Recently, I had a conversation with a Dutch mission partner. We talked about mission projects that had to be put on hold and people that were stuck in places they were not meant to be, unable to do the work they felt called to do.

Our partner put it like this, “We are called to be faithful.” Faithful to do what we can, when we can, because there will be days when doors close and we will not be able to open them. And when we are faced with a closed door, we must be faithful where we are.

For some in BTJ, that has meant having to stay in a training school for months, rather than go to some closed nation to preach the gospel. Others were literally stuck in their apartment, unable to even talk to their neighbours. Urgent projects faced delays. Several workers became terribly ill with Covid and have not yet been able to resume ministry.

If situations like this make us feel like ‘loser missionaries’, we have made mission about us. If we have the heart of a servant, we can quietly trust that God will work out His purposes in His time, like one who waits till his master calls and meanwhile takes care of little jobs around the room.

We will live with restrictions for a while to come. This would only be a disaster if mission were ‘our thing’ that we had to somehow make run smoothly. But it is God’s work and we only need to be faithful. So, we keep going, adjusting plans, finding creative ways to get funding to fieldworkers, starting projects where we can, developing our technology, supporting those who are sick or quarantined, producing Bibles, training Sunday school teachers, translating materials, and generally being available for when doors open to new areas of service.

And we thank you for faithfully standing with us.

From the Dutch BTJ office