Turning Obstacles into Opportunities
We recently completed our ACTIVATE(D) Team Series with the pastor and elders of the local church we serve. One of the participants in that Team Series, an elder’s wife and deaconess named Beverly, has shared an amazing testimony with us we’d like to share with you!
Since completing our disciple-maker training, Beverly has been actively working to make Jesus unavoidable in her sphere of influence. She’s been inviting and bringing her granddaughter, her granddaughter’s friends, and all the kids she can get to come from her neighborhood to our youth events at the church! (Not to mention, yummy treats!) She has especially connected with a Buddhist Chinese family new to her neighborhood who immigrated from Taiwan two years ago. She invited the 5th-grade girl and 7th-grade boy to our first youth event in October. Since then, she’s brought them to every youth event, given them each a Bible, started a Bible study in her home with them and their mom, and brought them to a Bible class at the church.
Please read more of the story below. We hope it will inspire you with how God can use what appear to be obstacles, like cultural differences, and turn them into opportunities! And we hope it will encourage you with how He can bless small steps toward sharing Him with others, including those we least expect to respond well, and how as teams we can support one another to be more effective disciple-makers! (More on that below her testimony!) We welcome prayer for this family to continue in openness and their seeking to know Truth, that God would reveal Himself and His love to them, and that they would commit their lives to Him!
I have interesting & exciting news:
I had the opportunity to spend some time sharing with Alexander & Amelia’s mom, Ni (pronounced like ‘knee’). What a blessed time! I’m so excited. Ni was totally open to Alexander getting the Bible. On top of that, Ni said she has wanted to get a Bible (I’ll see to that).
My access to them is through cultural differences. They want to understand and fit into our Western culture. With Ni’s permission & blessing, I offered to help Alexander with conversation that might not be received well in our culture. Alexander seemed to want that help but I told him I wouldn’t do it in front of outsiders and he can always tell me if our communication is uncomfortable for him or he wants it to stop.
I also asked that they tell me differences in their culture. Then some things came up in conversation so we got to try it out.
It was kind of fun but I had to work at my explanations with various examples.
Ni explained that China doesn’t allow any other belief other than to practice Buddhism and to deny the existence of God. Because she works for a Buddhist organization I assumed she might not be thrilled to have Christianity taught to her kids (or her). The opposite is true. She thinks China is wrong in not believing or teaching about God. She wants to know more.
Ni and her husband, Joseph, have a friend with a Christian wife. She has shared a little bit about God & Christianity. Ni is hungry to understand more. So now I’ve invited them to church and [the Bible study there]... We talked about all kinds of things including all they see on TV of the right-wing vs. left-wing politics, demonstrations, and violence, etc. That opened the door for me to share that we’re to love God with our all and also to love one another.
Ni shared that in China families do not say they love each other.
I contrasted that with Western culture where we can be heard saying we love everything: cars, flowers, pets, etc. when we should use the word ‘like’. But real love is of God and we’re to love others as He loves us.
Anyway, what a blessed breakthrough. Keep [this] family in prayer as we continue to reach out and help them explore the Christian faith. Thank you for your encouragement through your classes as I don’t think I ever would have made this connection with them without it.
Plus, Alexander & Amelia really do like their time at our church on youth nights. Hallelujah! … The Holy Spirit burst open a door like a 50's western cowboy coming into a saloon! Yippee!!
We pray the Holy Spirit would continue to burst through those doors and turn obstacles into opportunities, as we team together to see Christ glorified in whole neighborhoods and networks of new disciples!