Witnessing students' 'Aha!' moments

A few days ago I received the testimony of a student from Spain, Eli, who had just come back from a mission’s week in another city. I asked her permission to share with you some of her thoughts (edited):

“I have just come and I need to share what God has done…

I had not thought of going to the mission’s week because of lack of money. A few days before its start someone called to offer me a scholarship. I said I will think about it. I sat and prayed. I was waiting for a job to be confirmed, and I knew I needed the money… What if they called me while I was away? But suddenly all became very clear in my heart: I did not want to go because I was selfish and did not care about people who will not have a chance to hear about Jesus. It was very painful to realize how far my heart was from God’s heart. Money was more important for me than people’s souls. So I made the decision that I will go.

What a week! I am so challenged and so happy to have been able to see God’s power. On the one hand God has touched my heart and I have been able to see how miserable I am, how sinful I am and how little I give my life to Christ. On the other hand I have seen supernatural power acting in the hearts of students that are in desperate need of Jesus but reject him: young people lost without something to hang on to, something to live for, a truth to obey, a truth to free them; young people that live in slavery. But they heard… they heard the truth that can set them free.

It was one of the moments of most impact that I have experienced within the Student Movement. I could see the Spirit moving, I could see him, and I can’t but kneel down before the Father and thank him. I also would like to share what God spoke to me: “Give your live to him”. Life is about the places I go to; work; time in the bus; family times; university and classmates; neighbourhood and friends; church and brothers and sisters; streets and unknown people, etc. Only when I am nothing, I have no strength, I am an ant against a giant, God shines!"

“Father, how small we are, and yet how much you love us.
I want to love you.
I want to serve you.
I want to live you.”

http://www.gbu-es.org/html/universidad/zaragoza_life.html

Let us praise God for Eli and what God has done in her and through her! Isn’t this what we are all striving for? Seeing students that got it and go for it? Let us not grow weary… because all we do God uses. May we press on to see more students like Eli!

Questions to ponder

- Think of a student that has had an “aha” moment recently and praise God for it?
- If you still have not, make a list of the students you serve for. Pray that God will continue to work in their hearts knowing that you have the assurance that He does answer!

Rest vs Anxiety

Someone came back to me after I had published the blog entry on November 12th “Come and Rest”. She shared some of the things she had herself being meditating on the subject of rest with the following list. I thought you may want to have it, read it, meditate on it.

At rest
- you are led
- you have a calling
- you relate to the people around you
- you can just be who you are
- you listen to others so that you can share being human together
- you measure your results in heart change
- you can embrace the mystery and the adventure of life

In anxiety
- you are driven
- you have a job
- you need to fix things
- you have to do things to show others who you are
- you listen to others so that you can tell more about yourself
- you measure your results in numbers
- you strive for more control in life

Questions to ponder

- Is your ministry lived at rest or in anxiety? Why?
- What would help you to live more at rest? Think of some specific actions you will take this week.
- Share with us some of your thoughts!

Growth in the invisible

Our ministry is about reaching out. For this we plan, struggle, thrive, train, encourage, model, and a long etc.

But there is no denying that Europe is hard soil and sometimes we may grow discouraged because we do not see much and we wonder if what we do is not in vain.

Jesus tells a couple a parables to explain what the Kingdom of God is like: the parable of the growing seed and the parable of the mustard seed.

26He also said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come." 30Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. 32Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade." Mark 4:26-32 (NIV)

In both cases the idea is that something small grows abundantly. It is also about something that often grows in the invisible. Look at v. 26 when we are told that things are happening when the sower is asleep or when he is awake; when is day or night!

I think both parables are not only important but very encouraging for our European context. It encourages me very much not to give up in my evangelistic efforts because even though I may not see much or I may not see much immediately, I am assured that something is happening. It also encourages me because even though I have my responsibilities and I do need to play my role, it gives me the security and the peace that I am not the one directly responsible for the growth. God is.

Even though we may think that nowadays not much is happening… the Kingdom of God does grow! We have therefore many good reasons to be deeply thankful, to relax and to be motivated to continue to work hard in reaching out people for the Kingdom!

Lord helps us to persevere.

Questions to ponder

- Do I grow discouraged by the lack of “results”?
- How do these parables encourage me?
- How can I celebrate small steps and progress?
- How will I motivate today the students I work with to persevere?

Come and Rest

We are in full swing of the academic year. Well into the month of November already. Christmas is fast approaching. I think I will not be wrong if I say that some of us are tired, overwhelmed, busy, very busy… Maybe some of us are even…weary.

I was struck by another passage from the Gospel of Mark as I was reading yesterday:

7Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." 12But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was. (Mark 3:7-12)

Jesus had lots of enemies and yet… lots of people continued following him. The ministry pressures and demands also continued, all the time. They were always there. But here we read that “Jesus withdrew”. Why did he stop? Why was rest necessary for Jesus? What can we learn from him?

- Jesus became one of us. This meant that he was willing to embrace the human limitations, including the fact that he will grow tired.
- Jesus had many ministry pressures and demands and yet, when he had to rest, he rested.

I am particularly struck by the fact that he withdrew with his disciples. Why?

