We had the privilege of having Jon and Gabby Tirla as our speakers on Sunday. As you may know, this past October, a team of five people from LifeSpring had an opportunity to go on a missions trip to Greece. As part of that time, we ran a trauma care workshop out of a centre called Peace House. Peace House is a short walk from the refugee camp on Lesbos island. Jon and Gabby are the leaders of the ministry at Peace House, and hosted us during our team’s trip. Personally, I was so encouraged to have Jon and Gabby here at LifeSpring this past weekend. They were such a blessing to our team during our time in Greece, and only a few weeks later, they had an opportunity to visit our church family in Toronto! God’s timing is perfect.
As I listened to Jon and Gabby share, a word that came to mind was “seeds.” This may be a familiar idea already as our church theme this year is fruitfulness. We’ve talked about the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, where the seed is the word about the kingdom of God (verse 19). During Jon and Gabby’s sharing, the idea of such seeds came to mind.
First, Jon and Gabby shared their testimonies about how they came to desire to be missionaries. Jon shared about how God turned his life around, and began to give him a passion for the Afghan people. He shared about hearing from a missionary who put out a call to serve in Afghanistan. God was already planting seeds of the kingdom in Jon’s heart, that would eventually bring the Tirla’s to serve as long-term missionaries among Afghan people.
Second, Gabby shared a bit about the ministry at Peace House that our missions team had an opportunity to be a part of in October. For the refugees, the journey to Greece can be long and filled with challenges and uncertainty. For some, visiting Peace House is one of the first places of safety they have encountered on their journey. Gabby shared about how some of the refugees that visit the centre sometimes rush to a chair and sit down once they arrive. For those living in the camp, besides their own bed, they often don’t have a decent place to sit comfortably. Peace House offers them a rare place of welcome.
As Gabby shared about their work, she mentioned that sharing the gospel is like sowing seeds. For me, this brought to mind something that Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 3:6. He says about his own ministry that, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow.” Paul understood that even in his own ministry, he may be responsible for planting the seed, but it truly was God who caused that seed to grow.
Finally, is God planting seeds in your own heart, to respond in some way? If so, allow God to cause such seeds to grow. As Paul described in the verse above, it is God who caused the seed to grow. As we continue to learn about ministry among refugees, let’s continue to allow God to not only plant seeds in our hearts, but to cause such seeds to grow, by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us.