Kate Ruddick recounts attending this year’s “Here I Am” Message Conference and speaking to Andy Hawthorne about his new book, Here I Am.
What does it mean to really say ‘here I am, send me’?
Throughout the Gospels we read about the disciples going into towns and cities to preach the good news of Jesus, and still today we hear powerful stories of people risking everything to share their faith. What does this mean to me? How can God use me?
It was with this thought fresh in my mind that I arrived at The Message’s Here I Am conference ready to find out more about how I can discover what my calling looks like, and how I can reach my community for Jesus.
I was full of expectation and what a fantastic day of teaching and worship it was! I heard amazingly powerful stories of how God is using people to reach their communities for Him. I also had the chance to learn a bit more about what my calling may look like, and how I can seek this by drawing close to God.
The day also saw the launch of Andy Hawthorne’s new book and study guide Here I Am that he has written to encourage us all to join God’s adventurous call to love the world. I left feeling inspired, empowered and equipped.
Whilst there I got a chance to catch up with Andy, Founder and CEO of The Message Trust, to ask him about Here I Am and the free resources that have just been launched.
How would you describe Here I Am to anyone who hasn’t read the book yet?
Can you imagine how profoundly different our streets, communities, schools and workplaces would be if each of us said “Here I am! Send me!” to God. We’d see places flipped on their heads; countless lives transformed and the least, the lost and the last across our world being reached.
Every one of us has our own unique calling from God and groups of people we can reach with the good news of Jesus. In Here I Am we’ll journey together into the famous passage in Isaiah 6 and explore what our call to love the world may look like for us.
“Here I Am.” These are three powerful words that have so much potential!
That’s right! This one small statement from Isaiah has the potential to shake up our lives in ways we can’t even imagine.
The prophet has just encountered the most high God and within the space of a few minutes has gone from cowering before the holiness of God to jumping up and down with his arm raised high, begging to be sent out to do his Lord’s will.
Like Isaiah, so many of God’s children long to serve in His epic work, we just don’t know how to begin or what this might look like. We all have an exciting part to play – we just need to find out what it is and go for it!
So how can Here I Am help people like me who don’t want to keep our faith to ourselves but don’t quite know what our calling is yet either?
I’ve been where you are and know exactly how you feel. Every man or woman of God who has ever been used to do good in the world has been where you are – willing and eager, but not sure where to start?
The great thing is that each of us have things prepared in advance for us to do and God doesn’t leave us on our own to figure this out. He is with us every step of the way. He wants to speak to us, more than that he loves to speak to us and is constantly saying ‘Here I am, seek me’.
We’ll find that God puts groups of people on our hearts, the important question is how can we reach them? This isn’t a journey we have to go on alone. That’s why we’ve launched free resources to go along with the book, so that groups and churches can discover together how God is calling them to reach their communities not only in deed, but word too.
So it’s more than just a book?
So much more. My dream is to see the church equipped for mission and for Here I Am to play its part in this.
There are free small group resources and videos that accompany Here I Am so that churches and small groups can come together and explore this whole area of calling.
You can find out more about Here I Am by visiting www.message.org.uk/shop or hereiammovement.com
Andy Hawthorne, is founder and CEO of The Message Trust, a worldwide movement with a passion to share Jesus Christ with the hardest-toreach young people.
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