Yes, Lord

As my friend and I strolled the snow-covered University of Illinois campus at the 1990 Urbana convention, we talked about missions, ministry and our desire to see spiritual renewal among our fellow Armenian Americans. “Yes, it’s possible!” she said. It is one of the most encouraging memories of my spiritual life with InterVarsity.

With whom did I share that special conversation? I was with Nairy Ohanian, who was at that time an InterVarsity staff worker for international students in the Boston area. She would go on to lead a pilot IVCF/IFES Global Project to Armenia (with five of us on her team), spend seven years pioneering a campus ministry and lead several more global projects in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan. She now serves as a missionary in a Muslim country, living out God’s missionary call on her life in the most challenging way yet.

Those who attended Urbana 03 heard Nairy give a rousing call to follow God during the fourth evening’s plenary session. Her five points—her “commitment questions” to those saying, “Yes, Lord”—were these:

1. Do you want to see God in greater ways?
2. Will you risk and dream big for the global kingdom of God?
3. Will you choose the way of Jesus?
4. Do you know all that you possess?
5. Do you want to be set free?

Through these five questions, Nairy challenged students to obey God by trying out missions, despite their fears. She stressed that fear—an understandable emotion in the midst of risk—does not disqualify us from global missions. No one has to be perfect to get started. If anything, fear urges us toward greater dependence on God and a greater opportunity to see him come through. Even as God upholds us, however, missions can still lead to great suffering, but in that regard we will be choosing to become more like Jesus and will have a deeper relationship with him.

“Just pick a path,” Nairy encouraged students, because there’s really no ‘correct’ path when we are committed wholeheartedly to Jesus, and there is no end to the gifts and resources God has equipped us with for any possible path. And with commitment, Nairy said, comes freedom, not enslavement or burden.

After the mountain-top experience of Urbana and the myriad of options it offers, students have to process what they have learned and begin taking steps toward application. Here, Nairy shares more of her missions experience with us and provides some practical post-Urbana guidelines. Whether you attended the convention or not, Nairy’s wise experience can invigorate your process of moving forward in ministry.

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Lisa: How has Urbana been significant to you, as a student, staff worker and now missionary speaker?

Nairy: I have just experienced my sixth Urbana. I’ve been there in a combination of roles over the years, once as a college sophomore, once as a seminarian, three times as a staff worker, twice as a missionary, once as a seminar speaker and now as a speaker. As a student it was thrilling to stroll through the Armory and see the endless ways God could use any talent, degree, career and life for his kingdom! I wanted to try a year of everything in every country of the world!

As a staff worker, I loved watching students grow in love with the world for the first time and realize just how grand and colorful the global Body of Christ is supposed to be. After the powerful impact of Urbana upon students, it was exciting to follow up with students on campus and help them to grow seriously as “World Christians.”

As a speaker, it was humbling and a privilege to share my life with other students as an example of one who took what she heard at Urbana and followed through and experienced God’s blessings and presence. It’s an honor to be a tangible, ordinary example for others who are considering a life as a missionary.

Lisa: Any favorite missionaries or Urbana speakers who have inspired you over the years, particularly at your first Urbana as a sophomore?

Nairy: From my first Urbana in 1984, I remember Eric Alexander, a Scottish expositor. As a college student I was so challenged by his love for the Word and how authoritatively he spoke from the Word. In 1987, Helen Roseveare had a huge impact on me as a single woman. She was joyfully serving and enduring suffering for the Kingdom. At the same convention, Ajith Fernando was one of my favorite Bible expositors. And for several Urbana conventions, George Verwer’s passion was contagious and excited me to be bold and radical for the harvest.

Lisa: What are your greatest challenges right now in the field?

Nairy: I would say uncertainty and opposition from local Muslim authorities, resistance towards Christians and political uneasiness in the region with war and terrorist threats. It’s a challenge to break through the media’s and Hollywood’s cultural stereotypes and misperceptions of what a Christian is. Reshaping their misconceptions is a huge task, and we long to model and explain biblical Christianity. With globalization, students are experiencing a massive cultural identity crisis. They are becoming utterly confused about who they once were, who they are now and who they can potentially be. This new world of options can be channeled in a positive or negative way towards Kingdom potential. Here lies our immense challenge: to use these times and tools during this incredibly global metamorphosis to usher in the kingdom of God where it has been blocked for decades.

