Throughout December I continued the series that I have started on the Gospel of Luke. It’s fantastic to see how the whole book is pointing forward to Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem where he would die for the sins of his people.
One of the Sundays in December we had a Christmas church potluck to which we invited family, friends and people in the community to hear a gospel message. This year one of the brothers in the church gave a message with the title, “The message of Christmas to our secular Sweden,” in which he pointed out the emptiness of secularism and the hope in Christ. It was encouraging to see that people from around 20 different nationalities showed up (still, there are 144 nationalities represented in our area). Pray that the Lord would open up the hearts of many of the unbelievers that came.
In terms of outreaches, we continue with the evangelism at the international market. Last time we were there, we meet a man that professed to be a Jehovah’s Witness. After one of the brothers shared the gospel with him and explained why Jehovah’s witnesses are wrong from a biblical point of view, he said that he will stop going there and start to go to his friend’s church. We invited him to come to our church plant and he said he was interested in coming, but so far he hasn’t showed up.
We have also started to go to the refugee arrival center on the outskirts of Gothenburg where we give out clothes and toys, and of course share the gospel and give out New Testaments. The first time we went there, the majority of the people we meet were from Afghanistan and the Iranian brother in our church plant had a wonderful time sharing with Afghani refugees that where eager to listen to the gospel. Next time we were there it was more Syrian refugees and the next Sunday service we had both an Iraqi and a Syrian refugee showing up to church. That Sunday my wife’s parents happened to be visiting and could take care of our kids so that Hannah could translate for the two visitors while I preached a sermon on the gospel. With all the refugees that have poured into the country over the last year, we have found a greater receptivity than before among Arabic speakers in receiving New Testaments. Pray for the Lord to open many hearts to the gospel.