This month, our ministry is primarily evangelism. Each day, we go out to a different part of the city all over Sunyani, Ghana and the surrounding towns to spread the love and light of Christ and extend an invitation to church. Our host church this month is Elim City Church in the heart of Sunyani. Their primary focus is inviting those living around them to come and experience the true love of Christ and to encourage them to engage in an intimate relationship with the Lord. The people of the church are absolutely wonderful! They are so on fire for the Lord and spreading his kingdom. Even the youth get involved and volunteer their free time to help us evangelize. God is truly working through this church. As soon as you step foot onto their property, you feel the presence of the Lord.
Once I found out that our primary ministry this month was evangelizing, I have to admit that I was extremely nervous. I have never been comfortable with randomly walking up to a stranger and asking them if they know Jesus and inviting them to church. It is not a common practice that I partake in at home. I always feel unusually awkward and somewhat shy when talking to people with whom I am not acquainted. Personally, I am one thousand times more comfortable with evangelizing to children because I feel as though I can connect with them better. However, the Lord did not put us on this earth to simply stay within our comfort zones. Here is a little insight into what I have been going through, learning, and doing while evangelizing.
September 12, 2016, began like many of the other days here in the beautiful city of Sunyani, Ghana. We started the morning with a short worship and prayer session and then we were crammed into the vans to go out and evangelize in a small neighborhood near the church. The whole morning, I felt slightly off center for a particular reason that I had not yet realized or understood. As soon as my foot stepped onto the ground in the neighborhood, I wanted to hide. As we were walking around and talking to people, I realized that I was always lagging in the back of our small group. I began to self reflect and analyze my behavior. Soon I realized that I was purposefully trying to avoid talking to people because I felt that others were stronger at evangelizing. I felt the need to just stand in the background and let others do their thing. Unnecessary thoughts began to creep into my mind such as “You do not have anything important to say, you will say the wrong thing, you lack the confidence to properly evangelize, and you just aren’t good enough.” As much as I tried to shut down these lies that were plaguing my mind, the evil one found a way to make them replay in my mind like a record. He warped the emotions I was feeling and turned them into a huge lie that my mind was beginning to believe. Evil likes to grasp hold of us in a moment of weakness and wreak havoc, then, he proceeds to use the weakness against us. He got into my head and caused me to fade into the background and keep my mouth shut because he had fed me the lie that what I have to say would not be good enough or matter at all.
We took a break from morning evangelizing to go back to our hotel and eat lunch and rest. Afterwards, we embarked on another trip to evangelize. This time, we were going to a nursing and midwife school. As we went out doing our thing, I noticed that I began falling into the same pattern I was stuck in earlier that morning. One of the leaders, from the church, led us into an all girls dormitory and told us to enter into their rooms, share Jesus with them, and invite them to the church services that are offered at Elim City. Once again, I found myself reacting the exact same way that I had done early that day. Everybody began branching off, in this room of 30 or more beds, and started striking up conversations with the girls. I realized that I was quickly one of the only ones left in the huge shared room that was not already talking to someone. The church leader came up to me and told me to follow her. She led me to two girls whose beds were right next to each other. After a mini freak out that was hidden from the outside world, I just took a breath and introduced myself. Usually when evangelizing, we were partnered up, but this time I was completely alone. As I began conversing, I realized that I was relaxing. I simply started to find areas in my life where I could relate with them. After chit chatting a bit, I began telling them about Elim City Church and the services that take place throughout the week. Both girls were very interested in what I was telling them and actually wanted me to write down their contact information so that the church could call and remind them about the church services. After saying our goodbyes, while walking away, I realized that I had actually just disproved all the lies that were being fed to me. Praise the Father who loves His children! God is so good! He simply nudged me off the cliff out of my comfort zone and showed me that through Him, all things are possible. He gave me courage and confidence to proclaim His name to the nations. All the untruthful lies that were infesting my mind instantly vanished by the goodness and grace of God. He claimed the spaces in my mind that were being fed that darkness and banished them in His name. He is such a good Father who looks out for his children! Hallelujah! Trust in the Lord and He will do great things within you and through you.
The next day, I awoke proclaiming that the spirit of the Lord is within me! Going out to evangelize this time around, I was in much better spirits. We went to another neighborhood within Sunyani to reach those living there and to share the love of Jesus. Today, I went out with my head held high in the confidence of the Lord. I was filled to the brim with his light and love and wanted to share that feeling with all those who crossed my path. While evangelizing, we stumbled upon many wonderful individuals all of whom we left in better spirits because Jesus’ light rubbed off of us onto them. One wonderful family invited us into their home and gave us authentic Ghanaian cuisine. It was not until one of the last houses that I experienced a God moment. We entered the courtyard of a complex of small houses and saw warm smiles and welcomes. (The people of Ghana are extremely friendly and inviting, they genuinely love meeting new people). We met a young boy who was with his mother and uncle. There were several other ladies sitting outside of their doors going about varies tasks. Two of my team members decided to walk over and talk to a woman who was sitting in a chair eating. I stayed back, with the rest of my team, and talked with the family we had just met. While we were standing there, my team member Bre, one of the girls who went to talk to the lady eating, called me over and asked if I had my sacred frankincense essential oil. Of course I did because I had been carrying it everywhere with me in hopes that someone would be called to use it. While I dug through my purse to find the oil, Bre gave me the down low on why she needed it. She relayed to me that the lady shared with them that she had been bothered with a stomachache and headache for the past 4 days or so and that her joints have been causing her pain. Bre said that the Lord was telling her to anoint this woman with oil and pray healing over her. And that is exactly what we did. We rubbed the sacred frankincense oil on her forehead and hands and all three of us began praying for the Lord’s healing hand to touch her. After praying over her, we asked how she felt. She replied by stating that she felt wonderful. Praise Jesus, Hallelujah! There is so much power in the name of Jesus. The woman I saw as I walked upon the scene was no longer present. You could visibly see the difference in her demeanor after the prayer. Praise the God who heals!
