That same week an Adventist evangelist came to hold meetings in our town. His wife would hold training sessions for people interested in becoming Bible workers. I didn’t plan to go to the workshop; I didn’t even know what it meant to be a Bible worker. But God impressed me to attend.

As the week progressed, war raged within me. I had a chance for a perfect job and great pay, but God seemed to be calling me to work for Him. Should I quit my present job and work for God as a Bible worker? The struggle made me miserable until I surrendered to God. I quit my job and signed up for further training to become a full-time Bible worker.

I returned to India to tell my parents of my decision. I knew that they would be disappointed, and maybe even angry to learn that I was giving up a career to work for God. But the confrontation was far more difficult than I imagined. My father cried and tried to convince me to stay in India and work. Finally my step-mother convinced my father to let me do as I wished with my life.

I took a three-month Bible training course and returned to Australia to begin work as a Bible worker at Gateway, the church plant focusing on university students and young professionals in Melbourne, Australia. We meet with young people on the campus and become friends. Then we invite them to our Bible study and worship group. Most of the young people who come know almost nothing about God. They socialize, eat, study God’s word together, and pray and praise God. In one year about 90 people have come at least once, and 12 to 15 come regularly. A number of these are studying the Bible with us regularly.

Many international students come who have no concept of God. Others have attended church before but have had no personal relationship with Jesus. We tailor our Bible studies to what the students need.

This church plant has received funding from Global Mission, and the mission offerings support the ongoing work. I praise God that He called me to work for Him and that He calls each member of His church to make such ministries possible through their offerings.

To learn about other Global Mission projects that are touching lives for God, visit www.global-mission.org.

Vikram Panchal shares his faith with young people in Melbourne, Australia.

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Many of the young people at school smoked and drank. I wasn’t interested in these things and avoided the young people who were involved in these activities. I attended church for my first year in Australia, but then I quit. I told God that I wanted a break from Him, to see what life was like without Him. That was the most miserable year in my life.

I finished high school and started my university studies. One day while studying, I felt a sudden pain in my chest. I thought I was having a heart attack. Then I realized that it wasn’t physical pain, but an ache for something. Could this be God? I wondered. I hadn’t prayed in a year, but that day I prayed. “God, if this is You, please take away this unbearable pain!” The pain went away, and I forgot about it. But when the pain returned, I knew it was God speaking to me. I found a church and attended a few times. But my job in a bar required me to work Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so I quit attending church.

One evening on the train home from work I met a young man, Daniel, and his friend, Keith. Daniel struck up a conversation with me. I asked him why he had chosen to speak to me, and he said God had prompted him. We continued talking, and he invited me to his home for dinner. I gave him my phone number. I got to know Keith, and I sensed that he knew God. The peace I saw in him made me wish for a relationship with Christ. I accepted his invitation to worship with him on Saturday, but the idea of worshipping on Saturday instead of Sunday seemed strange.

I graduated and began searching for a job. I couldn’t find one, and I felt frustrated and out of control. I remembered Keith and the peace he exuded. I visited him, and he invited me to a small group meeting.

I went. The group was indeed small, but the members were so genuine, friendly, and loving that I enjoyed attending. As I studied the Bible I realized that it was the Holy Spirit who had been speaking to me all these years, urging me to let God back into my life. I had come to God broken and hurting, but God put me back together.

I learned that the small group meeting was actually a Global Mission church plant designed to attract young people just like me.

(continued next week)

Vikram Panchal shares his faith with young people in Melbourne, Australia.

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Fwachi stood silent, unsure what to say. She had come home from Zambia Adventist University planning to tell her mother that she had been baptized. Now what should she say?

Fwachi had grown up in a Christian home. Her sister invited her to visit the Adventist church, but Mother refused to let her go. However, when Fwachi finished high school, she wanted to study at Zambia Adventist University. Her sister agreed to pay her school fees, so her mother allowed her to go. “Just don’t join the church,” Mother warned.

At school Fwachi enjoyed her Bible classes and was drawn closer to Christ. During the Week of Prayer Fwachi rededicated her life to Christ, but for months she resisted the invitation to be baptized.

