Who are we?

2 Thessalonians 3:6–9 “Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother or sister who is idle and does not live according to the tradition received from us. For you yourselves know how you should imitate us: We were not idle among you; we did not eat anyone’s food free of charge; instead, we labored and toiled, working night and day, so that we would not be a burden to any of you. It is not that we don’t have the right to support, but we did it to make ourselves an example to you so that you would imitate us.

12-13 Now we command and exhort such people by the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and provide for themselves. But as for you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing good.

So stop complaining and work hard!!!

Just kidding.

When we came here, people asked us all the time how we were financing this trip and our response was that we would be like Paul. We would work alongside the people and provide for ourselves to not need the churches financial aid.

The fun part is that I think most of you are in the same boat! A vast majority of people work as as a full time teacher to support their needs, their ability to be here. Paul is very clear that those who spread the gospel have every right to be supported by the church 1 Cor 9:3-18, it is biblically sound to earn a living by the gospel, but Paul was providing an example and a pathway of missionary that might not look like what we consider modern day missions.

We talked about coming and people immediately started talking about SEND or the IMB or OMF. Once again, nothing wrong with it, but it is not the path we have chosen. Instead we chose to work here at the school to provide for our needs while we attempted to follow God’s calling

The scripture says

“instead, we labored and toiled, working night and day, so that we would not be a burden to any of you [the church.]

Each day we have so many responsibilities. Meetings, projects, parent interactions, extra activities, fairs, and all manner of surprise expectations. There are no shortage of things that are required for us here.

But I have a few hard questions for each of you.

Why you are here? It isn’t something I want answered here and now, but something to take home with you.

Why are you here?

Are you a Paul? Are you a teacher here, being paid for your very hard work as a means to be here for the gospel? Do you toil day and night to allow you the ability to be here to foster relationships with this kids in order to bring them to Jesus?

That sounds like a weighted question, because it kind of is. It is meant to make you think about your own motivation.

Are you here at Manorom as means to see the world?

Get a little more experience?

Learn better English?

Not sure what to do next in your life?

What is the goal of you as the teacher?

Is your goal to provide each student an excellent education?

Admirable. Respectable.

Is your goal to expose the students to the word of God each day?

What lens are you approaching your daily interactions with the students?

Are we missionaries who use classroom to reach the children?

Are we teachers who make a pitstop at the gospel as it is needed?

These are all personal questions and understanding of how you approach your mission here at the school.

But we should all be asking the school, our leaders, and each other what direction we should ALL be heading? How can we function as a team or a family, all with a clear vision.

We have the mission statement right?

“Making a Difference in Lives, one Child at a Time.”

How? Are we making them better students? Yes. Making them better people? Maybe? Are we saving souls that right now are headed toward eternal damnation?

We are the

Manorom International Christian School

But are we the

Manorom INTERNATIONAL Christian School

or the

Manorom International CHRISTIAN School

or are we

Manorom International Christian SCHOOL

There is no wrong answer to this question as an organization and the direction comes from the vision of leadership here at MICS. We can and should be all these things, but could you imagine if we aligned ourselves behind just one of these pillars

what focus does this school and the teachers have and could you imagine how powerful we could be, if we could just align ourselves behind the cross. If every decision we made, every hire, every alteration to the school, every retreat, project, field trip, talk with teacher, supply request…or what if every time we disciplined or talked to this kids we had a unified goal? How powerful could this place become.

I am just a person. I have spent the last few weeks with you, talking with each of you, some more, some less, but I can’t honestly answer this question. I think if we can really focus we can unify behind and grow into something wonderful. But we all have to really decide and then act on this: