A challenge to pas
HOW TO SHARE THE GOS For many people, it can be very difficult starting a conversation about their faith in God, never mind sharing the Gospel with a stranger! But when that stranger doesn’t even speak the same language, it might seem impossible. After more than 20 years in the ministry, both as a parish pastor and as a missionary to Papua New Guinea, Rev. Jeffrey Horn has advice for anyone presented with the opportunity to share the Good News with immigrants and international exchange students in their communities. It’s not impossible, he assures!
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START MISSION WORK WITH PRAYER.
Though it might seem obvious, few Christians remember to ask God to guide their interactions with the unchurched. “As a pastor, I try to start mission work with prayer,” said Rev. Horn, pastor of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Escondido, California. “I think it’s a healthy place to start. I pray that God would open doors to connect with people, so that somebody who is in the dark would come to the light, and that that could happen here, at my church. Regularly in our congregational prayers, we’ll say something like, ‘Lord, please
bless those who have wandered from You and draw them back. Bless those who don’t know You, and let them know this to be a place where they can see Your light.’” As God has answered these prayers, the connections that have been made at Gloria Dei have been “amazing and surprising.”
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OFFER RESOURCES IN A LANGUAGE THE NON-CHRISTIAN CAN READ.
“The Lutheran Heritage Foundation helps with this!” Rev. Horn said. “So say somebody comes in and English is their second language. We can falteringly talk together. But if I can get a catechism for them from LHF in their own language, I can make sure they’re understanding what I’m trying to teach. They can ask questions and share comments that show we’re connecting. LHF helps with this so much!” Rev. Horn experienced this first-hand when he recently catechized a man and his wife, who is Korean. “As they were preparing to join our church, I was able to get a Korean Small Catechism from LHF and share that with Hee Sun,” he recalled. “The catechism really helped, because for example, when we were talking about one of the Commandments, I could ask, ‘This is what it says
A joyful day at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Escondido, CA when Rev. Jeffrey Horn confirmed Rowan and Hee Sun Turner.
in English. How does that read in Korean?’ Then Hee Sun would read it in Korean, translate it back into English for me, and I could track that she was understanding things. The day they joined the church was a joyful day, and that catechism helped a lot!” Other LHF resources can also prove useful, including children’s Bible storybooks. Rev. Horn is now in the process of teaching the faith to a young international student from Iran, named Farah (not her real name). Although Farah is a very bright and intelligent woman, LHF’s Farsi translation of A Child’s Gar-
Ghana “They love it!” exclaimed Rev. Salifu. “We use a simple vocabulary so that the students can read it themselves. We ask, ‘Who is God?’ Then, we discuss, ‘You say God, but see that the Muslims think they know who God is.’ When they read God’s Word, they see God directly and they learn to think for themselves. They have a lot of questions!” While a few of the school’s Muslim families have converted 2
to Christianity, most children don’t have the freedom in their families to publicly announce their faith in Jesus Christ. “For now, they have to respect their parents. But these children, the way they talk among themselves, you can see that they have some faith in Christ in them,” said Rev. Salifu. “They have spent time in Christian prayer. They pray in Jesus’ name, and so the Holy Spirit is at work in these young ones. I know