- Jesus worked with a team of people. He made sure that not only him but his team rested. It was fundamental that his disciples learnt to rest.
- Jesus modelled. It would not have worked to tell the disciples “go and rest while I keep working”.

We can say confidently that Jesus was able to serve 100% because he rested 100%. In other words, he rested what he needed to rest at the right time and then he had the strength to serve wholeheartedly.

May the Lord help us to discern when we need to rest!

Questions to ponder

- Am I resting enough? If not, why not?
- Do you hear yourself saying maybe too often “I am so busy”…? What are the motivations behind your business?
- What do I think my business tells the students I am serving? I am so busy that, sometimes, I do not even have time to sit, grab a cup of tea and listen carefully to what a student is saying?
- How can I incorporate rest in my day, week, month, year?

Relational Evangelism Training: BACC, a Tool

Often times the lack of effectiveness in Evangelism, is due to the fact Christians know about evangelism but often do not know how to do evangelism. They lack the practical skills so that evangelism becomes a doable experience. So the need becomes to train and equip Christians with practical tools of sharing the Gospel with their friends. As staff, we often do not have much time to prepare new tools. Here is what I think is a good resource to start with: “Becoming a Contagious Christian” written by Bill Hybels.

Why “Becoming a Contagious Christian”?

I consider that the “Becoming a Contagious Christian” course is a foundation course to train and equip students and staff in relational evangelism. The course is simple, straightforward but very logical and links with different aspects of sharing the Gospel.
Two specific strengths from my point of view:

- The first being that it is based on the premise that the most effective evangelism today is relational evangelism: sharing the good news with the friends with whom we are building meaningful relationships. The implications of this are that evangelism becomes part of our lives and is natural without ever being forced or feeling awkward.
- The second being that it is based on the premise that God has given each of us unique personalities and gifts and wants to use us just the way we are. At the beginning of the course participants are invited to discover what their Evangelism Style is and encouraged to share the news with their friends being themselves, the ones God created them to be.

These resources are originally in English. But parts of the materials have already been translated in several other languages. You can find out more at: http://www.contagiouschristian.com/.

If you need more information or are interested in a training event or want to be trained as a trainer, get in touch with me, I will be glad to serve you! Edith Vilamajó: edith@ifeseurope.org

Questions to ponder

- What are some of the difficulties you think students have in evangelism? Why?
- How does training help?
- What are some of the training tools you have used? How effective do you think they have been? Why?

Living Stones

One of my good friends in Oxford, Fréderic, does beautiful scultpure. He has just uploaded an amazing video on youtube about the process of one of his latest scultpures. He told me “You should use it for one of your talks.... I let you guess the reason... 'Turn a stone into a sculpture, a little work for a lot of satisfaction, or work to share pleasure'".

The video represents 18 hours of carving reduced to about 3min. It shows how a block of Caen limestone becomes a stone sculpture called "A sail for Nigel". As you watch it... see how it inspires you.



But I responded to him: "I have a better idea..."

As I watched the movie for the fist time I was reminded of the many times God speaks in the Word of different materials he uses as illustrations of the work he does in us: the clay in the hand of the potter, gold refined by fire, iron sharpening iron, etc.

The stone being polished in Frédéric’s hands made me thinkg of: “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”. (1 Peter 2: 4-5)

We are the stones who are being polished by God. He uses different resources, He takes time, it is hard work, it may hurt, some areas resist… but then it becomes a real work of art. But theres is more... He wants to use these stones! We are living stones!

Questions to ponder

- What did you think watching the video?
- Do you identify with the possibility of the stone in the hands of God making a beautiful work of art?
- What is hard about the process?
- Are you a living stone? How? Are you helping the students you serve being build as living stones? How?

When I shared my idea with Frédéric he came back to me saying: “We are also the instruments that make the stone, which is God, become something. He can become small, inexistent or important and beautiful in our lives, we have the choice, and God watches… what we do with Him.”

This thought made me think… What am I doing with God? How does the way I live reflect my commitment to God? Can others see it?

May we, with our lives, glorify him in such a way that he is seen by all around us an important and beautiful.

A very special feast

You may have seen the movie Babette’s Feast. It is set in the XIX century in Denmark. It features a maid who experiences unexpected good fortune and chooses to invest it, as a sign of gratitude, in the preparations of a luxurious meal that will commemorate the 100th anniversary birth of the recently belated master of the house and village pastor.

I would like you to imagine that you are in a similar situation and you are getting ready to prepare your own feast:

- What will you cook?
- How will you prepare?
- Most importantly… who would you invite?

There is another “feast” I would like you to pay attention to. It is retold in the following passage of Scripture:

"Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:13-17)

Questions to ponder

- Why would Levi have a feast after Jesus calls him to follow him?
- Who did he invite? Why? (Note that even Jesus came with his own guests… his disciples!)
- What did it mean to have people over for a meal? Why is this event then so shocking and amazing at the same time?

Obviously, nor Levi nor Jesus were bothered by who they were eating with. Levi opened the door of his house and offered his table to his friends as a sign of deep gratitude. Jesus took the invitation and used the opportunity to “heal the sick”.

More questions to ponder

- Who do I invite to my “table”? Why?
- How could I make space for the "sick"?

May the Lord help us to have our “table” open so that we may bring life!

Edith Vilamajó