An elderly gentleman called our office the other day. He was full of enthusiasm and was talking a mile a minute. What he wanted to share was that he was a regular visitor of the local thrift store in his town. He goes there once a week to check out the clothes and the books. Just a while ago, he had come across a book entitled, The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus. Intrigued, he bought it for $3 and went home to read it. He could not put it down.
Mr. God does not like sin
We received this wonderful little story of how a simple gift exchange resulted in someone understanding the gospel and putting their trust in Jesus Christ.
One Pastor’s Vision
We introduced our Worldview Rethink curriculum during our Open House in August last year. One of our guests was a pastor from a small town in Alberta, Canada. He caught a vision of how the Worldview Rethink curriculum could help his congregation be grounded in the Gospel. He gathered several sets of curriculum and called together a group of men from his church to form a Bible study group. Then he personally taught them through the curriculum.
Captivating the children and adults. A story from Luxembourg
A story from our staff member in Luxembourg. He had the opportunity to speak with two pastors, both of whom had taken to using the Luxembourgish translation of The Lamb in their churches. Pastor Pol* and Pastor Pier* had taken to distributing copies of “D’Lämmchen” to their congregations and had received very positive feedback from them. In all, over the Christmas season, 11 boxes of D’Lämmchen were distributed! Pastor Pier is now considering following up by guiding his congregation through a study of the German version of “The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus”.
Pastor Pier shared the following story:
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Bless your Chinese friends this Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year begins on February 10. It’s less than a month away! Chinese in Australia, Canada, the US, Europe and of course, in every corner of Asia are getting ready to celebrate this major festival on the Lunar calendar. Even people in Vietnam and Korea are preparing for their Lunar New Year. One of our Chinese staff members shares the following idea of using this occasion to share the gospel:
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Please ship one Stranger book and one workbook to Texas please
One of our staff members in our US office had been receiving a series of phone calls all week. Each order was the same: one copy of “The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus” and one copy of the companion workbook. And all of these orders were coming from Texas. Intrigued by this string of orders, our staff member asked the next customer who wanted her order shipped to Texas if she knew what was going on. Susan*, the customer explained.
Susan said that she has been leading book studies based on The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus for years and found that if people buy their own copy of the book, they would then “buy into it” and stick with the study and complete it. She shares more in her own words.
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What’s good follow-up material for “The Lamb”?
We received a question from a father who had just read The Lamb to his eight-year-old daughter.
I just wanted to thank you for The Lamb. I have recently read it with my eight-year-old over several weeks and during our conversations she came to trust on Jesus as her Savior. Love the book. I had a question about any next step overview of the Bible-type resources you might have. Thanks.
Mike*
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“I am not a bad person. I don’t steal or do bad things with girls. I try to help people when I can.”
The following story is an encouraging way to start the new year. The story highlights the importance of not assuming that our friends and family have biblical understanding of concepts like sin and a Holy God. Instead, we need to carefully explain biblical truths so that they are on the same page. Then the gospel makes sense.
My wife and I served on the mission field in the Brazilian amazon in the early 1990s. One day I was with two Brazilian Christian friends who we attended church with. We were at the river one morning and encountered a friend of theirs. This friend was not a Christian but was a very religious person. So my two Christian friends Tim* and Victor began sharing the gospel with their friend. As I listened (I had just become fluent in Portuguese) it seemed like their friend did not understand the message that they were relating to him. Suddenly I had a thought. Did this young man understand the biblical meaning of sin? So I asked Tim to enquire what his concept of sin was. The young man answered, “Oh I am not a bad person. I don’t steal or do bad things with girls. I try to help people when I can.”
A light clicked on for me. Tim and Victor were giving an answer to a person who did not have a question. If his concept of sin was not correct, neither was his concept of a Holy God. And if those two concepts were not right, it will be impossible for him to see his need for a sufficient substitute. Which explained why he saw no need for personal faith in the Saviour.
Over a number of years now, we have had the privilege of taking many through The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus. Most all of them had no questions or the wrong questions at the beginning of the book. But at the finish of the book, most of them were suddenly asking the right questions. A good number of them trusted the Saviour. A few of the ones who were saved are now taking others through The Stranger book, and have seen some trust the Lord. This outstanding tool helps people come face to face with the right questions, which is absolutely essential to form the right conclusion on the gospel. And, it provides a great pattern and method for the new believer to share their faith.
– Mark Evans
(* All names changed as per GoodSeed policy.)
Photo credit: Joseph A Ferris III on Flickr.
From domestic helper to missionary
In the tiny city-state of Singapore, there are many foreign nationals who go there to find work. They are employed as domestic helpers, construction workers, service staff and more. For churches in Singapore, they see that the “foreign mission field” has arrived at their doorsteps. These churches organize activities and programs to cater to the needs of these foreign nationals. They also conduct Bible studies and help to explain the gospel. Here is a story from Jessica,* a Bible study leader, who learned that there was more that God could do with these migrant workers.
Their Footprints Always Left the Gospel (In memory of James and Ruth Moore)
Recently, Dori Huenefeld placed a memorial donation at GoodSeed for her parents, James and Ruth Moore. She shared with us how her parents were such faithful servants of the Lord. It is such an encouraging and moving testimony that we just had to share it too. We pray that James and Ruth’s story will be an encouragement for all believers.
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