The Purpose of Imagine

I recently posted a question on Facebook that generated many responses, "What is the purpose of your life?"  This is a serious question which can produce long answers, or simply honest 'I don't know's'.  It's a challenging question which compels me to ask it again of myself, and of Imagine.  While my life's response may focus more on the journey, the question posed to the ministry leads me to focus on desired outcomes.

SO what is the purpose of the Imagine Network?  What do I hope to see accomplished?  In no particular order, I believe Imagine can:

• Build bridges of partnership between local churches and God's global mission movement. 
• Specific Goals:  10 churches newly engaged by the end of 2010; 20 churches by the end of 2011.

•  Be a rallying point for the unity of the world-wide Body of Christ. 
• Specific Goals:  12 global partnerships by the end of 2010; 24 by the end of 2011, including at least one in each strategic region of East Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Europe, China, India, SE Asia, North America, Central America, South America, West Africa, and North Africa.  These partnerships will be based on common goals and vision - namely to be tools for the Spirit of God to bring holistic transformation to their communities and nations.

• Catalyze awareness and opportunity that results in a greater number of Christians being mobilized to serve in global missions - part-time and full-time - using their skills, talents, and every day experiences.  
• Specific goals:  To mobilize people from 8 different domains into short-term mission opportunities over the next 12 months, from the areas of Education, Health, Business, Agriculture, Social Services, Science & Technology, the Arts, & Sports, in addition to church-based ministries.  We desire to see 200 proffessionals serve short-term in 2010-2011, using their gifts and practical experiences on the global stage, and I believe we can see 3 churches begin to send their own long-term mission teams by the start of 2012.
• Specific related goal:  To facilitate the mobilization of 100 Latinos, Africans, Asians, and others from the emerging "majority world" church as front-line missionaries in the hardest places remaining.  I believe God has raised them up for such a time as this and it is our role to help them GO.  Imagine could be one of the first truly Global mobilization agencies by focusing mission movements with Internationals and not just North Americans.   

• Through these global partnerships, create change that will endure and see the "tide turned" against the global giant challenges of: 
• HIV/AIDS - infection rates reduced to a mimimum;
• Child-Orphans - rescued into homes and discipled into future leaders; 
• Endemic poverty - solutions created and sustained through creative use of local resources; 
• Islamization of the globe - training effective and genuine Christians to share the liberating message of the love of Christ for all people;
• Unengaged people groups - targeting efforts to plant churches in places where no church exists using a wide range of creative entry points such as clean water projects, health development, etc.  

We'd love to have a team of 50 prayer-partners and 50 regular financial contributors to launch Imagine to the place it can be.  For two and a half years we had no overhead costs so 100% of funds raised went to our projects.  Even though we now have personnel, we still aim for 90% and above to go towards projects and partnerships. 

Well, those are some of our aspirations.  So much can happen if we can build our organizational and spiritual structures on a solid foundation.  Imagine ... the global church united, changing the world.

Will you join us?



 

The world in a day

I've experienced a lot in the last 24 hours.

But first, thank you for joining me in this season of transition. I know one or two of you are writers, and I am getting my ideas concretized for starting a mini-book, so any feedback or suggestions are most welcome!

Today was interesting. I am ending the day in a retreat center somewhere north of Atlanta (Georgia that is - not everything is in Texas guys). I am here for a week-long training on reaching Muslims. Plain and simple, this is the greatest Battle of our Age. We see it in the news daily in the form of fundamentalist Islam causing havoc and "peaceful" Islam making plans to build Mosques all over the US, including "Ground Zero". Yet what is underneath all this turmoil? Did 9-11 just happen out of thin air? Or is ALL of this a reflection of what is really going on beneath the surface of humanity - that cosmic battle of sin and self vs. Spirit and surrender?

Getting here was a microcosm of my current life. I don't have a "former life", but I think you know what I mean. I woke up and had a couple of hours with the family while checking on a wire we have scheduled to be sent to Kenya. Then hopped on a plane in McAllen and happened to see Phillip Askey, from Casa Hogar de la Montana children's home in Saltillo, Mexico, on the same flight. We caught up and I realized, "Hm, I've been meaning to contact him to see if Imagine can serve them in their mission. Thank you Lord for arranging it!"

