Each summer, thousands of children eagerly take part in one of Gospel for Asia’s Vacation Bible School programs. And as one VBS team found out just a few weeks ago, sometimes there are unexpected visitors. In a West Bengal village, amid paddy fields and pastures for grazing, this team of five GFA missionaries received a warm welcome for their VBS program. The staff of a GFA Bridge of Hope center in the area made special arrangements for an outdoor pavilion.
The visiting team began the program with songs. Drawn by the music, about 120 children and parents gathered. Continuing the program, the team noticed a group of young men a little way from the stage consuming alcoholic beverages and playing card games. At various points, the men shot negative, disturbed looks at the missionaries.
In the break after the morning session, the VBS team joined in prayer for the young men, then walked over to share the Gospel with them. Although the men mocked and poked fun at them, the missionaries patiently told about Jesus’ love and sacrifice for them on the cross. Toward the end of the conversation, a few of the men got up and walked away. This grieved the missionaries, but they persevered and led in prayer for the remaining listeners.
When they asked the young men to join them for lunch, their invitation was accepted. Through the jokes they shared and their stories of God’s work in their lives, the missionaries built rapport with the group, and the visitors began sharing their own stories. For most of them, their only job was to collect taxes on vehicles. Much of their daily lives was spent smoking and drinking alcohol, and they felt that life was meaningless.
The missionaries knew Jesus could fill their lives with purpose and were delighted when the young men participated in the afternoon VBS session, even singing along with the children. And as the men listened intently to the teaching that followed, they saw how, indeed, their lives could take on a whole new direction because of Jesus.
They approached the missionaries before they left that evening, saying that they wished to stop drinking and to begin their lives afresh. They also yearned to know more about Jesus. Could the missionaries pray for them, they asked? The men bowed their heads as the VBS team gladly prayed for them. As they watched the team drive off, the young men’s eyes shone with tears of gratitude.
Thank God for the perseverance He gave this VBS team to reach out to men secretly longing for a different life. Please pray that the missionaries and believers living in this village in West Bengal, India, will be able to effectively follow up with these young men, and that Jesus would be very real to them—and their true source of significance. Pray also for the salvation of all those that attended the VBS program that day.