The Holy Spirit at work

A well known Anglican bishop and missionary to India; Lesley Newbiggin tells the story of being called to a tiny village where he was going to baptize 14 new believers.

Someone in the village owned a copy of the gospel of Mark. In that villager's culture it is customary that you read aloud. Curious villagers would join and listen to what was being read. Newbiggin tells the 'rest of the story'.

..... A the villagers listened, some of them became believers and wanted to be baptized. All Newbiggin had to do was come to the village and baptize these new believers.

So what is the point of his story, and why do I use this story as an illustration? … Newbiggin argues that the Holy Spirit was already at work among the people in that village and that this is often the case with any missionary work........

Saturday evening in the Mission building at Roberts Bank, a crew member from the MV King Robert walked in and asked me if he could have a Romanian bible for his Chief Engineer. I gave him one and shortly afterward the Chief Engineer himself showed up and also asked for a bible. When he saw the 4 Romanian bibles on the shelf, he asked for all of them.

Soon after a seafarer from mainland China walked in and asked for 2 Jesus DVD's, a New Testament in the Chinese language and some Chinese Todays.

Later on I saw a Philippino sailor reading with great interest, one of our brochures, God's way to Heaven.

While I had not said anything that evening... the seafarers were asking for bibles and other literature. I believe the Holy Spirit was at work!

I think there is a connection between Newbiggin's story and my Saturday evening experience. I hope and pray that the material they took with them may be read aloud and the DVD's are played loudly in the villages or cities where they come from..... hopefully there will be more believers and more baptisms!