Being a follower of Jesus is an invitation to a life of joy, peace and hope, but it can also be a journey filled with persecution and temptations to believe you are alone. So, when I was asked to join the organising team for the Mission EineWelt-run online Global Worship in 2020, I leapt at […]

Being a follower of Jesus is an invitation to a life of joy, peace and hope, but it can also be a journey filled with persecution and temptations to believe you are alone.

So, when I was asked to join the organising team for the Mission EineWelt-run online Global Worship in 2020, I leapt at the chance to connect with people from around the world.

Over the next two years, when loneliness and fear were reigning powers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Global Worship was a chance to read the Bible, share stories, listen to music and ultimately prove that we are not alone. And despite all the work the planning committee put into the services, often what we planned was overtaken by the Holy Spirit and led to powerful experiences.

One such experience came during the first service when I saw a participant crying. I sent her a private message asking her to connect after the service to check she was okay. She explained: ‘I cried as a way of cleansing those aspects of my life that aren’t pleasing to God. My tears are a reminder that Jesus forgives and takes all the evil away from me.’

She told her story. When she was three, her mother died by suicide and her father died a week later in an accident. She lived with her grandmother who was a devout Catholic and took her to worship. One Sunday her grandmother gave her a coin and told her to put it in the offering bowl, saying that if she asked God for something, he would give it to her. The following Sunday she put the coin in her pocket. Perplexed, her grandmother asked, ‘Why didn’t you put the offering in the bowl?’ She replied, ‘Last Sunday I asked God to give me back my mother but she’s not here’.

Members of the church said her mother was in hell because of the circumstances of her death, and she began a downward spiral to drug addiction and an overdose in her late teens. On the way to the hospital, the ambulance passed a church and, as she looked at the statues of saints adorning the outside, she could hear them singing. She prayed to God that if he would save her, she would live for him. By the time she reached hospital, she had been healed. She began theological studies and has devoted her life to serving her loving Creator.

Most of my life is spent interacting with non-Christians. I therefore committed to joining Global Worship, even if it meant waking in the very early hours to connect with others. Through these experiences, the Holy Spirit inspired and challenged me to read the Bible through different cultural lenses, hear stories of God’s faithfulness from the most persecuted and share my fears and weaknesses without fear of judgement.

Global Worship was organised by Evangelical Jugend in Bayern, the Josefstal Study Centre, Mission EineWelt and a team of participants from the Youth Exchange Like a Tree.

This story was also published in the August 2023 edition of Border Crossings, the magazine of LCA International Mission.

If you would like to consider the opportunity to serve as a volunteer in mission, serving in practical ways, teaching English, teaching in the seminaries and institutions of our partner churches, or in local churches, you are invited to phone Nevin on (08) 8267 7300 or email nevin.nitschke@lca.org.au. For more information, go to https://www.lcamission.org.au/join-gods-mission/volunteer/

Read more stories about volunteering at https://www.lcamission.org.au/category/join-gods-mission/volunteers/