Part of our ministry this month is door-to-door ministry. It is exactly how it sounds. We travel door-to-door spreading the Gospel, whether that is sharing the Word with someone who does not know Jesus or giving encouragement to the people who do. I knew coming into Africa, I would most likely be doing door-to-door ministry at some point, and I wouldn’t say I was the most excited about it.
When I think of this concept, I tend to think of the mormons or others who go door-to-door in the states, and I think of how I tend to react. If I am lucky enough to spot them or realize who they are before answering the door, I typically ignore them and hide in my house until they leave to go to the next house. Don’t lie, at least some of you reading this have done this or wanted to at some point in life.
Well, here I was in Rwanda, going to people’s houses. Not sure what to expect, after praying for our day, we set out to our first stop. We arrive to the first house with our translator, and our “GPS Navigator.” Immediately, the woman starts talking to our translator without an extremely happy look on her face. I think we have made her mad, and she definitely does not want us at her door or in her house. Our translator then starts laughing and explains to us, the lady is upset because she didn’t receive a warning about us coming over. She was upset that her house was not prepared.
After standing outside for a few minutes while she readied her living room for us to enter, she happily welcomes us in to her home. There are only two small wooden benches that she immediately offers to her 5 guests not really leaving herself a place to sit, but she sits and is more than eager to hear from us.
Did you read that?! She welcomed five strangers into her house with no hesitation because she knew we were going to tell her about Jesus. This honestly blew my mind. When would that ever happen in the U.S.? When would we let complete strangers into our house ever, much less if they were crazy Christians trying to share Jesus with us? Now, I do understand the cultures are different, but it does not stop these people from being the most inviting and open people I have ever met.
This generosity and welcoming did not stop at this woman’s house. This happened over and over again that day and every other day we set out into the village for door-to-door. Sometimes we stopped in shops and talked to the owners in between customers. One time we sat in a woman’s living room for over 30 minutes just waiting out a rain storm before we shared with her and then set on our way. If the owners of the homes weren’t there, the workers sat outside and let us talk to them. Almost every time we stopped, we would start with two or three people and end up with around ten waiting to here what we had to say.
These people wanted to hear the name of Jesus and wanted to serve us at the same time. What would my life look like if I served people better in America? Obviously, I am not going to be naive about it and let just anybody into my household, but what would it look like to create an open community, a house with open doors, a heart willing to serve those around me to the greatest degree, an open hand understanding that what I have is the Lord’s and I am merely a steward of my belongings.
I think Americans could learn a lot from the people of Rwanda, I know I have.
