Convicted to Share

“And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it.” Mark 7:36, NASB.

Leslie* was every pastor’s dream. She was super involved in church programs and never needed special attention. She lived her faith in the church and was the backbone of many church activities. One day that all started to change.

After participating in a water development program at the training farm, Leslie got the idea to be involved in contextual outreach. It took her six years to get the nerve to break away from what she had always done at her traditional church, but with help from believers at the farm she started a craft program that attracted Muslim women and Christian background women who were not attending traditional church. She used contextual methods to share the Gospel in a way that was less offensive to Muslims.

God had convicted Leslie that she had become proud through her church involvement, and she needed to get outside the traditional church to reach the lost. For Leslie, a day that did not allow her to share about Jesus was a wasted day.

One person from the craft group became a follower of Jesus and two others, while not identifying themselves as followers, are already witnessing to others about Jesus. Leslie has a group of twenty women with whom she is following up on regularly.

Leslie also became convicted that she needed to share her faith through her government position, and she has even shared Christ with her supervisor. Her supervisor seems very close to becoming a follower of Jesus.

While Leslie is still active in her church, her involvement has become less, and she has been criticized by fellow church members. They have also shunned her for using contextual language. Regardless of these discouraging criticisms, Leslie presses on for she has seen the joy of being obedient to reach out with the Gospel. She continues under the Spirit’s conviction to share.

*Names changed for security reasons.

Pray that:

Conviction will fall on more Indonesian church members to look outside the church to share the love of Christ.

Leslie will not grow weary in doing good but will look to the harvest that will come if she doesn’t lose heart.

The twenty women with whom Leslie is following up will all become followers of Jesus and in turn will boldly and wisely share the Gospel with friends and family.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.