Sowing Seeds

We first met Omar* and his wife and their two young children last November. Zach and Beth Smith had encouraged us to invite this young family for dinner and English conversation.

These conservative Muslims came from the outskirts of Mecca. Omar had a long black beard and his wife, remained robed and veiled the entire evening—even during dinner. They said our home was only the second one they had been invited to in their 11 months in America.

Our conversation was punctuated with much laughter and several English tips, as Omar would ask for help with his sentence structure. We enjoyed getting to know them and found them eager to be friends.

Over the next months, our daughter, visited them at their home and continued developing a friendship and helping them with English. She had many opportunities to answer their questions about culture and traditions by distinguishing between American culture and American Christian culture. This opened opportunities to learn about Islam and speak about Jesus Christ.

The Field

As I look around our city, I see many people from around the world coming for a variety of reasons. Some seek refuge from persecution, some want to advance their education or pursue job opportunities, and some want to settle down to raise a family in a free society. Some will return to their countries of origin. What will happen here that they can take with them? Will they meet genuine Christians and step into their homes? Will they have the opportunity to develop friendships and hear the gospel explained to them? Will they see genuine, transformed lives? Will they see a difference between Christians and our secular culture? Will they meet Christ and forsake their false gods to serve the true and living God?

Begin laboring with others

At my age, I may not be called to go overseas as a missionary; however, by praying and reaching out to internationals, I can be on mission in my community—even to people from closed countries. I was challenged by the Lord through studying His Word to be expectant in my prayers and intentional in my outreach (Matt. 9:35-38, 28:18-20).

I began asking the Lord to open my eyes to see the opportunities before me and I asked my friends how to make contact with internationals. I was given contact information for an engineering student from Saudi Arabia who needed an English conversational partner, and I arranged to meet him for dinner.

That was the only time I met with him, but it was a step that I needed to take. It was not hard, after all! I actually enjoyed it.

I would not have thought about reaching out to a Muslim if it were not for a team of like-minded people from our church. It all began last year.

How the Ministry Began

Second (Indianapolis, Ind.) RPC was anticipating having Pastor Dave and Jenny Long labor with us in ministry part-time. We had four interns that would benefit from Dave’s years of ministry and heart for missions. In the providence of God, plans changed and we had to trust Him to order the paths of these men and their families.

Meanwhile, the Vince Ward family had recently returned from South Sudan. Vince began to talk with Pastor James Faris about the idea of forming a cross-cultural team at Second RPC. As Vince laid out a plan to equip cross-cultural teams at home and abroad, they asked me to consider leading a pilot team.

The Curriculum

Vince developed a curriculum designed to equip local teams in intentional discipleship and mission. Our team had weekly meetings for fellowship, accountability, instruction, prayer, and planning.

The first AFC team

“We are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). For this reason, our 8-member team called ourselves the Ambassadors for Christ Fellowship. We are not connected to other ministries using that term, including Ambassadors for Christ International—a fellowship of gospel preachers and teachers.

Our team began to pray for and reach out to those in our neighborhoods and at work. Through these and other avenues, we were able to effectively build relationships with many internationals including Hispanics, Chinese, and Arabs.

Intentional teamwork

When Pastor Faris first talked to me about Vince’s idea, I was excited about starting something new. But at the same time, I felt very inadequate for the task. Thankfully, I was entrusted with a wonderful team, and together we set out to do something new and stretching.

As a ruling elder, my ordination vows included “to watch over the spiritual growth of the members of the congregation, to endeavor to win others to Christ, to visit the afflicted…” Up until now, I have been slow to engage in winning others to Christ. I find it difficult to do evangelism alone. The team helped me to develop a heart for the lost and to be intentional about mission in my community—renewing my desire to be Christ’s ambassador who labors in the “fields [that] are white for harvest” around me (John 4:35).

Fruit of Labor

Our team had many opportunities to grow in outreach, like going to conferences and workshops, making several visits to a mosque and an Arabic-speaking Christian church, meeting others in the city who were already reaching out to internationals, teaching Bible stories to minority children from poor and often dysfunctional families, working among Muslim co-workers at a restaurant, and teaching English and Bible to Chinese.

In the midst of our labor of love, we saw the power of God redeem a soul. It began when Pastor Faris signed up to be an English conversational partner with a Muslim man at an English school downtown. Team members quickly developed a relationship with him, and he found new friends in the congregation. Soon the man was coming to church and hearing the gospel proclaimed. He found a community in the congregation and appreciated getting help with his English. He also participated in a weekly Bible study for international college students led by Venky and Shammi Gopalakrishnan. This Muslim man experienced the love of Christ among us as he wrestled with the truth of the gospel.

One Lord’s Day, after many months of praying and reaching out to him, our congregation had the deep joy of seeing him make a profession of faith in Christ!

Watering Seeds

On the same day as that profession of faith, our daughter received a phone call. It was a request for help from our Saudi friends, Omar and his wife. They had to leave their home, but they were not leaving the U.S. for a few weeks. They asked if they could stay with our family.

Our initial, American response was fear, dismay, and anxiety. This would be a sacrifice of personal space, energy, and time. However, God had been preparing our hearts over the past year through our team. Deep down we knew God had brought these Muslim friends to our door.

The next morning they arrived. We grew to love and enjoy them, which deepened our prayers for their souls. While our conversations did not lead to deep theological debates, we prayed that God would use our love and friendship to break down the barriers in their minds and hearts regarding Jesus Christ and Christianity.

A few weeks later, we waved goodbye to our friends as they returned to their home country. We may never see them again on this earth, but we continue to pray that God will build upon the seeds of hospitality and love that they experienced here.

Resources

If you are interested in starting or continuing a cross-cultural ministry in your community, go to www.theOnetwork.org for further information, including the AFC video shown this summer at the RP International Conference, and the core curriculum that you can download. Please contact Vince Ward at info@theonenetwork.org to discuss how this can be used in your church and community.

*name has been changed for privacy