The Harvest is Plentiful & Ready
May…a month that felt like a blur, or even a fever dream if you will. But in SO many good ways. My teammates and I of team Yeehaw for Yahweh (Y4Y), had the privilege of starting our time in Jordan off with a 3 hour bus ride. I should note that this was nearly 6-8 hours within having arrived to our ministry host. We got to adventure to Petra and Wadi Rum with our ministry host team and another squad that was near the end of their time there. Little did we know that the moment we had arrived, it was the moment that ministry had began.
**Note: Many of the names from here on out, will be changed for the safety of friends and family living in the area.
Our ministry home for the end of April & May was at what we called The Center. My team Y4Y lived in community with another team (TNT) and in the midst of that fold, we also dwelt with a YWAM team that had been there prior to our arrival. We were received so graciously by our host and were given such great tools during our orientations about what we would be walking into during our time there.
What is The Center?
The Center was a place where refugees from around the area could go connect and be connected to other resources for aid, both spiritually and physically. There are an estimated 900+ families that are registered with The Center. The Center doesn’t operate on a large scale like the UN, and so because of that, the families are informed at every initial house visit, that aid in material resources like food or money are not something that can be guaranteed. However, aid in connecting those families to clinics that are affordable, or other resources, is offered when the resource becomes available. Otherwise, the heart behind The Center is building relationships with the families and sharing the message of hope in Jesus (Yeshua, Isa al Masih).
Training
As we received training, I so appreciated the thoroughness of what was shared. Learning more about the field that we were walking into was so vital to the effectiveness of sharing the Gospel and how best to present it. We learned things that ranged from the history of Jordan to what the cultural faux pas’ were. However, there were two things that stood out and I so appreciated that The Center did so well in equipping my teammates and I before going on house visits. Those two things were; The Four Fields & ILOVE Acronym.
The Four Fields (Mark 4:26-29)
Everything we did during our time with The Center, was centered around Mark 4:26-29.
26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
Field 1: Know/Knowing
This field is simply just getting to know our field. We are learning about who we are trying to reach and what the state of the soil is of the family/country/people is in before we are going to plant or do anything.
Field 2: Sow
This is the field where we are going to share the Gospel and do house visits in pairs of 2-3 people. This is also the field where we would be doing trainings for the workers according to the gifts and skills that the workers are given. This is where the soil is being tilled, the foundation of the Gospel is being shared in a way that can lead the listener to understand why Jesus is The Way.
Field 3: Grow
The growing of the seeds belongs to the Lord in this field. He will grow the seeds, but we can only help nurture the growth of the seeds thru two things. Studies and discipleship after a family member has decided to follow Christ.
Field 4: Gather
This last field is where the gathering of the harvest happens. The harvest is gathered into bundles or connected with a church community where possible. For some, stepping into a church is not safe, and being persecuted and real threats on the individual’s life is highly likely if they are caught. So the purpose of this field, is to gather the believers in a home, then model and live out Acts 2:38-47, and do home church.
Afterwards, the hope is to raise up leaders amongst these that have been gathered, and then to have them go and scatter seeds within their community, and then to restart the cycle of the fields.
ILOVE Acronym
I = Initiate
Initiate conversations with the families that are being visited. While doing so, being reminded to do so with sensitive awareness of the cultural context of men and women. Ask questions and get to know the person.
L = Listen
Listen intentionally and for any places of pain. Mine out these places of pain.
O = Offer
Offer something towards their pain. It can be a story from the bible, an experience from your own life, or pray for them. For example, “I’ve experienced xyz too, and this is how Jesus…xyz”. This is a moment to connect with the family and build trust and relationship, and it’s not a moment to preach to them.
V = Visualize
As stories are offered, use objects, paper & pen or something to create visuals for the listener to visualize for themselves what is being shared with them.
E = Engage with Scripture
The end goal is to get someone to read the Bible, because one of the top two ways that believers in the M.E. (Middle East) come to the faith is through: reading the Bible, & observing Christians living out their faith.
A Day In the Life…
What did a day in the life look like while at The Center? In a few words, it was vibrant and overflowing with joy, intercessory prayers, and lots of vibrant conversations. The center housed 2 world race teams (6 people in each of those teams + 1 Squad leader) and 1 YWAM Team (9 people). You can imagine the logistical aspect behind making sure everything worked to have this many people living under a roof together. But…I digress from the purpose of this section.
A typical day looked like the world race teams being split into groups of 2-3 people and then partnered with an interpreter. At the start of the morning, our interpreter friends would receive 1 home visitation assignment, which they would then be in charge of guiding the teams to the home of the family. After that initial visit, teams would return to The Center for some lunch and then head back out to 2 more house visits. There were occasional days where families would cancel a house visit, or an interpreter was unable to make it for the day. In those moments, an opportunity was opened for the teams staying back at The Center to intercede in prayer for the teams that were out doing visits.
The purpose in each visitation was to initiate, listen, engage and offer a story from the Bible to encourage the families with the hope of Christ. And if they were willing, we would get the opportunity to pray over them. We would sometimes get opportunities to revisit some families over again, to build on the stories that were shared. At an initial visit to a family newly registered with The Center, we would begin with Adam and Eve (Hawa), then we would proceed to Noah and the Ark at the next visit, then Abraham & Isaac (Esau). From there, the eventual goal was to point everything towards Christ and why he is the only way to God the Father, and how our good works alone can not guarantee us getting near to the Father.
Aside from house visits, some days looked like us just doing life with our interpreter friends, who we’ve come to call family. Some of that looked like getting to celebrate birthdays together, doing smoothie runs together during lunches, and just simple games of telestrations and card games. Living life in relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ across the globe has taught me about the beauty of the family of God that we are adopted into when we confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
In the words of one of my teammates, “Missions is life, life is missions”. Meaning that our daily life is missions in everything we say and do. Regardless of where we are at, whether at home, work, or on the field, our daily life is a mission to love God and our neighbors, and by that, bring glory to God alone in living out the commandments Jesus speaks of in Matthew 22: 37-40.
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
If that includes doing life with brothers and sisters in Christ through simple and mundane things like smoothie runs, that is still missions in life. The fields are being tilled, and seeds are being planted. There are some fields where the harvest is ready and plentiful. Will you help to harvest wherever you’re at? Are you willing to step out in faith & obedience to what God has called you to and trust that the Holy Spirit will give you the words to speak and till the heart of the listener? Are you willing to love your neighbor by sharing the treasure that you’ve found?
The rest of the pictures below are just a compilation of what it looked like to do life with our friends at The Center. Some include my teammate Jillisa and I during our house visitation with our adopted Jordanian grandpa.
