https://youtu.be/VjICebSiHVY

📝 Summary

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In this message, Rudolf Kabutz invites Belay’ers to see global missions not as something far away or only for “missionaries,” but as a calling Jesus brings right into our everyday lives. Through stories from South Africa, the Horn of Africa, Trans World Radio, and John 4, Rudolf shows how Jesus crosses boundaries to meet the Samaritan woman with living water—and then sends her back into her own community as a witness. The heart of the message is simple and challenging: God’s mission is global, but it becomes real and personal wherever God has placed us, with the people right in front of us.

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📌 Tips

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• For the greatest impact, invite a few others to go through this study guide with you.
• You don’t need to do every section and question—use what fits your group or season.
• Let the Spirit highlight where to slow down and engage. </aside>

🧊 Icebreaker

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If you could instantly become fluent in any language, what would you choose and why?

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📖 Bible Passage(s)

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John 4:1–42 (MSG) 1 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed 2 (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. 3 So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee. 4 To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. 5 He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon. 7 A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, “Would you give me a drink of water?” 8 (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) 9 The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, “How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water.” 11 The woman said, “Sir, you don’t even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this ‘living water’? 12 Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?” 13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. 14 Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.” 15 The woman said, “Sir, give me this water so I won’t ever get thirsty, won’t ever have to come back to this well again!” 16 He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she said. “That’s nicely put: ‘I have no husband.’ 18 You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough.” 19 “Oh, so you’re a prophet! 20 Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?” 21 “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. 22 You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God’s way of salvation is made available through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you’re called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. 24 God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.” 25 The woman said, “I don’t know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we’ll get the whole story.” 26 “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.” 27 Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn’t believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it. 28 The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, 29 “Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?” 30 And they went out to see for themselves. 31 In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, “Rabbi, eat. Aren’t you going to eat?” 32 He told them, “I have food to eat you know nothing about.” 33 The disciples were puzzled. “Who could have brought him food?” 34 Jesus said, “The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. 35 As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time! 36 “The Harvester isn’t waiting. He’s taking his pay, gathering in this grain that’s ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. 37 That’s the truth of the saying, ‘This one sows, that one harvests.’ 38 I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others.” 39 Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman’s witness: “He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!” 40 They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. 41 A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. 42 They said to the woman, “We’re no longer taking this on your say-so. We’ve heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He’s the Savior of the world!”

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🔎 Observation

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1. What stands out to you in the passage(s)? Is there anything new for you to believe or obey?
2. What boundaries does Jesus cross in this passage? (Notice the ethnic, religious, gender, social, and moral barriers between Jesus and the Samaritan woman).
3. How does the woman’s response change after meeting Jesus? (Pay attention to what she leaves behind and where she goes).
4. What does Jesus teach his disciples about the “harvest”? (Look especially at verses 34–38 and how Jesus sees people differently than the disciples do). </aside>

👋 Application

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1. Where has God already placed you as a witness?
   • Rudolf emphasized that mission is not only “over there.” It includes your workplace, school, neighborhood, home, and friendships.
   • Like Karin’s small medical practice, the place may look ordinary—but God can use it in global ways.
2. Who is “right in front of you” that God may be asking you to notice?
   • Jesus saw the Samaritan woman when others likely avoided her.
   • Mission often begins by paying attention to the person others overlook.
3. What boundaries might Jesus be inviting you to cross?
   • Jesus crossed cultural, social, religious, and gender boundaries in John 4.
   • Following Jesus may mean moving toward people you naturally avoid or don’t understand.
4. What part of your story could God use to bless someone else?
   • The Samaritan woman had a complicated story, but Jesus still used her as a witness.
   • God does not wait for perfect people to share his love.
5. Where do you feel a deep ache, longing, or burden?
   • Rudolf invited us to consider that our pain may reveal something of God’s heart.
   • A burden for people, injustice, family, neighbors, or unreached nations may become a place of calling.
6. What is your “inner water level” like right now?
   • Jesus offers living water that becomes a spring within us.
   • Mission flows best from life with Jesus, not just effort for Jesus.
7. How could God stretch your view of mission across space, time, and people?
   • Rudolf challenged us to think globally, generationally, and locally.
   • God may stretch us toward unreached people, young leaders, future generations, or people in our own sphere of influence. </aside>

🏔️ Live “On Belay”

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• Pray for one unreached people group.
  • Pick one country or people group from the 10/40 window and pray for access to the gospel, local believers, and faithful witnesses.
• Start one boundary-crossing conversation.
  • Talk with someone you might normally pass by—at work, school, a coffee shop, or in your neighborhood.
• Ask God, “Who have I left out?”
  • Let that question guide your week. Be open to someone God brings to mind.
• Use your everyday skills for God’s mission.
  • Consider how your work, education, creativity, hospitality, medical skills, business experience, parenting, or friendships could bless others.
• Encourage a younger Belay’er.
  • Invest in the next generation. Invite someone younger into conversation, prayer, service, or leadership. </aside>

🙏 Prayer

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• Jesus, fill me with your living water so that my life overflows with your love.
• Father, help me see people the way you see them—especially those I tend to overlook.
• Holy Spirit, show me where you are already working and how I can join you.
• Lord, give me courage to cross boundaries with humility, kindness, and truth.
• God, let Belay be a community that lives on mission locally and globally. </aside>

🎶 Worship

https://youtu.be/zOpt_bulJxY?si=Ajayo7-AZoBuxabU