Ministry of the Kingdom

Every weekend, Clement (C) and David (D) would meet up with several Burmese people, who are in Malaysia to find a living. Sometimes, C and D would bring them out for a meal, a movie, or window shopping. C and D never had any hidden agenda - no intention of preaching the gospel in its propositional form, no intention of bringing them to church, no intention of setting up an infrastructure for a 'proper' Burmese 'ministry in the church etc. Each time C and D goes out with the Burmese people, each shares his own story, happenings and struggles with the rest. They talk, they joke, they laugh. Eventually, the Burmese people no longer see C and D as merely Christians, but as their...friends.

Sometimes the Burmese people would take the initiative to call C or D to chat with them, or even invite them over for a self-prepared meal. Nevertheless, there was no statistics of converts to show, and the church leaders often wondered whether the resources spent by C and D on them were justifiable. Sadly, the wonderful things that happened: beautiful friendships being forged, life stories being intertwined, lives being touched by the love of C and D, were things that could not be put on paper or be seen in a visible way. Expectedly, the church was never fully supportive of the 'ministry' of C and D.

Every weekend, Samuel (S) and Alex (A), who are from the same church as C and D, would meet up with several Pakistanis who are also in Malaysia to find a living. For the first few times, S and A brought them out for meals. After getting to know them better, S and A invited them to church, telling them that they themselves are offering guitar and English lessons in the church, hoping that the Pakistanis would be attracted by these bonuses to come to church. The Pakistanis were overjoyed and started to attend the lessons in the church. After each lesson, S and A would grab the opportunity to preach the gospel to them, encouraging them and sometimes persuading them to become Christians.

Eventually, after much persuasion, the Pakistanis became Christians, but for various reasons. Some hoped that they will receive even better treatment if they become Christians. Some felt obliged to agree since they have already accepted benefits (in the form of the lessons) from these Christians. S and A were overjoyed as well, and announced it over the pulpit the following week of the good news, and the whole church was pleased with their result.

S and A continued to take care of these new Christians, fetching them to church every weekend without fail, teaching them English and guitar and nurturing them through discipleship classes. Yet, strangely, their relationship with S and A never developed beyond superficiality. The only occasions that the Pakistanis would contact S or A was when they were in need of something. They would never call S or A for a casual conversation or invite them over for a meal. Even though beautiful friendships were never forged, life stories were never intertwined, lives were never touched; yet, the church continued to be pleased and supportive of their ministry because of the statistics and results that S and A could show the church.

Most Christians remain in the kingdom of God and call out to people from the kingdom of the world to cross the line to join them. Only a few are willing to cross the line into the kingdom of the world and bring the kingdom of God to the people there.

Ministry of the Kingdom, which one?