I never went door-to-door evangelizing back home. Not because i didn’t see the importance of spreading the message of Jesus. I just didn’t want to walk up to a stranger’s house.
I have had the opportunity here in Rwanda to go door-to-door and I am filled with anxiety every morning we go out to do it.
“What am I going to say?”
“There are churches everywhere. Why do we have to go to them?”
I’m careful not to get hung up on these questions. If I do, I’ll be absent minded the entire morning and won’t share anything. So, I take a breath and remember that I have my life to God. If He wants me to go up to a house and tell everyone there about Him, who am I to say “no”? Why would I say “no”? What reason do I have? None.
What do I say inside? Anything and everything. I get to know them, I ask questions about what they know about God, and go from there. Sometimes we spend the time rejoicing together and others we talk about what it means to die to ourselves. Sometimes, you’re the answer to someone’s prayer.
My group and I were on our way out of a house and were pretty ecstatic. After hearing what we had to share and the redemption found only in Jesus, the woman living there gave her life to Jesus. We walk out the door and our translator starts talking to another woman a little ways off. We join him and next thing we know we are sitting on her couch talking about Jesus. She shared that she believes but stopped attending church because of hypocrisy she saw in some of the elders. We got to encourage her a bit but ultimately had to leave. She expressed how happy she was that we took time to talk to her and was amazed at the fact that a man with tattoos (me) was able to share the gospel.
On our way out she started pointing out markings on her arm. My first thought was that they were from the genocide. Our translator told us that when she was a child, her mother would take her to a witch and have dark practices done to her. I can’t imagine the sheer terror of those days. My heart breaks for the little girl who was subjected to that. My heart breaks for all the people now who are enslaved to the same darkness.
We may never know the extent of someone’s story. There are things in all of our lives that we would rather keep quiet. But if we are silent about what The Lord has delivered us from, how would others hear and be encouraged? How can we glorify God if we do not proclaim His faithfulness and His power? May we be a people who shout the praises of God.
