Some of our Shepherds lament that although they do their very best to find non-believers, it’s impossible to find any. Most of the people they meet are already believers or members of other churches. This is understandable. Houston has a small Korean-American population (about 20,000) and it’s hard to even meet others.
However, I once heard a speaker at an evangelism seminar say that people come to Christ only by God’s sovereign actions, and He only sends people to those who are ready to serve and witness to them. If this is true, the reason we don’t encounter non-believers is because God thinks that we’re not ready to receive them. In that case, instead of being frustrated, we should seek to become trustworthy, so that God entrusts us with non-believers.
When I visit Korea, I find that House Church members there similarly express frustration at not being able to find non-believers (we call them VIPs – Very Important Persons) to whom they can witness. Unlike our situation in Houston, this doesn’t make sense to me because 80% to 90% of the people in Korea are non-believers. I think that the main reason they cannot find VIPs is because they build many barriers that separate them from people God sends.
One such barrier is the tendency to seek people who can help our house churches instead of seeking those who need help. Sadly, in many traditional churches, people of high social status are more welcome than those of low social status. Rich people are more welcome than poor people. This unfortunate tendency has persisted in many house churches.
But a more significant barrier is the tendency to seek people who are similar to us in age, profession, and social status. When we meet people who are different from us, we don’t consider them to be VIPs.
If we want to become instruments in saving souls, we must break down these barriers. Why shouldn’t old people take care of younger people like their sons and daughters? Why shouldn’t the young serve their elders like their uncles or aunts? Why shouldn’t salaried men help small business owners and vice versa? The Apostle Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
When we remove these barriers and become willing to receive anyone God sends, He will entrust us with souls He wants to save.
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