Region / Country: Latin America
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
No better decision
Evangelism. You only hear the word and your heart-rate rises. You think of a million reasons to just walk away. They’ll think you’re crazy. They won’t be interested. You won’t know the answers. It will be awkward.
In 2011, something happened to change that all-too-familiar experience. UCCF Great Britain launched Uncover – a series of Gospel studies to help students and their friends discover more about Jesus and the life He offers.
Few things have changed students’ attitude to evangelism in such a dramatic way as Uncover. What’s special about the resource is that it has given ordinary students around the world the confidence to open the Bible with their friends and introduce them to Jesus.
Taty and Karol are students in Ecuador. Taty was a Christian; Karol wasn’t. We asked them to share the story of their friendship and Uncover journey.
Talking to Taty
Taty, how did you hear about Uncover?
I found out about Uncover through CECE, the national movement in Ecuador. It was being recommended as a more personal, interactive, evangelistic resource. It sounded like a great way to help your friends discover Jesus.
Why did you decide to ask Karol to read Uncover with you?
We were waiting for the bus. I heard Karol and another friend talking about faith. They turned to me and asked me what I thought. I talked to them a bit about what I believe and it occurred to me to invite them to look into it with me. I felt a little nervous and afraid that they’d reject my invitation or wouldn’t be interested. But it went better than I’d expected! They were very enthusiastic!
Taty
How did you find going through the Uncover studies together?
We had a good time! We went through the questions in Uncover and they came with their own questions as well. Sometimes I didn’t know how to answer, but then we’d go away and find out more and discuss it again the next time. Towards the end of the series, we were talking about salvation and Karol asked me how she could be saved. I explained that it’s a personal decision and suggested Karol use her own words to pray to accept the Lord.
Why would you recommend using Uncover?
Because it’s an excellent and interactive way to present Jesus to someone. And because it invites you to think about faith in a different way, using the Gospels as research texts. This allows people to see that following Jesus is not just a religion.
It was a very beautiful experience because I could accompany others as they discovered Jesus. And in the end one of them made a faith decision! Another of the best things was that through doing the studies we developed a very good and lasting friendship. It fills me with joy to know that God can use you as His instrument when you least expect it – and that is only by His grace.
Talking to Karol
Karol, how did you meet Taty, and what was your impression of her?
I met Taty while I was with a friend. We were talking about faith and some doubts that I had. Taty came up and clarified some of those doubts and then told us about the relationship she had with Jesus. She showed a lot of honesty with us and that was what impressed me. She didn’t know us well, but she opened up and was transparent with us.
What was your impression of the Christian faith before you did Uncover?
From a very young age I was Catholic because my parents were Catholic. I had in my mind a far-away God who punished me for the bad things I do. I didn’t know much about the Bible or Jesus.
Why did you agree to read Uncover with Taty?
Because she managed to transmit confidence and security. She answered my questions, and when she didn’t know the answer she was sincere. She told me to find out or she would ask someone herself. I liked that. She was very honest with me.
How did you find doing Uncover?
Increasingly I wanted to know what was going to happen next or what Jesus was going to do. And each time I admired Him more. I loved seeing that in each context He came in different ways.
What surprised you about the person of Jesus?
That He is a son, a brother and above all a friend. His humility in every step he took. The way He expressed Himself and talked to people and answered with tranquillity. The value He gave to each person and His selfless love for all.
What impacted me the most was seeing that He already knew the need of the paralytic. I never thought that someone could do that. And even now every time I remember that study of the paralytic and his friends I am very happy, because I know Jesus knows what it is I really need.
What was it that made you decide to become a Christian?
The same feeling of knowing that there is someone who knows what I need and above all who loves me despite everything; knowing that there is still hope in Him.
How has your life changed since you became a Christian?
My life has changed so much. And as I said on my first birthday of being a Christian, I feel that this year has been one of the best years, one of the years in which I felt calm in my life. Whatever happens, I do not want to be separated from God.
It has also changed the way I speak. I am quite a shy person, but God has been working on that. Thanks to CECE I have had opportunities to talk to people about God, and to put aside my fears. Now I serve in my church with young people. I am excited to know that young people can, like me, know God personally in different and fun ways. I’m praying for my father, who is not a Christian, to know the God of love and not of rules.
I could not have made a better decision in my life than to follow Christ. Every day in every little detail He shows me His love.
Uncover goes global
The Uncover resource is now being used by many IFES national movements around the world. Translations are available in almost 30 different languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Indonesian and Hebrew. Uncover Luke was launched in 2011, Uncover John in 2014 and Uncover Mark in 2018.
Talk to your national movement to find out if there are copies available in your language or visit http://www.uncover.org.uk/ to find out more.
Why I’m in the Circle of Silence
Sunday, 10am, blue sky, 21°C. The morning sunshine lights up rows of brightly-coloured houses. The shops are just opening up for the day, but already there’s a cheerful bustle in the streets. Tourists clutching selfie-sticks meander around the historic city, trying to take it all in: the 23 metre-high aqueduct, the 17th century architecture, the vineyards, the mountains. The locals, familiar with their idyllic surroundings, are busy going about their weekend errands or heading to church for morning Mass. This is Querétaro: beautiful, vibrant, alive.
