Making Disciples of All Nations

David and Dana Santiago lead IC:Madrid in Madrid, Spain. They have served for nearly 25 years in missions.

There are few places where our call to make disciples of all nations is reflected more completely than in an International Church. The beauty of its nature is that the International Church is able to minister to many cultures and nations—all within a single gathering. God has allowed the International Church to be an instrument for sharing the good news to people from nations where the gospel cannot be taken. We have often said that God brings the nations to us when we are not able to go to them. In Europe, through recent situations such as the influx of economic and political migrants, the International Church is reaping a harvest of souls. People, especially those who have been displaced from their country, are hungry and searching for a sense of belonging. The International Church satisfies that need and becomes family for those who are far from their own families.

Unlike a national church, an International Church uses English as the common language, which becomes a connecting point for many who come from all over the world. Those who are new to foreign country, whether as students, refugees, cross-cultural workers, or simply tourists often look to connect with a body of believers who speak today’s global language. Interestingly enough, for the majority of those who attend the International Church, English is not their primary language, but it is the language that best helps them to adjust in their new surroundings. And the International Church helps to ease that transition of adaption to the local culture by providing community in Christ.

When the economic crisis hit our nation of Spain in 2008, our church, the International Church of Madrid, as well as other churches, felt the hit as well. Our congregants struggled financially, which in turn affected the church. Many returned to their home country or simply could not afford to pay the cost of public transportation to attend church, much less give their tithes and offerings. Everyone was living in survival mode. Church attendance dwindled and we subsequently lost our building.

The Spanish sovereign debt crisis turned around in mid-2012. Simultaneously we also experienced a defining moment as the International Church Madrid. We were slowly recovering but knew that God had clearly spoken about the direction the church needed to take. That turning point came when we took a step of faith and moved from the outskirts of the city into city center. Financially this was not an easy decision because we knew that moving would be a big challenge. However, we also knew that location was key for success of reaching the International community that was primarily located in the center of Madrid.

This proved to be the case. We began to grow by twenty-five new people each month. Within three months of being in our new location, we had outgrown our facility and had to launch a second service. By the end of that year, we were facing the same dilemma and launched a third service, then a fourth. Sundays were exhausting to say the least.

It was evident that God was doing something amongst the international community in Spain. God was gathering a multicultural and multinational group of people to a common place. Not only did it prove a sense of community and belonging, but of identity. International Churches provide identity for those who can’t identify with the nationals of that country, either because of language or cultural differences. It provides the place where they can gather and have that fellowship with those in similar circumstances.

When Jesus said to go into all the world and make disciples, we see a mandate that the International Church can fulfill. By being a connecting point for all nations to gather, the International Church creates a sense of belonging, community, and identity for those who are searching. In this changing world, God is using the International Church as an instrument to bring hope and healing to these multicultural and multinational people groups as he brings the nations to us.

A Pandemic of Opportunity

2020 was a year to remember. Many say it was a horrible year - a year of restrictions. In Romania, we felt the same at first. When the pandemic first reached Romania, we were not sure how it would affect our Business as a Ministry, The American Cafe. We had to let go of national workers right after expanding. The church meeting in person was restricted or forbidden on occasion. Everything we were doing here in ministry was put on hold.

Initially we were busy making needed updates to the cafe. After a few months without gatherings or business, restrictions were lifted. We were excited to operate semi-normally again. Then another set of restrictions and closures came. This second time around felt different. We started to see how the pandemic was affecting our committed churchgoers and our regulars at the cafe. God showed us opportunities to reach the people and to be the church in caring for one another. We brought food to many of our churchgoers and helped an elderly lady who was living in the dark and barely got out of bed. The church came together to clean her small apartment. We gave her clothes and got her power back on so she could have heat during the winter. We saw one of the newer believers in our church step up to visit her daily and bring her meals.

The pandemic started with feelings of lost opportunities and restrictions. God opened our eyes to be the church and take care of needs right in front of us. He gave us the ability to minister to our church body and then go beyond to help those that weren’t apart the church. Sometimes it takes a new perspective to see that ministry is available everywhere and the church does not exist solely within the walls of the church we build for ourselves.

