Convincing ethnic plain people to engage with the lost
Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 5:10 pm
Sometimes I have contact with someone who is seeking and is ready to hear about the kingdom, and so do some of my friends. But one of our challenges is that we aren't always the right person to continue to the conversation and get closer to them. I hope this doesn't seem too "gossippy" but the issue is weighing very heavily on my heart. Please do not assume I am talking about specific people or a specific congregation.
Here is an example. A young man knew me before and after I was born again. He was impressed by the changes he saw in me and also impressed with the role a conservative Anabaptist church had in that, so he eventually moved where I live, and after attending about 2 years, was finally accepted to join the church and be baptised.
Now he has a passion for living in the kingdom too, and that passion usually results in telling everyone you know. One particular person he knew was someone who had an unplanned pregnancy and was planning to get an abortion. Through a serious of miraculous conversations and coincidences, she listened to him and did not get the abortion - she ended up marrying the child's father.
During this time he and I encouraged each other with every person we have contact with, especially to share the good news with them, and also to invite those who are lonely / isolated to come be part of our community. But there are limits to how much we can, as a single man or as a divorced man, engage with a woman, particularly after she gets married. So he asked around - especially of the girls at church her age (20s) who use social media and text messaging, which is a good way to start such communication. Unfortunately there was no interest in their part on that. Since neither of us sit in a place of authority over the young women in our church we just let it drop. We also asked the younger minister's wife, who had some interest, but she doesn't use social media and only texts with a plain non-smart phone, not really usable for longer conversations. (Young people tend to like to text / use Snapchat or Facebook to talk instead of phone calls or email, esp. when they are just getting to know a person.)
Before my friend moved here and became part of church, I used to ask around for the same thing, when I was a very young, immature believer of just a few months but met lots of people at a friends' Bible study. Some of the young people were just teenagers and not even Christians yet, or had just made a decision to be born again. I did my best to engage with the young men but there are limits to how much I can engage with a young woman, particularly one who sees the need to dress modestly and adopt the veiling - that's just not something I can really guide a young woman through. I needed the help of sisters.
Unfortunately, I was not successful in really engaging anyone in that. I could definitely bring people to tag along to my own dinner invitations, and I did invite people to the youth group. But it's hard for people who aren't ethnic Mennonite to really connect a lot especially if they aren't athletic, and a stronger spiritual / Bible study focus was needed. I am not in charge of the youth group so there were limits to how much of this I could do.
I engaged some of the women my age (30s / 40s) in church who I thought would be good candidates for "older women to instruct the younger", but it was hard to get much interest at all in them putting together a girls' Bible study or prayer group etc that would be a half hour away, especially at the level of intensity and interest I had (weekly or twice weekly, not just once a month). I did what I could with the original Bible study to try to keep everyone together. But it was very painful to watch some people fall away, esp. ones who I could tell were interested in kingdom living, but I just couldn't get them there myself, and there was no local church / congregation they could walk to or get a ride to in their city. (We did used to often drive people to church but I hit hard limits of how many people I could drive around picking up on Sunday mornings, and being part of church is more than just Sunday morning.)
Part of me is just exhausting with fighting this battle - and just wants to retreat into the safety of my own denomination now - if I pass info along in my own Holdeman congregation about any seekers I have no trouble getting someone age and sex appropriate who will talk to them. But there are some challenges there, for example we don't use social media, Snapchat, etc. which makes it harder to engage with young people who primarily communicate that way. And unfortunately my congregation is an hour from the nearest large city where most of such connections would be. Nevertheless, one of the reasons I feel bound to stay in my congregation is that at least I have a chance of getting other people in my congregation to engage with seekers in ways that actually can get results.
Here is an example. A young man knew me before and after I was born again. He was impressed by the changes he saw in me and also impressed with the role a conservative Anabaptist church had in that, so he eventually moved where I live, and after attending about 2 years, was finally accepted to join the church and be baptised.
Now he has a passion for living in the kingdom too, and that passion usually results in telling everyone you know. One particular person he knew was someone who had an unplanned pregnancy and was planning to get an abortion. Through a serious of miraculous conversations and coincidences, she listened to him and did not get the abortion - she ended up marrying the child's father.
During this time he and I encouraged each other with every person we have contact with, especially to share the good news with them, and also to invite those who are lonely / isolated to come be part of our community. But there are limits to how much we can, as a single man or as a divorced man, engage with a woman, particularly after she gets married. So he asked around - especially of the girls at church her age (20s) who use social media and text messaging, which is a good way to start such communication. Unfortunately there was no interest in their part on that. Since neither of us sit in a place of authority over the young women in our church we just let it drop. We also asked the younger minister's wife, who had some interest, but she doesn't use social media and only texts with a plain non-smart phone, not really usable for longer conversations. (Young people tend to like to text / use Snapchat or Facebook to talk instead of phone calls or email, esp. when they are just getting to know a person.)
Before my friend moved here and became part of church, I used to ask around for the same thing, when I was a very young, immature believer of just a few months but met lots of people at a friends' Bible study. Some of the young people were just teenagers and not even Christians yet, or had just made a decision to be born again. I did my best to engage with the young men but there are limits to how much I can engage with a young woman, particularly one who sees the need to dress modestly and adopt the veiling - that's just not something I can really guide a young woman through. I needed the help of sisters.
Unfortunately, I was not successful in really engaging anyone in that. I could definitely bring people to tag along to my own dinner invitations, and I did invite people to the youth group. But it's hard for people who aren't ethnic Mennonite to really connect a lot especially if they aren't athletic, and a stronger spiritual / Bible study focus was needed. I am not in charge of the youth group so there were limits to how much of this I could do.
I engaged some of the women my age (30s / 40s) in church who I thought would be good candidates for "older women to instruct the younger", but it was hard to get much interest at all in them putting together a girls' Bible study or prayer group etc that would be a half hour away, especially at the level of intensity and interest I had (weekly or twice weekly, not just once a month). I did what I could with the original Bible study to try to keep everyone together. But it was very painful to watch some people fall away, esp. ones who I could tell were interested in kingdom living, but I just couldn't get them there myself, and there was no local church / congregation they could walk to or get a ride to in their city. (We did used to often drive people to church but I hit hard limits of how many people I could drive around picking up on Sunday mornings, and being part of church is more than just Sunday morning.)
Part of me is just exhausting with fighting this battle - and just wants to retreat into the safety of my own denomination now - if I pass info along in my own Holdeman congregation about any seekers I have no trouble getting someone age and sex appropriate who will talk to them. But there are some challenges there, for example we don't use social media, Snapchat, etc. which makes it harder to engage with young people who primarily communicate that way. And unfortunately my congregation is an hour from the nearest large city where most of such connections would be. Nevertheless, one of the reasons I feel bound to stay in my congregation is that at least I have a chance of getting other people in my congregation to engage with seekers in ways that actually can get results.