When I was six, my family moved from Melbourne to Cambodia as missionaries. I was not old enough fully appreciate the cost and significance of this for my parents. The concept of ministry and mission was not something I could yet understand. In my six-year-old world, my main grievance was leaving behind my beloved cousins and my beloved McDonald’s. Our family members took great care in showing us love by sending letters (mainly snail mail rather than email, back then) and care packages when we first arrived. We’d eagerly await the next parcel from our grandfather, who would fill empty cereal boxes with a mixture of random goodies. Because Cambodia was a small country with a recovering infrastructure, we never knew when we might receive the next one.
There was one time when I could reliably expect mail: my birthday. May was special for me not just because of the presents, but because the birthday mail reminded me of home and family. Also amongst the cards and letters from family and friends were unfamiliar names and unfamiliar handwriting. These taught me about something else: mission partnership.
Birthday Cards from Strangers
The unfamiliar names were the people who were praying for our family from churches around Australia. People whom I had never met. Some people whom I have still not met. Yet for twelve years, every May, I would receive a card or postcard wishing me a happy birthday and letting me know they were praying for me. My brother would receive these same cards a few months later for his birthday. The senders’ names and their handwriting became as familiar to me as my own family’s and to this day it warms my heart as I remember the love they showed to me.
Gospel Partnership
What makes a stranger take the time to remember a child’s birthday, buy a card, write a personalised message and mail it—not just one time on a whim, but with faithful consistency? It was the partnership in the gospel that Paul describes in Philippians:
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:3–11)
I knew my family had moved to Cambodia for people to hear the gospel, but I didn’t fully grasp, at first, that they were being sent by people back in Melbourne, supported in prayer and finances. These prayer partners chose to share with us and encourage us in this simple way: a reminder that though we were far away, we weren’t on our own. With each card I received I began to experience a taste of the joy Paul expresses to the Philippians at their partnership in their gospel. There were people across Victoria who were thinking of me and praying for me.
My parents have always been adamant that we were doing overseas missions in Cambodia as a family, but as a missionary kid it was easy to feel like an add-on to my parents’ ministry as I followed them back and forth between countries. These cards showed love to me and valued my participation in the gospel ministry of my parents.
Over time, I have been able to meet some of them and put a face to the handwriting. I even met a fellow missionary kid when I was at uni, and we discovered that we had been recipients of birthday cards from some of the same people. What better way to grow in unity in Christ than to experience the joy of this partnership in the same gospel!
Home Assignment Hospitality
This partnership became even clearer to me when we were on our home assignments in Melbourne. Our link churches welcomed us warmly and hosted us in their homes, spending time getting to know us. Like the Philippians, they generously saw to our needs, even providing a car when we needed it. It was mildly bewildering to me that these people whom I had never met were so kind to us and would treat us as family. And with each home assignment, our ministry partners became more familiar to me.
If, as a teenager, I ever questioned why we were still in Cambodia, it was these moments that reminded me of the shared gospel partnership. In their care for us, I saw the longing and love that Paul had for the Philippians (Php 4:1); the way they wanted to encourage us in whatever way they could to keep us going in service of the gospel.
My parents told us why we moved to Cambodia and what they were doing there, but it was the birthday cards that helped me understand it. Something as trivial as a birthday card made me feel loved by a person with whom the only connection we had was Jesus. I am very thankful for the birthday card ministry by which I was blessed growing up. There are many ways we can partner together in ministry and this is one that has made a lasting impact on me.
