Author: Staff Writer

He took every copy we had

He took every last copy we had

We received the following story from a couple in the UK who helped a pastor with tools to lead a Bible study.

 A visiting pastor spoke at our church this past Sunday. We told him about the Bible studies we’d run using The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus. He lit up like a christmas tree! In fact, before he left town, he took every copy of the book and the companion workbook that we could spare. He said he had been praying for material like this. He explained that all the outreach efforts at his church were now taking place in homes or outside the church and he had been looking for tools that would help people who said they were believers but their understanding of the Bible was limited.  One couple had said to the pastor that the preaching at the church was way over their heads. They didn’t understand much! They told the pastor that they needed to review the basics. So as the pastor had been praying about what to do, he met us. He thought the meeting was arranged by God!

After passing him all the copies of the book and workbook, we also gave him our last set of the Ambassador Series and a copy of “By this Name.” He was elated.

I just got an email from him yesterday. He said he had already started a Bible study using “The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus.” It never ceases to amaze us how opportunities to guide others through the Bible seem to spring out of nowhere!

 

It never ceases to amaze us how God uses those who are prepared to share the Good News.

Resources: The Ambassador Series: Learning to teach as Jesus taught

 

The Ambassador in the coffee shop

The Ambassador in the coffee shopWe recently received an email from someone who was taking the mandate to be an Ambassador for Christ very seriously. The first story in the email is about being proactive and offering to do a study with a friend. The second little story illustrates how God can use us when we (as individuals and as a church) are ready to share the Good News at any moment. Some encouragement for a Monday morning!

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These healers used white and black magic for their treatment

Photo credit: Phalinn Ooi on flickrEditor’s note: Previously, we had shared Kaspar’s story on how he came to put his trust in Jesus. In this post, we present Alys’s* side of the story.

I grew up “religious” but have always felt an inner emptiness. I kept asking myself questions concerning the meaning of life. I couldn’t find satisfaction for my soul—neither in philosophical views nor in wealth and success.

During my school years I became friends with a Christian woman. For my birthday, she gave me a book entitled, Der Fremde auf dem Weg nach Emmaus (The Stranger on the road to Emmaus in German). At that time, the book did not really interest me, so I put it aside on a bookshelf and there it sat.

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I was filled with a deep and cavernous void

Photo credit: Matías Ávalos on flickr

A testimony from Kaspar.* (Read the follow-up post from Alys.)

Ever since I was a child, I thought I was a Christian. I lived my life how I wanted, spent a lot of time at wild parties and did everything that I thought was fun. I thought I was living life to the fullest. All of this went “well” for a while, but when a long-term relationship broke down I began asking myself what the meaning of life really was. Nothing was fulfilling anymore. Initially, I didn’t find a satisfactory answer to these questions and so I was filled with a deep and cavernous void. Everything seemed pointless to me–having a family, going to work or making a lot of money. When my father became seriously ill I asked myself where he would go after his death. I did believe in a heaven and a hell, but I still couldn’t be really sure. I became ever more depressed and could even understand people who had committed suicide. Life made absolutely no sense.

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Trained and ready to lead

Practising hand motions at the TERM Seminar

Over the weekend, we finished up a TERM Seminar in Olds, Alberta. Unlike previous ones, these participants had the advantage of having access to all the leader’s notes and visual aids. In the past, participants had to take down notes, write in the margins of their books and then back at home, they had to make their own visual aids. It took some effort to get ready to guide a friend or neighbour through the course.

Now with the Worldview Rethink curriculum and visual aids, the preparation was done. They could lead a course literally at a moment’s notice. “Oh, you want to start tonight? Well, sure you can! Come on over for supper and we can begin right after.”

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“The Lamb” vs “The Stranger”. What should I teach as a follow-up to VBS?

lamb-camp

Question:
Hi! I’m really thankful for The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus and how God is allowing us at our local church to make disciples. But I have a question: we are planning to do a VBS in June, and I’d like to offer follow-up classes for kids that are interested, and I’m wondering what material would be best? The ages would be 4th-6th graders (10-12 year olds) who are unchurched, with the exception of children from our weekly kids’ club, and I think the Lamb is just too “young” for them, but I’m afraid The Stranger would be too advanced for them. What would you suggest for that upper elementary/early junior high age?

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A very duplicatable process

 

bible study writing

This is a recent testimony from James and Kate* in the UK. Both of them had just started a Worldview Rethink course with a couple who had recently moved into town. Joining them was Pamela*, who had attended a Worldview Rethink workshop last October. Pamela had joined in to learn how the course was conducted.

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Four visits to the manicurist. Four books on the good news.

Photo credit: Hoa Dang on flickrWith willingness and a keenness to share the gospel whenever the opportunity arises, one can never tell how God will use a person to give away the Good News. Here are four consecutive visits to the manicurist that resulted in the good news being shared.

First visit
Last December, while Christina* was getting her nails done and having a chat at the salon, Christina’s manicurist wondered aloud what she should get for her seven-year-old son as a Christmas present. Ever alert for an opportunity, Christina asked if her son liked to read. The manicurist said yes and Christina went to her van and from her “Be Ready” box, pulled out a copy of The Lamb. She presented it to her manicurist as a gift for her son. On a subsequent visit, the manicurist reported that her son loved the book and got his father to read him the story every night.

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I want the God that you preach to free me

French All that the Prophets have SpokenThrough connections that our ministry has with other organizations, we were able to send a quantity of All that the Prophets have Spoken in French to Africa. The books eventually made their way into the Congo and ended in the hands of a pastor who was involved in prisons’ ministry.

He led a Bible study in French with the inmates of a local prison. Each Sunday, an average of 44 prisoners gathered and the pastor taught through All that the Prophets have Spoken. These men, hearing the Good News were riveted.

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