Katherine asks: if knowing Jesus is the best part of our lives, why wouldn’t we share with those around us?
Katherine’s adventures with OM include 17 years in Eastern Europe and Russia — a part of the world that still holds her heart. Married to Lloyd, who teaches at a seminary in Perth, and with two adult daughters who have both served with OM, Katherine’s passion is to see many more live life to the full in Christ. She currently serves on the Global Leadership team and is responsible for Organisational Development where she gets to minister with a fantastic global team of dreamers and implementers. After 35 years with OM, she recently piloted a plane for the first time while on a Bible teaching safari in outback Australia — and she's keen for many more adventures with Jesus. For Katherine, equipping people to live and share their faith in Christ is both a privilege and joy.
“We know you were in Russia — but what I want to know is why you were there?” About 15 of our neighbours and their kids instantly stopped chatting as this question was addressed to my husband, Lloyd. After moving house, we’d invited all our new neighbours to a somewhat chaotic dinner, and this was the show-stopping question. A lively conversation ensued: childhood dreams of being a missions worker were explored by one neighbour, deep scepticism about faith emerged, some polite nods followed — and we had the joy of seeing one family come to church with us a few times. It was a brilliant evening, full of questions, followed by many more conversations and meals together. We love our neighbours! And if knowing Jesus is the best part of our lives, why wouldn’t we share with those around us? But we all know how hard it can be.
So, each year as Easter rolls around, I stop and wonder how we’re doing at being good news in our little Perth neighbourhood. We have lots of opportunities. One day, as Lloyd brought the rubbish bins in for everyone on our street, one neighbour came out to ask, “Why do you do that? Are you some kind of Good Samaritan?” What a conversation starter! May there be many more such questions…
Easter. In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s when the daffodils flower and their nodding yellow heads remind us of Easter hope and resurrection glory. Here in our part of the Southern Hemisphere, Easter comes as a last hurrah after the hot, hot summer; hence the Easter weekend carries the promise of cooler days and refreshing rain on parched, dry land. Both seasons carry such beautiful pictures of hope. But none as wonderful as the risen Lord Jesus who says, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” — John 11:25 (NIV).
I’ve just finished talking to a dear family friend. He’s wrestling with a terminal, degenerative disease. This season has robbed him of so much — of delight in preaching God’s Word, of driving a car independently, of doing anything spontaneously. And yet when I asked where Jesus was on this painful journey, he replied: “It’s a place of profound hope. We journey together. I am the lost sheep, jostled on Jesus’ shoulders. I am secure. It’s a place of rest and trust. And, above all, hope.” As his body fades, my friend’s journey with Jesus is stronger than ever. The Easter message of resurrection hope being lived daily in the darkest of valleys.
And yet around the world this Easter around three billion people have not heard of Jesus. Romans 15;13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (NIV). How can we ‘overflow with hope’ without hearing about Jesus’ death and resurrection? As NT Wright says, “Hope, for the Christian, is not wishful thinking or mere blind optimism.” It is firmly anchored in the death, resurrection and promise of Christ.
In OM, our great dream, along with tens of thousands of partners, is to see vibrant communities of Jesus followers among the least reached. To see men, women and children who know and love Jesus, living in and testifying to his resurrection hope. All over the world this Easter, those who love Jesus will be celebrating hope. In the midst of war in Sudan, in villages across Ukraine, for both refugees and the wealthy, Jesus will give meaning to hope and a future. Writing from prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Good Friday and Easter free us to think about other things far beyond our own personal fate, about the ultimate meaning of all life, suffering, and events; and we lay hold of a great hope.”
“We lay hold of a great hope.” Words of deep faith from a man in prison. Just a few days ago, a precious baby boy was safely born in an Asian country that seriously restricts the safety and health of women. His birth in a clean maternity clinic is a sign of hope, an intentional gift from those who live all of life as signposts to the King. As Timothy Keller says, "There are some needs only you can see. There are some hands only you can hold. There are some people only you can reach." So, the questions for us to ponder this Easter friends are these: what are the needs only we can see, whose are the hands only we can hold and where are the people only we can reach? In other words, how are we living Jesus’ message of eternal hope?