Mission: React

Honest ministry?

To find one’s self-engaged in ministry does have its disadvantages. But doesn’t the reality of life itself have disadvantages? Often ministry is equated to sacrifice, wherein you’d lose rather than gain. Have you ever joined an outreach or ministry with great enthusiasm? But after a week or when the stress begins to accumulate and your life gets a little too complicated for personal comfort, that ministry or position doesn’t seem worth it? Then, you find yourself making excuses on how you can back out? I think this can be said for many of us. Sad but true, we generally look out for our life’s best interest. The mindset of receiving blessings from God is in our best interests but when we need to sacrifice (lose) more than comfort; there is a prospective change on behalf of self-preservation.

Committed and Passionate?
DREAM (to DISCIPLE young professionals, to REACH the secular youth, EMPOWER relationship-centered leadership, ACTIVATE the Holy Spirit’s gift for ministry, and MAGNIFY God with our worshipful lives) International sounds “Big time” or a deep-rooted company that does something internationally, but no, it’s actually a small ministry with less than a hundred active members who dare to react to the stagnate situation of the Adventist Youth today. Founded by Pastor Ardison Bernardo, DREAM International (iDREAM) was intended to train up, network, and to activate youth all over the Philippines and hopefully throughout Asia.
Sounds big, right? But again no, it’s as simple as creating a common, realistic, relative, cultural ground of today’s younger generations. Simple but not as easy as it can be read, one’s life must change from self-righteous to understanding, judgmental to concerned, leveled spirituality to humbleness and religious to loving. And that’s just the beginning, you can learn more by reading through Paul’s life in the book of Acts.

Many of the iDREAM officers and staff have been in youth ministry for most of their lives, and have experienced what it is like to be underestimated, misunderstood, and like often times, not taken seriously. But it has not kept us down. A subculture that treats the teens and colligates as juniors has set a common trend that worship and ministry are a never-ending habit that cannot be changed creatively. Majority of young individuals become inactive because of their reaction to the predictable programmed lifestyle of the church. I believe that we can all agree that change is constant, if a TV network was to broadcast the same shows every day, wouldn’t you have the tendency to change the channel? Those networks spend a great deal of time and money for their programming success. If the world spends such large amounts of resources in creating creative attractions, what more must we do as Christians and as Seventh-day Adventists to project Christ today? To create quality you need to have quality, and that doesn’t always refer to the resources of money. Time, creativity, talents, and love are just a few items of resourcefulness. A lot of leaders could be successful if they would redefine their creativity from resource to resourcefulness, and in turn can help provide quality content for their groups and churches.

iDREAM believes that it is one of the major culprits to why our church can’t find the proper excuse to invest in the youth of today, the lack of sharing creativity to the leading members of the local levels. One of the programs that iDREAM has been developing gives a light to how it is possible by providing relevant programs. Dare2ACT is a program event that keeps everything in reality, relevant.

The program and curriculum of Dare2ACT brings communication, creativity, revival into a weekend event of worship, fellowship and discipleship workshops by touching bases with the current issues and culture. The Dare2ACT goal is to awaken the inner passion that God has given each individual by lending their talents by contributing to the command that was given during the last moments before Jesus’ ascent (Matthew 28:19). By providing a new perspective of leadership, ministry and worship, it will hopefully motivate the phlegmatic youth to step up and look past the hindrances, issues, titles, and comfort to intertwine their lives with the will of God.

Many leaders and ministries are either driven by personal endeavors or title of office, and not by passion. This often turns into a burnout or breakdown that ruins groups and ministries from being effective and providing quality selfless service. Passion must be accompanied with commitment. Passion can create the avenue of ministry but commitment will keep the fire from growing cold. iDREAM’s burden of reverting this culture is by bringing the issue upfront to this generation for the realization of the need for commitment to the Christian lifestyle that is often taken for granted, especially in a country that is considered a Christian nation. The Apostle Paul ‘s life is the core concept of Dare2ACT: to ASK God daily for opportunities (Colossians 4:2-6), CONNECT with the Father intimately (John 5:19-20) and TRAIN yourself (1 Peter 3:15) are the support beams that keep Dare2ACT stable. To model after a man who was willing to be the living walking proof that Christianity is a lifestyle of passion and commitment, well that’s pretty much concrete and undeniable.

Dare to react?
I would like to end by continuing what I have intentionally left unfinished at the beginning. You will find that serving in any type of ministry has its disadvantages, but you only have that point of view if you are passionate without any steadfast commitment to what you believe in. I hope and pray that other ministries and leaders of youth groups like iDREAM will strive to place their passion in front of them. May you dare to react to loop holes of culture and religious subcultures that divert us from reaching out in touching the lives of others. What are the burdens you have in your heart today? What do you see in your church today that you believe can be changed for the better? What are the situations in society that make you feel accountable? May you not walk past without questioning yourself to why you are reacting to what you are seeing and hearing. I dare you to take the time to listen, the Lord could be telling you what it is He wants you to do for Him!

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