When I heard we would be doing a lot of evangelism on the Race, I was not happy. Evangelism is the weird guy on the street corners who yells at you about going to hell. Evangelism is the people who go door to door asking if you know Jesus and if you’re planning on going to heaven or to hell. Evangelism is angry and hate-filled and completely devoid of the grace that is the focal point of the very religion I’m supposed to represent. I was not going to be that person.
So the day finally came at one point that I needed to put away my expectations, my pre-conceived views and prejudices, and evangelize. I very quickly found out how wrong I was about it (surprise, surprise). Through actually practicing evangelism, I found that it was not all the things I thought it was. It can be done many different ways, but it definitely doesn’t entail condemning passersby on street corners. I’ve found that it’s more like an adventure where you get to know and come close to strangers in a beautiful way.
I am in the beautiful city of Siem Reap, Cambodia. It’s a tourist city with people from all over the world, big markets, and really cheap and amazing smoothies. For the past week and a half, most of my ministry has looked like going out into the city with no preset plan or direction and evangelizing. I have a few stories I’d like to share from my experiences that I hope will change the way you think about what evangelism is, just like my view was changed. Our whole squad has experienced a lot of passion and excitement over this because of the amazing things God has done before our eyes and in our hearts through these last two weeks of evangelizing.
STORY #1- THE YELLOW FLOWERS
Before I go out each day with my team, we pray and ask for direction about where we are supposed to go and who we are supposed to talk to. Sometimes we get words or pictures, and sometimes we get nothing. The other day when my team and I were praying, one of my teammates named Miriam got a picture of yellow flowers. She wasn’t very confident about it. We wrote it down with the rest of the ‘clues’ and set out for the day, not thinking too much about it.
That day, Miriam and I ended up going out alone separate from the other three girls. As soon as we stepped out of the tuk-tuk, I felt that we should go into a restaurant that was on the corner we were dropped off at. I had been there twice before and each time had felt especially drawn to show love to and to pray over the workers there. Twice before, I had left a little encouraging note on a napkin for whoever cleaned the table. So we walked into this restaurant, sat down, and ordered smoothies. As we sat, we prayed over the restaurant and the people that worked there. We noticed a single yellow flower as the décor on the bar and noted that it was something Miriam had seen when we prayed. We finished our smoothies, left a note, and walked a bit further down the street.
Not a block later, a man asking us if we needed a tuk-tuk ride stopped us. This is a common occurrence in Siem Reap, so we simply replied no and kept on walking. He quickly called after us asking us where we were from. We stopped walking and began talking to him. He spoke very good English and we ended up talking to him for around a half hour. He told us all about what it’s like to be a tuk-tuk driver in Siem Reap. There is not a lot of work and so most of the day he spends on the side of the road looking for customers. He told us his dreams of building a website so that people could find him more easily and he could get more work. As we were talking, I glanced over and noticed vases of yellow flowers on the outdoor restaurant tables next to us. After a while, we exchanged emails, invited him to a church event a local church had asked us to help promote, and walked further down the street.
We came to a bridge that we like to come and sit at during these days. There is always a steady stream of people walking through, which is convenient for praying over people as they walk past. There is also usually always someone sitting on a bench ready to have a conversation. As soon as we sat down, an elderly woman turned to us and said “Bonjour!” We started up a conversation and ended up talking for around a half hour. She was with her daughter and grandson visiting from France and had lived in Cambodia in the sixties. She had a job teaching Fine Arts in Phnom Penh. They were such friendly people and I really enjoyed getting to know them. By this third meeting, we had figured out the pattern of the yellow flowers. So as we walked away, we looked around to see if there were any nearby, and sure enough there was a nice patch of yellow flowers just underneath the bridge! It was such a pleasant day and I got to meet so many interesting people. I personally don’t think it was a coincidence that those yellow flowers were there.
STORY #2- THE DAY OF JOY
A different day, when we were praying to begin our morning, all I could think about is an overwhelming sense of joy and spreading that throughout the city. When we shared with each other, we realized that all three of us had heard the same thing: joy. We were all so excited to go out and spread this joy that God had given all of us in the morning.
I decided to bring my ukulele along because I had been wanting to play it in the city and it definitely felt like the right day. Another teammate of mine actually felt like she needed to tell me to bring it as well. I played it and we sang on the way to the city and said hello to many people as we drove past.
We decided to return to the same bridge I mentioned before and play ukulele there. We quickly met a father and his young daughter and talked with them for a long time. Many people would stop and smile, talk to us, and a few even asked for a picture. We made friends with a man who shared some of his favorite music with us. It was amazing how many people were happy to simply sit and share their lives with us. The ukulele helped a lot to make people feel comfortable and start conversations.
After a few hours, we left the bridge and went to a coffee shop for a few minutes to write encouraging post-it notes. We stuck them all around the city as we made our way back to the tuk-tuk. We would stick them on motos, on lampposts, and even on the fruit decorating a smoothie stand. It was such an exciting feeling trying to stick the note on something successfully before anyone saw you.
This day, evangelizing simply looked like spreading joy. I hope these stories can give you a feel of the broad scope of evangelism. Granted, it can look like lovingly preaching on street corners and there is nothing wrong with that. I have just found so much freedom and joy in discovering a different way of introducing people to who Jesus is. Meaningful conversations about Christianity and Jesus do come up, but it takes a lot of meeting people and listening before we talk about deep beliefs, just like in any conversation.
These are just two of my stories, but there are so many more amazing stories that my squad-mates have to tell. Here are a couple; I really encourage you to read them! These stories proclaim how powerful our God is and really show my squad’s heart for evangelism during our time so far in Cambodia.
http://abbynass.theworldrace.org/post/battle-on-the-bridge
http://maxscheffer.theworldrace.org/post/white-signs-nicaragua-and-banana-splits
Other than discovering the beautiful adventure side of evangelism, I’ve been learning so so much during these last three weeks in Cambodia. I seriously feel like my faith and my whole view on Christianity has changed completely, which is a crazy thing to happen in such a short amount of time! I don’t think I can really put it all in story form without getting really vulnerable and personal, so I’m just going to share what I’ve been learning.
I feel like I understand the gospel for the first time in my life. After thirteen years of Christian school and a lifetime of church, I definitely knew what Jesus dying for me meant in my mind, but I didn’t understand that fully in my heart until now. And now I can’t wait to live the rest of my life following Jesus and getting to know him more! God’s also been showing me recently how He’s had his hand so sweetly over my life and how He will continue to be faithful and bless me in my future. I’m learning about God’s love for me and how it’s something I don’t have to work for. I am worthy and good enough solely because He died for me, and it’s that simple. A big part of accepting that is forgiving myself. It’s easy to believe that God has grace for the world but an entirely different lesson to learn that His grace is for me. Here’s a verse that has been very close to my heart lately. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ that person is a new creation. The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
Keep praying because my God is doing things that are greater than I could ask for or imagine!
An impromptu ukelele band the other day. We had a few strangers (now friends) join in!
