We’re Trying

Lewis Fall 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

 

We are trying.  We didn’t come to Cambodia as experts in leading Muslims to Christ.  So we read books, talk to other missionaries and mentors, and search Jesus’ ministry or the book of Acts for clues about what to do.  We ask questions like, How does the Bible describe a Church?  What is a simple format of worship that a barely literate person could learn in a few months and then go and teach others?

 

We’re not experts, but we are sticking to it and trying.  We’re trying to train our few members to pray for their friends and give simple gospel presentations to them.  We’re teaching them to prepare short personal testimonies, memorize them, share and keep going until they find receptiveness.  Then, start something called Discovery Bible Studies in family groups.  We are drilling over and over with them on the components of the church found in Acts 2 so these small groups will know how to organize themselves into a church. 

 

The simple gospel presentation goes like this: 

 

The world we live in is a broken world.  We can see evidence of that in the wars, the famines and the selfishness.  But this was never God’s original plan.  God’s plan was for a perfect world filled with love, peace and harmony.  So what went wrong?  Something called sin is what created the brokenness.  Sin is anything ranging from lying to stealing to cheating, right up to murder.  Sin is selfishness, and sin separated us from God’s perfect plan.  Now, people feel the pain of living in a broken world, and they try to escape that pain by indulging in things such as drugs and alcohol, money and materialism, religion and even relationships, all to escape from the pain.  But none of those things will work because none deal with the issue of sin, which created the brokenness and the pain.  So, all those things will be like bungee cords that snap them back into the world of brokenness and pain.

 

The thing about these two worlds is that they are actually eternal states, so anyone in either one is there forever.  Now, God saw that we were unable to come out of the world of brokenness, so He sent his son Jesus to become the bridge out of the broken world into God’s perfect plan.  Jesus is unique.  He is God.  He is all-powerful.  He lived without sinning.  Because He is God and lived a perfect life, Jesus was uniquely qualified to deal with the issue of sin, which created the brokenness.  What He did was He died for our sins, and He rose from the dead.  When He did that, He canceled the power of sin and became the bridge from the world of brokenness into God’s perfect plan.  And now, anyone can leave the world of brokenness and come into God’s perfect plan.  All they need to do is turn from their sin and selfishness and believe that Jesus died and rose again to cancel out their sin and make Him the King of their life.  When they do, their life is made brand new, and they begin the adventure for which God has made them.

 

I’ve borrowed the above from here: https://youtu.be/VZaTlQ-RaFM?si=HBUcglVuUF-AzpDe

 

We used this simple gospel presentation earlier this week.  After several years of praying for Vari, Nurse Soty’s wife, and several unpromising attempts at studying the Bible together, Vari is suddenly showing great desire.  She started texting Stephanie verses and questions, and she dreamed she was lost in a forest, and I showed her the way home. 

 

Soty was shirtless, holding a sleeping baby on his lap. Vari was next to him, wrapped in a ruby-red shawl.  I presented the gospel in under five minutes and ended by saying, “Turn from your sins, make Jesus the king of your life, and then be ready for whatever adventure he brings you on.”  I talked a bit about counting the cost and the joy that passes understanding.  I found Vari to be a very warm and quick student.  She was looking up the verses and reading them.  Though she had been reticent before, she was now very teachable.

 

She asked several questions at the end, including:  Why do Muslims teach that Jesus did NOT die and rise again?  Why do Muslims teach that the Bible has been changed?  Does the Bible teach anything about Muhammad being the final prophet?  Does the Bible teach about the Cyclops antichrist that cannot hurt anyone in Mecca or Medina like in the Muslim legend of Dajjal?

