“The secret to following God’s will, I discovered, usually is wrapped up in rejecting the good for God’s best.”
― K.P. Yohannan, Revolution in World Missions
I’ve been thinking about this a lot this week. This is a beautiful country, with gracious, hospitable people. We all love it — a crazy, God-given love for a country that is not your own, yet owns your heart. There is so much need here. It’s hard to comprehend sometimes. And sometimes, you just become numb to it. One more child in tattered clothing, with shoes that have the back cut out so that growing feet still fit. One more family with Dad at home during the day because there is no work for him. Sometimes I want to stand on the sidewalk with my purse open, and give away everything I have.
Yet if I did, the need would still be there. Still be almost unbearable. Still leave hopelessness in its wake. So what can be done? Read a book called When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. Thinking of the message of that book helps ground me again. While it is good to help materially, and we do that, too. The best is to give them eternal hope in Jesus Christ. That is the main goal of Linking Partners — to have a home church within walking distance of every Roma in Serbia. A big goal — a big God.
Today, toward that goal, we invested in children’s lives during English class. This serves another purpose also. It introduces our partners to the parents in the community with a genuine service to their children. It opens minds and we pray God will open hearts. Here you see pictures of a counting game — count (in English) one number for each bounce of the ball — and a view of some of the supplies we are using for these classes. Thank you again to those of you who purchased Twister games and parachutes and bean bags and balls! They have been well used this week, and will stay to provide recreation and teaching aids in the future.
We invested in the lives of leaders in this mahala (Roma neighborhood) of 4,000 in Pirot. This is the largest of three mahalas in the city. We held discipleship training using the Multiply book by Francis Chan this morning, covering The Global Church and Why Study the Bible? These leaders are the core group that are holding home church meetings across the mahala. They are learning foundational Bible truths as well as teaching techniques. Pray for them, because they experience persecution from some in their community.
We invested in families this afternoon. Eight couples gathered together and heard lessons on the roles of men and women in the Bible. We talked about loving your wife and respecting your husband. The men were challenged to love their wives as Christ loved the church — more than their own bodies — and the women were challenged to respect their husbands as the one with God-given responsibility for their families.
We ended the evening with an twilight stroll in city center, and took the time for a photo in the fountains where the children love to play:
Then it was off for a late supper of “the best pizza in Pirot” (really!) And then back to our rooms to pack. Pray for us tomorrow. We start the day as usual, with English class and Multiply. Then lunch and prayer and planning for the evangelization tomorrow evening. Our time in Pirot culminates in a mahala-wide evangelism meeting tomorrow night. Pray that we’ll have space for all who come. We trust that those who are supposed to be there will find room! The praise team from Prokuplje will join us to lead in worship. After the evangelization, we board a bus for the trip to Prokuplje (109 km on a winding road through the mountains), where we will spend a couple of days before circling back to Belgrade, and an early morning flight headed home.
Don’t stop praying! Our trip isn’t over yet!
