Parachute five

I think Ryan is great! He saved me a tent space right next to the main stage - he is the man!

Ryan went through our Gap programme last year, and came back ruined. He has a passion for people who do not yet know Jesus, and an inate ability to chat to them and to introduce them to his own best friend - Jesus. He spent six months in Berkeley NSW, giving out bread, chatting to people, and sharing Jesus' love in word and action. He longs to carry on doing just that, and we are working with his local church to make that possible, probably with Ryan working part time to earn some cash.

Which got me wondering - why doesn't the church support Ryan full time? He has undoubted gifts, a calling and a ministry. The answer is simple - the church pays for church buildings, church structures and church pastors, but despite the endless talk of mission, the church rarely pays for evangelists. Not in NZ anyway!

I am confident that given the right setting and good support, Ryan could gather enough new followers of Jesus to be self-supporting in a couple of years. But who is going to pay for him until then? And when that new group of believers is strong enough to look after itself, and Ryan moves on to pioneer a new work...what then?

Come on church. Pastoral, ordained ministry is not the only valid form of ministry, and certainly not all we should be supporting financially. Church planters, aspiring musicians, story-tellers - these people are coming to CANZ, for which I thank God, and when we have the $$$, I promise we will pass it on.