Jaco is a beach city in Costa Rica. The city is a haven of drugs, prostitution, and an overwhelming party culture. It is referred to as the Sodom and Gamorrah of Costa Rica by natives. When we told our ministry partners that we would be finishing our last week in a half of ministry in Jaco, we were met with many worried and surprised looks. I must say I expected much much worse than what I experienced upon arriving in Jaco.
The energy of the city was pretty exhausting in general as the darkness that clouds this city is strong, but the light that is shining through is so beautiful. We were working alongside Ocean’s Edge Ministries while in Jaco. It is run by North Americans and partnered with a church called Horizon Church which is an English speaking church that was formed because of the many many people that moved to Costa Rica from the States.
We stayed in a space that is owned and operated by the ministry for teams and fellow Christians living and doing ministry work in Jaco. They are currently focused on a project to beauty the city. Beautify Jaco is a program that the city officials started as an attempt to help the image of their city and clean it up physically. Currently they are in charge of painting light poles and physically making the city more beautiful along the main street as people drive through. While painting the light poles, the ministry focuses on interacting with the locals and growing relationship with those in the city.
We got the opportunity to work with them and paint light poles along the city’s main road. So many of the locals stopped and thanked us for what we were doing. They cheerfully joined in when we asked them if they would like to join us. Kids’ faces lit up as they stabbed at the poles trying to make sure their paint would stick forever! As one local put it, “This is the first time I’ve seen the city pop and work together in a long time.” While working together, we got to hear the stories of so many people. Some we got to minister too. Some we sat and listened through some struggle. Some we prayed for. Some we laughed and danced with. Some we just smiled and greeted as they passed by. All of which is ministry. All of which serves this community. All of which shines the light over the darkness.
Ministry doesn’t need to be some regimined time where you share the gospel with x amount of people. Sometimes you will be called to share the Gospel and sometimes that person just needs you to show them the listening heart of God. Sometimes they aren’t ready to hear the Gospel. Sometimes you are just there to plant seeds rather than water or reap the harvest. Our time on the Edge was a perfect representation of this. Some people just needed to hear that there are people in the world that want to bring beauty and life to a generally dark place, and that was sufficient for what they needed at that time.
Here is my encouragement to those of you who have never shared the Gospel. Just tell someone that Jesus loves them. Tell them that He wants a relationship with them. Tell them that He wants to call them friend. You don’t need to know all the right words and all the right stories for each given scenario. You are expanding His Kingdom the way you know how at this point in life and that is what matters!
For those that are hardcore evangelists and go out with the intent to share the Gospel with as many people as possible, I am proud of your faith, but I encourage you to check your heart. I encourage you to see if you can operate out of faith and humility for His will rather than your pride. You have no idea how your competitive view of sharing the Gospel can harm the image of fellow Christians and the distortion it brings to the Good News. I encourage you to show God’s love and not necessarily need to share the Gospel in great detail. If He is calling you to it, then do it out of obedience without a second thought, but if you find your heart is stuck in works and pride of your own ability then I encourage a step back. Check yourself and realign your heart with His mission before you go out and do your mission with His name attached.
