few ideas to stimulate your creativity:

Personal Growth

• Pray daily for a missionary. Choose a missionary and pray for them the entire year. If you don’t know a missionary, your pastor can help.

• Read one (or more) books on mission or cross-cultural ministry to grow your understanding of mission or to learn about another culture or religious group so you are better equipped for mission, either locally or globally.

• Learn a new spiritual discipline, such as fasting, prayer journaling, or Scripture memorization, but with a missional mindset—asking how it shapes or equips you for service.

• Step outside your comfort zone each month—whether that’s initiating a spiritual conversation, serving in a new way, or engaging a different culture. Doing something we’re not used to doing is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to be strong in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9, 10).

• Reduce distractions, such as social media, entertainment, or overwork, to make space for missional living. Use the reclaimed time to engage in mission and outreach.

• Practice hospitality once a month by inviting someone new, such as a neighbor or coworker, into your home for a meal. Invest in getting to know your new friend. Then send them off with a prayer of blessing.

Local Mission

• Engage service personnel. Instead, take a few extra moments to have a short conversation with a cashier. Not sure what to say? Notice people’s eyes: they communicate a lot. Are they happy? sad? tired? bright and excited? Use those cues to connect. Not only do eyes communicate emotion; in many cultures looking someone in the eye and smiling communicates care. It says, “I see you,” and can validate and encourage someone if they are feeling insignificant or unappreciated, or are just having a tough day.

• Stock up on a variety of evangelistic sharing tracts you find interesting. Keep a few with you and share one with the bus or taxi driver, the wait staff, the hotel cleaning staff, the office security personnel, etc. Ellen White likened small tracts to the leaves of autumn—so spread them liberally!

• Engage your neighborhood intentionally. Draw or print a map of the homes in your neighborhood and write in neighbors’ names. Then make a point of meeting those you don’t yet know. Pray over your map each day and ask God for opportunities to be a channel of blessing. Then listen for His promptings and commit to following them.

• Adopt a “shalom” budget for generosity. Beyond your tithe and regular offerings, set aside a budget to bless others. Use it to buy a bouquet of flowers for a lonely neighbor, purchase school supplies for a needy child, pay the Uber fare for someone to come to church, etc.

• Share a personal testimony each month of how God is working in your life. You might share it with your Sabbath School class or small group to encourage prayer and deeper involvement in mission, or with someone you are ministering to as a way of showing God’s love and inspiring them to trust Him.

A new year is an opportunity to reevaluate priorities and recommit to living with more purpose.

Global Mission

• Adopt a missionary family. Learn about the country and culture the missionaries are serving in. Pray for them daily. If possible, send them encouraging messages. Living far from “home,” learning a new language, and sharing the gospel in culturally sensitive and appealing ways are challenging and can be discouraging. Let them know that you’re praying for the Holy Spirit to surround, protect, and enable them.

• Mentor a missionary kid. Like many Adventist youth, missionary kids often attend a boarding academy and/or university far from their family. The transition to living away from parents can be difficult. Even if they are studying in their passport country, missionary kids can experience significant cultural shock as “hidden immigrants.” Most missionary kids benefit greatly from adult mentors who can listen, offer practical support (such as taking them shopping or being a home away from home), and encourage them as they navigate their faith journeys.

• Pray for the unreached peoples of the world. Find a list of the unreached and pray for them. Adventist Mission has a plethora of materials that can help you, including a Prayer Map that guides you through praying for the world’s unreached cities.

• Support mission financially by setting a recurring monthly gift to Adventist Mission or your favorite mission organization.

• Go on a mission trip. There are many ministries that host short two- or three-week mission trips. Or if you’re ready for more, check out the mission calls on VividFaith.com, the church’s go-to site for mission opportunities. There you’ll find listings for volunteer needs, employment openings, locum tenens, remote jobs, group mission trips, etc.

Family and Church

• Choose a “missional family verse” each month. Find verses that motivate and challenge you to engage in mission. Commit to memorizing each new verse as a family and explore ways to apply them to your lives.

• Participate in a quarterly family service project that helps someone outside your usual circle. Paint an elderly neighbor’s shed. Serve a meal at a soup kitchen. Create and deliver welcome baskets for refugee or immigrant families. Host a community cleanup day. The opportunities are endless!

• Celebrate our global church. Dedicate one fellowship meal a quarter to celebrating the food and culture of another country. Challenge your congregation or children’s Sabbath Schools to learn a song or hymn in another language. If available, take time to watch Mission Spotlight videos (available online) or read the Adventist Mission quarterly. Pray for the church members and leadership represented by the food, language, or story and ask God to give them wisdom and courage to press forward in mission—and send them an encouraging card or email with a photo of your group.

• Mentor or encourage younger believers to step into mission-minded living. Christianity is so much more than going to church each week—it is a lifestyle, and young people are ready, willing, and eager to live purposefully. Encourage them by helping them find ways to do that. You might even sponsor one or two to participate in a short-term mission project—an experience that will change their lives!

The opportunities to be engaged in mission are endless! As you change your calendar to a new year, I pray that you will join me in committing to becoming a more mission-engaged disciple of Jesus and being more intentional about inviting people to join us in the discipleship journey. Let’s make the most of this new year—all 365 days of it!