Sometimes, I think we can complicate things when it comes to Ministry. We often times think that we need to have an official program and at the church needs to organize everything. But God is glorified in the personal connections that we make with others and that doesn't necessarily have to come from any sort of program or outreach event.
Connecting with Others
This may sound like common sense, but at least to me I never thought of ministry this way. Who most influences us in our lives? Usually it is people who we spend time with and get to know well. We need to learn to trust them first in order to grant them an audience and a microphone to speak into our hearts. How do we meet people? Well, in the church we have these things called Bible studies and Sunday services in which we meet people from all different walks of life and can often times find some commonalities with them, but the main one is that we love and want to serve Jesus. But if you go into a city that consists of less than 1% of a population following Jesus and try to find that one commonality with others you're bound to end up pretty lonely. So, how does a missionary in a city like this find people to get to know and trust in the hopes of not only calling them friends, but also getting to share the love of Jesus with them and even the message of the salvation He has to offer?
The way Christians connect looks strange to the rest of the world, I'm sure. As Christians, we often times have very little in common in terms of hobbies or career paths, stage in life, and even temperament and yet we still end up in groups together and grow closer as we study the word of God and live life with each other encouraging one another along the way. This is a beautiful thing and is precisely what caught my attention and eventually led to my giving my life to God. But this usually isn't how people get to know each other outside the Church.
As human beings, we constantly search for commonalities with others. This is a good and natural way of finding lasting relationships that are meaningful and that will contribute something. This is exactly my aim as I continue to look for opportunities to share the love of Jesus in Granada. Here’s how the Lord is leading me to do…
Pursuing our Passions as Ministry
In my last blog, I shared a lot about how I have been connecting with people from my church and how loving and supportive they all are. Last night I had an opportunity to go out with a group of folks my age for tapas (small plates of food consumed in succession). It was a huge milestone for me because for the first time, I understood almost everything that was going on in the conversation and was even making jokes in the group! I am transitioning from being the baby in the group to being someone who can actually contribute. Praise God! This is SO important not only for my own heart and encouragement, but for my ministry as well.
Before going to meet up with the group, however, I decided to go down town a little early to find a little shop that I had seen that week. What caught my attention at the small ethnic clothing/trinkets shop was something very special to me in the window: an oud- a beautiful middle-eastern stringed instrument that, for a long time now, I have been curious to play. I went back to the shop and spoke to the owner only to find that it wasn't for sale, and so began my wild goose chase to encounter the oud.
My chase led me to a small but well known and reveared guitar shop owner and his wife in that very same part of Granada called Realejo. I got some brief advice about where to go next and wrote down a name that I could hardly pronounce of a man who works in an attic somewhere above a tea shop whos name I can hardly pronounce in a part of town that is nothing but tea shops. This is where things got really interesting…
I ended up talking casually with the shop owner and his wife as he worked on some of his beautiful masterpieces, scraping wood shavings and polishing it to perfection. We discussed all kinds of things from the history of the Native Americans to the differences in accents within English and Spanish around the world. It was incredibly interesting and fun! As it turns out, this couple in their early 30s is more than meets the eye. The owner is from Syria and his wife is from Barcelona: two places they have seen more than their share of strife in recent years. Also, as it turns out, the owner is highly respected in the flamenco world and is actually friends with one of my favorite flamenco guitar players! They showed me a picture of him playing in that very store last October! We ended up talking for almost an hour and a half!
I really connected with the couple, and all because I was pursuing something that is important to us both: music. That ended up opening up the doors for us to talk about other important things. As any of us know, this is how we get to know one another. The couple is incredibly nice and the woman even said "come back anytime, this is your home now." I definitely plan on going back!
Other Opportunities
I'm getting more plugged in with my church and starting to serve with the youth there and eventually in a Bible study group that meets on campus in Granada. In addition, I have connected with group of people in my neighborhood as I have been pursuing another passion of mine: food! I'm getting to know the owner of a local bakery and the other day I got to meet his wife and some of the neighbors who like the owner have lived in the pueblo all their lives. I definitely look forward to keeping you all informed on how this progresses as well!
Pray with me:
- For our Lord to continue to break down the barriers of communication that lie between His people and the rest of the world
- For important relationships to develop that might lead to a witness for Christ
- For continued language learning for this missionary in order to express all that the Lord has put on his heart
*To support this ministry through financial contribution please see the green link on this page: "Support This Ministry"
** For More information on my specific assignment, see the following link to Avance España: https://gocorps.org/tracks/placements/n/9087556?platform=hootsuite