The next year during the Week of Prayer, Fwachi decided to follow Christ, even if it angered her mother. She waited to tell her mother until her school break. Then her mother greeted her by saying, “I hear you’re attending the Adventist church; I hope you haven’t been baptized!”

“I do enjoy going to the Adventist church,” Fwachi stammered, lost for words. Maybe it’s best to wait to tell Mother of my decision, she thought. As Sabbath drew near, Fwachi made an excuse to visit her cousin in town, where she could attend church. Her vacation ended, and Fwachi hadn’t told her mother that she was an Adventist.

Then Fwachi’s sister died. Fwachi was devastated; her faith was shaken. So many people were praying for her, she thought. How could God let my sister die? She found comfort in the songs of faith that her sister often sang. As she sang the precious songs, she no longer felt forsaken. Still, she faced the question of who would pay her school fees.

She told her mother of her baptism, expecting her mother to be angry. Instead her mother nodded. She even agreed to help pay Fwachi’s tuition. Although Fwachi works at school, it still isn’t enough to pay her fees. She trusts God will provide the rest.

One day Mother called Fwachi to tell her she’d visited the church. She hasn’t attended again, but Fwachi feels this was one small step of faith. “There will be other steps,” Fwachi says. I pray that God will use me to draw my mother to Him again.”

Zambia Adventist University is one of hundreds of Adventist schools around the world that receive help from the mission offerings. These schools make a difference in the lives of their students and the communities they serve. Thank you for giving to mission so that others can meet the Savior who loves them.

Fwachi Mtonga lives in Zambia, Africa.

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If “one truth received into the heart will make room for still another truth,” ¹ we wonder in what sequence the truths we hold should be presented in order to be most effective in our outreach. Our Sabbath School lesson on “Personal Evangelism and Witnessing” also asks, “Why should Christ’s substitutionary death always be at the forefront of all that we teach?”

I would like to deal with the last question first by sharing a passage from the book Gospel Workers which has made the greatest impact on the way I do my ministry.

The sacrifice of Christ as an atonement for sin is the great truth around which all other truths cluster. In order to be rightly understood and appreciated, every truth in the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, must be studied in the light that streams from the cross of Calvary. I present before you the great, grand monument of mercy and regeneration, salvation and redemption–the Son of God uplifted on the cross. This is to be the foundation of every discourse given by our ministers. (Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, p. 315)

We are not saved by doctrines. We are saved by God’s grace. God reveals His love in each and every doctrine, in hopes that we will love Him too. Satan tries to skew Bible doctrine in hopes of skewing our concept of God’s love and thus make us not want to accept Him. This idea is what motivated me a few years ago to design the “In Light of The Cross” Bible study guides, which illustrate the love of God, and the cross in each doctrine, which is particularly relevant to Seventh-day Adventists. They are available free online in both English and Spanish. My passion is to promote the cross of Christ in everything I do.

Now to answer the first question,  about in what sequences certain truths should be presented. Speaking from personal experience over the years, when giving a series of personal or group Bible studies, I always begin with the Gospel Presentation. I want people to  make a decision to accept Jesus into their lives and have the hope of eternal life. The second presentation I give is on the Bible. At the end of this study I ask people to go by the Bible and the Bible only. This way, if someone later says they don’t have to follow a Bible teaching, because their pastor or friend said it was not important anymore, I remind them they made a decision to go by the Bible and not by what their friends say. The third study I do is on Love and Obedience, or trusting and obeying. In this study I ask people to make a decision to follow the Bible because we love Jesus. This way, if people later say they don’t have to follow a certain Bible teaching because “it’s not a salvation issue,” I remind them that the reason we obey the Bible is because we love Jesus, and not just to get to heaven. After those three studies, my sequence of Bible truth is based on each particular person and what is relevant to them.

