I am resting at my home in Nairobi, Biblica Guest House. It’s been another long, on-schedule, day. Up at 5 for my flight back to Nairobi, Kenya. Now it is time to take a deep breath and relax some before starting the long trip home beginning at 11:59pm Friday.
As you know, we finished our two-day seminar at the University of Rwanda then spent almost 4 hrs in slow, bumper to bumper, traffic from the university town of Huye to the capital city of Kigali, here in Rwanda. A late departure from Huye plus agonizingly slow, I mean SLOW, as in 10-15mph-slow, for long stretches put me in room about 8:30pm. I ordered and had dinner served to me about 9:30pm. All that to say, my report yesterday was truncated. I didn’t have time or energy to share some of the questions I received and feedback that I received.
REVIEW
Concepts and content from yesterday included the importance of listening when having an apologetic conversation with someone, and what contributes to a good conversation (e.g. listening, asking clarifying questions, and seeking mutual understanding) and what stops one in its tracks. Content included: How can we show someone that Jesus was and is God, the Messiah and Savior? How do we know that the New and Old Testaments are trustworthy? How can we demonstrate that Christianity is the one true “religion?” How did the LGBTQ revolution get started and how should churches and Christians respond?
QUESTIONS
It’s been over 24 hours since we ended the seminar so I won’t remember most of them. But here are some I remember.
- What does the Bible say about divorce?
- Some are saying salvation is by works and others say it is by grace. Please comment.
- Some say it is possible to be saved and then lose our salvation because of sin. Please comment.
- Some say the King James Version is the only translation we should use. Please comment.
- Some say it is wrong for a woman to wear trousers because the Bible says women should not wear what men wear. Please comment.
- We are told that we need to be married in a church for it to be a marriage. Is that true?
- There is so many various beliefs among churches. How can we resolve (my word) all of the differences and bring unity?
You are probably noticing the flavor of these questions. They are all debates between Christians or who call themselves Christians. These are not normally in the category related to “apologetics.” But is characteristics of the debates that seem to go on constantly between church members from various churches. This seems to demonstrate where the focus is on many (most?) churches.
The only two questions that seemed to be related to doing apologetics were:
What do you do when someone refuses to let you use the Bible because they say it is written by men who want us to believe the stories of Jesus?
What do you say when someone says the Bible is not reliable?
FEEDBACK
- One young woman commented that after the seminar she realized that she needs to know her Bible better than she does now.
The young president of the group of Evangelical Christian Student Ministries had two comments about his take aways.
- He had never heard anyone explain God’s design and purpose for marriage that is a constant in creation as much as is the law of gravity. Marriage was never invented by any group or culture. It has been a part of every group and culture since the beginning. He found that very helpful and saw the need to make sure the emerging generation understands that.
- The second thing had to do with the principle of listening. He had never thought about the importance of listening when having an “evangelistic/apologetic” conversation with someone. He confessed that he is always evaluating what they are saying as they are saying it and not really listening to understand what they believe and why.
THE WAY FORWARD
I gave the title of this blog “Just the Beginning.” We are not even a year into this youth/apologetics ministry, and we have been feeling our way along. But what everyone is saying is that we need to find ways to expand the reach and thereby expand the impact. So, I am expecting bigger groups in 2024. There are already plans in the works for a regional seminar in Africa’s southern region, an expansion of what we did in Lagos, Nigeria and Huye, Rwanda.
ASKING THE LORD
I am asking the Lord to raise up someone whom I can mentor, who will be ready to take over my spot when the day finally arrives when I stop traveling. Please pray with me about that.
I will put the reminder of my pictures in the album. CLICK HERE to be taken there.
By His grace,
Steve