08/12/2026
Did you know some of our church family is in Guatemala on a missions trip right now?
Check out their updates on our church website:
https://www.fortgeorgebaptist.ca/blog
Or sign up for the mission trip prayer team and get updates here:
https://fortgeorgebaptist.churchcenter.com/people/forms/1273395
Here is an update from August 10th!
Need and Call
There is an interesting story in the Gospels of a time where Jesus was walking through a crowded area in Jerusalem with sick and disabled people all around Him - think city centers almost anywhere. And Jesus weaved His way through the crowd until He found one man that He has been called to heal. You can read the story in John 5.
The story demonstrates the distinction between need and call. The fact is there is infinite need in the world but even Jesus didn't heal every sick person He met. Similarly, every time we walk out the door we meet people who need something, but just because there is need does not necessarily mean we are called to meet it.
What Jesus followers are supposed to do is discern God's call. I am to learn to listen and identify God's voice in order to find out what need He is calling me to meet in the world.
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Yesterday morning our family joined the rest of our church team (Justin, Kyle and Leslie) and together we traveled 3.5 hrs from Guatemala City to Tactic in the center of the country.
After some tacos and a good night's sleep, we took our first trip to visit one of the schools Impact Ministries has started. As we walked in the door it was incredible to be greeted by a hundred children with wide smiles and deep eyes. The children have virtually no material possessions and some have incredibly brutal life experiences. We met families today who have come to Christ through their connections to the school and saw God working in people's lives. The need here is great, the harvest is ripe, but need and harvest are not the same as call.
So in this light, as a Fort George Team, this morning over breakfast we began talking about our role here which is to discern whether Jesus may be calling our church to a more long term role here, in partnership with Impact Ministries.
There are several criteria that we will be looking for over the week. Here are some of them:
1) We will seek to discern the health of Impact Ministries. Is this organization actually proclaiming the name of Christ in a way worthy of His name, and making a real positive difference for the Guatemalan people?
2) Are the resources Impact Ministries is being entrusted with being stewarded well?
If the answer to questions like these are "yes" it means that Impact Ministries is a good ministry. But even a great ministry, like a great need, doesn't equal a calling.
3) If Jesus is at work here, next we have to discern whether we as a church have been gifted with the ability to be part of what Jesus is doing. Are our people equipped to participate in meeting the need? Just like Jesus will never call me to be a brain surgeon, He always equips His people for what He calls them to do.
4) Next, we need to discern whether a partnership with Impact Ministries would be good for Fort George? This might sound selfish, but really, when Jesus calls a person or a church into ministry, there is always a blessing in the ministry for the giver. Jesus' kingdom is win/win. Hebrews tells us that even as Jesus sacrificed His life "it was for the joy set before Him that He endured the cross." And so we need to discern whether Jesus has something for our church here.
5) And this leaves the final question, which is whether Jesus is putting a passion for this ministry on our hearts. It's where these three things overlap - need, gifting and passion - that the call of God resides.
So, over the week the team here in Tactic will be praying and discussing questions like these, and we invite you to pray along with us to this end.
Pray for soft hearts for us as a team, that we would receive what Jesus has for us while we are here. And pray that we will be able to discern whether He is calling us as a church to make a more long term connection to Guatemala.