Loving Your Neighbor During Lockdown

To work among refugees is to work with people who are living life not as originally planned. How familiar has that concept become this year for those of us who are blessed to have a country of our own? Here in economically depressed Sicily, countless refugees are trying to rebuild their lives with bricks that seem to be made of sand.

I returned to Sicily for my third year as a missionary associate just weeks before the lockdown began. Instead of gathering supplies to teach an art class to Pakistani children, I found myself buying masks, nonperishables, and extra hand soap.

But even in lockdown there were opportunities to connect with refugees in the community. In April my friend’s daughter asked me if I would do an Easter craft with her. She expected to make an Easter bunny or maybe a painted egg. But through the power of the internet, we each designed and colored a garland of palm leaves for her bedroom. We talked about why Palm Sunday is so important in light of the Easter holiday she has watched with her schoolmates observe since arriving from Pakistan. It was another chance to sow a seed of hope during a season of panic.

The conversation I had with my friend made me continue to reflect on the story of Palm Sunday. That day the crowds had a distinct expectation that Jesus would deliver Jerusalem from their oppressor, Rome. The plans the Palm Sunday crowd held in their hearts were ripped in two the morning the news reached their homes that the Man from Nazareth was towering over the city not on a throne - but on a cross.

The disappointment of the crowd stood out to me this year. Along with everyone else, my year was not going as planned. I thought I would be in the middle of teaching classes and reconnecting with old students and their families. The little gifts I brought for friends remained tucked away in my luggage.

Just the other day I ran into a student and his mother in the piazza. He had grown so tall since the lockdown began, I didn’t recognize him at first. I stood up and greeted them. After inquiring about how things were going with me, his mother lamented at their canceled summer plans. They would have traveled to Morocco to visit family. She looked at me with uncertainty and said, “Hopefully things will return to normal soon.”

This woman’s wish resonated with me. It was particularly hard for me to leave the United States this time around. It was not like leaving for the mission field for the first time when everything before me would be new and exciting. I looked forward to continuing to serve the ever-growing refugee community, but the sense of wonder of starting something new had worn off, and i knew the pain of being separated from my family. It was even more difficult to be apart from them during a season that prompted so many what-ifs. I realized that what-ifs whirling in my mind at the start of the pandemic were the questions my refugee friends had had to battle for years.

Some of those what-ifs have become what-ifs for my friends who have missed the weddings of sisters and the burials of mothers.

The burden of not knowing what the days to come will hold may have us feeling hopeless, uncertain, and if we’re honest, sad. But for one who finds hope in Jesus resurrected, though much has changed, much remains the same: eternal. Our Savior has still overcome death. Reconciliation with the Father is still ours. Our hope is still intact.

As for the refugee community, they continue to live life not as originally planned; the same needs they had before remain. Clothes still need to be washed. People still ail from non-COVID-related illnesses. Pantries are still bare. Fathers are still separated from wives and children. Hearts still long for the type of liberation only a Savior who rose from the dead can bring.

Laura Fazio serves as a Missionary Associate in Sicily, Italy. She has been serving the refugee community in Sicily since 2017.

Does God Put Us On Hold?

I remember being on the phone and getting put on hold. I also remember rotary phones and real operators for long distance, but that's not my point. It seems in this crazy, mixed-up world that most things have been put on hold. This waiting isn’t the normal type though, where we know what the outcome will be. This pandemic isn’t like waiting at a red light knowing that when it turns green, we will continue on the same journey.  The road ahead seems unknown. 

On the phone, we get anxious because we may be feeling ignored for ten minutes. In lockdown or quarantine, however, our feelings of anxiety elevate to a new, sometimes unbearable level as we gain on one full year of worldwide upset. Presidents, business owners, and students alike are yearning for life to get back to normal. While most people are waiting for this "hold" to end and “normal” to resume, I think God is up to something altogether greater in His Church.

The global pandemic has gone way beyond a bump in the road. What we saw as a long traffic light has become more like being stuck on the banks of a river, waiting for a washed-out bridge to be built in front of us. We don't know how long it is going to take. We crave human contact. We miss shaking hands in church or even going to church services, for that matter. Now, in a day when we barely use our "phones" as phones, and see most of our faces on Facebook, life feels disconnected. Social media loses its luster when human interaction is at all-time low. So am I, some days.

