Hello! My name is Marta, and I am about to move to Berlin, Germany for the next two years, with the goal of helping to provide business support to ministries. I’m so excited for the journey ahead and thrilled that I get to bring you along! Since we’ll be traveling together, I thought I would share a bit about myself. The place you’re most likely to find me is in the woods. I love running through the trees, and I believe the overlooks are always worth the climbs. Other things that make me particularly happy these days are dogs, pad thai, cake donuts, road trips, journaling, and the Great British Bake Off. I don’t consider myself a skilled baker, but I have a knack for unknowingly making people their favorite kind of cookies!
I have always loved the world. When I was eight years old, my mom took me to a book fair, and I picked out an atlas. I paged through that atlas countless times, locating the capital of each country on the maps and marking cool pictures and interesting facts with sticky notes until there were post-its on almost every page. My atlas compared the life expectancy in each country to that in the United States, and I thought it was incredibly unfair that people in some countries don't live nearly as long as Americans.
Three years ago, I attended the Urbana Missions Conference, where I learned of an even greater disparity. Around 3 billion people in the world, or close to 42% of the world’s population, do not have access to the gospel—God’s remedy for sin and invitation to be in a restored relationship with Him. Simply because of where they were born, those with the least access are unlikely to ever be introduced to Jesus or even meet a Christian in their lifetime. This information weighed heavily on my heart. Fortunately, I also learned how business, my field of study, can be a strategic means of expanding God’s kingdom, fighting evil, alleviating poverty, and providing hope and healing. I had heard little before then about business as a means of missions, and the more I learned at Urbana, the more clearly I could see how my major could be used to help to address some of the world’s needs.
I had caught a glimpse of how God is using business to bless lives and communities, and I learned that GoCorps could help me find a strategic place to use my degree after college. Was that all I needed to start pursuing cross-cultural ministry? Or did I also need a special calling before packing up and moving to another place? If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent some time (okay, a lot of time) considering the concept of “calling” (by which people typically mean God’s specific will for an individual’s life.) My analytical mind found the ambiguity and subjectiveness of this concept unsettling, and I spent many hours reading the Bible and other books, listening to sermons, and asking others about their experiences to better understand how God leads people. My quest even took me to Africa, where I stayed with a missionary from my church for four weeks. I wanted to see what life was like for long-term missionaries, as well as ask the missionaries I met how they felt called to the countries and roles in which they served. I was encouraged by the variety of answers I received and that not every story included a pivotal, life-altering moment. I observed a pattern of people seeing a need, envisioning how the need could be met, and pursuing opportunities that would position them to help.
I also learned during that time that when we think about “calling” and “God’s will,” we can sometimes focus too much on the future and on things we don’t and can’t know. What we do know is that we are called to know and become like Jesus (Romans 8:28-30). We know that Jesus desires, is worthy of, and will one day receive glory and worship from people from every tribe, language, nation, and people group (Revelation 5:9-14) and that He calls each of His followers into His mission of making disciples in all the world (Matthew 28:16-20), whether we move to new nations or stay in our own neighborhoods. And we know that there are far more people who are ready to receive the gospel than there are those who are taking it to them (Matthew 9:35-38). I realized through God’s Word that I was already invited into His mission, that we are all called to find our place in God’s global work!
For a while, my place was in Minnesota, where I sought to love and serve the people in my life. Now, with the help of many ministry partners, I am preparing to move to Berlin to support the efforts of under-resourced ministries to meet social and spiritual needs in the city. My role will be to assist these ministries with their daily administration, processes, procedures, and project management, and I am excited to step into a position that connects my passions and skills. I will also have opportunities to make friends and have discussions about life and the gospel. I can’t wait to try new foods, experience German Christmas markets, and meet my team. Most of all, I am looking forward to seeing how God will work in my heart and through my hands as I make my home on a new part of the map.