By the grace of God, I had the opportunity to be for almost 4 weeks in the middle of over 30 Christian leaders from an Asian country (missionaries, pastors, youth leaders, workers with children and others). Together with a team made up of 2 Romanians, 3 Americans, a Nepalese and a Brazilian we organized a seminar for these leaders. The purpose of the seminar was to help them grow in the knowledge of God, in faith and trust in Jesus, in the relationships between them and in the way they work with people, but also to give them certain tools to use to develop the works they are involved in or the works they want to start.
Picture from the classroom
I discovered them as extraordinary people who love Jesus with all their hearts, who are ready to make sacrifices for Him, some even been to prison. Most of them are followed by the secret police, in one way or another, some of them being under constant surveillance. Even while I was there some of them were called by the secret police.
In the talks I had with them I could see the stress that this reality brings to their lives sometimes manifested in panic attacks, anxiety, depression, sometimes even with thoughts of suicide. On the other hand, I saw the faith that springs from these struggles and the determination to tell others about King Jesus that grows as a result of the resistance that they encounter.
I remember one evening I was talking to one of the leaders and he told me about the confusion and fears he experienced when he started being followed (the secret police called him while I was there). How he learned to take the fears to the cross of Jesus, but how sometimes he felt overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. He thought of giving up, running away and even committing suicide, but how God helped him overcome his fears and trust in HIM. We prayed together and then he started to tell me about the work he does in a community of hindu, how he has been working there among them for several years and how God used them to bring many souls to Christ and how they started a work in their midst.
The community is part of an unreached ethnic group. They had no church and no Christians in their midst before they went there. In recent years they rented bicycles and went from village to village, preaching the gospel. They did this for a month, over several years, covering over 1000 km by bike in their desire to go to as many villages as possible.
A year ago one of the young people who was touched by the love of Jesus came to the DTS (5-month discipleship school) and then returned to his village and started a church. 2 weeks ago another DTS started and this young man came again, this time as a leader bringing with him 11 more people. “We want to help these Christian communities that are formed here to grow and mature and then go to other unreached ethnic groups and start work there too” he told me.
I was thinking while I was talking to him, “didn’t you not just tell me about your fears? How can you dream of continuing the work and even starting work in other communities when you know that because of this you started to be followed by the secret police?”. But this is the power that Paul was talking about, that power of the resurrection that helps us in our weaknesses, helps us not to focus on our fears and weaknesses but on God and His power. In Philippians 4:6-7 Paul says to cast all our fears on Him and “the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and thoughts in Jesus Christ”. I saw with my eyes and felt with my heart this promise fulfilled.
I was able to encourage my brothers in this area of fear, because I also experienced fear and learned to bring it, again and again, to the foot of the cross of Jesus. When I was preparing to go to Pakistan, I had a period of several weeks when I felt such fear, sometimes manifested by panic attacks, and I didn’t know where it was coming from. I learned to fight fear, reading, proclaiming and believing God’s promises. It was a difficult process, tiring, exhausting at times, but I learned to cast all my fears on Christ and let HIM carry them. I don’t think I have overcome everything, I think the fight will continue and I will have to do this until I meet HIM, but now it is easier for me to quickly go to Jesus with my fears. And because I went through these experiences I was able to talk to my brothers about it, I was able to encourage them knowing that there is hope beyond fear and I was able to pray with them.
So, as I said, I met people who love God, willing to put their freedom and life at risk (some were arrested and tortured, physically and mentally for 52 days, some were chased away with stones when they went to certain neighborhoods to talk about Jesus, others threatened, etc.), but ready to do what God tells them to do.
Part of the seminar was also writing a project, which means sharing a vision/dream/work idea that you have from God and thinking how you end up putting it into practice. Everyone had to write a vision, how they intend to put it into practice, what budget they need for this, how long they will do what they propose and who they will call to be with them in that project (member of the team work, partner in prayer, partner in financial support, etc.). I was very amazed to see what dreams God has put on everyone’s heart, some want to open schools in neighborhoods where there are no schools, some to plant churches in areas where there is no church, some to open medical centers, some to start new ministry of evangelism in unreached ethnic groups, some open centers for addicted people (alcohol, drugs or with gender dysphoria – homosexuals), work with young people, businesses to bless poor communities, and others. They are much poorer than us, but they have the courage to dream with God and, not only did they write a project on a piece of paper, some have already started working for what they wrote. Some of the projects they wrote are new ideas that need to be implemented from scratch, others are development projects of already existing works.
It’s amazing with God, he speaks and gives vision and passion, we just have to be ready to work for Him.
When you remember them, pray that God will protect them, give them favor when they go to proclaim the Good News. Pray for courage and steadfastness in fulfilling what He spoke to them .
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