Apartment 37
We took deep breaths and rang the doorbell to apartment 37.
This was the first building of the day, the thirty-first apartment door we'd knocked on with very little response thus far. We heard someone begin unlocking the door and gave each other nervous glances.
"Hello," we said. "We are praying for this neighborhood today. Is there anything you'd like to say to God? We'd like to pray for you."
The man smiled. "That's nice," he responded, "I don't need prayer, but do you want to come in?"
We sat in the small apartment, explaining that we are followers of Jesus; we believe that God loves everyone but not many people in France know this. We explained to him that we were seeking to find people interested in reading the Bible with their friends. As the conversation continued, we asked if he'd like to read a Bible story right then. He agreed.
He informed us that he doesn't read well; I told him, "We don't read well in French either since it's our second language." Nonetheless, he read the entire passage of Luke 7:36-50. When we'd finished reading the passage, Jordan summarized the story, asking questions along the way: What does this show us about humanity? What does this show us about Jesus? What does this show you for your life right now? Who needs to hear this story?
When we asked if we could pray together, the man suggested we get on our knees. I prayed. He prayed. We made plans to return the following day to share a meal and read another story from the Bible with him and some of his friends as we prepared to leave. With the door closed behind us, Jordan, our local friend, and I debated on whether to continue knocking on doors in the same building or move to another building.
Suddenly the door opened again and the man from apartment 37 said, "Are you finished already?"
"No," we said. "We were just talking about praying for more people. Do you want to come?"
He and Jordan knocked on doors for the next 2 hours praying with as many people as would allow while I continued with our other friend in another building.
Please pray for this man, that his life would truly be transformed by Jesus and that he'd continue to share the Gospel with others in his community.
This story is part of a series of posts describing our time in northern France.
This was the first building of the day, the thirty-first apartment door we'd knocked on with very little response thus far. We heard someone begin unlocking the door and gave each other nervous glances.
"Hello," we said. "We are praying for this neighborhood today. Is there anything you'd like to say to God? We'd like to pray for you."
The man smiled. "That's nice," he responded, "I don't need prayer, but do you want to come in?"
We sat in the small apartment, explaining that we are followers of Jesus; we believe that God loves everyone but not many people in France know this. We explained to him that we were seeking to find people interested in reading the Bible with their friends. As the conversation continued, we asked if he'd like to read a Bible story right then. He agreed.
He informed us that he doesn't read well; I told him, "We don't read well in French either since it's our second language." Nonetheless, he read the entire passage of Luke 7:36-50. When we'd finished reading the passage, Jordan summarized the story, asking questions along the way: What does this show us about humanity? What does this show us about Jesus? What does this show you for your life right now? Who needs to hear this story?
When we asked if we could pray together, the man suggested we get on our knees. I prayed. He prayed. We made plans to return the following day to share a meal and read another story from the Bible with him and some of his friends as we prepared to leave. With the door closed behind us, Jordan, our local friend, and I debated on whether to continue knocking on doors in the same building or move to another building.
Suddenly the door opened again and the man from apartment 37 said, "Are you finished already?"
"No," we said. "We were just talking about praying for more people. Do you want to come?"
He and Jordan knocked on doors for the next 2 hours praying with as many people as would allow while I continued with our other friend in another building.
Please pray for this man, that his life would truly be transformed by Jesus and that he'd continue to share the Gospel with others in his community.
This story is part of a series of posts describing our time in northern France.
This is wild :) So exciting and encouraging to see how God is using this man (and you guys). I also appreciate that your ministry is less concerned about the conversion experience and more concerned with life-long transformation. It would be easy to pray the "sinner's pray" with this man and then move on. It's much more difficult to ask him to join you in your ministry :)
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