Montenegro was hard.
In Montenegro, there are about 150 Christian believers in the entire country. This is why our ministry last month was evangelism. We partnered with a church in Podgorica, the capital, called Christ Gospel Church to spread the good news.
The pastor explained that Eastern Orthodox is the main religion in the country and many Montenegrin’s believe that Evangelical churches are sects. I was blown away because I have never heard anything like that spoken in America or any other country I have been too. The pastor informed us of how the people of Montenegro are afraid of rejection and therefore many evangelical Christians do not share their faith with others because of that fear. The devil has such a hold on this country.
Evangelism is hard in America, but it is even more difficult in a country where you do not know the language and the people already have no care for what you have to share with them. I have never felt so lost on how to do ministry. I struggled with finding ways to start conversations, finding the best places to go and most importantly finding the courage to walk up to people.
It was heartbreaking to watch as many Montenegrins could go about their life without a care to hear about the Good News that we wanted to offer to them. I could not help, but feel rejected each time that I tried to speak to someone and they immediately shut down, when I spoke of God.
You are my disciples.
I started realizing as the month went on that my team and I were seeing a glimpse of what the first disciples experienced. Jesus sent them out to many places to minister to unbelievers. Some cities welcomed them and the people listened intently to what they had to say and other cities threw them in jail or completely left them as outcast.
The disciples were persecuted and people wanted to go about their daily lives without listening to them. Did this stop the disciples from proclaiming the miracles Jesus was performing? No. Did this make them question their own faith? Of course not. They knew what they were proclaiming was the truth and the only truth that mattered. They were serving the one true God without wavering.
Trust in my will.
I kept coming back to the same question. God was asking me “Are you willing to be the 1-9?” This question is asking, if it took 10 different people speaking to a person about Jesus before that one person would accept Jesus, would you be willing to be persons 1-9. By choosing to be these people, I would have to trust that the efforts I put in and the work I was doing was life changing, even if I was unable to see fruit that came from my efforts.
So many times, we need to see results. Results equal seeing people saved and turning their lives over to God. I want results, but I also want to be in the will of God. I know that the time that I am seeking Him is bearing fruit because I am able to show them God’s unfailing love through my actions.
