HOW SHALL THEY HEAR?

We thank God for His help at the missionary weekend which ended a week ago today.  We believe the Lord really blessed all involved and we thank Him for the opportunities we had to share of the ministry we are involved in. 

Throughout the weekend we were reminded by various speakers of the verses in Romans 10 : 13 - 15.  In particular verse 14 which says:

And so the phrase which has been in our minds over this past week has been, "How shall they hear?  As we heard missionaries share during the weekend from various countries we were challenged as to the need across the world.  We were challenged as to the need on our doorstep. 

Yesterday evening we attended a meeting in our local mission hall.  The couple who shared told us of people they had previously worked amongst.  People who had no Gospel witness in their tribe.  As a result, and because of their hunger to hear....they walked for around 3 days journey, every 3 weeks for 20 years to plead that missionaries come and tell them.  "How shall they hear?"

My mind went back to the time I spent almost 4 months in a country called Guinea-Bissau, in West Africa.  As I spent that time with a missionary, we would drive along and villages would be pointed out to me and I was told of how there was no Gospel witness in that village.  Village after village the story was the same.  "How shall they hear?"  When I went to that small country, many people in Northern Ireland had not heard of it.  Today, people from Guinea-Bissau live in our town.  "How shall they hear?"

In the past week a rep from our Nairobi office has gone to visit a children's school which I have been communicating with.  It is in a slum area of Nairobi and he had to take a motorcycle to reach the place.  Too far to walk, but not easy for a car to access.  Those who run the group were keen that the children be enrolled on our lessons so that they can be taught the Gospel.  Today they have collected the first lesson so that the children can begin to study.  A photograph was sent to me of some of the children.  Among them, a little Muslim girl.  "How shall they hear?"

And yet there is another challenge.  As we think this week of the phrase, "How shall they hear?"....we realise that of the 40 children from that school which have today been registered on our course....9 are deaf.  "How shall they hear?"  A people group all of their own.  Often cut off from people and the community around them.  Yet, those who need to hear the Gospel.  We thank God that He has been leading in ways we had not expected.  Opening doors we had not anticipated.  Answering prayer so that the physically deaf and the spiritually deaf may hear. 

What about your friends and family?  What about those you work with?  What about those who live around our Churches and Mission Halls?  

How shall they hear?......Can you tell them?.....How shall they hear?