“And He said to them, ‘Go into the entire world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark16:15
This
past week, on Monday I went along with two other volunteers and Rafiki AfricaMinistries to a nearby community to evangelize the gospel and to encourage the
people that lived there. Upon our arrival we were met with a recent news update
from one of the members of the community. He reported that there had been four
deaths the day prior due to fighting that has been occurring between a
neighboring district. These people who live in this community had come from the
North where many of them were forced to fight in the war and were forced to
kill family members. There people are bitter against life and are having a hard
time making a living or even knowing how to enjoy life.
Our
first stop was to go visit a family of a child whom Rafiki has been caring for
many year unable to locate and contact her family. They were excited to finally
find the family and the family was excited to hear that their child was doing
well and has been well taken care of.
After our visit we walked door to door visiting with the people,
comforting them, encouraging them and sharing the gospel with them. We had
eight people in our group so we split up into four groups of two as we went out
into the community. Most of these people did not have bibles but many had a
religious background and were familiar with the bible. We had been able to take
with us ten bibles and ten households rejoiced and thanked us for giving them a
bible. The people in this community were very receptive and welcomed us into
their small home offering us the best seats in the house. They listened while
we talked and were receptive of the Gospel. Before we would leave a home we
would ask them if we could pray for them and what could we pray about. Many
people had requests for healing from disease, protection over their families,
job needs and the provision for school fees. These people live in very small
one room apartments which are very primitive. Many of the women make jewelry
from paper beads and sell them to make ends meet. Most of the people that we witnessed
to were not Christians and one man that we spoke with admitted that he wasn’t a
Christian but that he wasn’t ready to accept Christ as his Savior. One of the men that we spoke with understood
the gospel and professed to be born again. This man made a comment that left an
impact on me. He said “You know the gospel message is so simple, I’m a sinner
and Christ is the only way to heaven and though him only am I cleansed of my sins.”
His belief and faith encouraged me. The gospel is simple and sometimes we can
make it seem more complicated than it really is. Romans 10:9-10 says 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and
with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”The gospel is simple enough that a child can understand it if we don’t
make it complicated. One of the other groups had the joy of leading a person to
Christ! We had a joyful time sowing the seeds of the gospel and encouraging
these people. We plan on making more trips over to this community and will continue to
encourage these people and continue to share the gospel with them. Many people
here welcome hearing the gospel and love being visited. People all over the
world are hungry for something more than what this world has to offer them. My
question to myself and to others who may be reading this, are we being faithful
to reach out to all people? What are we doing to share Christ with those we
come into contact with? I have struggled in the past with sharing the gospel because
I was always nervous about having the right words to say. Well, I still
sometimes feel nervous about speaking to others but the desire that I have for
them to hear about the good news and having the assurance that Christ will work
in their hearts gives me boldness. Also,
knowing that sharing with others isn’t about what I can get out of it but that
the purpose is to further the kingdom of God and to bring Him glory.
By Mary Lemons, Rafiki Volunteer
