It doesn’t feel like a lot of time has passed since the Arise trip last year at Goldhill, but in fact, it’s already been a year. Arise in June 2022 took place in a small English village called Chalfont Saint Peter. We spent a week living with wonderful host families, reading the Bible and praying together, and going out in pairs of two for door-to-door evangelism. During our entire stay at Chalfont, Pastor Stephen and all the other church members treated us with love and warmth.

When we went out knocking door-to-door, we used a questionnaire to get into conversations and build relationships with the locals. If we met someone who wasn’t immediately ready to talk about Jesus and faith, we listened to their stories. We cleared misunderstandings for people who had unpleasant experiences in the past with the church. We kept knocking on the doors of their hearts. This would allow the Goldhill church members to come around after a while and develop the relationships we had started, engaging in conversations that lead to growth and giving comfort where needed.

If we were to talk about the purpose of Arise, there are multiple things we could mention. One could say we were supporting our sister church in providing manpower for the door-to-door evangelism. In a way, it was also an opportunity for all the local residents we spoke to, to hear the Word of God and learn about Jesus. Having said that, the ones who benefited most from Arise were clearly we, ourselves.

All I wanted was for Arise to leave me less terrified of speaking about Jesus and faith in an everyday life setting, beyond the protective fence of the church and the Saturday Outreach team. But as time passed, I realised that Arise had created a far greater impact on me than I had anticipated. God led me onto paths I could never have imagined and gave me countless opportunities to experience evangelism in my everyday life, at work. When I visited residents in London for a residential charity fundraising campaign, I met a Christian family during the week of Easter; we praised God together with worship songs. Another Muslim family I met also welcomed me into their home and the husband asked me to pray for his wife’s health as she was unable to walk. Yet another woman I met was going through a very difficult time in life. I lent her an ear and she was happy for me to pray for her health and peace. It was beyond extraordinary having these kinds of experiences outside of Arise, in my everyday life at my workplace that is unrelated to Christianity.

Whenever our church advertises the Arise trip, there are probably people who will intentionally look away and close their ears. I mean, God forbid it makes you think about attending. Or perhaps, in the spur of the moment, you send a message registering for Arise and you can’t take that back.

Of course it is understandable to be worried and feel unworthy to serve the Lord. After all, we are weak and small and our sins are great. But as Paul said, it is in our weakness that Christ’s power is made perfect. If you have struggled in the past to talk to people about Jesus, whether strangers or loved ones, I would like to strongly recommend joining us for Arise. It may seem scary to knock at a stranger’s door and talk to them about Jesus but really, all we are doing is having a conversation with a person, and another person, and so forth; leaving the rest to God, who will water and nourish the seeds we sowed. And that is not difficult at all.

I hope many of us can share in the indescribable peace and joy that comes from life when we live as we were meant to live, as the children of God we were created to be, comforting people and spreading love and peace. Please pray for the upcoming Arise trip and the time of preparation and training that precedes Arise.
The most difficult thing in life is disappointment in people. There is nothing as agonizing as constantly facing words and actions that anger, discourage, and hurt us. The emotions of guilt and self-blame arise when we are not accepted for our own shortcomings. We ask ourselves questions like, “Why am I like this?” “Why can’t I change?” “How long do I have to live like the pathetic person I am?” “Why did I say or do something so foolish again?” Because of ourselves and the people close to us, we struggle every day.

The Gospel demands that we acknowledge that we are flawed beings with many problems, to the extent that Jesus, the Son of God, became human and died on the cross to save us. Therefore, instead of making excuses or blaming others when I see my own shortcomings, I have decided to acknowledge that “I am such a person.” This has made my life easier to live.

I am a person with many deficiencies because I was raised to adulthood by my grandmother, without parents or siblings. In college, I came to belief in Jesus and learned about God’s love, and thanks to the faith community I met at church, I became someone who can play a role in other people’s lives.

My eldest daughter has a truly likable personality, and she has many close friends. When we had a wedding in a large venue, there were so many friends that we had to take two separate group photos. During a phone call with my wife this week, she said, “It’s always so awkward with Dad. It’s probably the same for my siblings.” My wife found it shocking. Due to always having church activities in the evenings and on weekends, even when I’m at home, I couldn’t spend relaxed time talking and playing with my children, and even when I had time, I always had many things on my mind, so I didn’t have the mental space for them. Furthermore, since I have never experienced living with parents or siblings, I am naturally inept at having conversations.

In the past, I would have made excuses like “Living as a pastor means you have to endure such things!” or “Well, I did my best as a father!” I might have turned away and felt dejected. But now, I know how to acknowledge my own shortcomings. And I have the mindset that I need to learn about this aspect through the grace of the Lord. I used to think of my wife, who has the special ability to extend a ten-minute incident into an hour-long conversation, as someone who repeats things and talks unnecessarily for a long time and as if she’s meeting someone for the first time. But these days, I am grateful to think that God sent my wife to be a wonderful teacher who teaches me to have conversations full of empathy, even in the small matters of daily life.

One must know how to acknowledge their own vulnerability and shortcomings in order to truly learn. “Lord, please continue to teach me.”