Global Kingdom worker: Heidi Baker
Role in The Mind of a Missionary: She appears in section four: Rewards, chapter twelve: The Kingdom of God on Earth.
Dates: August 29, 1959—present
Location of missions work: Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Mozambique
Known for: Heidi Baker is a Christian missionary, itinerant speaker, and the CEO of Iris Global, a Christian humanitarian organization. She is the author of several books on Christian spirituality.
Famous quotes: “More is accomplished by spending time in God’s presence than by doing anything else.”
“No matter how deep we have gone, there is more.”
“It’s not complicated. Just love the one in front of you.”
“Ministry, however, is simply loving the person in front of you. It’s about stopping for the one and being the very fragrance of Jesus to a lost and dying world.”
“We must give up all that we are in order to possess all that He is.”
“Ministry is not about where you are or where you go, it is about where He is.”
In The Mind of a Missionary, section four: Rewards, chapter twelve: The Kingdom of God on Earth, you will come face to face with the upside-down Kingdom of God. Contrary to popular understanding, His Kingdom values humility and meekness; by going lower, you grow higher; by becoming nothing, you become the vessel of God’s choosing. Jesus’ central message was about the Kingdom of God. Surprisingly, many professing Christians understand little about this concept. You will see the “now” and “not yet” aspects of this Kingdom on the earth, and find how the Spirit of God moves in and through your life. You will see that light was made for darkness. When you step forth into precarious spots, the Kingdom of God goes with you. Jesus reminds you not to worry about the things of the world; His presence brings the promise of joy and peace. Your missional efforts succeed when you value the presence of God. For all ministry fruitfulness begins in intimacy with Christ.
One day, Rolland Baker read about the war raging in Mozambique in TIME Magazine. Flipping through the issue, he shocked to see images of kids’ bodies scattered and lifeless in the African dirt. Their corpses laid silent; flies alighted on their soft eyelashes. He saw scores of women and children scavenging through mountains of garbage in search for their next meal. White smoke billowed up from bombed-out refugee camps and ramshackle huts. Military vehicles parked on distant plains while emaciated mothers skirted live landmines. He set the magazine on the table and said, “Heidi, do you want a real mission field?” She scanned the images and immediately responded, “Let’s go there!”
Christian missions is essentially a relocation plan to a realm outside our own.1 God rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son.2 Our primary task is to populate Heaven, not by might nor by power, but through the influence of His Spirit.34
Two days after their arrival in 1995, the Bakers accepted charge of a dilapidated orphanage with eighty children. Food was scarce, living quarters stark, and medical care all but absent. Physical and sexual abuse were common; a significant proportion of the children were infected with STDs.5 The situation seemed impossible if not for God’s Divine intervention.
Surrounded by such overwhelming need, Heidi daily sought help from the Lord. Naturally speaking, she had little to offer. The Spirit of God alone could reveal the Heavenly glory required to penetrate a nation. “The Kingdom looks like one smiling child at a time until nations are full of people who are passionate lovers of God,”6 she said. “The love of God manifested through you is what people really need. You must become so close to His very heartbeat that you can feel what others feel.This is how we will reach the world.”7 Despite story after story of extreme neglect, Heidi noticed Jesus in the faces of the orphaned children. The ministry took in more street kids; after one year, the orphanage grew to three-hundred-twenty.
As ambassadors of Christ, we must emulate our Master’s meekness. As the advance emissaries of God’s Kingdom, our missional efforts must mark with humility. This present-tense reality points to His glorious future reign.8
God lavishly poured out His Spirit. Mozambican boys and girls prophesied, young men saw visions, and old folks dreamt of God’s Kingdom coming to Africa. Heidi daily made her way to some of the most miserable spots in the city in search of the unloved and overlooked. Her countercultural outreach led her to a massive dump on the outskirts of the town where crowds of people scavenged mountains of trash for a meager living. Here she witnessed blind eyes receive sight and deaf ears hear. Throngs of people found freedom from mental illness, leprosy, and sicknesses of every sort. It seemed that God had reserved the supernatural for the physically famished and the spiritually starved.
