Sharing Christ through presence and story in Athens
Equipped with a growing “heart Bible,” JP Lindsey is ready to share God’s Word anywhere: during leadership trainings in Africa, on a bus with a Filipino congregation, at a dinner for Persian refugees or around a breakfast table.
In between travels to Africa, JP lives in Athens at an AVC ministry house, helping run outreach dinners, Bible studies and English lessons. As he does, he draws from his “Heart Bible,” a bank of Bible stories he is ready to share from memory at any moment. When OneWay writer Marianne Kiel visited JP in Athens, she had her own Heart Bible ready, and the two of them taught the story of Nicodemus during ministry programs.
“The point of Heart Bible for the Nations is that we can internalize the Word of God so that we’re ready to speak it out at any moment,” Kiel says. “So when JP is called on to teach, he’s ready to go without much thought. The Bible is in his mouth and in his heart. One Sunday, when JP’s church went on a trip and asked him to preach during the bus ride, he was ready to tell the story of Jesus resurrecting the widow’s son from Luke 7. Then he engaged everyone in retelling the story just like he teaches other leaders to do.”
When JP isn’t teaching, he is cooking for other staff and volunteers or mopping floors after a program. Oftentimes, he says, it isn’t the teachings that draw people to Christ but the way people see Christ’s love displayed. JP describes it as a “presence ministry:”
“Jesus said, ‘They will know you are mine by your love for one another.’ Everyone in the neighborhood, all the people in the [ministry] center, know we’re Christians, so when they want to know what a Christian is, they look at us and they see. What is Christ’s reputation here? People see us and know, ‘I went there and they gave me food and they smiled.’
Everyone in the house pitches in from start to finish to cook, clean, and meet community needs, so that their work is characterized by a unified, life-together mission as they display Christ’s love despite cultural and language barriers. Morning devotions, mealtimes, ministry and rest are a mix of English, Farsi, Swiss German, Spanish and Arabic, and JP has picked up at least a little of each, even translating his own heart Bible into Farsi when he can.
His life there embodies this global movement that empowers people from dozens of nations, tribes and tongues to speak and teach Scripture. With their heart Bibles, they speak a sort of language that resonates with people of any cultural context: the stories of God’s Word.
 "Walking Bibles" are prepared to speak the Word of God wherever they are. How could knowing the stories of Scripture better equip you to encourage, teach, evangelize and disciple? Learn to know and tell the stories of the Bible with this guide from OneWay's Heart Bible for the Nations. As you do, let us know how your heart Bible is growing!  |