Perserverence leads to fruit

In a city in Indonesia that is heavily visited by tourists, sharing about Jesus with those who live surrounding the city takes time. The sky-scrapers and shiny tourist attractions in the city centre are a stark contrast to the mud-packed roads that wind through the simple house structures of various slums. Children run barefooted, water sources are a shared public waterspout, literacy is not a given for many adults and the primary work for many is sorting trash collected from the city. It is in these areas, that are avoided by so many others, that OM workers see the need to live out Christ-like service.

One of these workers is Herman*, a passionate Jesus follower who moved to this location to join a friend serving with OM in reaching out to the majority faith population. The two men, and another of their OM colleagues, attended Bible school together and are some of the only ones from their graduating class who, several years later, are still engaging in ministry among their Muslim neighbours. Like in other parts of the world, many people stepping into ministry do so within a church context.

“We have a lot of conversations [about Jesus] with people, but their understanding is simple and it takes a long time [before they decide to believe in Jesus],” says Herman. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, and while some places have a growing church presence, there are still many areas that remain unreached with the good news. The number of Christians engaging in ministry across religious backgrounds is small.

Herman has served in this area for seven years, building relationships with people and helping them in many ways. Through his work with OM, he provides tuition to children, visits families in their homes, where he hears about their worries, family illnesses and employment challenges, and intentionally looks for opportunities to speak about Jesus. Often, his offer to pray for people and the challenging situations they face is accepted with gratitude. But in a context where to be Indonesian is defined as being Muslim, it is a slow process for people to understand who Jesus is and the gift that He freely offers to all.

“Last year, in frustration, I prayed to God. I said, ‘Bring someone to faith or I will leave,'” Herman recalls. And God answered his prayer. For the first time since Herman began his ministry, two widows, whom he had befriended, chose to follow Jesus. “Their faith is simple; very child-like. They cannot read, so I read Scripture to them and share more about God’s character. They repeat their prayers after me,” Herman explains, “But they believe in Jesus as their Saviour.”

Herman had originally befriended the husband of one of the women and spent hours with their family. Then, when his friend died, Herman stepped in to help his widow. The widow’s son had various health problems but was refusing treatment for unknown reasons, and she struggled with the loss of her husband. It was through these painful challenges that God’s goodness and kindness, demonstrated by the hands of Herman, were received differently.

The two widows live in a simple house together, still working to sort trash in their community as a means of income. Through small gifts of rice and other basic food items given by OM, and weekly spiritual conversations and praying for the women, Jesus’ love was demonstrated — and received. Both women chose to follow Jesus and are being discipled by Herman, as there is no church in their community.

Herman says his own faith has been encouraged by this experience. He needed to see that this was where God wanted him, and the recent experience has confirmed that though sometimes the Holy Spirit has a different timeline than we might want, He is at work. Herman and his team members were reminded that their task is to faithfully engage with people in their communities who are marginalised and looked down upon by others.

The OM team members use both their professions and various ministry platforms to build relationships with neighbours and share about Jesus: but it is God at work in the hearts of those they serve that brings about change.

*name changed