I gathered with a group of women who were grieving for a friend who just had a miscarriage.
None of the 10 women had lived in America long. Our friendship had been building for several months. We ate meals together, played tennis, and shared photos. They taught me about their Hindu gods and they asked questions about my God. We were friends.
But this day, they were sad. I sensed God leading me to pray. Honestly, I was nervous and uncertain how they would respond. But I ventured out, “Would it be okay if I prayed for your friend?” Overwhelmed they all said, “Please, yes!” We prayed on the tennis court – 10 Hindu women and me.
Four months later. I received a message from one of the ladies who moved back to Asia. It said, “Do you remember that day you prayed on the tennis court? When you prayed, there was a Power there I can’t explain. Tell me about this.”
My heart bends toward places overseas, where 2 billion people live with no access to the Gospel. We must go.
Yet, we live here; places where the least reached nations are moving into our cities.
I think we are often more excited to take mission trips overseas than to engage internationals living in our own nation.
I’m not advocating don’t go. You want to go overseas? Let me know. You can go on a team with me!
But, right here in our nation, we have 38 million people from some of the least reach nations living in our backyard. We often avoid building relationships with these people because of fear – fear we don’t know what to say, we don’t know how to begin, or fear we may offend them.
What feels the hardest is actually the simplest. Start with a simple conversation.
Here is a printable with simple steps to go from “Hello to Convo” and intentionally build relationships with internationals. You can find other resources to equip you to live missionally at https://imb.org/women.
Published June 11, 2014
