Raising up a remnant

The remnant is always perceived by the outside world as a band of zealots. They are the guardians of the flame, the true believers who will go down fighting.

This generation is the one that has abandoned the faith of their fathers. But a remnant remains. The flame may be flickering, but it is still lit. New generations will yet catch fire if we tend that flame.

Jesus described his ministry in terms of Isaiah 61. We are called to minister to the same kinds of people: the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives, the mourning. He trained his disciples by bringing hope to the least of these. And in the process, he started a chain reaction that turned the world upside down.

Though the Church is supposed to be in the business of making disciples, few are following this model. It is not that Jesus’ model has become irrelevant, it’s just that there are many other easier roads to walk down.

During the summer of 2004, I saw where the Church’s hope resides. Young people from a number of nations came together to address the greatest humanitarian crisis of our times. The AIDS crisis is killing millions of people per year. The nation with the highest infection rate is Swaziland. So it makes sense that if you want to show the world that the Church is alive and well, you’d start there.

We ran short of money until the last second. Key partners almost quit. Vehicles didn’t show up. We were opposed by the authorities and discouraged by the logistics. Yet when it was all said and done, the youth of an entire nation had committed to abstinence. Governmental officials were amazed. Nobody had ever seen anything like it. When we completely trust God, we see Him do miracles on our behalf.

Our mission must be to point a new generation back to an old model. God wants to use them to shake the world, one person at a time. And He wants to use you to show them how it’s done.