Rebecca Hughes shares how her support role supports ‘frontline’ missions
It’s lunchtime at Radius International, Mexico. The atmosphere can be summed up as loud; a combination of nearly 70 staff and students having lunch together in the dining room. Conversation revolves around what was taught in class that morning or what people’s plans are for the afternoon.
That was a lot of new content to take in for Level Three language learning.
What did you think of his definition of worldview … ?
Do you have a language session this afternoon or are you planning to go out into the community? I have a ton of homework and Spanish review.
I’m gonna go down to the tortillería to see if I can get to know the owner better.
These are typical lunchtime exchanges. I am privileged to be able to join students for the midday meal most days. It allows me to keep a pulse on how they are getting on, what their struggles and victories are, and be encouraged by them in many ways too. I enjoy this opportunity to be a part of campus life and be involved in people’s lives because much of the rest of my time is spent doing administrative work behind the scenes.
Although practical roles in ministry are often unnoticed or invisible they are no less important than what we often call ‘frontline’ missions. I have heard support work compared to a trellis. When you look at a vine or a climbing rose, you do not often think about the framework that enables it to be there, and yet a trellis is essential for the plant to continue to grow and bear fruit.
When you look at a vine or a climbing rose … a trellis is essential for the plant to continue to grow and bear fruit.
My overarching goal, by God’s grace, is to see the gospel preached in languages that currently have no gospel witness and churches planted where there is no spiritual light. So you might wonder, what am I doing in a relatively well-evangelised city in Mexico? A practical training programme like the one I serve in is one of those ‘trellis’ parts of the mission endeavour. I am so glad that God has blessed me with the privilege of serving him in this way.
A practical training programme is one of those ‘trellis’ parts of the mission endeavour.
There are many opportunities and challenges that come with support roles. For me, a challenge has been maintaining a healthy work/life balance, something which many people who have spent time working from home will have felt. There is a tension between investing in work and relationships on campus, versus learning Spanish and making friends in the local Mexican community.
The work that God has given me to do would not be possible without the supporters who stand behind me, prayerfully and financially, and it would be meaningless without the people who go on from the training to plant churches in unreached languages, by God’s grace and for his glory. I am so grateful to God for a church which, though just sixteen members, has sent me to do this work, and for the other churches and individuals that God is gathering around us to make it possible for me to serve at Radius International.
There are many opportunities and challenges that come with support roles.
Rebecca Hughes supports language learning, as assistant to the Culture and Language Acquisition (CLA) instructor at Radius International, a mission training school in Mexico
Main photo: pexels.com