Manila Monthly: Creating a Rhythm of Work, Prayer, Rest, and Play

July 11, 2016

I have been here now in the Philippines for just over a month and a half. It has been a great journey so far, and in many ways is a continuation of my work in the Philippines in 2012 and 2013, and even my work back in the States in Chicago, Kansas City, Springfield, and Los Angeles. I am excited to be back and settling into a new rhythm.

Life in Manila

Life here in Manila, as I’m sure it is for many of you reading this, is one of work, rest, prayer, and play. One thing that I have learned after ten years of urban ministry is the importance of having a balanced rhythm. While things change a lot from week to week, I have been encouraged to do better at pacing myself in my life and ministry. Though I have often heard the saying that life is more like a marathon than a sprint, one of our pastors last week told us to think of the impact our lives will have over the next 1,000 years. He asked us to think not just of what we are capable of in our lifetime, but of what things we can participate in and invest in that will last to the generations after us.

This perspective really does shift the way we live, work, and pray. For instance, as we design and participate in daily prayers (or what some call liturgy), we must design prayers that aren’t dependent on us, our personality, or even the personality of someone else in our church, family, or organization. The liturgy (prayers), rather, should be composed of things that will last, like the Scriptures (Psalms, OT, NT), prayers from the Bible (i.e. Lord’s Prayer), Communion (Lord’s Supper), songs (from different times in church history), etc.

Our work too should also not simply be dependent on our own skills or ability, but should be something that we can teach others. In this way, whenever the Lord takes us, this work can continue on well past our time. Of course, we should not overlook our own uniqueness as individuals created in God’s image, but we should work hard spending our energy on things that will last! I am thankful for an organization that thinks like this, and is helping me think like this as well.

Ongoing Projects

I am currently working on many projects here in Metro-Manila, and will describe a few here to keep you up-to-date.

Church Evaluations & Visits

As I mentioned in my prayer concerns last month, my team has been assigned to evaluate and visit each of our 44 churches (32 former and 12 current) throughout Metro-Manila to get feedback from the pastors and church members on how we can better serve them, and do better in the future with our church planting work. We have been able to visit 17 churches already, and hope to finish this project within the next 4-6 weeks. Please continue to pray for us in this endeavor.

New York City Global Movement Day

We are hoping to send 12 of our CWTP missionaries (along with a delegation of 75 Filipino missionaries and pastors) to New York City in October! Our purpose of this visit will be to attend a conference/event called Movement Day Global Cities, which will be a “3-day global gathering of 3,000 Christian urban leaders from around the world, perhaps the first of its kind in all of church history focusing on urban transformation.”

Beyond attending this event, we are also hoping to visit some of our partner churches and individuals that support Companion With the Poor (including those in Washington D.C., Springfield, and Chicago). I should be home for a few weeks before the event to visit family and friends, so I hope to be able to see many of you as well!

Book Project – Journeying With the Poor

Finally, I have been helping over the last year with a writing project for one of our pastors here in CWTP. The book is titled Journeying With the Poor, and we are getting close to our final draft! We would also covet your prayers in this as we near the end, and even begin looking toward more books after this one!

Prayers

This month, I need your prayers over the things I’ve mentioned here in my newsletter, finding a rhythm of life and ministry, our church evaluations, the New York conference, and the book project. I also need prayer for finding a new apartment or house to live in with some of our other single male missionaries. And finally, I’d ask for continued prayers for our missionaries and their families, especially those who are still raising their monthly support.

I’ve posted additional prayers in my Facebook Group “Paul’s Prayer Team.” If you are not part of this, and would like to be, let me know!

For more information on my ministry, feel free to e-mail me at  pjrollet@gmail.com.

Checks can be sent to Mission Ministries Philippines, c/o Paul Rollet, P.O. Box 6546, Santa Ana, CA 92706.

Thanks and God Bless!