Something I’ve learned on the race is what evangelism looks like. And now that I am familiar with it, I can truly tell you that evangelism is hard stuff.
If the word evangelism is foreign to you, it essentially means to tell people about Jesus, but it is also not limited to that. Evangelism doesn’t have to be just shoving the gospel down someone’s throat in hopes of converting them, it shouldn’t be like that to be frank; it’s proven more effective when you just love someone well and be a reflection of Jesus to them. That can look like getting to know a person’s name, hearing their stories, helping them, praying for them, or simply being their friend. If you are a believer, you’re called to be an evangelist (queue the Great Commission).
I remember at training camp for the race back in July one of the speakers did a session on evangelism and told us “the way you live out your faith should look no different than going to the grocery store on an ordinary day than it would on a day going to the grocery store to evangelize.” In other words, evangelism is more like a lifestyle we should be living than a ministry opportunity given to us. With that, it’s almost as if we should be evangelizing everyday without even thinking about it, like it should just come natural to us as believers. Maybe for some people this is accurate, but for me definitely not. I thought I’d be a pro at evangelism by this point of my race, but I’m going to be transparent and tell you I’m not. I still get nervous to do it and stumble over my words and blank on what to say but I’m living and learning.
My evangelism timeline from training camp to now has looked a little something like a heartbeat monitor. I came home from training camp and had a month and half in the states before leaving for South Africa. And let me tell you, evangelism for me is the hardest in the states. Especially when you live in a small town. For the most part it’s not a one and done interaction, you will most likely bump into those people again and if it doesn’t go well, then it’ll probably be awkward!!! There’s like some stigma in the states, too where people who love Jesus and talk about Jesus are lame so it’s hard to casually bring him up because nobody purposefully wants to be seen as different or be judged. I mean we’re insecure people let’s be real. Having said that, I can’t really say I evangelized much at home post training camp and pre race.
But then I went to South Africa!!!!!! First travel day! First country! First month on the race! Fun and fresh! I was pumped! And I swear my squad lived and breathed the Great Commission month one. We set out on this journey ablaze for Jesus, and we were extremely eager to see some disciples being made along the way. We would talk to every single person we passed about Him no matter where we were or what we were doing. Cab drivers, store clerks, baristas, flight attendants, students, hobos, or anybody who would engage with us and could speak english (which is probably more people than you’d think in South Africa; for where we were about sixty percent could speak it give or take). At the end of month one we had this thing called an awakening where we met up with another gap year squad who was traveling through South Africa for a few nights and I actually lead a teaching and activation for our two squads on evangelism with a few other girls. Month two and three, kind of the same deal. I became more settled into this missional life I was living everyday therefore I eased back on evangelizing to every human I’d encounter but it was still something that had become instinctive. Evangelism in South Africa was easy because like I said, many people there spoke english and conversations would flow organically about why we were there. And if I had a dollar for every time someone has asked us, “are you studying here or are you on holiday?” and we responded with “no, we’re actually missionaries”, I would be rich. But that was South Africa.
Then we made our way to Ecuador!!!!! Second country! Spanish! Language barrier! Even more fun! Evangelism obviously became more challenging seeing as that I couldn’t communicate with hardly anyone, so I didn’t. I learned early on in Ecuador how to evangelize in different forms so I became mindful of my actions and expressions towards people because if I couldn’t verbally state that “I am here to know you and love you like Jesus does!” I would have to use other methods to show it. A permanent smile on my face and going out of my way to care for and help people was all I could do. It sounds real easy and second nature to a believer to do those things, and it was, but reflecting back there were still missed opportunities that I took for granted in the littlest things. That was the extent of my evangelism in Ecuador, acting as a kind human since I couldn’t talk to people.
Now I’m in month seven! I’m in Cambodia!!!!! Third and final country! Different hemisphere! Khmer! Sounds like gibberish! Even greater language barrier! Tired and ready to fly home in two months but simultaneously happy being where my feet are. Here I am on the last leg of my race, I’m in a very rural and highly remote village and my ministry is to go out and evangelize each morning. I’m just going to say it, it’s difficult for me. Our host serves as our sole translator and bless his heart but his english is rocky. Our understanding of each other is rocky. It’s hard when one of the people in my group asks someone who we are supposed to be reaching a question that I don’t even know the answer to and then I get caught up in my own thoughts. We’ve had to rewire our brains on how to express our thoughts and meet people where they are at here because life here is the most different. We work hard on how to word our messages and make our points but even still I know that most of what we say gets lost in translation. The communication with a translator and the struggle that is isn’t even the hardest part of it though. For me, it’s connecting the truth I know and believe about Jesus from the culture I grew up in to the culture that is present here. For those who may not know, there are three cultural lenses that exist within our big world. They are shame versus honor, guilt versus innocence, and fear versus power. The United States has adopted the guilt versus innocence lense. Cambodia, along with the rest of south east Asia, closely associates with the shame versus honor lense. This means they honor their families, ancestors, and traditions very highly and act in a way that is sure not to bring shame on themselves or their families. For example, Khmer people are big into ancestral worship, and to break that chain of worshipping their deceased ancestors to worshipping one god and one god alone, Jesus, that would be dishonoring to their family members. But when we go into peoples homes asking if they’ve heard the name of Jesus before, everyone will answer “yes” because they don’t want to dishonor us either. They are big people pleasers here. Many times they will tell you what you want to hear even if it’s not something they believe or something that will stick, because of their culture of honor and it’s been really hard to work around that circle that they are in. Because to be real, they are stuck in a circle that feels impossible to break out of. My heart breaks the most when we go into a home where they do practice ancestral worship and they have the spirit houses and they share their testimonies about why they can’t pursue Jesus and all that stuff and there are children running around everywhere, because its clearly a generational curse.
I think the biggest thing I’ve learned in Cambodia already in regards to evangelism is that the most I can be doing for them is just interceding for them. Praying for those chains and curses to be recognized and broken and honestly for a miracle in this village and in this country. Because we cannot convict them, only God can and He is the one they will forever answer to. I have also discovered that I am a kind of person who would much rather serve people and work behind the scenes with intentions of showing them Christ’s love than to be explicit and tell them about it. I think I have grown a lot in this aspect being on the race, too since I don’t have the gift of tongues or the resources to converse with people of different languages, I’ve learned to serve above all else.
Evangelism is hard and there’s no denying it for me, but I’ve seen it produce perseverance and greater faith when we do it as we are called to. I firmly believe it is something that takes practice. I don’t know if I’ll ever be a rockstar at it, but I will be obedient in trying and you can hold me to it.
Prayers for Cambodia and for our ministry of evangelizing to the people here this month would mean the most to us if you have the time! Thanks for the consistent love! Until the next time I get wifi outside my village!!!!
Julia
