Small Community Becomes Bigger.

Small community, small community, small community! I continue to see the power in coming together as believers, in the name of Jesus, and lifting each other up. There is also power in the wittness of that the fellowship of believers that those around see.

During our move into our temporary tent some changes occurred. We had two trents move at one time. With this, some of the Expats decided to take up in one tent and put the Foriegn Nationals into the other tent. With this Roberto and I now share a common space instead of Joel and Charles, a Kenyan man now is in the tent with us. Chandel remained across from me so that we could fellowship in the evenings.

The last few nights, with the disruptions, Chandel and I have been unable to sit and do our Bible study togather. Last night I was in the tent for about an hour before Chandel came in. I have been reading "Bonhoeffer" and had it set in my mind that I would get in bed at eight. Saturday is one of the evenings that I have free so bed is always a good option on those occassions. Anyway, At right about eight, Chandel came in, "Hello Sir! Give me a couple of minutes and I will be back so we can sit together. We have not done so in two days." He grabbed his towel and went for a shower.

Well my plans have changed I guess, so I continued to read waiting for him. Just after one of the Indian men that is also in our tent came by looking for Chandel. I mentioned that he was in the shower and should be back in a little while and he walked back up to his bunk. Just a few minutes later, Charles came to my bed, "Maan uf Gaad, I will git my Bible and come set wit you". Charles has in the past been to prayer with us and is another Christian brother. so off he went and returned with Bible in hand.

I told him that Chandel would join us. That everynight we sit together and fellowship together. We were just two but now we would be three. As chandel returned I expressed that we were now three men. That our study was growing and that this was a blessing for us all. He, as he does, just slightly nodded his head, expressionless.

So Matthew 8, we all truned there to begin. As we did so the other man, Chandels friend, came to us and asked to sit. He did so on the end of the bed and I asked him if he had a Bible. He responded that he only had a Koran, no Bible. Politely I stated that that was ok and that if he would like to join us he could for our fellowship. He smiled, and stayed.

Now realize that inside I start freaking out again. I know that I should get used to this by now but I am not. This changes the dynamic of the evening and now I have to be conscious of the manner in which I teach and talk. As I have expressed in earlier Blogs, Muslims culturally don't understand some of the concepts of the Bible. this doesn't change our message, only the way that you state it. So after a brief prayer in my head, off I go.

We start with prayer, which Charles leads. Kenyans love to hold hands when they pray so we all join together as Charles prays softly. I always like the prayers of my Kenyan brothers, it is different than how I pray and what I am used to. It has a rythm to it. He ends with "In Jesus' name I pray, amen". Amen!

We studied only a few of the verses. I usually read the word and then verse by verse give commentary, as best I can to its meaning and significance to us as believers. I also have to fill in the questions that come from Chandel generally not knowing the backround of the information. In this instance, with the new audience, I was trying also to give meaning as our Muslim guest would undrstand. For instance, "Victory over sin" rather than "Paying for sin" things such as this. I was also nervous like I said before which didn't help.

As we went on I opened the discussion a bit to the others. Chandel has few words and tends to very easily summarize the information back into a few sentences. Chandel asked a question about evil spirits and their exisistance in our lives. Charles from this spoke about Adam and Eve and sin and what that means in the world today. The conversation as good and our friend sat and listened intently. We went to prayer then as it was just after 21:00 an it was time for bed.

As we got up the Muslim man asked me, "Sir, do you have a book about Jesus that I could read? I do not have one and I would like one." Yes, um, I do. Hold on, yes." I was now searching through my stack of books for the Book of John that I have. At first I could not remember where it was as the move had caused me to pack things up. I know I don't have much stuff, how could I lose a book. After a few minutes I was able to find it and walked it up to his bed with a New Believers pocket Bible. I sat for a minute and explained which to read to know Jesus better.

Praise God. Here I was nervous about what I was saying and how the content of the discussion would be recieved by our new friend, and everything was fine. He had in some way connected to the fellowship and wanted to know more. The Spirit had moved in some way last night and this man now wanted to know Jesus better. I say again, Praise God.

This has to be the third time where somebody from the tent has sat with me and other believers during our prayer and fellowship and then asked about or began to seek Jesus Christ. In all cases all that we did was invite the individual to sit with at this time of fellowship. The rest is then in the hands of the Holy Spirit.

It is excilirating to see this happen. It is an absolute thrill to see the happening in front of your own eyes. You must believe that you can be used by God when these opportunities present themselves to you. You must be ready to invite your neighbors and friends to your home for your small groups. You must create times for others to see your fellowship. Small community works. Try it! Let your small community become bigger.

Lord, let us use our lives as wittness to you to those around us who are seeking. Let our lives be used by you to reach these people. Let us not think of our own fears but be assured in your power to see us through. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.