This blog is from Month 2 in Sunyani, Ghana. We had the opportunity to evangelize to a particular neighborhood. This is the story of the day we stumbled upon a technical school and the amazing things the Lord did inside the classroom.
I was not prepared for evangelism. We have a negative connotation of evangelism in America. It is seemed as pushy, or shoving the Bible down people’s throats. The Lord had a lot to teach me when I stepped foot onto our neighborhood street for the first time.
Our first day of ministry, the team met up with a girl named Mabel, a 18 year old powerhouse for the Lord. Most of Ghana speaks English, but Mabel was going with us in the event we needed to be translated into the local language, Twi. We asked the Lord where he wanted us to go and he led us down a path towards a school.
Mabel explained that this was a vocational boarding school that has some connections to our church. We stumbled in and asked if we could speak to some students. Teachers rallied the troops and we soon had a classroom full of about 25 young adults. We started out simply by telling them who we are and why we are here. We wanted to ask if they had questions about who Jesus is – plain and simple.
One student led the way. He asked question after question that really challenged us. Concepts like the trinity, Jesus’ role as fully God and fully man, and requirements of Christians are really tough to explain in a short amount of time. Thirty minutes passed and it seemed like they were having a hard time understanding the need for salvation. I thought we were getting no where and it was a waste of our time.
Then, God decided to start moving my mouth. He gave me words from scripture and then sparked me to explain the gospel in a new way. The Lord provided a white board and an expo marker, just waiting for me to teach. My team was gracious enough to run with what I was doing as I began to draw the gospel diagram. I got to explain visually why separation happened and that God wants to restore our relationship so we can be with him eternally. That is the whole reason why Jesus came. We needed him to pay for the sin that separates us from God and provide a bridge to get to relationship. All we have to do is accept the gift that is freely offered to us. We don’t have to do “good works” to get into Heaven. Good works flow out of obedience and overflow of our love for God!
After explaining salvation in more detail via my visual, the Lord allowed us to ask if anyone wanted to begin a relationship with him today! We offered to pray with anyone that wanted to accept Jesus’ free gift of grace and begin following him.
Nine students raised their hands.
NINE souls were won for the Kingdom that day. God allowed us in and showed us what he can really do! Praise the Lord he did, because I had a long month of evangelism in front of me. That day shifted my perspective of our ministry. It wasn’t just about winning souls for the Kingdom, but offering up a relationship in discipleship through the church. We are able to point them toward necessary resources in the church that will shepherd them LONG after we leave. What a blessing to be disciple makers! He gave me an expo marker to open my eyes to the eternal urgency of the work he set out for us. He gave me that day so that I would desire more for the rest of my race to come.
