A letter from Gary Payton in Russia and the U.S.
April 14, 2009
Dear Friends in Christ,
Warm greetings to you in this joyous Easter season! I pray that the new life which is ours in Jesus’ resurrection finds you very well.
During ten years of mission service I’ve shared with you stories of faithful people and renewing churches in a region where decades of communist rule brought persecution, exile, even death to faithful Christians. It’s a story I’ll continue to tell because we have so much to learn from them about “being church” in our own country today.
But today I want to share something different. I’ll call it “The Thank You Story.” On any given day, hundreds of people sent by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seek to do God’s will by strengthening people and their churches around the world. It is service that is filled with joy and pain, accomplishment and frustration. Mission folks pray, preach, teach, administer projects with partners, offer tender medical care, and do a hundred other things. Most answer this call through living in a foreign country. Some, like me, live in the States with service “over there.”
Every day is filled with the activities of mission: meeting with people, listening over a cup of tea, seeing how this or that project is going, preparing for visitors, writing reports and emails, snatching a quiet moment for prayer and reflection—all done in humble partnership as we seek to do God’s will and build up the Body of Christ in the world.
There is a “here and now” quality to the ministry owing to the pressures on those we accompany. We live in a swirl of languages, a deep concern about the people and the country where we serve, and an ever present hope that we are listening for and doing what God would have us do.
"Thank you" blessings come in many forms: a card, a bookmark, bracelets, even a carabiner!
Then comes a “head snap” moment. I open a small envelope and in a child’s hand I read, “Dear Mr. Payton, We are thankful that you are a missionary sharing God’s love to others. Happy Thanksgiving! Erin Ripley, Glenshaw Presbyterian Church, Glenshaw, Pennsylvania.” Or, a prayer bookmark falls out of a card and I read Christmas greetings from Bill and Zeta Morgan, Ardith Wrightman, Taylor, Tatum, Tommy, Tessa, and from a little one who signed in red crayon in big, beautiful, undecipherable letters! A wonderful gift shared by folks at First Presbyterian Church, Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania. Most recently, the package from Texas with a collection of encouraging personal notes, a carabiner inscribed with “Mountain top living for valley dwellers,” a zip lock bag filled with hand-tied “Grace” string and bead bracelets, and the explanation of it all. “Dear Gary Payton, We are at the Senior High Youth Convention at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. This is an annual event put on by Grace Presbytery…we are thankful for you…you have done so much for so many people. We hope that one day we all can make a difference just like you! You are in our thoughts and prayers always! God bless you, Small Group #4.”
Moments like these bring tears to my eyes, an extraordinary sense of connectedness, and a wave of humility and unworthiness. They buoy me up for the next challenge ahead!
Liz and Doug Searles, new mission co-workers serving in Lodz, Poland, have given us all a wonderful understanding of mission. “As we walk with our partner church, listen and learn,” they wrote, “we hope opportunities will develop to connect the senders (you) with the sent (us) with the served (in Poland), completing a circle of hope that has God, and the needs of God’s world, at its center.” The image is beautiful! The “senders,” the “sent,” the “served,”—a “circle of hope” with God and the world’s needs at the center.
So in this Easter Season, please know what an extraordinary impact your “thank yous” have on mission folks. They pick one up from a hard day. They share the message that service far from home and extended family is remembered. And they give expression to the “circle of hope” that is our collective call to be “the hands and feet of Jesus.”
My “Thank You Story” has a second part. To friends, families, congregations, and presbyteries, please receive my thanks for the prayers, care, and financial support that allow me to continue service as one of the “sent” in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Poland. You sustain me when I travel. You care for me before, during, and after my trips. You share your own blessings of financial support, which allows for travel expenses, meals with partners, salary, and much more. To you, I offer a grateful “thank you.” With God’s continuing call, you keep me in mission service.
As I close, I ask for your continued prayers for our church partners, for our Presbyterian mission colleagues, and for our ministries in these former communist states.
If I may serve you or your congregation in any way, please ask. My email is gdpayton@aol.com.
Yours in Christ,
Gary Payton
The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.177
