I’m running out of ways to tell you God is working here. Last week was very busy. Aside all the usual work and weekly ministry stuff, I had scheduled a “class” type meeting for late Saturday night. I spent all week trying to develop what I could say to my Asian and Middle Eastern friends that would be there. How do you introduce Christianity to someone who has never interacted with it, or at least very little? They may have seen the joy or voluntary endurance of persecutions and trials by Christians in the past, but how do you explain why? How do I explain why my hope goes beyond the world I can see to one that I have faith in? How do you explain who God is? You get the point.
I ended up breaking it up into basic questions.
- What are Christians?
- Who is God?
- What is/why is sin?
- How do we get to know God?
- How do we develop this faith?
- What else do Christians do?
- How do we become Christians?
We then read some scripture together, and will meet again to read more.
This format actually went really well, because I could go pretty in depth with just these basic questions. Though they may not have much experience with Christianity, they ask a good range of tough questions. After I had talked a while I opened it up for questions, and they kept me on my toes. We would go from “Is God a real being or just a sentimentalized force?” to “If God is good and God’s creation was good and people were good as God created them, why is there evil in the world?” to “How do you pray?” It was quite a range.
Saturday had already been quite a day too. After several of us had planned on going to church together Saturday evening, only two of us ended up being able to go. This was only his third church service ever. I had been taking people to several different churches so they could get a feel for things that various churches do differently and what we all do the same. This time we were going to a Lutheran church. It was their contemporary service, meaning the pastor didn’t wear his suit jacket and Amazing Grace was added alongside the hymns. I found the service kind of dull and almost fell asleep. However, the sermon was quite good, and talked about true “vision”, and how our faith gives us vision for the things we hope for and trust in. Overall, it was an ok service. But on the way home my friend told me how much he loved it. I talked with him a bit about faith, and he said he now had it. He asked me how he could become a Christian and as soon as we got back we prayed together. Though I found it to be an average service, he found the Holy Spirit there. How much we could all use a little more “vision” for the Spirit’s presence. It was so wonderful to talk about this experience in that meeting we had later, I think some of our friends are close to being ready to pray that prayer too.
This is where I want more time. Most of them go back to China soon, and communication will be much more difficult. There are Christians and churches in China they can connect with, but not that I can. We have talked a little about how the church in China is different, and how it has to be since it is proclaiming Christ to very different people, but I have to hope and pray and trust that as they seek those churches out they prove to be fruitful land to grow in.
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