Over fall break, Discipleship Council spent time serving a Christian school and church on the Navajo reservation in Arizona! With lots to do, few hands to help, and even fewer hours in the day, the Navajo believers and missionaries that work here run a severe risk of burnout. We had the privilege of both taking some things off of their plates for a week and doing work projects which otherwise would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to get done in a timely manner. In their school, we substitute taught for some of the classes where teachers needed breaks (on the reservation, teachers do not normally have access to subs: If the teacher is gone, class cannot happen). Each day we were there, we had the privilege of leading chapel, where we taught through and memorized Ephesians 2:1–10 with the kids, ingraining not only the memory verses using motions but the real Gospel implications of these verses with daily Bible lessons. Singing alongside the kids in both English and Navajo during these chapels with the kids were some of the most beautiful moments of our time there. The sound of dozens of children praising the name of Jesus is not a sound we will soon forget.
More than anything, we were so encouraged and in awe of the work that God has been doing through this ministry. The man we worked most closely with, Junior, is both an elder at the church and a school board member — and the mechanic, worship leader, youth group leader, and a husband and father. Yet, in spite of his busy ministry, he makes time to join the kids’ game of capture the flag during gym class and to help in the kitchen at lunch (complete with hairnet). He embodies servant leadership and loves people so well. The coolest thing about Junior’s story is that he himself came to know the Lord as a student at the very same Christian school we were serving with, which he is now a board member of. Junior, who is Navajo himself, was saved when his science teacher shared the Gospel with him in 8th grade. Praise God that He is using Junior and so many other faithful Navajo believers to reach their own people.
As has been said, much of ministry is often outside of the job description. Not only did the trip allow us to serve the Navajo people in Northeast Arizona, but the Lord provided Gospel opportunities on the plane rides to and from Arizona! As many of us were able to share the truths of the Gospel with many different people with various backgrounds, it was clear that the Lord had been preparing these appointments long before any of us planned to go to Arizona. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
What was most striking about these plane conversations was the way I saw myself in their stories and in their sin. More poignantly than ever before, I was acutely aware that these people represented my own greatest struggles and sinful tendencies. In their own ways, they were exactly who I would be if Jesus had not changed my heart. I was evangelizing to myself. As I heard their hearts and began to try and speak the Gospel into their lives, I was speaking the truth to myself as well. I was so viscerally reminded of the old saying about evangelism that I truly am just a beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
Who am I to speak the Gospel when I was struggling with the very same sins that very day? A blood-bought sinner. Someone who still needs the same Gospel I was offering to them. I did not deserve the gift of grace that is the Gospel. I have never deserved it. The real question, then, is who am I to not share it? Who am I, a mere beggar given the bread of life, to not offer the same bread to my fellow beggar? I often fear in evangelism that I will come across as self-righteous, but when we understand the nature of evangelism, it must be the furthest thing. There can be no self-righteousness in looking another sinner in the eyes, feeling the sting of the very same pain and sins and lies, and, with teary eyes, offering the only remedy which can cure both of our conditions. Preach the Gospel wherever there is need, my friends. Preach the Gospel wherever you go, including to yourself. God was not stingy in granting us His grace, so how can we be stingy with His free Gospel? He deserves our worship. He deserves theirs. So be strong and courageous, friends. Go, for He is with us to the very end of the age.
Tags: #cedarville, #college, #experience, #experiences, #globaloutreach, #GO, #missions, #opportunities
Posted in: Church, Experience, Global Outreach, Uncategorized