It's Still a Good Idea

When I was a young girl, I was a GA.  Our church, like many other Baptist churches across the country, had a missions organization for girls called Girl's Auxiliary. GAs were part of the Woman's Missionary Union.

This is the week of my church's Global mPact Celebration, the time when we focus our attention on missions.  It's a time to celebrate missions and missionaries, and to love on those who have dedicated their lives to taking the Gospel to the nations.  As I was helping to serve a meal last evening as part of the celebration, I noticed that the table decorations included a copy of the hymn We've a Story to Tell to the Nations.  Thinking about that hymn and about missions has me recalling my days as a GA.

As a GA, I sang that hymn often.  As a GA, I memorized Scripture.  As a GA, I learned about missions in our country and around the world.  As a GA, I learned to pray for missionaries. 

As a GA, I memorized a list called Star Ideals.  These days we would probably call that a mission statement or a list of goals.  But back then we didn't use that terminology, so they were called Star Ideals.

The list looked like this:

• Abiding in Him through prayer
• Advancing in wisdom through Bible study
• Acknowledging my stewardship
• Adorning myself with good works
• Accepting the challenge of the Great Commission

A lot has changed since I was a little girl.  A lot has changed in how we "do church".  A  lot has changed in how we teach children about Jesus and about missions.  A lot has changed about how we communicate.  Terminology has changed.  Technology has changed.

But some things haven't changed.  The truths of the Bible are still true.  The world still needs Jesus.  And this list of star ideals is still embedded in my thinking.

We might not talk about star ideals much any more.  We might talk more about goals and mission statements.  But no matter what terminology we use, this list still encapsulates the disciplines of the Christian life.  It sums up what living the Christian life is all about.  And doing the things on this list is still a good idea.

"Abide in me, and I in you."  (John 15:4 ESV)