I believe it is crucial that we understand Jesus’ central message of the Kingdom of God; that we recognize the “now” and “not yet” realities of Heaven. Jesus said that “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”9 Though we have yet to experience the consummation of Christ’s earthly rule, He gives us glimpses of His glory, graciously granting us access to the supernatural realm.10
In our experience of the “now” and “not yet” Kingdom, God’s tangible presence on the earth is the ultimate Christian aim. He sits on the throne of our hearts, establishing His reign wherever our feet may tread. And when we give God permission to light our lives like candles in the dark, the world cannot help but recognize the Presence that we so evidently value.
The constraints of space and time do not bind the Kingdom of God; He accomplishes His will on His terms. Questioning God’s timeline is a futile endeavor. He allows the answer to tarry that we might come to value His presence more than the desired results of our missional efforts. Oftentimes, the answer God gives looks nothing like the solution we expected.
The nature of His true Kingdom is unequivocally characterized by humility. It does not come with signs and portents and the overthrow of earthly kingdoms, but is instead revealed in an unobtrusive, seemingly weak Servant who willfully goes to the cross. The tables then turn; His upside-down Kingdom flips the world on end. The suffering and death Jesus encountered at Calvary accomplished the decisive victory of God’s Kingdom. This Kingdom is now present at every corner of the earth; God’s complete and total reign will consummate at the second coming of Christ.11
Somehow, in some way, play your part in God’s master plan. Don’t be foolish by collecting the stuff that moth and rust destroy. Don’t cling to the things of the world; busy yourself with the Father’s business. Be wise and win souls. Make disciples. Raise up a generation to serve the Lord.
Do you desire to thrive on mission today? in chapter twelve of The Mind of a Missionary, you realize that by becoming nothing, you become God’s instrument of choice to make His name known on the earth. Jesus reveals the secret to dispelling doubt and anxiety in your missional efforts through His well-known words: “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”12
Do you want to experience the fullness of God’s Kingdom in and through your life? The mind of Christ is the ultimate key to unlocking the power of Heaven on the earth. Countless souls wait in the balance. God cheers you on, daily seeking to conform you to the image of His Son. So walk in this transformative attitude and orientation toward life. The promise of God’s presence goes with you, for you have the mind of Christ.
The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today by David Joannes
Books/resources:
Compelled By Love: How to Change the World Through the Simple Power of Love in Action by Heidi Baker
Birthing the Miraculous: The Power of Personal Encounters with God to Change Your Life and the World by Heidi Baker
Books/resources referenced in chapter twelve of The Mind of a Missionary:
Compelled by Love, Iris Global Film
Why Don’t People Understand the Kingdom of God? by Noel Hornor
Book Review by John Piper of “The Kingdom of God” by John Bright
The Surprising Ways the Church is Failing Millennial Missionaries by Sarita Hartz
Iris Global History
Defining Moments: God-Encounters with Ordinary People Who Changed the World by Bill Johnson
Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health by Dr. Caroline Leaf
- John 18:36
- Colossians 1:13
- Zechariah 4:6
- David Joannes, The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today, chapter twelve: The Kingdom of God on Earth
- Iris Global History https://www.irisglobal.org/about/history
- Heidi Baker, Compelled By Love: How to Change the World Through the Simple Power of Love in Action, page 37, Charisma House, 2008
- Heidi Baker, Compelled By Love: How to Change the World Through the Simple Power of Love in Action, page 32, Charisma House, 2008
- David Joannes, The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today, chapter twelve: The Kingdom of God on Earth
- Luke 12:32, English Standard Version
- David Joannes, The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today, chapter twelve: The Kingdom of God on Earth
- David Joannes, The Mind of a Missionary: What Global Kingdom Workers Tell Us About Thriving on Mission Today, chapter twelve: The Kingdom of God on Earth
- Matthew 6:33, New International Version
