Miracles in mission often happen in unexpected ways, General Conference president Erton Köhler said during his message on the last day of the Mission Refocus Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, June 13. It is the reason God is looking for dreamers who can connect to the dreams He already has, Köhler emphasized.
The event in Thailand gathered more than 400 leaders, delegates, and representatives who are working to build bridges of understanding with major people groups of other cultures and faiths, especially those who live and serve in countries with significant Muslim populations. To that end Köhler reminded leaders, “God can use our imperfect strategies to reach hearts.”
The Power of Dreams
In the context of connecting with people of the Muslim faith, Köhler explained that there is a strategy that does not belong or depend on us: “Dreams,” he said. “It’s God’s strategy, not ours.”
Köhler explained how effective dreams are to reach hearts in some cultures. “But they don’t depend on us; God decides whom to reach this way,” he said. “The results are impressive.”
In the next few minutes Köhler shared real-life cases of people of non-Christian faith who received dreams—sometimes over the span of weeks—until they decided to act upon them. In some cases those dreams led them to a change of direction or major turnaround in their lives. “Imagine,” Köhler exclaimed. “Tonight God will give dreams to some people. . . . God will not wait for us to solve the outreach problem. He will arise in the middle of the night to reach those hearts.”
Bold Enough to Join God in His Work
Köhler explained that although this element of dreams can sound strange to us, in the Bible God often used dreams to open new mission frontiers. He mentioned Jacob in Bethel, Joseph in prison, Pharaoh’s dreams, and the ones God gave to the Babylonian king. He also referenced Joseph’s dreams in the Gospels. “God used dreams to open doors and hearts for the mission,” he said.
In the same way that God worked in the past, “He continues to reach hearts and open doors to the other children of Abraham,” Kohler emphasized. “So the question is not whether He is working; the question is if we are bold enough to be His partners when the people He has visited come looking for answers.”
In a missiological context, every major movement begins as a dream before it becomes a reality, Köhler said, as he mentioned Abraham, Moses, Paul, and the pioneers of the Adventist movement. “The future is born twice—first, in a dream and then, [it becomes] a reality.”
It All Started With a Dream
Based on the biblical story of Joseph, Köhler reminded mission leaders that before Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, saved Egypt, became prime minister, and preserved Israel, all he had was a dream. “He was just another son of Jacob until the dreams began.”
He was mocked for those dreams, Köhler reminded mission leaders. “They seemed the fantasy of a teenager who didn’t understand how the world works.” But, Köhler emphasized, “God rarely announces His dreams with trumpets,” as “dreamers come from ordinary families, ordinary backgrounds, and live in ordinary circumstances.” He added, “What sets them apart is not their credentials, family name, or position, but what happens . . . when they choose to believe and open their eyes.”
In that regard, “God’s dreams are not a reward but a calling,” Köhler said, “and like every calling from God, they arrived before Joseph, his family, or the world was ready.” He added, “The dream always precedes preparation.”
Straight From the Mind of God
Köhler also emphasized that from the very beginning, Joseph was recognized as a dreamer. When his brothers saw him, “they said to one another, ‘Look, this dreamer is coming!’ ” Köhler read from Genesis 37:19. “It became his identity,” Köhler said. “[His brothers] meant it as an insult, but God heard it as a title.”
Against that background of rejection, Joseph’s brothers thought that by killing the dreamer, they would get rid of the dream, Köhler said. “But they didn’t understand that you can silence the dreamer but not destroy the dream. Because the dream does not live in the dreamer’s story but in the mind of the God who gave it. And no thief, no betrayal, no false accusation, no prison cell, has ever reached deep enough” to kill God’s dream. So, in the end, “Joseph’s dreams didn’t only come true—God exceeded them!”
According to Köhler, that was God’s message to each Adventist attending the Mission Refocus conference, as God calls everyone to revisit the dreams He has given them. “Dust them off and [share] them aloud, and trust that the God who gave the dream from the very beginning intends to do far more that we can ever imagine.”
