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New Believers Becoming Evangelists in Tonga

from Neil O’Boyle, Asia-Pacific Area Director

On a small island in the Pacific, something seems to be happening. Be encouraged as you to take a moment to discover what God is doing.

tonga1It started with 12 people on a two day Youth for Christ training course in evangelism. After the training, they were told to pair up, walk the streets for one hour and share their faith as they had been trained during the course.

In that one hour, eight people were presented with the Gospel, and four came to Christ.  One boy who came to faith said he felt “different” like he had a “new life”.

The following day, the team went out again and three more came to Christ. One person made a re-commitment to Christ. One of the evangelists went to find his uncle and shared with him and his cousin and they both made decisions to follow Jesus.

The team returned to the homes of three people who had invited them the day before to come and share more. On doing so, the entire family of one house came to faith.

tonga2

A girl was presented the Gospel and received Jesus on the Tuesday through one of the team members sharing on the street. They discipled her on the Thursday and encouraged her to share her faith. The very next day she led a person to Christ, creating three generations of Christians in less than a week.

Not content with the streets, they started to use the same approach in the Youth for Christ English language classes, and again people came to faith.

They were then allowed to share in a school, where 52 students turned up to the lunch club. Twelve made decisions and are now being discipled and trained to share their new faith.

They stopped a drunken 14 year old boy on the road, and shared with him. Days later when he had sobered up, he accepted Christ and is now delving into the Scriptures.

In just two weeks, dozens have come to faith.

It is not so much the numbers of people who are coming to faith that is so remarkable, but the speed at which people are receiving the Gospel, responding to it, being discipled, being trained to share their own new faith and then being sent back out to then see the cycle continue.

So what’s the secret? Honestly, there really is no fancy training method or special evangelistic trick involved. Students are taught to share five bible verses with anyone who might listen, ask five questions, share their own story and ask then them if they would like to receive Christ.

Perhaps the icing on the cake to the recent events in Tonga came when one of the evangelists was driving down the road, saw two people, stopped the car, jumped out and went through the process of five verses, five questions and his story. One of the two accepted Christ there and then; the other looked horrified. They were both Mormon evangelists. That day one of them became a follower of Jesus Christ!