God is calling new people to His Church. What is our role in teaching them about God and His truth?
Forty-two years ago God the Father called me into His Church and opened my mind to the truth. I had not heard of Herbert Armstrong, The World Tomorrow broadcast, the true Church of God or read any of the Church's literature.
The groundwork was laid two years earlier when I was simply sitting in a class during my sophomore year with a student who was very impressive to me.
To begin with, the student was Austrian, and he had a distinct accent. I had lived in Europe for a couple of years after high school and because of that experience I noticed when people had a German or French accent. And second, he wore a suit and tie every day to class. He was very different, in a good way, from my friends and me.
I didn't come across this fellow again until my senior year in college.
The Challenge
It was early January 1968, and my friends and I were sitting in my university's student center between classes having a coffee and talking about, of all things, Noah's ark and how impossible it would have been for Noah to get all those animals on an ark.
We were also discussing various aspects of evolution, when one of my friends mentioned that there was a guy sitting to my right at another table who did not believe in evolution. This was unbelievable to me at the time, and I asked my friend to point this person out to me.
He pointed to the Austrian fellow who was in my class two years earlier.
I couldn't resist, so I went over to his table and introduced myself and asked him if I could join him for a cup of coffee and ask him a question or two. He said yes, so I sat down and promptly told him that I had heard that he didn't believe in evolution. He confirmed what my friend had told me. Then I asked, "Where have you been for four years of college? How could you miss evolution?"
He paused and said, "I detect an argumentative tone and attitude in your question," in his precise Austrian accent. Then he said, "I have a challenge for you. I have studied evolution, but you have not studied what I have studied. I challenge you to read some of the material I have on the subject, and then we can have an intelligent conversation about it."
I accepted his challenge, and the next day he brought me several pieces of Church literature discussing evolution to read and study. At that very moment—that second—God the Father called me and opened my mind to want to study the truth about evolution. The rest is history, as I have been a baptized member of God's Church for over 41 years.
Being Ready to Give an Answer
The lesson I have come to learn and to understand as a result of my calling is that we are in partnership with God the Father and Jesus Christ in the work of God.
As we know, John 6:44 tells us, "No one can come to Me [Christ] unless the Father, who sent Me, draws [calls] him; and I [Christ] will raise him up at the last day." And in verse 65 He reinforces this fact by saying, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."
Our job is to make the gospel, the good newsThe good news of God's everlasting kingdom to be established on earth after Christ's return and how we may be a part of that kingdom. This message was central to the teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles. The term is used about 100 times in the New Testament . of the coming Kingdom of God, available to others by encouraging mankind to repent of their sins and by announcing the return of Jesus Christ to bring real peace to the earth.
Additionally, we as God's people need to be growing and overcoming—becoming more and more Christlike daily—so we can be used by God and Jesus Christ as servant leaders in the Kingdom of God.
With that being said, my Austrian friend was the instrument God the Father used to call me to the truth.There was a broadcast back then. There was literature back then, and there were Church congregations back then—one in the town in which I lived, in fact. But I didn't know about them until God brought me over to talk with Ed Bodo, a baptized member of what was then the Radio Church of God.
We need to be ready, as my Austrian friend was, to answer questions wisely and to properly and wisely defend the faith, as he did, because you and I will never know in advance when God will use us as an instrument of His calling.
The apostle Paul admonished the Church members in Corinth—and you and me as well—to make themselves ready to be good examples of God's way of life and be able to be fellow workers, coworkers, with God. "For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building" (1 Corinthians 3:9).
A Lesson From Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
The account of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-35 shows us a biblical example of this partnership. "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' This is a desert place.
"And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
"And the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over and join this chariot.' So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?' And he said, 'How can I, unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
"Now the passage of the ScriptureThe divinely inspired writings of both the Old and New Testaments. The term Scripture is used in the New Testament to refer to both the Hebrew Bible (Luke 24:44-45) and the new apostolic writings accepted as inspired (2 Peter 3:16; 1 Timothy 5:18). that he was reading was this: 'Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.'
"And the eunuch said to Philip, 'About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?' Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this ScriptureThe divinely inspired writings of both the Old and New Testaments. The term Scripture is used in the New Testament to refer to both the Hebrew Bible (Luke 24:44-45) and the new apostolic writings accepted as inspired (2 Peter 3:16; 1 Timothy 5:18). he told him the good newsThe good news of God's everlasting kingdom to be established on earth after Christ's return and how we may be a part of that kingdom. This message was central to the teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles. The term is used about 100 times in the New Testament . about Jesus" (English Standard Version).
Philip didn't force himself on the eunuch. He simply asked him if he understood what he was reading. He let the eunuch talk; and when asked, he clearly answered the eunuch's questions.
God uses many circumstances and instruments to call people into the truth. I know of one man who worked for many years in Pasadena who came across Church literature during his work as a garbage collector.
New people will be called and are being called to God's Church. Our job is to help nurture and guide them with love and wisdom to a deeper and clearer understanding of the truth.
When new people ask questions regarding God's truth, point them to the Church's Web site, www.ucg.org , where they will find resources that can answer their questions in detail.
If you have Church literature of your own that can help clarify a question, share this information with them and challenge them to read and study the information rather than try to explain everything yourself. After a new person has studied the booklet or article, then you are in a better position to either assist with an explanation or point them to the ministry.
Always remember, only God the Father can call a person into the truth. It is after a person is called by the Father that we have our part to do.
Just as 1 Peter 3:15 instructs us, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." UN
