ter school lets out. The staff come to Haus Benjamin around 3:30, and then soon after, the kids arrive. Usually the afternoon starts with soccer on the street (if it´s dry outside), and concludes with games, a message, and dinner. In total, the program is 3 hours long, which is a great time to connect with the kids. For some reason, only boys have been coming--no doubt because they´re pretty crazy sometimes and hard to handle. If I (Michelle) was a kid, the boys would intimidate me, too.One of the coolest parts is that these boys are primarily Muslim. I mean, we feed them pork-free sausage and everything. They aren´t allowed to read the Bible. They aren´t allowed to pray with us. But every week they hear about Jesus.
Daniel is now responsible for the program on Friday, which means that we both take time to prepare the message every week. A few weeks ago, we were convinced that it was time to share the Gospel message. But we thought, "Wait. How can we do this without the kids walking away and never coming back again?" We were wrestling with the issue of sharing the message directly, or sharing everything a little more vague because we´re new and don´t have strong relationships yet with the kids. The next morning, God brought gave us an answer through Scripture. Paul writes that he has shared the Gospel without reservation, and therefore, is not guilty of any man´s blood. So that´s exactly what we did.
We explained the problem of sin and told the story of Christ´s crucifixion. We showed clips from The Passion of the Christ. We told them that Christ wanted to be personal and real in their lives. We even invited them to pray. Of course, when you invite a group of kids to pray, many of them seem distracted and it´s hard to know what God is doing in their hearts. But one 12-year-old began to ask questions.
"How does Jesus and his death affect me? How is does it become personal? Do I have to sign a contract or something so I can be a part of it?"
Daniel and our ministry leader took time to answer questions and explain how the Gospel differs from what is stated in the Koran. He was open and obviously moved by Jesus´ sacrifice. Of course, if he would decide to live for God, he would be alienated from this community and family. For these kids, discipleship comes at a steep price.
In the end, the boy took a plate of food and said he would come back the next week. It encouraged us so much to know that this boy had heard the Gospel for the first time and wanted to know more. No matter what someone´s background, the Gospel is powerful. As Paul writes,"...it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16).
