Building Foundations for the Gospel
Stories of Being Available to Answer Questions Helps Build Foundations for the Gospel.
Silas* with Ecclesia Ministries (formerly Community Transformation Ministries) shares with us how taking the time to answer questions about his faith opens up opportunities for the gospel.
Back in 2003, Iba* fled her home village of Targay to Zalingi due to an outbreak of fighting. She was 14 years old. The wounds on her feet were so severe from walking, that she stayed in the hospital for almost a week to allow her feet to heal. With no one to provide for her, she sought out a husband.
Iba did marry. She married a man who had been previously divorced three times. He was not a kind man. She suffered greatly with him. He physically and verbally abused her constantly. Iba and her husband had five children together before they too divorced. Alone again, Iba needed to find food for herself and now five children. Day after day, she would find work to provide for herself and her children.
I needed some bricks when I first met Iba. I found her laying bricks (the process of drying mud bricks in the sun) and asked her the selling price. As we spoke, she began to share with me more and more of her story.
She said that often her daily wage was not enough to provide the food needed to feed her family. I was moved by her story. I decided I needed to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with her.
I told her, “My sister, you know many are going under the same circumstances but I want to share with you some good news. We are all wrong in some point and God who is perfect sees us as we truly are — as sinners. In the Bible I believe, God says he looks down and he finds no one doing right things. He sent his Son to liberate us. Now we have access to God without any mediator. You can ask God to forgive your sins and ask God for help.”
She said, “I would like to be clean before God.”
I told her, “Many are seeking to help themselves to be righteous before God but they are not able because it's only God who can save people.”
She asked, “How does God save people if we are to be judged by him?”
I told her, “God’s mercy and grace are demonstrated in his Son Jesus Christ and whoever believes in him will have eternal life.”
She said, “I can see some seriousness in what you're saying. But how can I be saved?”
I told her. “You need to confess that you are a sinner and that you admit he is your Savior and follow what he tells you to do.”
She said, “I believe!”
We prayed together and I asked her to come to the church.
She recently shared with me, “Whenever I pray to God, I see him doing what I pray. I asked God to reconnect me with my family and he did. He connected me with many members of my family. I have not heard from them since the time the war came when I was in Targay. And other things when I pray I see my God is doing it for me.”
She asked the church to pray for her. She is praying that God will give her some money to start her business to sustain her children. She said, "I would love to share the gospel with my mum and my brothers. Jesus is the true God and I believe in him he will provide for me.”
These days I (Silas*) am beginning many conversations about the gospel through social media. Those who have a Muslim faith background ask me question after question about Christianity. Currently, I have open dialogues with 14 people. Three of them have accepted Christ as their Savior just this past week
I spent the whole week with them in a time of intensive discussion just answering their questions. They ask some hard questions. Sometimes we just pray.
Alamein* who is among these people said, "My spirit was burning me like a fire when you were talking to me about Christ. But after, I really thought that I should know Christ. I said let me know who Jesus is! Something touched my heart and raised a question. I asked myself why I hate someone that I don't know. Then I remembered everything you told me about Jesus. I thought it was better for me to have a special conversation with you. So that I can understand things more clearly. But now I felt with an internal peace".
I told him, “Alamein, you are going to grow in understanding more about Jesus.”
Abdul* and Aima* have accepted Christ as well. Abdul said. “I have discovered Islam as a falsehood, but I was only following it as a tradition. I had never found someone to tell me the truth.”
Please pray for all who asking questions and wrestling with their faith.
We asked Silas if he would share some of the questions he was receiving. We’ve listed them below. How would you answer someone who asked you one of these?
Why are there four gospels, not one?
Was Jesus God? And if he was God, why did he cry on the cross, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?"
If Jesus was God, to whom was he worshiping?
Why did Jesus tell the Jews the Lord your God is one?
Why did God the Father not listen to Jesus when he asked him to remove the cup from him? Jesus said that he is going to send a helper. When Muhammad came as a helper why do you not accept him?
Why do some Christians pray through Mary the mother of Jesus Christ?
Who reported the discussion of Judas Iscariot when he agreed with Jewish leaders to hand over Jesus?
Why do some Christians dance in the church?
If I am a Christian, to whom am I supposed to pray - to Jesus or to God or to the Holy Spirit?
Who told you the person who died on the cross was Jesus?
*Names altered to protect the identity of those working in areas of increased persecution.