The Spirit is moving!
That has been the chorus in our churches these past few months. Not that the Spirit wasn’t moving before, but that God has especially blessed us, and the Holy Spirit has created a wave, which is landing on our shores with ever-increasing intensity.
A few months ago, our churches started a study of Jesus’s life and ministry. It was encouraging to see how many participated in the study. We had more people in groups than we’ve had before and more people stepping up to lead. We celebrate not only the new energy breathed into our groups but also the 20 new groups formed out of this study series. That is almost 200 people who were not in community now finding community in our churches.
We handed out more than 2500 Jesus study guides. This means that most of us not only went through the study but also shared it with others. We have stories of Fearless Followers taking their neighbors and people they work with through the Jesus Study. Just last week, we sent out 25 copies of the study to a Fearless Follower who is discipling a group of young people he works with. How amazing is that?
The Holy Spirit is creating waves, and we want to catch every single one.
Speaking of young people, one of the great celebrations of the Jesus Study is the number of young adults who participated. As a result, we were able to launch a young adult group, opening a new mission frontier for our churches. Thanks to Hope Steenwyk, Megan Draisma, and Ben Van Huis for leading the charge with our ministry to young adults.
The Holy Spirit is creating waves, and we want to catch every wave.
The ripple effects of the Jesus Study reach far beyond our churches. One of our global mission partners visited us around the time we launched the study. She decided to take several copies with her to Kigoma, Tanzania. She had some changes to her schedule that brought her to a flight sitting next to a Muslim man. Here is the story in her own words:
“I have to share with you that not only is the study being done in Tanzania with Hope of the Nations but in another way you will be surprised just as I was. Flying from Dar to Kigoma is about a two-hour flight. You are allowed to have 50lbs check in luggage. My bag was 2lbs over. So, I needed to take out something quickly. As I grabbed inside the bag, all I could reach was five of the Jesus Study book sets. As I lined up to board the plane, I noticed a rather tall, Muslim man dressed in all his Muslim garb, waiting in line in front of me. I asked God if He would please give me the seat next to this Muslim man. As I walked down the small aisle of the plane, there sat the Muslim man in seat 8C. With a grin I thanked God because my ticket said 8D.
Quickly, I introduced myself. Chek Hamis smiled and welcomed me to seat 8D. Looking at the books I was holding as you know, the title has giant letters with the name Jesus on them. I chuckled and said “isn’t it funny that we ended up sitting together? Here I am holding books about Jesus the man I follow sitting next to a man that follows Mohammed.”
After 90 minutes of seeing pictures of our families, sharing the Gospel, and praying with Chek, he asked me what the books were about. I shared with him about the series which led to him requesting a book. Before Chek and I left our seats he grabbed my arm and said in a soft voice “us sitting together was not an accident. Jesus did this. I promise to see you at HOFN College.” It was hard to hold back the tears. You never know what 2lbs of extra luggage can do for the Kingdom of God.”
The Holy Spirit is creating waves. Are we catching them?
Jerry Opiyo
Community Life Pastor
Fearless Family of Churches
