I Am Not Usually Two Hours Late, Honestly

A few years ago, in a Buddhist country, in southeast Asia, a consortium of local churches from different denominations got together and planned an intense campaign to preach widely and plant as many churches as possible in one week.  

It was my very first exposure to such an approach, and I felt honored to be part of a team brought in to help.  Actually, it was their first attempt at such an approach, as well, but their faith and zeal were strong.  The result from that week of ministry was over 300 professions of faith and five new churches planted.

Two Hours Late Was Not Too Late, Thankfully

We learned a lot from one another while ministering the Gospel together that week.  One special memory sticks out above the rest for me.  It took place in an apartment where thirty young adults had gathered secretly to hear about the message of Christianity.  This was all arranged in advance and with the specific people chosen.  My partner and I were to arrive at a certain time and speak to the people.

A phone call came in asking what happened.  Where were we.  We were supposed to be there two hours ago.  We didn’t know what happened, but there was some miscommunication.  So, we frantically headed to the location, praying for the people--that they would stay, and that they would remain open to receiving us and the message.  

When we arrived we were welcomed warmly.  All the people had stayed.  After appropriate apologies and honoring our hosts and national leaders, we began.  They were eager to hear what we had to say and wanted to get right to the topic.

Could We Squeeze The Gospel Into Just An Hour?

Most of them were disenchanted with Buddhism but did not know what to do about it.  They especially wanted to hear answers from Christians outside of their own culture, which I found interesting.

We shared the basic outline of the Gospel from the very beginning, about who God is, to what He has done, starting from Creation, on to Christ and the Cross, and clear on out to His return and the final state of glory.  We spent most of this 30 minutes or so talking about the person of Jesus Christ, which was their main interest.

This was all done through translation by a couple nationals who were also Christian workers.  We took a few questions with their help, and certainly they filled in our answers with what really needed to be said.  A few knew some English.  We finished up our presentation time with sharing our personal stories about how Jesus Christ had transformed us and our families.

After that hour, about half group decided to start following Christ.  Amazing!  God had been at work preparing them for this day, at work through others who had shared the Gospel with some of them before, at work in their lives, in their minds and their hearts.  This group of people spent another hour or so with my partner talking in more detail about being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

What would we do with the others?  They obviously still had many questions, so I decided to sit with them and hear their concerns, even their objections and try my best to answer their questions.  I had no idea this would be so valuable to them.

The Two Best Questions I Have Ever Been Asked

It began, “you said that Jesus Christ was God and that he was man, so which is it?”  What a great question!  We looked at a some Scriptures and then spent time slowly talking and thinking through the two natures in the one person of Jesus Christ, and its reasonableness, yet its glorious mystery, and precisely how this is related to our salvation.  Most of them understood how this could be true; and then we had to talk some about God being Triune, which was made a little easier by starting with the person of Christ.

The big practical question on their minds was on the difference between Buddhist and Christian meditation.  This was out of my league, so I had them explain Buddhist meditation to me and tell me about their personal practices with it.  Many of them said they didn’t find it meaningful.  Picking up on their emptying concept, I said that in contrast Christian meditation is about filling our minds.

We looked at Psalm 1 together.  I had them read it aloud.  They loved it and started talking excitedly about it for a number of minutes before I could get any translation about the conversation from my national Christian friend.  I waited patiently and prayerfully as the work was being done by my national partner, and really the Word of God itself.  They understood very well, and wanted me to tell about my experience of following Psalm 1 and its results in my life.  What an amazing blessing to talk with these dear people who want to know God about knowing God!  A few more became disciples.

After two hours of this spiritual intensity, we ate a simple lunch together.  It was a joyful time being crammed together in that small apartment for half a day talking about matters of eternal significance.  We prayed with this group of new believers.  And best of all, our national partners were praising God for the results--possibly a new church!

Lessons On Partnership And Questions

While we were saying our good-byes, we were thanked for coming and sharing, of course.  But, then a number of them shared more deeply about how they felt like they had never been allowed to ask their religious questions before, or get any kind of real answers from their religious leaders.  I don’t know how accurate this was, but we affirmed that in Christianity questions are always welcome, even the most difficult questions, and that the answers are always found in the Bible.  

Then, motioning to our national partners, we affirmed that they deeply cared for them, understood their questions far better than anyone else, and wanted to continue teaching them about our Lord Jesus Christ.

That was a great day!  God showed me the joy to be had in welcoming those who have honest questions, answering them from His Scripture, and watching Him at work.  God also showed me the value of working in partnership and in teams.  There is simply no other better way.

1 Corinthians 3:5–8 ESV “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.”