Why are they lost?

When you think of someone who is lost, how would you describe that person? I would describe the lost person as a sinner, someone who is rebellious and making wrong choices, and either doesn’t know about God or doesn’t want to know anything about God. 

In Luke 15 there are three parables- the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. I was challenged on my idea of what being lost means by this chapter. What do these three stories have in common? A coin or a sheep can’t make bad choices and choose to be rebellious. The prodigal son was rebellious, and he did knowingly make bad choices, so what does the son have in common with the coin and sheep? 

Possibly, the reason these three stories of lostness are told together is to show us that our choices are not the measure for what makes us lost. The common thread that makes the coin, sheep, and son lost is because someone is missing them. The shepherd, the woman, and the son’s father are desperately missing them- THAT is what makes them lost. Our world is filled with lost people- and what makes them lost is not their ignorance or rebellion. What makes them lost is that our Father in heaven has a PLACE for them, and because they are not there, He is desperately missing them, and wants them in their rightful place. 

This challenged me this week, and I pray it challenges you also to not only see lost people as Christ does, but to then also do something about it with the people who are lost in your community and workplace and neighborhood. God has a place for them. 

-Meghan
Toronto Summer 

Effective Survey

We have so enjoyed meeting the missionaries and church members who are already hard at work in Toronto. I’ve heard so many amazing stories of how God is working in men’s hearts, and we’ve only been here a short time.

This summer, we’re working at two university/college campuses in the city, praying for people, surveying needs and telling students about the love of Jesus. We’re also going door-to-door in the suburbs, flyering for outreach camps and trying to build relationships. We even get to be a part of two healthy, growing church plants! The work is needed. Toronto is beautiful on the outside, but in their personal lives, people are hurting desperately for community with others and their Savior.

-Savannah
Toronto Summer

Please pray as we do community outreach every Thursday evening. We go into different neighborhoods in our church’s area, doing door-to-door surveying & inviting people to church with the goal of showing our desire to care for the needs of our community. Pray with us for fruitful conversations.

Team of the Day: Toronto Summer

Location: Canada
Team size: 3

Job description: The greater Toronto area is one of the most diverse urban centers in the world. 50% of the population was born outside of Canada. As one of the most post-Christian cities in North America, this city sees itself as environmentally responsible, tolerant & justice oriented. It has a "Good without God" attitude that clashes with the non-Christian faith of many immigrants. 

As a part of the local team you will: go through disciple making training, lead disciple making training for locals & volunteer teams, be a part of outreaches in parks, camps, block parties & young adult events.

Update from Toronto

I arrived here on Tuesday, June 12th, after a week of orientation and training in Alabama, which I’m so thankful to have been able to attend (even though it was a week of sleeping on the floor and using porta-potties, lol).

The missionaries we are working with in Toronto (who are amazing and a huge answer to prayer) picked us up from the airport and took us straight to where we are staying for the first two weeks of the summer. It’s right next door to their own home, where their neighbor rents out their basement for people vacationing in the Greater Toronto Area. We’re in the Scarborough area, and in the span of about 5 minutes, we can walk from our door to the shore of Lake Ontario! It’s such a huge blessing to be able to walk right out the door and see such a beautiful example of God’s creativity and perfect design.

You may already know that spending my summer serving in Canada was not my first choice (I had more “adventurous” places in mind), but simply through the placement process as well as the preparation to come here, the Lord pointed out some things in myself, and challenged whether I was really willing to be obedient to go wherever He wanted to send me, or if I was only willing to go if it was somewhere that fit my personal preference. Please pray with me that the Lord continues to use circumstances this summer to weed out my flesh and make me look more like Him! 

Something I didn’t know about Toronto: there are 57 unreached people groups (2% or less are evangelical Christian) and 34 of those groups are unengaged, unreached people groups (no known evangelical Christians, and no one is actively seeking to engage them with the Gospel) in the Greater Toronto Area. THIS IS BIG. Believers in Toronto have the opportunity to find these people groups and actively seek to witness to them and to be light in their communities so that these statistics can change. For so many years, the only possible way to reach these unengaged people groups was to journey deep into the bush, or jungle, or wherever, learn their language and live with them. THIS IS STILL NECESSARY for many people groups all over the world. But because of how our world is now, metropolitan areas especially have the potential to reach these once hard-to-reach people groups in their own cities, and these once nearly impossible to reach peoples are more geographically accessible than ever before. 

This summer, my team and I will be serving in many different ways- devoting time to engaging students at two different universities, coming alongside a church plant to aid them in engaging its community, as well as getting to participate in the beginning stages of a new church plant in a town just outside of Toronto called Bowmanville. These are all aspects of ministry that I’m so interested in and passionate about, which is just further evidence that the Lord definitely knew what He was doing when He surprised me with Toronto. 

The Lord is sovereign and good. He has a plan and that plan is good too. Please pray with me that I can fully walk in the authority of His Spirit and be continuously bold to share about the God who pulled me from my brokenness and sent me back to share with others, so that they too can have peace and joy in His presence. 

My teammates and I are memorizing verses this summer, and one of them so far that has not yet failed to remind me of not only why I’m serving in Toronto, but also why I serve anywhere in any context at all, is Acts 20:24,

I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me- the task of testifying to the Gospel of God’s grace.

Lastly, I hope this encourages you to take notice of the people around you in your own communities- people who are broken and looking for a way out of that brokenness. Please send me any prayer needs you have, I’d love to be praying for you in the same way I trust you’re praying for me and the team here! There's so much happening here, so if you have any questions about anything I’m doing here, please feel free to write me and ask!

-Meghan

Toronto Summer