It's our favorite newsletter of the year...our annual St. Patrick's Day newsletter! Why is it our favorite? Because St. Patrick is the second most famous 'goer' of all time. The only problem is, most people don't associate Saint Patrick with missions. Instead, the modern pub industry has made St. Patrick's Day synonymous with partying. But, if you take some time learn his story, you'll find out that prayer and mission is actually much more aligned with who the real St. Patrick was! So, in honor of the second most famous Goer ever, let's catch up on what's going on with GoCorps. Let's go...

The Second Most Famous Missionary Ever (but most don't know it!)
St. Patrick was a missionary! He invested his life in cross-cultural outreach! Here's the quick synopsis of his life: St. Patrick, born in 389 A.D. in Britain, was kidnapped by Irish pirates at 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave. After escaping, he returned to Britain, studied theology, and later returned to Ireland as a missionary. His work led to the conversion of many Irish people, and by his death in 461 A.D., he had established 300 churches and baptized over 120,000 individuals.

We at GoCorps encourage you to celebrate St. Patrick's Day by honoring his legacy as a missionary! How might one do that? Well, we encourage you to encourage modern-day 'goers' and missionaries that you know that are living and serving cross-culturally! Here's a short article about how you can celebrate St. Patrick's life by encouraging other goers!

More Famous than St. Patrick!
Are you wondering who the most famous goer of all time? Well, it's Jesus, of course! He's our ultimate example of living the life of a goer! Submitting to the Father's will, Jesus came from perfect heaven to broken earth. He put on flesh and lived and walked among us! He crossed the chasm between us and God. And he brought reconciliation to a people far off.

In John 20:21 in his words to his disciples after his resurrection, Jesus tells them they should live their lives as goers. He said, "As the Father as sent me, I am sending you."

As Jesus grew and matured, he did not sit back and wait for people to come to him in the temple. Instead, he went into the villages, made deep relationships and was present in the highs and the lows of people's lives. He was a goer who broke social norms and cross-cultural taboos in order to bring people to repentance and worship of the one true God. Like we see in Jesus' life, being a goer is a lifetime thing for Christians.

Missionaries account for less than 1% of all Christians and God's mission was meant for all of us. The primary means God had designed for his Good News to be known among all nations is people like you and me. Not just a 1% segment of his followers. But all of us! It's time for a new kind of missionary. It's time for ordinary Christians with ordinary interested and gifts to be a part of God's global work. In short, it's time for you and for me to see ourselves as goers.

What's God doing today in Europe?
Check out this 5 min video of GoCorps Goer Josie and her recent experience of being God's hands and feet and voice at the Revive Europe conference.