“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:9
Sometimes it’s easy to get discouraged in ministry. It’s just a fact. When we don’t see immediate results or can’t discern any immediate fruit we can get down and wonder, “What am I doing here,” or, “Am I doing this wrong?”
I remember feeling that way many times throughout the past five years. On one of those occasions it was a dear friend from back in the U.S. who reminded me of some of the fruit that had been borne out of our labors in East Africa. He reminded me of Alphonse — the father of a young man I had been teaching for a few years — whom I was blessed to be able to lead to Christ in Congo in 2009, and who later led his wife and other family members to Christ as well. What a joyful remembrance it was when the Lord used my friend to stir up my memory about some of the things He had done through us. My friend went on to remind me of many other proofs of fruitfulness from the ministry that truly refreshed my soul.
I was recently blessed to the point of tears to hear of further fruitfulness that the Lord continues to bring from the ministry in Kigoma, Tanzania. As you are probably already aware, several months ago we began a program to minister to 40 HIV+ orphans. Gabriel and I had no idea where the funds would come from to provide food and clothing and educational expenses for these children, but we knew the Lord had dropped the opportunity for this ministry squarely in our laps.
The majority of the orphans in the program are being looked after by a neighbor, or even a stranger, and most of them are Muslim. We made it clear from the beginning that the reason for the program was to bless them and love them in the name of Jesus and that we would talk about Jesus at times but never force anybody to listen or respond in order to get the help we were offering freely. We knew that through the consistent demonstration of Christ’s love and our unashamed and honest sharing of the gospel at every occasion, eventually the children and their caretakers would see the connection between our faith in Christ and the love He was pouring out through us, and lower their very rigid defenses regarding Jesus in order to learn more about Him. This is the model the Holy Spirit lead us to use — a model we had seen work in other ministries — but for several months there was no immediate and overwhelming fruit.
Until now.
Recently a couple of the women approached Gabriel and asked a question. These are women who have been consistently coming to the monthly feast where we feed all 40 of the children and their caretakers, sharing the love and word of Christ with them. You have to understand that they came as representatives of the collective group of women who have been coming to these meals each month with the HIV+ orphans they care for. As a group they had a question and nominated these two women to ask about it. The question: “Can we come to your church?”
It’s hard for me to describe just how huge this is. We’re talking about women who would normally leave the building or physically plug their ears if you talk about Jesus. Now they’re asking if it’s okay if they visit the church! We’re talking about Muslim women, who are not allowed to speak to other men and therefore rarely get a chance to hear the gospel via other evangelistic means. These are literally the hardest to reach demographic of the region.
Needless to say they were warmly welcomed to come! Gabriel has hired small buses to bring them from the normal meeting place to the church location (which is just a small distance from town) for the next monthly feast. Rather than the normal weeknight or Saturday schedule, it’s been scheduled for a Sunday afternoon after church so that they can visit the church and then stay for the feast right there at the church property. What a miraculous development! God is so good!
This news literally brought me to tears as I’m reminded yet again of the Lord’s faithfulness to bring the fruit and the harvest in His perfect timing. I realize yet again that I wouldn’t want it any other way.
We pray that your new year is blessed by this good news, bringing encouragement and hope to your life and the ministry you do daily for Christ right where you’re at!
- Jon Langley
