“… if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually … and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” (Isaiah 58:10, 11)

Since 1992, my family and I have been deeply involved in disaster relief efforts around the country, from Florida (post-Hurricanes Andrew and Ian) to Mississippi (post-Hurricane Katrina) to West Virginia (post-flooding) to Indiana (post-tornadic destruction) to Tennessee (post-tornadic destruction) to Baltimore City (post-human generated difficulties), etc. My wife, Nancy, and I—and all five of our children (now adults)—were greatly impacted by these experiences, especially <in discovering> how they ‘taught us’ what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ; and now, over three decades later, thousands of lives have been transformed because of these intentional acts of mission. Our first City Mission was launched in 2014. For this year’s event, City Mission: Baltimore and Beyond ’24, we decided to be even more intentional in this work and keep this one question before us, specifically in light of Isaiah 58:10,11: What does it mean to be a missionary disciple?

For the sake of clarity, there are two types of missional opportunities we’ve offered over the years: First, Cross Country Mission (CCM), which involves disaster response-type work following a natural catastrophic event beyond our home base, somewhere across the country; or, City Mission (CM) which was born out of CCM to serve more locally and bridge between the City and Suburbia, addressing human-generated needs. (see: CM Part 1 and CM Part 2)

I think this past year’s experiences have helped us to see more clearly that these more intensive (extraordinary) missional encounters have been highly effective in serving as a catalyst for igniting the participants, the laos/λαός-People of God, into the more ordinary and daily work of mission in their homes, places of work, schools, etc. In other words, they have the capacity to shake us—the Church—out of our timidity, and even lethargy, and pursue both the Great Commission (Mt. 28:16-20) and the Great Shema (Mk. 12:28-30) with a fiercer determination—To become missionary disciples!  

These ventures have pushed us far beyond our comfort zone, from only knowing what it means to be a disciple into actually living out our discipleshipthrough intentional, boots-on-the-ground missional activity. In other words, these experiences enabled us to live a more incarnational, Christ-centered discipleship as it took on real bones, sinew, flesh, and blood; specifically, as we were baptized into the mission field! Just a couple of years ago, one of our young adults described CM as “a raw and unfiltered experience of what it means to be the Church!” Truly, these ‘encounters’ have served as a catalyst for becoming a missionary disciple.   

My daughter, Sarah, who experienced her first CCM at 14 y/o and is now 33 y/o, has also reflected on what it means to be a missionary disciple. Here is an excerpt from what she wrote after our most recent CCM this past February and CM in May: “In disaster zones, where everything is stripped away, where chaos abounds, order is lost, and hope seems lost with it … it is here that a new source of Life is found. A new perseverance, a ‘restored strength and ever-flowing spring’ begins to pour from within you (Isaiah 58:10-12). Suddenly your own petty complaints of the day don’t matter. The madness and the rush of a ‘controlled’ life is gone. All that you see, all that you think about, is before you: an opportunity to love the people who have lost it all. The people who *really* have something to complain about, yet don’t. They’re full of thankfulness for life itself, not the things in it. The presence of the Holy Spirit is so tangible in these places where distraction is low and pain is high. Lives are changed, and hearts are broken for the things that break His. The Cross becomes what matters most; the thing we cling to, and the hope of His Resurrection and the new life to come.”

Brothers and Sisters, CCM or a CM is merely a ‘tool’ or vehicle to help build out and facilitate the work of mission; but, it has also become an all-important and much needed catalyst to embolden us to live out our calling as missionary disciples. What has the Lord placed in front of you … perhaps, to teach you … how to become a missionary disciple? Dare to step into it. His grace will lead you, every step of the way.  

Becoming a missionary disciple with you … In Christ, Craig

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The following pics reflect a few highlights from our most recent City Mission this past May. This year we had 12 different churches (2 LCMC and 2 NALC) from all streams of the Church (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Mennonite, and Pentecostal) with participants ranging in age from 6 y/o to 80 y/o. Being multi-denominational and multi-generational is a part of our DNA and enables the participants to see a greater unity within the Church (cf. John 17:21-26).

Pre-Mission Hours

On Mission

Resting/Playing After Working

Kairos Circle

Evening Meal, Worship and Guest Speakers

Dear Friends—

A most happy and blessed New Year to you and yours.

