A Call to Disciple in Everyday Life

Recently, InterVarsity hosted Matthew Brima, the General Secretary of SLEFES, an IFES movement, and he shared that witnessing should be a constant.

“God’s call to us was to express faith in all we do, in all of life. So our witness for the Gospel was not tied to a certain time, a certain place, doing certain activities. Witnessing for Christ entails all of life. Sitting at the dinner table with my kids, should reflect my faith. Talking to my wife when nobody is there, should reflect that. So, it is a greater awareness of what is the Gospel.”

Brima continues to say that he sees this awareness growing in the Church. Many people are coming to know Christ through a coworker or a friend or a neighbor. Christians aren’t so much planning for witnessing, they just are living out their faith.

Brima himself came to faith through someone living out their faith where God placed them.

Setting the Stage

Matthew Brima grew up in Sierra Leone during the eleven year civil war. Unrest and violence ravaged the country from 1991 to 2002.

He was raised Catholic and loved being a part of the Catholic Church. His goal was to be a Roman Catholic priest. However, the war was hard for him to reconcile.

His mother was a police officer and he says that whenever he visited the station, there would be dead bodies all over from the conflict. He became angry with God and confesses that he did not have a relationship with God at that time. However, he was still going to Church every day.

A Surprising Witness

One day on the way home from church, a Nigerian peacekeeper from the UN asked if he would like to come into his home and talk.

Brima agreed, and says it was the first time he heard and understood the Gospel.

(Courtesy of DFID on Flickr https://bit.ly/2YrXQg0)

“The miracle about that story,” Brima explains, “is the fact that two days after that, this UN peace keeper was transferred from that base. So I never got to meet him again. But that seed of the Gospel that was planted in my heart grew and started to help me understand my personal walk with Christ.”

From Death to Life

Soon after that encounter, Brima became a part of InterVarsity. He was discipled and came to have a personal relationship with Christ for the first time.

He says, “I define my life as when the enemy was taking lives, God gave me life. So in the midst of killing, in the midst of death, I received life. And that has really transformed my view of the marketplace. That has really transformed my view of the fact that if Christians become witnesses in our everyday lives, there is so much power in that.”

Through One Person

Because of that one person who invited Brima into a conversation, God saved a life. Since then, Brima became a national leader of IFES in Sierra Leone and has had the opportunity to impact hundreds of lives.

“All of that came through the foundation of one person who was ready to say, ‘yes’ to Jesus, wherever he was.”

The Gospel is not something for just missionaries to share. A UN peacekeeper, someone with a clear job to do in a stressful situation, took the time to offer the Gospel to a stranger.

Make God the center of your interactions with others. The Good News should impact everyday life and every action. Consider who God is calling you to witness to in your everyday life, and trust in His strength enough to begin the conversation.

Header photo courtesy of AMISOM Public Information via Flickr.

What happens when you put the foremost evangelistic thinkers, organizations equipped with the tools to do missions all over the world, and thousands of college students hungry for opportunities to share the Gospel all under one roof?

According to InterVarsity, you get Urbana 18.

I was able to attend Urbana a week ago both as a reporter and as a college student. Now that we’ve shared some of the stories and voices we’ve heard, I wanted to offer my own perspective.

The conference had a little bit of everything. From meticulously organized corporate Bible studies to spontaneous, heartfelt worship, examples of believers coming together permeated every corner of the conference halls.

Everywhere I looked, the Church met in prayer, dialogue, and praise. Men and women of faith used their drive to work for Christ and their varied expertise to collaborate on projects that can benefit the whole Church.

But why do we need an event like Urbana at all? If you ask thinkers like John Inazu, author of Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference, they’ll say it’s because the body of believers is exactly that; a body, not an assortment of standalone pieces.

Urbana 18 was about partnership and community. InterVarsity and the myriad of other participating organizations provided practical networking opportunities, passionate and empathetic conversation, and motivational reminders to pursue the Great Commission. Every individual I interviewed believed wholeheartedly that Urbana could kickstart a generation of world-shaking servants.

Urbana also provides unique opportunities for some of the brightest minds in missions to sit side by side. Among others, I spoke to CEOs, NASA engineers, technology entrepreneurs, and even Hollywood scriptwriters, all of whom provided enlightening reminders of what it means to follow Christ in every field imaginable.

This conference brought people together. Sharp minds collaborated on technology that could change the face of missions. Christians from creative access countries were met with emphatic applause, not oppressive orders to stop, when they explained their work. Young believers signed on with organizations that could change their own lives and countless others. Brothers and sisters in Christ cried into one another’s arms as they shared the movement of the Gospel in their lives.

The conference walked through Revelation and the seven letters sent to seven churches. Each reminder of what the Church could become was met with open hearts and considerate minds. The prophecies of Revelation might not have a timeline, but for now, Urbana 18 indicates that the Church’s future could be one of partnership and community.

Urbana exists to encourage young believers to glean what they can from a wide field of resources and understanding. Urbana 18 helped kickstart missions movements in this generation. In this reporter’s mind, the community and devotion to God seen in conferences like this one inspire can shake the world.

Pray about what part you could play in the movement of missions during 2019. Ask God how you can support workers and thinkers at the forefront of missions.

And most of all, thank Him for a rising generation taking their place as workers seeking the harvest.