We’ve been working in an organization that’s not faith-based, which all our team members had reservations with at first….we’re a missions organization, how are we not working with a Christian organization? Not only that, but it laid out the guidelines in our volunteer packet–“no volunteer shall evangelize, and practice/preach their faith”…or something along those lines.
So how do we as a team with a mission to show the love of Christ work here…and that’s when the conviction came. God, asked me at least, “Do you really doubt, my abilities?” No one noticed that this organization wasn’t faith-based until after we went there the first day, and if we had noticed, we probably wouldn’t have agreed to work here. And, now I know that that wasn’t an accident. We’ve been praying as a team for opportunities to share Christ’s love, because the packet also mentioned, we could share our faith, if we were asked questions. We also talked about how while our main focus is on the kids, and their protection, and working in prevention of them being trafficked, we also had an entire staff to be ministering to as well.
I’ve been praying to God, that I would see opportunities, and seize opportunities when they came. The other day, we had opportunities, but as usual I didn’t see them, until later. As we were sitting in the meeting room, during break, one of the staff members came up and asked if we had had lunch yet. I answered with the logical, and truthful answer, “yes sir.”(opportunity 1, missed) He persisted though, “we would like you to join us for lunch.” Alright, that’s cool, I can still eat. So two teammates and I went downstairs and they pulled up some extra chairs. As we sat down, I wondered, should I say something about praying? But I didn’t (opportunity 2, missed). Luckily, one of my teammates did ask, and even though a couple seemed hesitant at first, as Erika started grabbing people’s hands, they smiled and agreed. And then, she asked me to pray. So there I was, with an opportunity, and a task before me. And the first thing I thought was…”should, i mention Jesus?” and the second thought i had a split second after that was, “How can you not?” And so i did. And as 9 grown adults sat around a table designed for children, i held the hands of a teammate and the director of this organization, and i prayed…in Jesus’ name.
It wasn’t shouting from a rooftop boldness, and it wasn’t getting arrested for preaching the gospel in the streets boldness, but it was a start, and something i’ve been praying for for a long time, and a lot of people have told me they’ve been praying for….and i don’t boast, because i didn’t do anything special, but Christ said to not deny him before men, and i’ve done that way too often in the past. No we weren’t in a buddhist pagoda, but just as believers, our bodies are temples, and our homes are supposed to be places of worship devoted to God, just as our churches, the building of this organization, staffed by buddhists, is a buddhist temple…..and God allowed a group of believers to infiltrate this place, and share our love with the children, but staff as well, and we weren’t overbearing, and we weren’t forceful, and Christ allowed their hearts to soften, and let believers come in and preach their faith, through our actions and our words.
There’s been a number of other opportunities as well for our team to share things, and God is using us in impactful ways, and i pray He will continue to do that in the next week. And hopefully, when we leave this place in a week, we will leave the breath of Christ when we do.
I’ve read the Gospels, I believe the Gospels, but still, just as the disciples, I’ve seen him feed the five thousand, then question his abilities to feed the four thousand:
