Global Gates Worker: “Sharing Christ Is Also Sharing Life”
The best way to reach Africans is sitting down with them at night for a conversation over cups of tea. “Sharing Christ is also sharing life.” Kris and Nika, Global Gates missionaries, have had ample opportunity to live this truth on a several-month language-learning assignment in West Africa.
Staying in an Airbnb that promised security, Kris and Nika returned from visiting a village to find their door busted and room ransacked. Nika’s laptop, headphones, and their kids’ gaming device were missing, and Kris’s laptop was destroyed.
A West African Muslim man named *AG had arrived at the same Airbnb complex the day Kris and Nika discovered the burglary. He had planned on watching TV, but his room had no television. Instead, he spent time with Kris and Nika.
He saw how they dealt with the break-in and loss of possessions. He saw the way they interacted with police and a dishonest Airbnb manager. He saw Kris and Nika’s peace, patience, and grace.
After Nika explained to AG how God had given them a heart for West Africans, AG revealed that missionaries had given him a Bible.
AG had been on a two-year spiritual journey learning about Christ. Jesus became real to him when he traveled to Jerusalem, Galilee, and Nazareth. AG had even been part of two Bible studies and visited a church in Europe for a year and a half. However, he had yet to discover God’s love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness.
Kris shared the gospel with AG the next night, and they continued to meet the next three nights over cups of tea. But it was the fourth night where things began to turn.
AG had been in a sexual relationship outside of marriage. According to Sharia Law he deserved 100 lashings and then God might forgive him.
He asked, “If God is truly an all-forgiving God, the one true God, and he forgives all, can’t God just forgive me?”
Kris shared how God loves him. This was news to AG.
Kris took him through 1 Corinthians 13 to show him what love looks like. He took him through John 3 to show him what God has done for him through Jesus.
AG said, “You’re saying all I have to do is repent? Ask God for forgiveness, and recognize Jesus as my Lord and Savior?”
Kris answered, “Yes.” AG was ready, which surprised Kris, who then showed AG how to pray.
AG prayed, “God, I know what I’ve done is wrong. I slept with a woman outside of marriage, and I’m here to tell you this will not happen again. I’m asking you to forgive me. I recognize that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. I recognize that he died for me and that he’s alive and that if I place him as Lord of my life, then I will know you. So, I’m asking him into my heart, and it’s in Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.”
Kris connected him with his language teacher, who is also a Christian from a Muslim background. The language teacher confirmed AG’s confession of faith in Christ.
AG said, “I know it will take time for my family to accept this. I understand that I’ll face persecution.”
Kris concluded, “That’s when I realized sharing life and sharing Christ go together. It’s the mingling of the two. It’s God’s story, but it’s his story through you.”
*AG’s name was changed for security reasons.
-Ben Doster, Global Gates Director of Communications
