Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S2-E8 | Everyday Eurasia | Esteban Juan Alcantara
Transcript
- 0:22This week we will join Esteban Juan Alcantara.
- 0:25He serves as a missionary, coordinating alongside his wife
- 0:28Sergei, the Missions Mobilization Ministry for the
- 0:31Eurasia Region. Together with their son Gael,
- 0:34they live in the United Kingdom, where they also serve by
- 0:37supporting the Diaspora Ministry in Barnsley, England.
- 0:41Esteban is deeply passionate about walking alongside those
- 0:45who feel called 2 Missions. He enjoys surfing the church
- 0:48through discovering, developing and deploying nursery
- 0:51missionaries, helping to mobilize and equip new workers
- 0:55for the mission field. Today he will speak about
- 0:58sending churches. Hello friends, today I want to
- 1:02talk about a church that refused to settle for meetings within 4
- 1:06walls and instead they choose to take an active part in God's
- 1:10mission. We live in times where the
- 1:13church has more resources, more tools and more opportunities
- 1:17than ever before. And yet there are still millions
- 1:21of people who do not know Jesus. In Eurasia region and around the
- 1:26world we easily can find large cities, small towns and rural
- 1:31community, including on rich people groups that are still
- 1:35waiting to hear the gospel. The mission is still very much
- 1:40alive and as we've been serving in this ministry, there are two
- 1:43question that constantly echo in our heart.
- 1:47The first one is who will go. But the second question, just as
- 1:52important and often even more challenging, is who is willing
- 1:57to send? Because God mission does not
- 2:00just move forward with people willing to go, but it moves
- 2:04forward with churches willing to listen, obey and send.
- 2:09When we read the book of Acts chapter 13 verse one till 3, we
- 2:16see that the Antioch church were a church with different meters.
- 2:20They have prophet and they have also teachers.
- 2:24They found themselves in the moment where they were fasting
- 2:27and praising the Lord that the Holy Spirit come to them and
- 2:31told them to set apart to set the bar Bonobas and soul for the
- 2:35word that God is calling them to.
- 2:38So after they fasted and prayed, they played hands on them and
- 2:43send them off. In this passage we find one of
- 2:48the Clarius model of ascending church.
- 2:51Antioch was a church sensitive to the boys of the Holy Spirit.
- 2:56They weren't just focused on programs and activities.
- 3:00They were a community of faith that were seeking God's
- 3:04direction through prayer. But they are also a church that
- 3:09knew how to discern. They recognize God, missionary,
- 3:13call on Barnabas and Soul, and understood that every believer
- 3:18has a purpose within the missions of the Kingdom.
- 3:21The Church of the Nazarene describes a missionary as a
- 3:24Christ like disciple set apart by the Holy Spirit.
- 3:28Send out and pray by the Church in a fear by Nazarene mission to
- 3:33cross cultural barriers for the purpose of a spreading biblical
- 3:37holiness. And that's exactly what we find
- 3:39here. The Holy Spirit calls and sets
- 3:43apart. The Church confirms the call
- 3:46praise and send out those who are called response in
- 3:51obedience, and the mission crosses border to take the Cosmo
- 3:55to other places and culture. Mission does not belong just to
- 3:59a few. The entire church participates,
- 4:03some are sent out all their support in prayer, even in
- 4:08disciple in, but everyone is part of God's mission.
- 4:13Something powerful happened in this passage.
- 4:16When the Holy Spirit spoke, both Barnabas and Soul and the church
- 4:21responded with obedience. The church pray, lay hands on
- 4:25them, and send them to fulfill the mission God has entrusted to
- 4:29them. Today, God is still looking for
- 4:33sending churches. Churches that rise up, workers
- 4:37that believe in missions and invest in the nation, but also
- 4:42more important, churches that are willing to give up their
- 4:45best leaders for the advancement of the Kingdom.
- 4:49Because there are still people waiting to hear for Jesus.
- 4:52There are still culture barriers that need to be crossed and
- 4:55entire generations searching for hope and the proof God's
- 5:00missions in Eurasia is moving forward, but there is still so
- 5:05much to do. So who will go and who is
- 5:09willing to send? Maybe God want to awake a
- 5:12missionary vision within your congregation.
- 5:16And maybe the first step would be start praying more
- 5:18intentional for the nation and for the missionary who are
- 5:22serving around the world. Perhaps God is calling your
- 5:25church to support a missionary. I don't know, but the missions
- 5:30mobilization of the church always begins with a small act
- 5:35of obedience, a prayer conversation, an offering in a
- 5:39yes to the Holy Spirit. And when the church responds,
- 5:43God, those extraordinary things. Let us never forget this.
- 5:48The church exists to participate in the missions of God.
- 5:53We're not just expertise of the mission, we are part of it.
- 5:58And when the church embraced that purpose, something powerful
- 6:02can happen. We can see congregation growing,
- 6:05new leaders rising up, John generation discovering purpose,
- 6:10and the gospel continued advancing into places where it
- 6:15has not yet been heard. God is still looking for sending
- 6:20churches, churches willing to obey, and churches passionate
- 6:24about the nation's. Let's pray, Holy Spirit,
- 6:29transform our churches into sending churches awakening us
- 6:34passion for the nation's. Teach us to hear your voice and
- 6:37respond with obedience. Use our congregation to rise up
- 6:42workers, support missionaries, and to bring hope to the world.
- 6:47May we never lose sight of your global mission.
- 6:50Amen. Thank you for listening to the
- 6:53Everyday Eurasia podcast, Inspiring Fate for everyday.
- 6:58For more Everyday Stories, subscribe on this podcast
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- 7:08information about the Eurasia region, visit our website,
- 7:12eurasiaregion.org.