He came walking into my office
with a broad smile on his face. “Tell me about this church,” he said. That
began a conversation that led to a young man becoming a believer in Christ and
being baptized. Let me fill in the blanks to the rest of his story. I’ll call
him Paul (not his real name).
Paul grew up in a predominantly
Muslim country. His family was nominally Muslim. In Paul’s teen years, his
mother and father separated. Paul went to live with his two unmarried aunts who
were Christians. While Paul lived with them, he explored Christianity out of
curiosity, but not seriously. He was skeptical about religion in general, but
he saw a real difference in his aunts. Their love and kindness overflowed to
Paul. They cared for his every need.
Paul followed a fairly normal
course of life, attending University after high school. He began to long to
expand his horizons, as so many young people do. He traveled to Malaysia to
study English. It happened that his English teacher was a Christian. Following
his time there he returned to his home country. His goal was to further his
studies in Australia. As so often happens, economics got in the way. The last
place he wanted to go was America, but that is exactly where he ended up.
America is a large country with
thousands of universities from which to choose. How was Paul going to find his
place in this vast sea of options? He did what so many do today, he turned to
the internet. He found a website, designed for international students, which gave
information about American universities. He was attracted to Minnesota State
University, Mankato by its relatively low cost and the promise of an in-state
tuition grant for international students. Without any real knowledge about the
place he was going, he set his course for Mankato, Minnesota.
He spent his first semester in
Mankato getting used to the new culture and environment. Having grown up in a
large city, Mankato seemed like a very small town. He returned to his country
for the summer and reconnected with his aunts. Upon his return to Mankato, in
the fall of the next year, he was prompted to explore a church on a busy corner
adjacent to the university. It was then that he walked through our doors, into
my office and into my life.
After our initial meeting, I met
with Paul a couple more times. Then, on one of those occasions, he announced
that he had made his decision and he was ready to become a Christian. I
carefully explained what that meant and he affirmed that he wanted to take that
step. Within the month I had baptized him as a new believer in Christ. We
continue to meet on a regular basis as his faith and our relationship grows.
As followers of Christ, we often
only get to see one stage in a person’s spiritual journey. We may encounter them
at the beginning, when they are just starting to explore faith. We may meet
them in the middle, as they grapple with the claims of Christ on their life. Sometimes
we get the privilege to be present at their spiritual birth, when they cross
the line from unbelief to belief. Often we get to walk with them as they grow
in their faith.
I know from many years of experience
that it can be discouraging and frustrating not knowing the whole story. I have
invested in a number of individuals over my 30 years of ministry. Most of them
have moving on in life. Some were exploring Christianity, some came to faith
and some were strengthening their faith. In the majority of cases, I do not
know where their journey has led them. All I can see is that one short stretch
of time when they were an active part of my story. I often wonder if my efforts
have accomplished anything. Is my investment worth the time and energy?
I was reading in 1 Corinthians
the other day and came across a passage that encouraged me to keep making the
investment. Paul was addressing a controversy in Corinth. The people there were
dividing up into different camps. Each camp claimed to follow a particular
spiritual leader. These leaders were all honorable, solid messengers of Jesus
Christ. The problem was that the groups were using their allegiance to divide
the church. In order to counter this destructive influence, Paul gives us some
needed insight into the process of leading a person to faith in Christ.
What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through
whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted
the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants
nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who
plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded
according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's
field, God's building. 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (NIV)
Paul made it clear that we all
have a part to play in helping others come to faith in Christ. In my friend
Paul’s case, his aunts planted the seed, his English teacher watered it, and I
had the privilege to be present at the harvest.
Those who study evangelism say
that in our world today it takes a minimum of seven significant encounters with
different Christians before a person is ready to make a commitment to Christ.
We don’t know where we may be in that chain of events. We might be their first
encounter, or a middle encounter, or the final encounter. Whichever it is, we
all play an important role.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for
at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as
we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who
belong to the family of believers.
Galatians 6:9-10 (NIV)
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