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- 'If I’m not sharing the Gospel, I feel like I get a hole in my spiritual armour'
- Help us to cross language borders!
| | | | Dear reader,
'If I don't share the gospel, there will be a hole in my armor,' mentor and chatter Gonny Bakker says in this newsletter. This statement surprises me. 'Part of the armor is bringing the glad tidings,' she explains. So when we share that good news, we not only bring hope to a dark world, but we also protect ourselves!
More than ever there is darkness: when you see this letter, the days are at their shortest, at least here in the northern hemisphere. And then there is corona, which keeps many trapped in a dark cloud of loneliness. More than ever we long for light, and for protection, safety.
But we are looking forward to a wonderful, hopeful celebration: Christmas. No darkness can stand up against the miracle of the Word that became flesh and came to dwell among us. In this letter you will read how you too can help to let the light of the gospel shine in as many countries as possible.
Wishing you a warm, blessed and hopeful Christmas! | | | | 'If I’m not sharing the Gospel, I feel like I get a hole in my spiritual armour' | | |  Gonny Bakker, from the Netherlands, wanted to share the Gospel, but she found street evangelism difficult to combine with caring for her children. She read about the possibility of sharing the Gospel online and thought, 'I can do this!'
She has been an active mentor and chatter since 2019. 'I love being involved in sharing the gospel. If I don’t do it, I feel like I get a hole in my spiritual armour.'
What do you mean?
'Then I am more focused on my own concerns. As followers of Jesus, we live with hope and when I share the Gospel, I proclaim that. I confirm it for myself, too. Sometimes I get questions that I don't know the answer to. Then I have to go digging in the Bible. It is enriching to look at your own culture from the viewpoint of diverse other cultures. You begin to put things into perspective and realize how privileged we are that we have the Bible.'
| | | Is there an experience with your work as chatter and mentor that stands out to you?
'In the chat, I had contact with a young man from Nigeria. Just before that, a part of his village was killed off by Boko Haram. This man knew very little about the Gospel, yet his village was targeted because it was a 'Christian' village. So gripping! This man wanted to know more about the Gospel.'
'As a mentor, I led a young woman in Bagdad for quite a while. She worked there as a beauty specialist and came from Zimbabwe. She lived and worked as the only Christian amongst Muslims. It was difficult for her. The Muslims went to the mosque on Fridays and she worked then; on Saturday and Sunday daily life carried on. That made it difficult for her to get involved with a church. I loved our time together and encouraging her, often through Bible verses.’
What do you think is the biggest challenge in this work?
'The hardest thing is to pass on the Good News through the language barriers. I often meet people in the chat who don’t know English very well. Sometimes I am not sure what language they are speaking. Usually, I give a Bible verse for them to take with them. Some stop immediately when you mention Jesus’ name. It may be too risky for some of them to have the name of Jesus showing up on their screen.
You can only do this work together. I sit in a small What’s App group for mentors where we can share our experiences; that is valuable and motivating.'
What do you want to pass on to the reader?
'I live in Lunteren, which is right in the middle of the Bible Belt in the Netherlands. It is teeming with Bible believing Christians who have heard the Gospel since they were young. Let’s share that! I Can’t think of a better (Christmas) present than that!'
- Thank God that Gonny can help so many people in their search for Jesus and pray that many more people will become involved
| | | | Help us to cross language borders! | | | How wonderful it is when the gospel comes to you in your own language. That is appealing. And that's why GlobalRize works hard to set up teams in as many languages as possible. We are now active in 33 languages and preparations have been made to grow to 40 languages.
Behind every language is a team to make it possible to bring the Good News in that language. To give you an idea: the Bible courses need to be translated, people are needed who want to be mentors for the courses; there must be people who set up and manage a Facebook page and people who respond to messages that come in (the so-called chat members). | | | Help us!
Setting up language teams is not easy. Besides people, it takes two things: money and prayer. Would you also like to help us set up even more teams and expand the work of existing teams? Make a donation and pray! On our website you can find more information about our work.
The Internet offers enormous opportunities to reach remote, closed or hostile areas with the Gospel of God’s love. With your support we can reach more people - how cool is that?
- Pray that people will be found to start new language teams
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