“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19).
As my wife and I became teachers several years ago, we had to figure out what this verse looked like in our own lives. We knew we should obey; we just didn’t know what the Lord had in store for us.
Letting Your Light Shine
Growing up, I loved going to Bible camps. After one summer of staffing at camp, I knew it was something I never wanted to end. So as a college student, I asked myself what major would allow me to continue serving the Lord at camp in the summers. Teaching, I thought! I would teach during the school year as a way to do what I really wanted to do: work at camps in the summer. God quickly reminded us that a man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps (Prov. 16:9). As we would soon find out, camp work was not the way the Lord asked us to serve. The Lord asked us to be witnesses in our Jerusalem (Acts 1:8).
Teaching at a public school can be challenging. Practically it’s challenging figuring out the curriculum and even more challenging figuring out classroom management. But it is also challenging on the emotions. There are so many hurting kids. Hurting kids from broken homes who have seen and experienced things quite the opposite of light, the opposite of love. Therefore, there are so many kids who crave love whether they admit it or not.
And this is when it hit me. I’m not going to teach so I can go away for the summer and serve. I’m going to teach so I can impact kids all year long. With my wife and I teaching at the same school, we have so many opportunities. By no means can we profess to acting in a loving way at all times, but we can sure try. We pray that the light of Jesus will shine through us in our words and actions. And by God’s grace, it does.
Being a Neighbor
We’re familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan, how two upstanding men passed by a man in desperate need of help. It was the “enemy” who sacrificed time and money to save the man in need. Then Jesus asked which of these men acted as a neighbor (Lk. 10:30-37).
We know that we were in a similar situation—at enmity with God with no way of saving ourselves. And how the God of all creation showed us mercy. He sent His Son to save us (Rom. 5:8-10). We know Jesus also says we are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mk. 12:31). So what does it mean to be a neighbor? While our neighbors may not be our enemies, there may be some sacrifice involved. And there should certainly be love. If there is love, don’t you think we should tell our neighbors about the greatest love of all? If there is love, we should care about their souls.
We looked to the Lord in prayer for the best way to reflect the love of Christ in our lives. One way to share the love of Christ was through a Neighborhood Bible Club. We went door-to-door passing fliers out through our neighborhood. We live in the same neighborhood as our school, so many of our neighbors are our students and other people we see somewhat regularly. With our names on the fliers, many of the recipients recognized who we were. Some asked their friends who knew we were teachers, and others simply brought their children over when we started. We brought in a speaker for the week-long Neighborhood Bible Club and basically ran it like a VBS at our house. All the activities were outside: message, games, crafts, and snacks. We were also blessed to have the help of a few dear believers in our community. About 40 young people came the first year and a few made professions of faith! We were excited by the fruit that we saw.
More Outreach
In the spring, we invite our students to a barbecue at our house. About 65 students come annually. With this many young people at our house, many servants from our chapel volunteered to help run games and interact with our students. We took the opportunity to give them the gospel. A couple of times we have brought in a gifted brother who does the “three ropes trick” and other teaching illustrations that have some of the students begging to see more.
We play several games and eat hot dogs, chips, cookies, and pop. It is amazing that you can feed this many people for about $100. The students are amazed that we are willing to pay for all of their food. A very small price when eternal souls are on the line. We also distribute fliers for Neighborhood Bible Club, Vacation Bible School, and a day camp run by our chapel. If the students are interested, they can approach us at school or freely ask us at our house.
About 30 kids from our neighborhood were able to come to our chapel’s VBS, Kids Club, and day camp. The great thing about these opportunities is that word of mouth gets most of the kids to come. The students tell their siblings and friends, and they come the next week.
Then comes Discipleship
As we began to see some fruit, we realized that our ministry was almost entirely evangelism. We recognized that discipleship was essential for our work to develop. We talked to several students that had shown interest and began a Bible study about twice a month. About 15-17 students have attended these discipleship studies, but we have a core group of about 6-8 students.
Before we started, we let our students know that, although we would play games and have dinner, our purpose was to study the Bible. This was very well received as many of these believers are newborn babes (1 Pet. 2:2). Many students ask lots of questions as this type of study is new to them. Some have a good amount of knowledge; while others have very little Bible knowledge. It is exciting to see the Lord work in different areas!
We welcomed them to invite friends, but we wanted them to clearly know our intentions were to study the Bible. We go before the Lord often, trying to decide what we should study. We are currently studying the Life of Christ series from Gospel Folio Press. Almost every time we meet, we have unbelievers present, so we do our best to make sure the gospel is in every lesson we study.
Prayer Investment Needed
1. Please pray that we will see souls saved for His glory and that we can take them aside and explain the way of God more accurately like Aquilla and Priscilla (Acts 18:26)
2. That the Lord will protect us as we have students into our home.
3. That we will follow His direction in planning the Bible studies and topics for the Bible studies.
4. That if the Lord wills, a new assembly will be planted in this neighborhood.
I have been challenged by 2 Corinthians 9:6 where Paul writes, “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” This is a very convicting verse for our everyday lives. We do not want to stop looking for ways to reach the lost and relax in what we are doing. We want to look for more opportunities for evangelism, and to obey when the Lord shows us an open door. May the Lord give us help to do so for His great pleasure and glory!