Starting Points

Pastor Duck's Weekly Column

Taiwan Church News 2666, April 6, 2003

Translated by David Alexander

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news of Jesus. (Acts 8:35)

   Taiwan's elementary and middle school students carry heavy book bags to and from class.  In Siao-mei's class one girl's bag contains a big black Bible.  Siao-mei is a Christian, but she doesn't carry her Bible to and from class. One day she asked her classmate why she added such a heavy weight to her already heavy burden.  The classmate answered, "In case a person asks me about Jesus, I can take out my bible and show them, so that they might be saved.  In the Acts 8:35 in the Bible the story of Philip was like that.  Let me show you in my Bible."

   After hearing her classmate's reason for carrying the Bible, Siao-mei thought, "Am I or am I not a Christian?"  The next time she went to church, she asked her pastor, "Do you often carry a Bible with you so you can testify to people and lead them to salvation?"  The pastor answered, "That's not how I operate."  Siao-mei followed up by asking, "If you don't have a Bible in your hand, how can you testify that Jesus is the Messiah like Philip did on that road?"  The pastor replied, "Philip showed that Jesus was the Messiah because that's what the man in the chariot asked him.  He began at the place where the question began. With most people who ask me about faith, I listen carefully to their questions, and based on those I decide what they need.  If I started talking to them directly from a Bible, I think most of them would run away."

   When Siao-mei went back to school, she told her friends and classmates about her church youth group's plans for a Worship and Praise concert and invited them to attend.

Prayer: Lord, help us to discern people's starting points, and begin there to tell them the good news about Jesus.  AMEN