HELPING OUT DOWN UNDER
A Bridges Summer Mission offers help in Australia, and various nationalities are blessed.
By Jim Morud
A petite student from East Asia named Claire felt sadly alone while standing on the massive green space at Sydney University. As one of just a few Christians at her home university, she’d often stood alone. But now a pall of loneliness shrouded her heart.
Claire whispered a prayer, asking God to help her. And then she was surprised to see a young lady wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with key statements from the “Four Spiritual Laws.” “I know about that!” Claire exclaimed, cheerfully approaching the stranger.
POSITIVE MISHAP
Olivia Morud, a Bridges summer mission participant from Portland, Oregon, had slipped into that T-shirt after spilling coffee on another shirt. She was amazed to realize her mishap was used by God to connect her with a Christian who had heard the gospel in her homeland through the Four Laws.
Claire, meanwhile, had been urged to seek out “Power to Change,” Bridges International’s partner ministry in Australia, when she got to Sydney in pursuit of a master’s degree. Olivia arranged for her to meet Ash Wilson, the P2C director at her new school, and Claire promptly told Wilson, “I’m here to help.”
ANNUAL ENDEAVOR
That remark coincidentally echoed the theme for Olivia and 17 fellow Americans serving with the 2019 Sydney Summer Mission: “We’re here to help.” The annual Bridges summer endeavor aims to help P2C staff members and students in reaching out to the more than 40,000 international students at Sydney and Macquarie universities. In combination with P2C representatives, the Bridges staff and students engaged in 682 spiritual conversations, presented the gospel 78 times and assisted four students in making professions of faith.
The mission required major spiritual investments. “When we went out on the campus,” says Bridges staff member Heather Robbins, “our work was truly an overflow from our extended times of praying and fellowshipping in the Spirit.” As a result, international students on both campuses were impacted, as were the American project participants.
Slade, a first-year medical science student from South Asia, met Bridges’ Andrew Nielsen at Macquarie University. “We hit it off from the start,” recalls Andrew, a staff member at University of California, Davis. “I had prayed God would lead me to one person whose heart was ready to receive the gospel. Slade had been on a wild streak, but now he was seeking God. I’d never met a person so ready to receive Christ, and he did. It was obvious that God had brought us together.”
Morgan Stewart, an American PhD student in audiology, had never shared Jesus with her South Asian friends at Central Michigan University. But she got a helpful nudge from Victoria, a vibrant Christian student at Macquarie who comes from South Asia. “She has no freedom to share Christ in her home country,” Morgan says, “but she joyfully talks about Him here in Australia. Victoria has helped me realize I need to make the most of opportunities I have in America to freely share Him with my South Asian friends.”
FULFILLED PURPOSE
Clearly, the 2019 edition of the Sydney Summer Mission fulfilled the purpose of this partnership Down Under. “The Bridges people bring enthusiasm and a can-do attitude,” says Jerusha Kerraker, an American staff member who is serving with P2C. “Australians are earnest about sharing the gospel, and the international students are very open to listening. The Sydney mission is an opportunity for all to help and to be helped.”
At least four cultures had gathered around a dining table in South Korea: Bridges staff members from the U.S., their colleagues from Korea and Australia, and a group of “returnees”—former Bridges students who had returned to their East Asian homeland with a desire to serve our Lord.
During dinner, we learned that Korean culture says there’s no better way to know that seafood is fresh than to cook it alive. Though some in our group probably felt uneasy about this custom, no one said a word as we watched an octopus try to escape boiling waters near our table.
Perhaps the other diners simply wanted to be respectful of the host culture. But for me, there was another reason to remain quiet: the cooking style served as a reminder of persecution in a nearby nation that has recently turned up the heat on believers.
Our group had gathered to learn from our returnees and to encourage them to remain faithful to Jesus. So we listened carefully to a man named Wang who began by summarizing his experience in America. “I came to Christ while studying on the East Coast,” he said, “but it was during a year of work that I truly connected with Bridges. I grew tremendously in that year.”
Wang next summarized his experience after returning to Asia: he found a church through other returnees but he also encountered strong opposition from family members, friends and his government.
Regardless of persecution, Wang and his fellow returnees showed no sign of crawling away from their calling. As he said, “Being together showed me that you have not forgotten us! Missionaries came to our nation 200 years ago to start evangelization, and now it’s my turn to share in that work. God sent me home for a reason; there is a mission for my life.”
Trae Vacek has served as Bridges’ National Director since 2010. He and his wife, Melissa, have four children
Religion, culture and family are thoroughly interwoven in many regions of South Asia. As a result, a South Asian who declares faith in Jesus may send an unintended message of rejecting his or her relational roots. How can such a new believer weather the storms of persecution and remain loyal to Jesus while rebuilding family ties?
An annual gathering of Hindu background believers has helped to meet its participants’ needs for encouragement, prayer and training in outreach. The sixth such gathering, held over Memorial Day weekend, attracted the largest group ever—more than 60 followers of Jesus.
Bridges’ South Asian Network is a co-sponsor of “Jesus Celebration,” working alongside a volunteer team of Hindu background believers. This year’s event focused on “Being Salt and Light,” and the program allowed attendees to share testimonies that would encourage others along their discipleship paths.
One of the most dramatic stories at this year’s gathering was told by a man named Raj. Born in a small Indian village and raised by a Hindu priest, Raj encountered an outdoor showing of the “JESUS” film one day as he walked home to the temple. After this exposure, he continued to investigate the truth of the gospel. When he ultimately placed his faith in Jesus, he was disowned by his family and kicked out of his home.
Raj was taken in by a local Muslim family and, remarkably enough, the members of that family eventually placed their faith in Christ. Today, Raj is receiving theological education at a U.S. seminary, and he dreams of taking the gospel back to India.