In each study I want to encourage my Bible student in their personal relationship with Jesus. I am not looking for a quick baptism to make my numbers look good. Frankly it is not about me. I want to encourage my Bible student in a personal relationship with Jesus. The purpose of my personal and group Bible studies is to be relational. A foreign missionary now pastoring in Tennessee once told me, “Small groups don’t work in America, because we are more concerned about being right then we are about being relational.” I knew exactly what he was talking about. With exceptions, a lot of American evangelism has been little more than telling people “I’m right you’re wrong!” That is not how Jesus won the hearts of people.

Jesus saw in every soul one to whom must be given the call to His kingdom. He reached the hearts of the people by going among them as one who desired their good. He sought them in the public streets, in private houses, on the boats, in the synagogue, by the shores of the lake, and at the marriage feast. He met them at their daily vocations, and manifested an interest in their secular affairs. He carried His instruction into the household, bringing families in their own homes under the influence of His divine presence. His strong personal sympathy helped to win hearts. He often repaired to the mountains for solitary prayer, but this was a preparation for His labor among men in active life. From these seasons He came forth to relieve the sick, to instruct the ignorant, and to break the chains from the captives of Satan.  It was by personal contact and association that Jesus trained His disciples. (Ellen White, Desire of Ages, p. 151)

I am not downplaying being right. Jesus was always right, but He was also always relational. His agenda was to meet the needs of the people and not use them as pawns and numbers in meeting the goals and expectations of the church. Jesus did not call me to be a car salesman, pressuring people to “buy” Jesus before the end of the year so I will have a great report for the year. We must be patient with our personal and group Bible studies. We want to be right, but we also want to be like Jesus, and take time to be relational.

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“Sometimes, I wonder if my mother has seen me but didn’t recognize me,” 16-year-old Ginny says.

Born in the Haitian countryside, Ginny was given up at birth. She lived in several different homes and even lived on the streets. When Ginny was 4, a woman took her home to live with her. “I got to go to school!” Ginny said. “But when Ginny was 10, the woman invited a man to live in the house. He beat Ginny and tried to rape her. “I screamed, but no one came to help me,” she said stoically. “I was so scared; I couldn’t sleep.”

Ginny left the woman’s home and lived with a neighbor, where she cleaned house in exchanged for food. Ginny was mistreated in this home, too.

“I’ve suffered a lot,” Ginny says. “I just wanted to have a home and a mother.”

“One day someone told Ginny that her mother was in Port-au-Prince. They gave her a telephone number. Ginny called the number and heard her mother’s voice. She learned that she had five sisters. When Ginny asked if she could visit, her mother agreed.

Excited that at last she’d have a home and a family, Ginny made plans to visit her mother.

But the January 12 earthquake shattered Ginny’s plans. Ginny survived the earthquake, but she lost everything else. She searched for her mother’s home to find it was now only a pile of rubble. “Day and night, I wonder if my mother and sisters are still alive somewhere,” she says. “I came so close to meeting her, and then the earthquake took everything away.”

Ginny made her way to a displaced-persons camp where ADRA provides shelter, food, and understanding adults who can help her deal with the traumas she’s experienced. ADRA is working with other agencies to keep these children safe and unite then with their families. They have given Ginny hope.

Ginny met another girl who also was separated from her family. “We look out for each other,” she says. “For the first time in my life, I have a sister. We are no longer alone.”

Our church has more than 330,000 members in Haiti. ADRA has been working to help the Haitian people for some 30 years. Your mission offerings and a recent Thirteenth Sabbath Offering is helping to rebuild the work in Haiti so that more people can experience God’s love.

Michelle L. Oetman is communication and media coordinator for Adventist Development & Relief Agency (ADRA) in Haiti.

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Then my brother became a Christian—an Adventist Christian! I wasn’t sure what he believed, but I was sure it meant trouble. My brother tried to convince me to study the Bible and give Christianity a chance, but I refused to listen. In fact, I refused to allow him to say one word about it in my presence.

He sent me Bible studies and literature, but I refused to open the envelopes. I reminded my brother that Karl Marx had said that religion is the opiate of the people, and I refused to be tainted by such superstition.

But my brother kept sending the literature. Finally I decided to read what he sent, only so I could show him the errors of his new beliefs. I opened the first envelope and read through the lesson. Then I read another and another. The sixth lesson talked about Jesus’ second coming. Something about this lesson touched my heart. My interest was aroused. I went back and reread each lesson and filled in the study sheet. I found myself looking forward impatiently for each lesson to arrive.