No doubt, many of us reading this article can readily receive such a greeting; but, for some, these words may be welcomed but not so easily received or even believed. This may include an individual who just discovered they have a very difficult illness to contend with or maybe it’s a husband who lost a beloved wife of 35 years or one trapped in overwhelming bondage to an addiction or perhaps it’s a family who experienced a natural catastrophe and lost everything. The list goes on. When facing such a reality, it can be much more difficult to receive a word of blessing, while happiness is illusive at best. This is precisely when the Community of Faith, the Body of Christ, is called to rise up and consider the potency of missional engagement. It is helpful for us, as brothers and sisters who are bound up in Christ, to be aware of those who are struggling and then allow the Great Commandment to settle deeply into that place of compassion: “‘ … and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mark 12:30, 31) This will necessarily push us towards mission which can quickly and graciously re-prioritize the living out of these most challenging days. 

In 1 Corinthians 12, St. Paul paints a beautiful and profound picture of what it means to be a community of faith and concludes with these striking, life-altering words: “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (v. 26) The writer of Hebrews says it a bit differently in 12:12, “ … lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” Again, we can see our ‘calling’ to come alongside and help lift up and literally be the hands and feet of Jesus, especially for those whose hands are failing and knees and feet weak. This is what it means to be fully engaged in mission.

This brief article is an invitation for you to join us in an upcoming missional event or better yet, and more practically speaking, connect with a local church body and engage in mission … in your own backyard! Prayerfully consider engaging—Not only will it help bring restorative healing to any given situation but you will experience restoration and healing as well. Just engage.

Last year, I wrote an article for the July CORE Voice Newsletter (click here) regarding the power and potency of such missional engagement. It is there that I describe a particular outreach called City Mission (CM) which was birthed out of Cross Country Mission (CCM). Dennis (Nelson) asked that I write this article to share just a bit about our upcoming CCM. Again, though I’m inviting you to participate in this event, more so I’m inviting you to simply participate in mission at some level, somewhere.

On January 30^th through February 4^th (link for more details @ https://www.riversedgeministries.org/ ), River’s Edge Ministries will be headed to Pine Island, Florida, for our eleventh disaster relief/rebuild effort. We are a multi-generational group of ordinary people coming together from many denominations to be His Church. Our fervent hope is to be a Christ-centered family on mission and avail ourselves to the needs of those who were severely impacted by Hurricane Ian, causing over 150 fatalities in Cuba, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia; but most of the deaths were in Florida. Ian also caused catastrophic damage with losses estimated to be more than $50 billion. The cities of Fort Myers Beach and Naples were particularly hard hit. Millions were left without power in the storm’s wake, and numerous inhabitants were forced to take refuge on their roofs. Sanibel Island and Pine Island were hardest hit by the storm surge. Clearly, thousands are still in the recovery phase and are only now rebuilding their future. It will be our sacred honor to be part of that rebuilding.

Please note that we are currently working with Mary Bates (NALC Disaster Relief) who has established our base of operation, housing, missional work, etc. (Thank you, Mary, for all of your extraordinary work for the Kingdom of God, especially as it manifests itself in the midst of utter chaos and ruin.) Our plan is to arrive to First Baptist Church on Pine Island by the evening of January 30^th. Upon arrival, we’ll set up our base camp on the church grounds in their building and outside in the parking lot, etc. We will work from 9:00 until 3:00 on January 31^st, February 1^st and 2^nd, and then depart on February 3^rd and arrive back home to MD by February 4^th.  We will travel just over 1000 miles by car, van, and truck with the hope of bringing a small caravan of hurricane clean-up-rebuilding workers and prayer warriors. Some are even flying in. As alluded to before (cf. Mark 12), our hope is to minister to heart, soul, mind, and strength. There will be a broad range of work tasks, including ongoing clean-up, framing, electrical, drywalling, roofing, meal prep, and on-the-ground intercessory prayer. We are praying for many skilled and unskilled co-laborers, but mostly willing hearts! At the present time, nearly 20 have committed to this event; but, it seems that we’ll have closer to 30 brothers and sisters participating in Cross Country Mission: Pine Island, FL; again, from 16 to 70+ years of age and at least 7-8 different denominations. And to think that we, a church of the NALC, get to sponsor this event—What an honor and joy!

If by chance you become interested in participating in this effort or have an interest in hosting a similar event in the future, please register here or contact me directly. But the gentle invitation and challenge from this article remains: Simply engage in mission somewhere … it’s right in front of you. I’d like to thank CORE and many individuals for supporting this missional endeavor with resources and encouragement. 

Do take care, stay the course, and keep your eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith.

K. Craig Moorman

River’s Edge Ministries, Mt. Airy, MD

(Images in this post: Flickr)