Imagine the beautiful city pictured above being lifted from Serbia and planted in a quaint city in the United States. It would be a popular shopping area filled with unique coffee shops, a few name brand stores, many boutiques, and restaurants. In many ways, Sombor would fit right in with other US cities. The first few days of our arrival this was exciting news! Not having to go outside of our own comfort zone that much for our first month of ministry? Great! As the days passed and we got to know the culture more, I began to feel slightly uncomfortable with some things I noticed. Glorification of immorality, evident envy of those with more money, laziness, pride and selfishness have all been evident in Sombor.
I couldn’t figure out why I had contradicting feelings of both comfort and disdain in this setting until two days ago.
During our prayer walk, God revealed that many of the sins of this city are the same as those we encounter at home in the United States. The only difference is that we have accepted these and other sins to the point of becoming so comfortable with them at home, that we rarely allow the Holy Spirit to convict us when we encounter them.
Our team feels as though the city is asleep, totally unaware of the spiritual warfare darkening the light that God can bring to this place. This is something that we need to be woken up to as Americans in our own towns. No matter where we are or what is deemed acceptable by culture, as Christians we are called to be the light!
11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:11-14
We are grateful for your prayers as we continue to build relationships with people here, connecting them with the church and discipling them. God has blessed the relationships we have made already, both with the Serbians and as a team! We will begin English tutoring next week as an additional outreach.
Please pray that God would protect these relationships and that He would guide us in our conversations. Lastly, the priority of our ministry here is to combat spiritual warfare through pray walks and our team could use as many prayer warrior as possible. Therefore, if you would like to be added to our prayer team, please email us at [email protected] or facebook message us your email address.
Thanks for all you do, and continue to shine your light!
