Plowing Concrete

"Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him, preaching he kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ."

Johann is in Bulgaria this week. He can write about what he did there when he comes back, but he is there on business. Since Johann is gone, my friend Agi from Hungary came to stay with me a few days. Last night we were discussing how difficult it is to evangelize Czech people.

Evangelism in Eastern Europe is often referred to as "plowing concrete" because it is incredibly time consuming and incredibly difficult. We here of masses of people coming to Christ in South America or Africa -- that has never happened anywhere here. The people here are different and so the work is different. Evangelism does work here -- just at a slower pace and with a smaller number of people. Many people cite many reasons for this. The more educated a person, the harder it is to evangelize them usually. The same goes for wealth. When I was young and knew I was called to missions I always said that the rich need saving just as much as the poor. Well, God has sent me to the rich and they are a difficult bunch. So many times missions has a face of dealing with poverty stricken people. The people we work with are far from poverty stricken, but they are very much poor in spirit and dying to eternal separation from Christ.

Last night, Agi and I concluded our discussion with the fact that evangelism here is a long, slow process. It takes the average Hungarian 1 to 2 years to accept Christ after first hearing the gospel. Agi said at least Hungarians have an idea of God whereas so many Czech people do not. So, we are realistically looking at several years of witnessing before seeing someone come to Christ. Of course, God can do anything he wants, but the slow way seems to be his pattern for Eastern Europe.

So, most of the missionaries in this area of the world are trying to do what the greatest missionary ever did. We dwell here. We open our homes and we open our mouths and preach the gospel. We pray and we pray and we pray and we wait and we wait and we wait. We know that God did not call us to do great things here, He called us to open our mouths. The great things are up to Him and we know He is faithful.