Yet Querétaro lies in an area of Mexico known by Christians as: ‘the Circle of Silence’. Despite persistent missionary effort, the region has proved notoriously difficult to penetrate with the gospel, and the percentage of evangelical Christians remains very low.
Querétaro is home to Monica, a staff worker with COMPA Mexico. She shared her reflections on doing student ministry in the Circle of Silence.
Closed doors
“The spiritual climate of the university is hard. There is a lot of opposition, a lot of indifference. Most students come from very Catholic families. Finding any who call themselves Christians is difficult. And when you find them, some do not respond to the call to share Jesus – they’re not interested; they’re not committed. Many don’t want to do evangelism because they’re afraid of rejection in such a heavily Catholic environment.
Photo by Dennis Schrader on Unsplash
Such was the case of a Christian student we met at the university. We talked about COMPA and what we did, and he seemed to respond well. But when we began the training he told us this was not what he wanted to do; he appreciated our support, but he didn’t want to start a Bible study group.
We invited another student to join the ministry. She said that she was already serving in her church. She was going to pray about whether she should start a Bible study group. But I never heard back from her.
It is difficult to meet with these kinds of responses. They discourage us and make us wonder if we should continue at all. It hurts us to see that in the Circle of Silence, it’s common to experience opposition and rejection from both non-Christians and Christians.
Photo by Naassom Azevedo on Unsplash
Why I am here
It’s in these moments that I question the Lord’s call and wonder if I’m in the right place. But that’s when God, in His faithfulness and grace, leads me back to the reason why I am here:
“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” John 6:40 [NIV]
This is His will. God has put me and a team of workers in this area with the purpose of making His Son known, so that students may have eternal life. That’s why we stay. Even though the environment is hostile to the gospel and often the responses of students discourage us, the Lord helps us to persevere. We have confident hope that there will be some here who respond to the invitation to follow Jesus and proclaim His Word in the university.
Voices raised for Jesus
Praise God – there are small encouragements along the way. I was looking at the Bible with one student recently, and he responded: “If I want to do mission and see my friends change, I first need to let God change me.” Another student came along to an evangelistic event COMPA put on and told me: “This is what I need: to surround myself with people who help me to know Jesus and His Word.”
It’s encouraging to see that, in a context of religiosity and indifference to the gospel, God is at work here, changing the hearts of students. I am learning to see and trust His sovereignty in this region. My desire is to see more students meeting Jesus – the real Jesus who transforms lives, who brings hope, who fills the spiritual void that exists in the university. May there be many students in this generation who raise their voice for Jesus in the Circle of Silence!”
Please join us in praying that the gospel would take root and transform the universities of the Circle of Silence.
Latin America
Jesus in 90 minutes
15 students. 3 rehearsals. 16 chapters in 90 minutes.
Students have been performing The Mark Drama for more than ten years. From Brazil to Belgium, from Chile to Latvia, the impact of The Mark Drama has been tremendous.
The concept is simple. 15 students without props, costumes, training or microphones, acting out the gospel of Mark. They memorise the sequence of the events of Jesus’ life, and then improvise the lines. They rehearse. They invite their friends to come. And then they let God’s Word do the rest.
The first performance of The Mark Drama took place in 2004 in Austria. It’s since been performed by Christian student groups around the globe, as students have passed on the vision to others. Groups with more experience have helped out those putting it on for the first time.
The Mark Drama leaves a lasting impression on the actors as well as the audience. The gospel story comes to life for them in a fresh way. Students from across the world who’ve recently been involved in The Mark Drama performances shared their reflections.
SMD Germany
Kathi, special needs education student; actor (Pharisee)
Every week I met with one of my fellow actors to talk through the chapters and to learn the most important titles of each chapter by heart. And that was really one of the main things in experiencing the drama: studying the structure of God’s word to be able to remember it during the drama. Weeks after the performance I still pictured certain scenes when a person talked about any passage from Mark or what Jesus did when he walked on this earth. Suddenly the book is not just a story but you remember your own experience with it.
I would not want to miss this experience and I would do it again, for there is still more to learn.
GEU Guatemala
Raul, engineering student; director
Having the opportunity to direct is special because you get to enjoy every detail of what the actors are learning and you see it transforming them. It was beautiful to see students coming from different parts of the country to form one group of actors. For some it was their first time to get involved in a GEU project. Putting on The Mark Drama was instrumental in reviving student work in this region and encouraging students to do mission. It was performed to a room full of students. Many were interested to know more about the movement. Each person there had the opportunity to see Jesus’ miracles, to navigate through rough waters, to experience the multiplication of bread and fish. Every word of Mark came to life!
InterVarsity USA
Seth, mechanical engineering student; actor (Jesus)
The “Crucify Him” scene — how can I even describe it? Being in the midst of friends and classmates — people I’d spent the last two years of my life with — screaming for my death; and then knowing that if anyone deserved to be in the position Jesus was in, it was me. The only reason I don’t have to stand there in real life is because the God of the universe, who made the moon and stars, decided that he himself would stand in for me. Even now several months later I can’t talk about this without breaking down in tears of gratitude.
