Grow

I am a US-2 missionary for the United Methodist Church. I do not take my position lightly, neither do the other people who have that title, or who have had the title of being a US-2 missionary.  One of the values of our program is growth.  I looked back at my time so far in California and I have noticed that I have grown.  I am not at all the person who went to interview, training or showed up in California.      

What I see as my biggest area of growth is social holiness.  As I have mentioned before, I always thought that social holiness should take a backseat to personal piety. Now that I understand true social holiness, I see that the two have to balance each other out. 

I have noticed that in this geographical region there are few mega churches, few churches built to support the thousands of Sunday morning worshippers. With church attendance dwindling, these Californians have really figured this ecumenical thing out. 

I was reading a bunch of vital stats from last year in Missouri.  One question asked how many young adults were involved in a group that was for the purpose of intentional faith development.  My local United Methodist Church answered 1.  That 1 was me.  In California I might still be the one United Methodist between the ages of 20 and 30 involved in intentional faith development, but with the ecumenical values I know the handful of Lutherans, the Episcopalians, and Presbyterians, who are also in my shoes.  Hearing about the lives and calls of people who are older than me is infinitely valuable, but living the discernment and journey with others who have calls and are my age is just awesome on a whole new level.      

I have also grown in personal holiness.  When I first came to my placement site, I was not really sure where God was.  I knew Jesus was with me, and already here, but my welcome to this place was not what I had thought it would be.   

I guess I was sort of waiting for someone to quote that song by Phillip Phillips, you know, “Just know you’re not alone, we are going to make this place your home.”  No one ever said that to me.  Even though I couldn’t see it then, I know now that God was right here with me the time.