More than a Duty

Our Privilege

It is so humbling that God, who could do everything without us, actually gives us the privilege of being the instruments of His work. What greater meaning and purpose can there be than to know God and make Him known? 

Last April my wife Sue and I went on a Faculty Commons trip to Poznan, Poland. We met with Christian faculty from two universities and shared things that we and others were doing to grow the faculty ministry at our university. We encouraged them to start with small steps, such as simply inviting other Christian faculty to join them for lunch.

Some Things Are More Important

Another day we joined a Cru outreach that offered students a treat if they would ask a spiritual question. The undergraduates in Poland were fluent in English and happy to speak with us. As we approached students, we invited them to a talk I would be presenting the following evening on “Reasons for Christianity.”

I spoke with two young men at length, but they were somewhat antagonistic to Christianity. As we were talking, a female student came up and stood silently beside them. When they left for class, I invited them to the talk and prayed that they would come.

Rather than an Argument

The two guys were a no show, but the female student who hadn’t said a word did come! She even said she had a class that conflicted with the time of my talk, but that “some things are more important than class!” She later filled out Cru’s survey and invited them to contact her.

My talk was mostly apologetic in nature – reasons to believe from science, logic, meaning, purpose, beauty, justice, and social welfare (“Head, Heart, Hands”) – but I ended with a Gospel presentation based on the problem of evil. Rather than an argument against Christianity, Christianity is the only worldview that addresses the problem of evil meaningfully. The students listened attentively and during the Q&A time there were lots of questions which I tried to answer thoughtfully.  

Patience in Listening

Many students stayed for snacks and conversations, and the Polish Cru staff had lots of great conversations. I spoke for an hour with a  student who had been antagonistic during the Q&A (“How can a loving God send people to hell?”), and at the end he said that the one-on-one conversation was more meaningful to him than my prepared talk, which was humbling. 

It wasn’t all my formal arguments that touched him, it was the patience in listening and engaging with him personally.

Perhaps we planted a few seeds, perhaps we watered, perhaps we contributed to the harvest, but we went in faith, trusting God for the results and thanking Him for the privilege.