James, not his real name, tells me he's a non-practising Christian but wonders if I can answer a question for him. He goes on to tell me that he watched a documentary on TV last night about Africa and Christianity. There was someone tracing his roots and apparently there was some discussion about the church in Ethiopia being older than the church in the West, having a different Bible and a few other things. He told me about the conversation he'd had with a work colleague about it all and how fascinated he was to learn that the church was actually growing across the world rather than declining.
So we talked for a few minutes about how the gospel might have made it's way to Ethiopia through the events of Acts 8 with Philip and the eunuch and about how Eastern and Western Orthodoxy developed differently. I never thought my Church history course would be useful for evangelism!
It was a whirlwind conversation and it ended with James saying that watching the programme really made him think again about his faith.
I don't know what drew him to my 'phone number apart from something God was doing. Maybe I was the only Christian minister in the 'phone book who wasn't busy at the time he wanted to make the call. Who knows.
What I do know is that it's really exciting to suddenly come across evidence that God is at work in all sorts of places and lives about which I am wonderfully unaware until they interrupt my day.
I wonder if James will ever call back, or start going to church. He said he knew lots of non-practising believers. Maybe God will start a new church where he lives through him or for him. Maybe he'll turn up at church sometime. Whatever happens I hope I've left him ready for his next spiritual encounter, that whoever he connects with next is someone who can help nudge him towards faith, and that I'm also ready in case God wants to use me again.
I wonder what my next 'phone call will be?
1 comment:
Thats better than the calls we've been getting - like 75% of them have been spam calls this week! We need a spam folder for phone calls like we have for our email!
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