I wonder how Moses felt in the desert. I wonder how Mary and Joseph felt in Egypt- or the Old Testament Joseph, for that matter. I’ve been thinking about Paul more. What were those desolate missionary journeys like? How about the spaces between his destinations? What of His prison sentence? We tend to read the Scriptures in a way that superficially compresses time for Elijah, Job, Ezekiel, and many others. Stories in The Book of Acts that took years, take minutes to read. Are we in uncharted waters today in the church, or has God always "put people on hold?”

Holds are rarely pleasurable, but they may prove to be beneficial. Can we imagine the Scripture without the Exodus wanderings? Can we fully appreciate Jesus without the desert or His decades of unrecorded life events? Why do we consider those spaces to be sacred but not the holds in our own lives? We marvel at Jesus’ mastery of Scripture, but often simply relegate it to His Divinity. After all, He is the Word of God! What fails to rise to the surface more often is the fact that Jesus spent time as a boy memorizing and reciting and educating Himself. Yes, He developed during the intermissions of His Scripture story. He grew when He was on hold.

 It becomes imperative that we look beyond the here and now and see this time in light of God’s eternal purposes. What are your thoughts of how God might be developing you right now? Are you simply “getting through it”, or, are you “growing in it”? God is always leading us onward, to victory. Just like Jesus in His wilderness experience, The result of Him emerging from the desert wasn’t an ultimate victory over sin. That wouldn’t happen for us until the day He rose from the dead. 

There is a difference between being lonely and feeling abandoned. Is anyone today unaffected by loneliness, or at least, longing for the relationships and interactions they once took for granted? We are hurting from the losses. We may feel as though we are put on hold but we don’t have to feel abandoned. Viewing delays in my life from God’s perspective can produce patience and hope. Which lens or perspective are you using to view the world around you?

THE REAR-VIEW MIRROR OF LOSS

I can use the rear-view that only sees backward. This mirror is my memory. Looking through the rear-view mirror, I can only see where I once was as I speed ahead. The problem with a rear-facing view isn’t what we see, the problem is what we miss by not looking ahead. If we want to look through the rear-view mirror for more than just a split second, we either lose control and crash or we are forced to stop altogether. I am afraid that during this time of change and political upheaval, many in the church are looking in the mirror instead of looking ahead.

THE WIDE-ANGLE LENS OF FEAR

The wide-angle lens is my human eye. This lens is good at taking in lots of information, but it is short-sighted and tends to get focused on the negatives and the upsets. This lens is always taking in new information, too much in fact. In times of darkness, everything turns grim and dark. The lens of fear takes in more information than I can process and it tends to produce a distorted view. The lens of fear informs and fuels my complaining and discontent. The view through the lens of fear often looks a lot like my television or phone screen. The good news is, I can decide which lens to look through.

THE TELESCOPIC LENS OF HOPE 

There is another lens: the lens of hope. The lens of hope sees near-to-far and originates in the heart. This lens is my spirit vision that sees through eyes that are provided by The Holy Spirit. The lens of hope sees beyond today’s losses and the short-term tragedies and brings the future into view. The lens of hope can provide much-needed perspective and revelation of God’s plan even when we are “on hold”. This lens brings clear vision when the world around us is in a fog.

As I look through the rear-view mirror of loss, my heart hurts for what I cannot do or experience any more. I mourn what has been stripped away. The lens of fear puts me on the defensive and can paralyze me with anxiety over what is happening. However, a quick look through the lens of hope reassures me that God is not finished with His plan to engage the church in a new and more effective way. We are being forced to think about how the church engages online and in the marketplace more than ever before. These are all positive things that would not have taken place without this hardship.

It is important to learn to see through they eyes of The Spirit. What is God speaking? Is he drawing you closer to Himself during this time of global crisis? How have you responded to your disappointments and dilemmas? God has the answers to the questions you are asking. Stop, close your physical eyes, and take a long look through the lens of hope Jesus is offering you right now. In this time of shock and sadness, He will bring you peace and promise.

Ryan & Angela serve as missionaries in Wales.