ABUB Brazil
Débora, international relations student; actor
When I decided to participate, I had no idea what was really waiting for me. It’s amazing how each moment had something special. I already knew the gospel of Mark but was surprised by how much I learned through this experience.
We ended up doing the second performance in a college, well-known for its aversion to the gospel. Then on the same day there was news of a planned attack in the building. It was unrelated to us, but even so, we weren’t sure whether to cancel the event or not. Our emotions intensified a thousand times! But we prayed and decided to move ahead. At the start of the performance there were only about 20 people in the audience. But by the end there were about 60 — many more people than we had expected, to the point that the chairs were not enough! We could hardly believe what God had done there. Many of them were touched and came to thank us for the presentation, speaking of the impact it had had on their lives.
AFES Australia
Sam, 1st year master’s student in teaching; actor (Jesus)
I’d acted in amateur theatre before, but at the end of a production I’d always had these useless lines in my head. It was so much better to finish a production and have Jesus’ words memorised! It’s been super helpful in Bible studies, conversations about Jesus, evangelism and my personal walk with Christ to know Mark’s Gospel so well. Playing the role of Jesus made me think much more about the words that I’d read so many times before — it forced me to think about what he really meant, and how he might have said them. It also gave me a greater appreciation of what Jesus went through — as he taught and lived with his disciples who took so long to understand (just like us!), as he was constantly challenged by the religious leaders of the day and how he struggled with knowing he would die and take on God’s wrath, and yet he still ultimately submitted to his Father’s will. Acting in The Mark Drama has left me with a greater understanding of who Jesus is, and what he has done for me.
God continues to use The Mark Drama both to strengthen Christian students around the world and to draw unbelievers to know him more. If you ever have the chance to watch it — or even better, to be in it — take it! It comes highly recommended by these students and plenty more who’ve been involved over the years.
If you’re interested in putting on The Mark Drama yourself then visit The Mark Drama website to find out more.
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Engaging with God’s Word in a busy world
How’s life? Busy!
We hear that a lot. It seems that today everyone is busy: on campus, at home, in the workplace. And IFES staff are no different. Rushing from one meeting to the next, from one activity to the next. Time with God can easily get squeezed. Before long, reading the Bible gets reduced to merely a tool for ministry. Eventually, weariness, discouragement and even spiritual staleness set in.
The IFES Scripture Engagement team doesn’t want that to happen. One of their priorities is to help staff stop and anchor themselves again in Christ and his good news. Ana Miriam Peralta, senior staff of COMPA Mexico, knows how crucial this is for the spiritual health of staff. That’s why she invited someone from the Scripture Engagement team to go to Mexico at the end of this week and help lead a 3-day retreat for 15 staff from the southern part of the country.
The aim of the retreat is for staff to spend quality time with God and to deepen their relationships with one another. It’s not a time of planning or organising. Rather, there will be times of silence to meditate on Scripture passages, of prayer, of sharing life in community, and of rest.
- Pray that the retreat would serve to encourage and renew the strength of the 15 COMPA staff members. Pray that God would speak to them through his Word and encourage them in their ministry.
- Pray for retreats run in other parts of the IFES world, in particular for the IFES Europe staff retreat 10-14 June 2019.
- Pray for Sabine Kalthoff and the rest of the Scripture Engagement team as they seek to awaken passion for Scripture engagement in national movements. Pray that Scripture would be central in all witness and mission, and effectively contextualised for students today.
If your national movement is interested in offering such retreats or in integrating one retreat day into an existing event, get in touch with the Scripture Engagement team.
Thanks for praying with us!
God’s light in Chiapas and “The Circle of Silence”
Jesús and his fiancée Jessie are medical students in the poor yet beautiful region of Chiapas, Mexico. Most of the students at their university are from local indigenous communities. It’s an unusual university in that all students must both speak and study a local dialect as part of their study. It’s one of the government’s strategies to encourage students to find jobs in indigenous communities after graduating.
Though there are few Christians on campus, for students like Jessie and Jesús, it’s the perfect missionary training. When they’re not language-learning or studying medicine, they’re busy leading the small COMPA Bible study group. You’ll often find Jesús walking around campus selling sweets. Every student he meets he invites to the Bible study. Jesús and Jessie long to see more people come to know the risen Christ this year.
Further north in Mexico, there’s a place known as “The Circle of Silence”, where the gospel has made very little progress. But even there, God is at work. Engineering student Sandra met COMPA staff a year ago and initially only seemed vaguely interested. But over the past year God has been growing her and giving her a new passion for his Word. This semester she started a Bible study group on campus – the first in the university – and has been excited to see one of her non-Christian friends coming along.
Join us in praying for Jesús, Jessie and Sandra as they lead Bible studies and bring God’s light to dark campuses in Mexico.
- Pray that through these groups many students would come to know Christ this year.
- Pray that Christian students in these challenging regions of Mexico would powerfully impact their churches and communities after they graduate.
Thanks for praying with us!