 

I told her how the Islamic concept of the traitor Judas dying for Jesus is backward — that Jesus died for sinners.  I told her the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  We read the last part of Joel about the great and dreadful day of the Lord, preceded by the gift of prophecy.  She was intrigued to hear that there were women prophets, as Islam only ever mentions men.  We also told them that the Book of Revelation has a similar concept of antichrist, but we can only agree with a Muslim view as far as it agrees with the Biblical view.  I explained that Muhammad was a trader who went around in camel caravans from country to country and probably learned some from others, but his ideas changed some, just like in a game of telephone, where people try to pass a message from one to another around the room.  Soty and Vari said several times it seems like Christianity and Islam are very similar, and I tried to gently emphasize counterfeit and real would be very similar.  I told her she could not have one foot in Islam and one foot in Christianity.  She said she has lots of questions right now.

 

Our next step is to answer her questions by plugging the gaps in her understanding of history and showing how all the prophets pointed toward Jesus.  We will do this with 27 selected Bible stories from the creation to Christ.  This list can be found here: https://www.contagiousdisciplemaking.com/post/discovery-bible-study-creation-to-christ-scripture-list

 

Last night, we covered the first story, creation, with Soty and Vari.  Sreyneang, who is staying in our guest room for some much-overdue personal care after the death of her son, was also present.  We used the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) format.  During our pre-launch training, AFM drilled and drilled into us to use this method, but it was only recently that I fell in love with it because I finally understood what makes it beautiful. 

 

From Acts 2, we are teaching our members about the foundational elements the early church built upon: Bible study, obedience, praise to God, turning from sin, baptism, receiving the Holy Spirit, fellowship, making Jesus Lord of your life, breaking bread together, exhorting one another, praying, signs and wonders, helping those in need, tithing, meeting in the temple, and adding new members daily.  We draw symbols representing each element — within a circle representing a church — and check off the ones we are doing.  Then, if any part is missing, they know why we are focusing on those areas, and the desire comes from them wanting to form a church. 

 

The DBS method starts with this simple definition of church in Acts and builds all elements of the church into our first conversations and first Bible studies with unbelievers.  When it comes time to form a church, they are already familiar with what a church looks and feels like.  To understand more about this kind of Bible study, look here: https://www.contagiousdisciplemaking.com/post/discovery-bible-study-questions

 

No, we are not experts, but that comes with practice.  We are thanking God for people to study with and for on-the-job learning. 

 

I (Stephanie) have enjoyed being involved more in the community. Friends have been calling me to help with different medical situations and that means a lot to me. They are trusting me enough for my advice and help. One evening some teenage girls came over and asked if I could go check on their one month old baby sister who was sick. The baby had been having diarrhea and her stomach seemed upset. I spent the evening with them and that meant a lot to them. I kept close eye on the baby over the next couple of hours and she recovered well. Now, instead of getting the cold shoulder from the husband, he waves at me from across the street and smiles. What a difference! 

 

One Friday evening as we were visiting in the neighborhood the women were talking as I sat holding a two month old baby, Fatin. Suddenly they realized I hadn’t said anything in a while. And they started trying to talk to me. I said, “Oh I’m fine. We’re just missing our family extra right now.” And with that a lady named, Mum said, “Oh please stay the night with us. You’re our family!” Then they discussed how hard it must be for us to be here without any family to rely on. Most of them have several generations living in one home or in the same village. They realized that we don’t have that and they felt for us.

 

We have a crew of four hardworking men working on fencing our property. We’re looking forward to the safety that will give as we raise our children near a busy road. And good fences make good neighbors. 

 

We are very sad to report the death of our ten year old friend, Manan. His parents are the ones we bought this property from and built a relationship with back when we first moved here. Sreyneang accepted Christ (about 2 years ago) and we are walking through the journey of loss together. We drove up to their home, which is about 3 hours from us, for the 40-day memorial. When we called to ask her about the day, she tried to assure us that if it’s too much trouble to come with the kids to not worry about coming. But we said we were going to come and she was so happy and said, “I’ll have all my family with me!” Please pray with us that Jesus will be extra near them during this time. 

 

Love from your missionaries!

 

Josh, Steph, Nathan, & Alyssa

PS. We are starting to plan our furlough that will happen next summer. If you would like us to come speak at your church or even share with friends in your home please let us know. We'd love to connect with as many of you as possible. (: We'll send out more details as we have them.