Also, practically, one of my challenges is the age-old issue of “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” I don’t have enough workers for all the interest among students on the field here.

Lisa: In your talk you said that fear is an understandable feeling in missions but doesn’t have to be an obstacle to obedience and commitment. What are some actions you intentionally take to overcome (or allow God to conquer) your fears?

Nairy: Major doses of Scripture daily! There are several things I focus on specifically in the Word and in meditation. First, what is the scale of my concerns and fears in the light of eternity? What is temporal and what is lasting? What really matters and what is truly my end goal in life? Second, I try to reflect on God’s character. For me it all boils down to who God is—always and only good, just, sovereign, holy, merciful and personal. Third, I look to biblical heroes, remembering women and men of faith who trusted and survived or were delivered amid their fears. Finally, I try to keep a perspective on suffering, revisiting my theology of trials, persecution and persistence.

I can’t keep centered in God all by myself. So another key element is to keep sharing and praying, always on an intimate, vulnerable level with prayer partners, teammates and friends.

Lisa: At Urbana, you encouraged students to just “pick a path” and assured them that being with Jesus is more important than which particular project they end up going on. Still, as students navigate the countless opportunities for the summer and beyond, how can they wisely “pick a path”?

Nairy: Students need to determine a few practical things at this point with all the options at hand. It’s good to do some self-reflection as well as brochure and Web reading. I have a few key questions for reflection in mind. For starters, ask, “What am I really passionate and excited to do at this point in my life, given who I am now?” Along with that question, ask, “How do I enjoy using my time? What can I see myself doing for days on end?” Also, “What natural and spiritual gifts do I have that have been affirmed by others and that I have some experience in using?”

As far as navigating the Urbana options, ask yourself, “Which booth, exhibitor, agency really caused my heart to skip a beat when I heard about it?” Asking, “What can I do that others are not doing?” is a creative and strategic way to think. If one agency has a waiting list of ten for a certain position and another agency has only two folks who are eager to go, ask yourself whether you might be called to join where the need is.

Again, we can’t process these issues and decisions alone. Ask a staff worker, pastor, close friend or small group what they think about the one or two paths you have picked. Bring people into your decision, especially those who know you well. Pray and ask God to open the doors for this path as you proceed with each step (application, references, funds, teammates and other aspects) and let God know that you will go forward until he closes the door.

Lisa: In your work, how do you balance the need to be strategic and savvy with the need to trust and have faith?

Nairy: I think of the verses in James 4:13-16 which warn us to not boast in our plans but rather to say “If the Lord wishes, we shall live and do this or that.” I am a notorious strategist, a visionary and a planning maniac; but even with all my wonderful schemes and dreams, I remind myself and know in my heart that they are all God’s plans to will and to work out as he pleases. So we strategize, but at the same time completely trust his ways and will. As you said, it is a balance.

Lisa: Reconciliation is obviously a big theme in missions, particularly for you as a Christian Armenian serving in a hostile Muslim country, and previously as a campus staff worker with international students in Boston. How have you seen God work reconciliation in your life, personally and ethnically?

Nairy: As you mention, I think reconciliation has been most prominent in my life ethnically—as I explained in my Urbana message—with my journey as an Armenian woman serving in Muslim nation today. [Author’s note: Ottoman Turkey massacred 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 because this enterprising, Christian people group interfered with the government’s agenda toward a pan-Turkish state and would not convert to Islam. The Armenian Genocide is still a deep wound in the Armenian psyche. This makes Nairy’s choice to minister in a Muslim country all the more challenging and redemptive.]

Aside from ethnic issues, reconciliation is basically a daily commitment in my life to be in a right relationship with all those around me. I want to keep short accounts, lovingly raise issues and hurts, confront in healthy ways, communicate clearly, share prejudices honestly, examine my heart towards others each morning and try to understand those who are different from me.

Lisa: The “natural distancing” from family and friends you described in your talk is something many can relate to as their desire for missions grows and their family’s resistance (or disinterest) increases. Has your family’s understanding changed at all? How has God met you in the gap?

