David and Olivia
“Returning home with Jesus”
David and Olivia
Some time ago, a friend introduced us to ‘Sarah’, a visiting scholar from overseas who was lodging in her home. Sarah had never heard the gospel before… but was about to. God was making arrangements! Our friend, just happened to be a former missionary in a country near Sarah’s, and she wasted no time. Sarah was soon attending her church and was introduced to a Bible study group for internationals. In addition, we were then able to have some deep conversations with her and explain the scriptures in her native language. Sarah was remarkably open and readily accepted the gospel message. Before long she’d professed faith in the Lord Jesus.
Thrilled at the providence of God in Sarah’s life by bringing her to salvation in the UK, we started to arrange for her baptism. Also thrilled at her new-found faith, Sarah phoned home to break the news to her husband and her best friend. They, however, were incredulous that she, a scholar in her field of science, had been taken in by what they saw as ‘religious superstition’. Clearly, in their minds, Sarah had simply conformed to the cultural ways of the UK while here, and they assured her she would not be needing that religion once back in her own country. Not wanting to strain her closest relationships, Sarah decided not to be baptised before returning home. We lost contact with her pretty soon after she returned.
There’s no doubt about it, there are fantastic opportunities to “make disciples of all nations” these days, as many nationalities are coming to us in the UK. However, our encounter with Sarah was a wake-up call. Coming to faith here is one thing; returning home again and continuing to follow Jesus is quite another. There are a myriad of reasons why such returnees find it challenging. It might be family and peer pressure, as with Sarah. It might be intimidation and persecution by an authoritarian government. It might be the expectations of a collective society, where belonging is synonymous with being an adherent of a certain religion. Or it might just be the sheer hectic lifestyle back home, squeezing out any time for Christian fellowship.
Whilst reaching the ‘Sarahs’ of this world is an unfinished task of the global Church, the particular network we belong to is focussed on migrants from a certain few countries. Our wonderful ministry partners, based on five continents, all share the same vision. It is not only to make disciples, but also to equip and prepare them to face all the challenges of returning home with a biblical perspective. It is that they not only ‘survive’ as followers of Jesus, but positively flourish and be an asset to their homeland Church and beyond. For us here locally, much of our service now at our stage of life is in admin and supporting roles for our co-workers. But we still keep an eye out for those individual visitors from overseas whom, like Sarah, God is “making arrangements” for!