I found the tiny Adventist church in my city and began to visit it. I began reading the Bible, too. When I finally told my brother that I was studying the Bible, we shared precious moments of discovery together. For the first time in my life I experienced the presence of God in my life as we prayed together.

At first I thought that only absolute vegetarians who wore ultra-conservative clothes were God’s true children. But over time God revealed that His children don’t focus on outward appearances and actions, but on being heart-right with God. As I realized this, I felt a wonderful freedom and joy. I learned to love the believers who didn’t eat like me or look like me. I learned to love others because Jesus loves them and He relies on us to be His light in this dark world.

Four years after my baptism God surprised me again. I had wanted to teach a few old women in a village how to serve God, but the conference invited me to become the women’s ministries director! Imagine, me, the stubborn atheist, teaching other women to love God! He never ceases to amaze me.

God reached me through a praying brother and literature provided by the mission offerings of faithful people around the world. Imagine what he can do with your mission gifts.

Tatiana Modreva shares her faith in western Bulgaria.

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Afet

Afet knew she had found great truth at the small group meeting that she and her mother and sister had been attending. Within a year all three were baptized.

Afet’s heart burned to share her faith with others, but it wouldn’t be easy. Most people in her country consider Christians infidels. Afet prayed for wisdom, and God showed her texts in the dominant religion’s holy book that could help lead people to Jesus. Afet printed these texts out and gave them to people.

“Your holy book says that Jesus will come again,” she told people as she gave them the cards she’d made. As people read the verses, God opened their hearts to hear about Jesus. “I tell them that the Bible teaches many of the same things their holy book teaches, sometimes in greater detail,” says Afet. “They are surprised. I show them verses from their holy book that say that the Bible is the word of God and it never changes.” Using this approach, Afet and her fellow believers have led many to Christ and organized several small groups.

With help from the church headquarters in her country, Afet and her fellow believers bought 10,000 books to sell door-to-door in their city of 800,000 people, where very few people are Christians.

One day an older man answered Afet’s knock. He saw that Afet was selling books and sent his son to fetch a young man who sells religious books of his own faith. Afet prayed for wisdom and asked God to guide her words. When the young man arrived, the home owner took a copy of Steps to God [Steps to Christ] from Afet and showed it to the young man. “Do you sell this book?” he asked. The young man said that he didn’t know the book. The older man bought two copies of Steps to God and gave one to the young man to read. He kept the other for himself and thanked Afet for the opportunity to read more about God.

A girl on the second floor had seen Afet going door-to-door. She hurried to catch Afet before she left the building. She asked to see Afet’s books and picked up Steps to God. “I saw this book in a dream!” she said. “I must have it!”

God is using Adventist books to lead these people to the Bible and to the Savior. Your mission offerings help support ministries such as this in countries where it’s difficult for Adventists to share their faith.

Afet shares her faith as a Global Mission pioneer in a country in central Asia. To protect her identity, her full name hasn’t been used.

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Deng

Deng is a Global Mission pioneer in eastern China. She dreamed of starting a house church in her elderly mother’s home in a village with no Adventist church. Deng traveled to the village twice a week to share God’s love with her mother’s neighbors.

She ministered to the elderly and the sick whom she met during her neighborhood visits, and then she invited them to hear God’s message of love. A little group began meeting in Deng’s mother’s home, and within a year some 40 people came. They crowded into the small home, filling every available space.

Someone complained to the authorities about the unauthorized meetings in Deng’s mother’s house, and the police shut down the house church. Deng went to the government and explained that she was helping the people. “Some are old, and others were sick; they have no one to care for their needs. Go and ask them who is caring for them,” she challenged.

The local people begged the police not to close down the church. “Deng is a good person. She is helping us,” they said. The police allowed the house church to continue meeting while Deng sought formal permission to find a church in which to worship.

The church members found a small house to rent and converted it into a church. But soon it, too, was too small. But when Deng asked for land on which to build a church, the local authorities couldn’t help her.