Nairy: Yes, my family’s understanding has grown. My Christian parents are growing and changing in areas of trust and obedience toward the Lord, just as I am. It’s a difficult process. Giving up their daughter is a cross that they need to bear. Students need to understand how hard this is for those who love us. Just as our passion for missions and ministry is a process, so we must allow for the process to take place in their lives. This process often starts for parents after we make our decision to become a “World Christian Goer.”

As for the pain of being far from family, in the last several years God has provided “adoptive” moms, dads and siblings for me around the globe who have loved me and cared for me as their own daughter. I have had Armenian, Australian, French, Lebanese, Swiss and Argentinian “parents.” Jesus promises that if we leave our families he will provide a hundredfold, both in this life and in the life to come (Luke 18:29, Matthew 19:29).

Lisa: Speaking of family, the prospect of singleness doesn’t always sit well with college students and all their emotions and desires. What is your current mindset regarding singleness, and how does one lift this area to God?

Nairy: You lift it up one day at a time! Twenty-four hours at a time. One of my best friends always reminds me: “Nairy, can you be single for the next 24 hours?” “Sure, no problem,” I reply. “Great,” she says, “That is all God is asking of you, one day at a time. Each day has enough worries of its own. We are commanded to trust him with each day, to believe him for our daily bread. When tomorrow comes, we’ll deal with that.”

So God is not asking us today if we can be single for the rest of our lives. I don’t have the faith or grace at the moment to look forward to the rest of my life as a single woman, but I certainly have plenty for the next 24 hours. Day by day, I have made it to this point. I have continued to joyfully serve my Lord, even as a single woman, which I never desired to be while in college. Second, I also keep holding on to the scripture promises that God knows our needs and we will lack no good thing. We shall have no wants. So if I don’t have a life partner at the moment, then God has determined that it is not the best for me at the moment; otherwise I would certainly have it. Psalm 34 says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him! . . . but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” (verses 8, 10).

Now, that’s what I would tell anyone struggling with singleness. But particularly in the case of those in the mission field, I would say that this is one of the areas where we need to be willing to pay a cost. Yes, all things are possible with God, but the reality is that many global mission fields can create a distance that keeps us from meeting and finding other godly singles for marriage. Are we willing to set aside our desire for marriage for a period of time, or even a lifetime, to bring the gospel to people who otherwise would not hear the Good News of God’s kingdom? I know that deep in my soul I desire that people enter eternity with Christ far more than I desire marriage on earth. In short, eternity is what keeps me single and satisfied.

Lisa: Any follow-up advice to readers regarding how they can process and apply your five commitment questions (page 5)?

Nairy: Work on one question at a time. You needn’t master all five at one time. See those questions as a life-long process, questions to constantly re-visit, and monitor your growth and progress. I ask myself “monitoring questions” like these: Has my understanding of God expanded? Does God seem bigger today than he was a year ago? What risks have I recently taken? How did it go when I took a risk to get to know someone and understand them better, or when I last attempted a radical demonstration of the gospel, or tried to communicate it verbally? Am I experiencing more freedom in this or that area of my life? Have I taken stock of all I possess? Is there something new I now possess that could become a burden and needs to be evaluated?

Also, these types of questions require accountability and community. Share your responses with a prayer buddy, your small group or your staff worker. Don’t try to grow in these questions alone; it’s too hard.

Lisa: What would you hope that students take away from your message and life?

Nairy: Awesome question! We should all be asking ourselves the same question: What message do we want others to take from our lives? Specifically, I think the message is that I faithfully try to give my whole heart for the call of God’s kingdom, and that everyone can do that. The call is to all, and all are able to take a serious and joyful part in it.

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Judging from her life and ministry so far, Nairy’s message is truly one of service—serving Jesus Christ and his gospel message wholeheartedly, serving people around the world with the Good News no matter what the cost, no matter where it may lead and no matter what the suffering, because the joys and the fruit always outweigh the challenges. “Yes, Lord.”

Lisa Kirazian is a freelance writer based in San Diego, California. She is an alumna of InterVarsity at Stanford University.