I’ve been on a couple international mission trips. I’ve been on a couple stateside mission trips. I’ve partnered a few times with local mission projects.  Do you know which one makes me the most nervous? The local.

I visited India for 2 weeks back in 2001. I was part of a medical team that set up a temporary clinic in a school in a very poor section of New Delhi. (for those of you who know me – the “medical” aspect doesn’t sound like a great fit – for the record: I didn’t do much in the way of treating illnesses, instead I played a lot of Simon Says with kids who had to wait for hours to be examined by our medical staff) No one spoke my language, and no one knew me or knew what to expect from me. Maybe the situation was unsafe at times, and the culture shock was indeed great, but nervous about interactions – not so much.  There was safety in my anonymity and in the temporary nature of my trip.  The same can be said of my trip to Mexico – international travel/missions has it’s trials, but self-consciousness & interpersonal fear aren’t the major ones (@ least for me).

With stateside mission trips – there was more self-conscious fear, but the temporary nature of those trips gives us the added courage that is founded in the possibility of “I’ll-probably-never-see-them-again.” But when we serve our neighbors, the people in our community, it can be terrifying. They may very well see us again – @ Kroger, Exxon, Burger King, or anywhere else.  They speak our language, they attend our schools, they are our people.  What they “may think of us” often times strikes us deeper than any other mission demographic.  When it is the people that we have the greatest chance of ministering to for the long term – we render ourselves paralyzed by fear/nerves. Our boldness seeps out, and we struggle and dread.

It takes effort to overcome this fear – this week, for those of us in Augusta, there is an opportunity to do just that. Thursday-Saturday is our Agape Summer Project.  We’ll be serving and talking and laughing with our neighbors on the other side of town.  It’s time to take a step away from our selfish fear that bars us from those that live closest to us.  It’ll be uncomfortable I bet. I know it will be for me. This is outside my comfort zone… but that is where I need to be. I hope I see some of you there.

(we’re meeting @ the church tomorrow, Friday, & Saturday @ 7:30 am to gather and head out)