Christian compassion ministries have at least a threefold benefit
From time to time we seek to bring you stories about how we interact with people in Central Asia by practically showing the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. Now our regular readers will know that you can’t just turn up in Central Asia and declare yourself a missionary! You wouldn’t get a visa and you would be most unwelcome. So using a humanitarian channel has a threefold benefit;
- it allows a worker to be in a country
- it allows love and care to be shown through which the beauty of
Jesus can shine - it creates a whole network of local relationships through which
can come those gospel opportunities.
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Our Christian compassion ministries have Gospel intentionality
Whilst our prime objective is always to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ, our workers need great wisdom to be able to do this in their different contexts -so have a read on and see how they do it. Please pray that each worker will receive much wisdom. A display of genuine compassion opens doors and opportunities for people to receive the best news they can ever hear – a real, living, vibrant and personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ!
Christian compassion ministries during Covid-19
Covid-19 and the struggles of lockdown have provided many opportunities to share the love of God in practical ways. Working in a majority Muslim region, one of our teams shares about the ways in which they were able to serve vulnerable people there.
In the two months when people in our district were not allowed to visit other houses due to Covid-19, we drove to the nearby village and came to the house of an elderly deaf man. When we met him at his door, gave him some food gifts and told him that God loved him, he started to cry. It turned out it was more than food that we brought – disability can be a taboo, and disabled people are often told that God does not love them, and that they or their parents must have sinned to cause the disability.
On our next trip to the villages, Elnur helped us to find the different deaf families who are living in the many small villages surrounding our city. Elnur is himself deaf, and he also has chronic kidney disease and has to have regular dialysis treatment. Travelling the whole day with us was very difficult and exhausting for him. We had tried to convince the director of the deaf society to join us but he had refused. However when he saw how hard Elnur worked, and that the next day he was too weak to even get out of bed, he had a change of heart. He happily helped us on the next trip and showed us the way to all the needy families.
Our Christian compassion ministries – a love they could taste and feel
The government had promised the poor and disabled extra money to help them during this very difficult time of Covid, but none of the promised help ever reached the people we met. When we started distributing food and hygiene products and paid for some of their medical needs, they were so thankful. They asked if this was from the government, we answered: “No, this is from our friends, who want to help and want to show you that God loves you”. They said that this was a love they could taste and feel and not just empty words.
Christian compassion ministries – distributing essential food and medicines
While distributing food to the deaf communities in surrounding villages, we met a man called Nazim. He had had urgent appendix surgery during the Covid-19 time and so we helped his family with food and bought medicine that he needed. He was so glad that he insisted the team have at least
a cup of tea with him, even though this was not allowed at that time. Now he, his wife, his children, and his elderly parents are really open to hearing the Good News. They have invited us to visit again.
We also handed out some of the aid packages to vulnerable people in our Bible Study Group, and shared with them about our work with the deaf communities. Here are some of their responses…
Our Christian compassion ministries – making a lasting impression
Elnara:
“We know that God is there, but we learned now that God also cares not only for believers but also for others. He provided for all the deaf people who are not yet believing in Jesus!”
Nurlan:
“I have been a believer for two years. I know God is good and He is always there, but now I have seen how He also cares in a very practical way for us. I thought no one cared about me, but now people I don’t even know care. I got an idea of what it means to be one body in Christ.”
Ana:
She has been a believer for several years, but meeting with others and finding ways to go to the Bible study group cost her a lot of courage. Her husband is violent and a drug abuser, he has often threatened to kill her and is in prison. She now has the desire to teach her teenage kids about Jesus and tell them about the hope they can have in Jesus.
During the Bible Study, they studied the character of Paul, how he became a peacemaker, and also that Christ is our example – because Christ died for us we can encourage each other with good words and deeds. This helped her to understand what it means to be Christs’ body. Now she plans to not only teach her own kids, but is challenged to influence the children she is teaching at the local primary school. She has started to work through a study guide on how to raise children to walk with God”
Giving to Christian compassion ministries
You may feel moved to give to help the many poor and vulnerable in Central Asia.
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