I first served in Asia before moving to my current ministry in the UK. It did not take me long to learn how differently each culture responds to the Gospel. I went from a people willing to hear that they needed salvation to quite the opposite.
Gethin1 is a good representation of many lost souls in our area. He is set in his ways, convinced he needs nothing that he can’t get on his own, and content to live for weekends at the pub getting drunk with his friends. He’s been the local rugby club’s coach for many years, which is how my coworker got to know him. Any time Micah would bring up God, the Bible, or church, Gethin flatly refused to hear it. If Micah invited Gethin to a special service, he would scoff and even prohibit Micah from sharing information about the service with the other rugby players. Gethin is the type of individual that makes it hard to continue sharing the Gospel. At some point, we begin to wonder, Will he ever change, ever see his desperate need for Christ? How is it possible to break through his (and others’) hardened hearts?
The Lord, however, puts other people in our way, people such as Gwen who are hungrily searching for God. When she was a child, Gwen purchased a children’s Bible and faithfully read it. She believed there was a God. But as often happens to young people, the pressures of friends and culture convinced her that being a Christian was un-cool. As a teenager, she stopped reading her Bible and forgot about God. Years passed. By her mid-40s, she had reached what many would consider stability. Yes, she had, as a young mother of three, experienced the pain of abandonment by a husband. But she had settled down with another man, who cares for her and her children. They now have a son of their own. She has a good job and a good home. Yet with all this in her life, she was depressed. She was not at peace. She felt she had no purpose. Nothing in her life brought satisfaction. That’s when she heard about our church’s Christmas Carol Service.
She attended that year, and as she would say, “I felt an overwhelming sense of peace.” She initially ascribed that feeling just to the time of the year. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t put God out of her mind. Once again, she bought herself a Bible, determined to know this God. Gwen is an intelligent woman but found it difficult to understand what she was reading. As only God could orchestrate, she worked with a believer. They would have many conversations about God. Gwen attended another carol service, this time with her sister. A couple months later, the Lord miraculously opened the door for us to have midweek Bible studies. Leigh, my coworker, got to know Gwen because their sons are in the same year at school, and the Lord impressed upon Leigh’s heart to invite Gwen to Bible study.
Gwen came. And she came with big questions about God and His Word. Each time Leigh or I chatted with her after Bible study, we were giddy with Gwen’s hunger to know God. Yet, we weren’t entirely sure if Gwen was truly born again. But as the weeks and months went on, it became clear. She had found the peace that comes from being a child of God. Suddenly, she began to understand God’s Word for herself. With tears, she told us, “I’m reading my Bible, and I understand it.” Another sweet testimony of her faith in God is the desperate desire for her loved ones to know the same peace and joy she experiences. The Sunday she was baptized was a day of much rejoicing. Many came to our service for the first time that day, but one in particular came whom we thought would never darken the door of our church—Gethin! Gethin came to see his partner profess her trust in God alone.
It will be two years in April since Gwen’s baptism. We’ve seen Gethin at several special services. Now he’s the one sharing with the rugby club that our church has a carol service. Their son comes to Sunday school and, just like his mother, asks big questions. He’s been known to tell his dad exactly where he will go if he were to die today. Gethin is softer to the Gospel than he’s ever been before because of Gwen’s testimony to him.
I don’t know how God will work, but I do know He is powerful enough to break down the hardest heart. In the end, He will get all the glory. So let me be a faithful part of HIS work.
1 The names of people in this article have been changed to protect their privacy.