by Dirk Wiese, Pastor, Redeemer Church
As the Fall semester comes to a close our ministry doesn’t cross the finish line until the end of finals week and our annual Christmas Party. We use this as an opportunity to gather as a community, invite the people in our lives, and connect with others in ways that build towards the gospel. Our party this year filled out the host home with 35 students and community members connected to our ministry! Many were international students who have been slowly introduced to our community. We also had friends from the community who come from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds.
A big win that we saw was that many of the nonbelievers there had expressed how much they love our community because of how love is shown and joy is expressed. This then gave the person who invited them to feel a greater boldness in asking them to join them on Sundays and other community events. We will also be taking part in throwing a baby shower for a couple we had connected with this year as we continue to disciple the husband who became a Christian this year and show the love of the gospel to his wife who has yet to believe. We are by no means perfect in this, but we have made greater efforts in casting vision for our students to connect with new faces, be cultural learners when interacting with international students, and be prayerful and expectant when inviting others and taking the conversation deeper. We’ve seen God answer our specific prayers in this! Many of our students connected to this community and even came to faith because they were welcomed and loved genuinely by the local church. Our aim is to continue to do this so that these students and community members would experience the love of Jesus and believe.