The congregation found an old movie house for sale, and Deng requested permission to buy it. But she learned that a businessman wanted it and could afford to pay far more than Deng’s congregation. The believers prayed that God would influence the government to let them buy the building. But the price rose, and the congregation had to release its bid to buy the cinema.

Deng felt impressed to return to the government and ask them to intervene with the businessman to let the church buy the cinema. The official explained Deng’s work in the village to the businessman, and he withdrew his bid to buy the building.

Deng’s congregation didn’t have the money to buy the building, but the 46 Adventist churches in the region agreed to help buy the cinema. Within two years the little congregation grew to some 150 people.

Global Mission pioneers such as Deng work in many regions of China and throughout the unreached world, sharing God’s love and reaching souls who otherwise might never hear the message of salvation. Your mission offerings support the work of Global Mission. To meet more Global Mission pioneers, visit www.Global-Mission.org.

Deng is a Global Mission pioneer working in eastern China.

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Monsuru Akinwande

I grew up in a non-Christian family in Nigeria. One of my Christian friends often talked to me about Christ. One day he invited me to give my life to Jesus, but I wasn’t interested. Then I had a dream in which Jesus stood between heaven and earth, touching people who were on their way to heaven. But when I approached Him, Jesus didn’t touch me. Instead He said gently, “You’re not ready yet.” I turned away, rejected.

I told my friend about my dream, and he explained that God was speaking to me, inviting me to follow Him. Wow, I thought. God would speak to me? He must love me! My friends helped me give my life to Christ.

One day I met a man who lives near the church my friends attended. He invited me to study the Bible with him. I wasn’t sure I should, so I asked my friends what to do. “Go ahead and study with him,” they said. “Just be sure that what he teaches you is truth according to the Bible.”

As I studied the Bible with this man I realized that he knew his Bible well! And when he told me about the Sabbath, he showed me many Bible texts to prove that God never changed the Sabbath to Sunday. I was convinced that the Sabbath is Saturday. But I didn’t know what to do about it.

My new friend gave me some books to read to help me understand the Bible better. He invited me to attend the Adventist church with him, and I went, glad to find the truth about God. The devil became angry and tried to stop me from being baptized, but I refused to give in.

Before I found Christ I was nobody. But God has adopted me and has called me to serve Him and share my faith with those who haven’t met Jesus yet. He has opened the door for me to study at Babcock University, the Adventist university in Nigeria. I know that God will make a way for me to complete my studies and answer His call to service.

Please pray for me and my fellow Christians who have been called out of darkness and want to share God’s light with others. And thank you for your mission offerings and Thirteenth Sabbath Offerings that have helped establish this great school where thousands of young people are being trained to serve God.

Monsuru Akinwande is studying theology at Babcock University in Nigeria.

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Wilson Kuki

In the Solomon Islands and many other island nations of the South Pacific, individual villages and even entire regions are under the domain of a single church. It’s often difficult to gain access to these villages, for the people’s culture and identity are wrapped up in their church affiliation.

As a Global Mission Pioneer, I wanted to enter one of the villages dominated by another Protestant denomination. I asked permission to take some Adventist young people to the village to do community service work. The village leaders agreed to let the young people help repair the church roof, but they wouldn’t allow us to hold public meetings. We agreed.

The village provided a house for us while we worked, and as the young people worked with the villagers, they became friends.

Every morning and evening we gathered outside our house to sing and pray. Some of the villagers joined us, and this strengthened bonds of friendship.

We had planned to spend Sabbath at a small Adventist church in a nearby village, but the religious teacher of our village invited us to worship in the church we were repairing. We gladly accepted, but we were surprised to find this man had invited the villagers to join us for worship. The majority of the village came to our worship that day. We told Bible stories using picture rolls and sang songs of praise. The people loved it!

After worship a man named George told us that he had been accused of sorcery and had been beaten to drive the spirits from him. He was knocked unconscious, and no one helped him. With tears in his eyes, George explained that he felt he had been rejected by his own village.

