During this week at Gymea, the team has been out in the community getting to know people and sharing the gospel. Dave Binggeli (2nd year) shares a few stories from down at the local TAFE.
A few of us decided to stroll down to the local TAFE for a bit of walk-up during their lunch break. This was a bit of leap into the unknown, having not been done before. But with the gospel on our lips and confidence in the God who leads us, we prayed and walked inside the TAFE grounds. The grounds weren’t as filled with students as we had hoped, but still the Spirit had gone before us and a number of challenging but really positive conversations followed.
We introduced ourselves to a few people sitting under a shelter for lunch. The first person to respond was a softly spoken Muslim who articulated her view of Jesus as Prophet, but subordinate to Mohammad. Then, quite a rambunctious middle-aged woman joined the group with the question: ‘What are you guys talking about?!’ On hearing the answer, she responded, ‘Don’t you know there are three things you never talk about in public: religion, sex, and politics?… [some of us, at this point, were getting a little nervous] … ‘But’, she continued looking for her cigarettes, ‘maybe just today’. So began a conversation touching on all the hot apologetical topics: science vs religion, the problem of suffering, all religion are ultimately the same, etc. The conversation ended with a pretty clear articulation that Jesus had the answers, in fact, Jesus was God’s answer and Luke’s gospel was given. A bonus was that it had started raining during this conversation and so quite a number had taken a place underneath this small lunch shelter and were quietly listening.
After this conversation, we had begun praying together and discussing what had just happened, but a TAFE student joined our circle, took a cigarette out (we were in a smoking area) and just stood there, ready for conversation! Perfect- in our minds, this was by God’s providential guidance! So, after initially thinking we were a impro-drama group when one of us asked what his thoughts were on Jesus, an exciting conversation ensued and ended with an explanation that we, in our sin, put Jesus on the cross; but this meant true and full forgiveness for us. This, we are praying, might have planted a seed that he, in his curiosity, will pursue.