Then in Dallas I had a long-enough lay over that I pre-arranged a meeting with a man named Kyle who works in Central Asia but happens to be in Dallas for the weekend. They minister to children with disabilities and their families and have remarkable doors opened to them in the country where they serve. But they need partners! They have a contract with the National Hospital to arrange surgeries for special-needs children. They have a fantastic vision to help restore families instead of perpetuating the abandonment of children who are not born "perfect". And they are modeling this with their own family of 8! I was encouraged by Kyle, who confessed he's come to the States "empty" in many ways, and I was challenged at the same time to work harder at building bridges of partnership that can help fulfill their visions. The potential impact on that nation is limitless... but where are the parts of the Body that are needed there? Who wants K-Stan????

Then I arrived in Atlanta, after some eye-opening reading on Cross-Cultural Partnerships on the plane. Even though I have "done it" for many years, with some level of success, I realized I still have SO MUCH to learn about the beautiful diversity of the cultures of earth and how it requires a special skill to know how to maneuver relationships across these cultures!

In Atlanta I was met by the Crescent Project staff, who asked me "what do you do?" I hate that question right now, (bleeding-heart missionary response is just not my natural thing) but to be honest, each time it is asked helps me to focus. So in short I said, "I'm a freelance Mobilizer" and lo and behold, they understood what I meant! Not only so, but they even went further and said we should explore working together Mobilizing churches in Texas to engage the Muslim world....

So, I am here for a week to learn. I am sure I will be bringing teams here in the future to also learn and prepare to engage in the battle of our age.

Just yesterday I was speaking to college students in the Valley serving one a three week mission. We hit on the amazing thought together that God invites us to live in His purposes, in His story, even though we all have the freedom to choose to write our own. Coming to this training makes me ask, "Am I relevant?" Because the answer lies in one simple reflection: "Am I living for God's purposes or for my own? Am I living missionally or am I simply existing for self-preservation?"

One story will endure. All others will be forgotten. And God is inviting us NOW to engage in His story, to be part of His work in redeeming the nations of the earth. What are we waiting for?!

I've experienced a glimpse of God's perspective on the world in a day. I'll let you know what else I learn this week!

IMAGINE 2.0

An ancient Chinese proverb says, "Sometimes closed doors guide us toward the one that's open."

Okay, first I have to admit, that if it is an ancient proverb, then it was a wildly lucky guess! Yes, my name is Chan, but I am only 1/8th Chinese, at best.

Second, and more significantly, is that my life today reflects that so-called-proverb quite well. After wondering where God was "taking us", it's clear God was preparing us for what was already in front of us: Imagine. And Imagine was being prepared for us all along. It reminds me of one of those hopelessly romantic tunes from the early 90's, "After all that we've been through, it all comes down to me and you; I guess we're meant to be, (C'mon sing it with me!) together you and me, after all." Anybody remember who sang that? I can't.

What I am trying to get at is ... I now have the chance to give 100% of my time to the Imagine Network and nothing could be sweeter! So even though we've been around since 2007, Imagine is just now launching out as an autonomous non-profit with a full-time Director (yours truly) and with new life and energy that will hopefully far exceed our maiden voyage - thus the branding "2.0"

But the door motif is certainly not lost on me. Back in July of 2005 when we took our first team of "Imaginators" to East Africa, a Kenyan lady working with Christian Mission Aid pulled me aside and said, "The Lord has a word for you: 'Behold, I set before you an open door, that NO man can shut!'" I can still picture that moment near the matatu as we were about to head back to Nairobi from a day out in Maasailand. Her words struck me as deeply prophetic - I knew that - but I had no clue what they meant! And I have remembered that many times since. But wouldn't you know it, it took several other doors closing before I finally realized this is the open door I am called to walk through - and since no man can shut it, including myself, then what am I waiting for??

So if you would, please excuse me now, I have a door to catch. But I doubt it will shut behind me, so I invite you to come along and walk through the doorway with me. I KNOW I'm not called to go at it alone. I know there is a sense of destiny in you also - that restless wondering of "What was I truly made for?" What fulfillment is escaping you because you've settled for the ordinary? How long has it been since you dared to dream of being a hero because you "just knew" that you couldn't really make a difference, could you?

If any of these questions haunt you, like they do me, then walk through the open door. Who knows what's on the other side? Only one way to find out....