Welcome to the Luke 18 Project Blog...

We’re glad you came….not because we’re looking to build a database or a following, but because the fact that you found us probably means you’re looking for what we’re looking for - someone to link arms with.

Early in his letter to the Philippians, Paul drops a phrase that has been lingering in the back of my mind for days. The church at Philippi was dear to Paul on several levels. His letter to them is full of affection. He tells them that he prays for them with a grateful heart, and that he prays with joy for them because of their partnership in the gospel. There was something about the Philippians that Paul identified with so closely that he called them partners.

I think we’ve dumbed down the idea of partnering in missions to simply mean finances. Surely, giving to a missionary puts you in a unique position of having helped further the gospel, but is it partnership in the classic sense? If done flippantly, it can atrophy to nothing more than investing in what looks like a good cause in hopes that it pays off down the road - sort of a weird, evangelistic venture capitalism.

Partnering meant more in the case of the Philippians. Yes, they gave finances - but they also sent people. Epaphroditus was sent from the Philippi to serve Paul’s needs. In the process, he grew ill and nearly lost his life. The Philippians had more than money in Paul’s mission - they had blood, sweat and tears. Paul’s mission was their mission.

There’s a new movement afoot. I see it in the young people that I meet - they are not looking to support something, they’re looking to be a part of something. They’re burning to partner with like minded people at a level that goes beyond just writing a check (and as college students, in many cases their checkbooks are empty anyway!). They’re not easily pigeon holed into old forms of association used in the past. They are not consumers, they’re not spectators, they’re not even merely financial backers - although they commit their resources to the prayer movement with reckless abandon. They’re less concerned with transactional give and take of religion and more committed to being a part of the whole of something that God is doing.

These are the kind we want to call partners. Let’s get to work.