We prayed with George and gave him a Bible that he had requested. We arranged to return to the village and study the Bible with him. When George learned that I planned to hold evangelistic meetings in the next village, George gladly agreed to come.

We invited others from the village to join us for Bible studies, and several have asked for Bibles. We promised to give them Bibles if they’d come to our meetings, and many did. They’re thrilled that other Christians would come and help them repair their roof and worship with them. A little kindness goes a long way toward building bridges—and church roofs.

Wilson Kuki is a Global Mission Pioneer working on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

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Among these youth are Bjarne Rasmussen and Kim Larsen, two young men in their 20s. Bjarne, a pastor’s son, wanted to get serious about his faith. He took a short-term study course in lay evangelism and hoped to become a Bible worker in the Danish Union. When finances didn’t allow the union to hire him full time, he volunteered to serve. “Who am I to call myself a Christian and not introduce others to Jesus?” Bjarne asks.

A learning disability made advanced studies tedious for Kim, so he took a break from studies. God led him to the One Year for God program. “It’s a good fit,” he says.

The two young men work together to find people who are searching for something in their lives. Danish law forbids them from going door-to-door to sell books, so Kim and Bjarne give out flyers offering a free Bible along with Bible studies. Then they follow up with interested people.After four months they were studying with seven people. In Denmark, that’s a good result.

Danes love to read, so the men sometimes give out free books to people who pass by on a street corner. And they’ve held an open church worship service to celebrate the 125th anniversary of one of the oldest Adventist churches in Denmark. People came.

“It’s difficult to find people in Denmark who are interested in God,” Kim says. “People live comfortable lives with plenty of material things. But we’ve found people hungry to know God.”

One man reported reading the Bible to give him peace at work. Even though he’s not yet a practicing Christian, he’s discovering God’s Word and His love. Another woman who is studying the Bible lessons grew up in the state church. She says that God had never been part of her life until she faced difficult times. Now she is turning to Christ for answers.

“Working One Year for God is strengthening my personal walk with God. I’m so grateful to be a part of His plan,” Kim says.

Materials for the One Year for God program are funded in part through the mission and world budget offerings. Thank you for serving God through mission giving.

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Raju heard the singing coming from the neighbor’s house and turned his music up as loud as possible. Sometimes he could still hear the singing, and he shouted abuses at the little group of Adventist believers who worshipped next door.[1. Love Thy Neighbor Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com]

Other neighbors avoided confronting Raju about his actions. They left the troublesome neighbor to the Adventists to handle. The believers visited Raju and offered to pray for him and his family. But their kindnesses only irritated Raju more. He purposely chose the believers’ worship time to bathe his idols and pray to them.

Raju’s first child died shortly after birth, but the man refused to let the believers pray with him. When his second child also died shortly after birth, Raju worshipped his gods with renewed vigor. But then his third child died; Raju felt desperate. He ceased worshipping his idols and stored them inside his house.

When Raju’s wife became pregnant again, Raju was filled with fear that he might lose both his wife and the child she carried. Once more the Adventists offered to pray with Raju and his wife and unborn child, but still Raju refused.

The child was born apparently healthy, but soon he developed jaundice, just as his older siblings had. The doctors told Raju that only a full blood transfusion would save the baby. Raju felt powerless and desperate.

The Adventists learned of the baby’s illness and visited the family in the hospital. Raju was distraught over his tiny son’s fragile condition. Desperate, he allowed his Adventist neighbors to pray for his wife and son. The group gathered around the bed and earnestly petitioned God on behalf of mother and child.

As the baby grew stronger, Raju and his wife rejoiced. They realized that their son was alive because the God of the Adventists had shown mercy on them. Raju and his wife began attending church next door to their house, and in time they gave their hearts to the Lord. They threw their idols into the river and asked to be baptized.

Now, instead of raising a ruckus with loud music during the believers’ worship, Raju sings God’s praises loud and clear. He is sharing his love for God with others and helping the little group grow. Our mission offerings help raise up congregations in areas such as Raju’s, where few believers live. Thank you for helping share God’s love through your mission offerings.

Bobby Wagh is treasurer of the South Region of Western India Union.

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