by Kristin Huffman, Associate Director
Remember the bumper car rides at carnivals and theme parks? 2020 has felt a lot like that ride to me. It seems like the whole world has bumped around as we all try to find our way to a new path. No one has really known how to move forward with life as we have faced illness, death, shutdowns, homeschooling, uncertainty, fear, job loss…I’m sure this is not news to you!
And yet, God has been with us. In my devotional reading recently, the author said (speaking in the voice of Jesus), “Do not let any set of circumstances intimidate you.” Then she refers to Ephesians 1:18-19—“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
We’ve had ample opportunity to let the circumstances of this year intimidate us. Global travel came to a halt. Vision trips that had been planned were postponed and then cancelled, disappointing both us and the global partners expecting to host us. Domestic travel became a challenge and Sunday morning in-person worship shut down across most of the country. How does a mobilizing ministry like ours continue to engage people in frontier mission when we can’t physically meet with people? We’ve had to significantly rethink the way we do our mobilizing work. Of course, these challenges aren’t unique to us. The whole world has had to punt, find courage, reimagine and try to remain flexible.
We’ve also seen some wonderful graces come out of this season. We have embraced new communication tools like Zoom and WhatsApp to connect American Christians with our global partners. Many of our global partners have shared the unexpected surprise of new communication tools, too, that have allowed them to expand their reach with the Gospel and be in closer contact with followers of Jesus from other regions. Many donors contributed to our Emergency Relief Fund and we were able to send over $50,000 to our partners as they provided practical relief to those impacted by the pandemic and its fallout.
The shutdown also gave us the opportunity and the time to work on bigger projects. For me, this included a lot of legwork helping pull together Frontier Fellowship’s 2020 Advent devotional. I had the joy of praying, collaborating with our staff and ministry friends, receiving offerings of beautiful ideas and writing drafts for the daily devotional entries. Thinking about our partners, praying for guidance, writing about Advent and reflecting on Jesus as the Light in the darkness all brought hope and joy into my bumpy heart. I am grateful.
Advent begins on November 29. Frontier Fellowship’s daily devotional, Good News of Great Joy will help you create space for God in this “already and not yet” season of history. Additionally, you’ll be introduced to, or reminded of, God’s deep love and commitment to the frontier: the 2+ billion people worldwide who’ve not yet heard the Good News of Jesus and the hope, peace, joy and love He brings. If you’d like to download a digital copy of the devotional, or receive daily readings in your email inbox, sign up at frontierfellowship.com/advent.
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