Dear Friends,
“Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
John 20:24-25
Doubt is something every person faces at one point or another. Luckily for us, we are in good company. The twelve disciples, those who walked most closely with Jesus, were marked with misunderstanding, disobedience, and of course, in Thomas’s case, doubt.
There are many things we may doubt. Perhaps we doubt God’s goodness or promises. Perhaps we doubt that our efforts for Christ will ever make a difference. Or perhaps we doubt if we really need to diligently share the Good News of Jesus. Thomas Turner, ruling elder at Deerfield Presbyterian Church, had his own “Doubting Thomas” story. Tom has been a faithful Christian for more than 40 years, but it’s only been recently that God softened his heart and removed his doubt of missions as imperative work for the whole church.
Missions and evangelism were not natural parts of Tom’s life, but the session at Deerfield Presbyterian church elected Tom to serve on the missions committee as the session representative. Part of this commitment was going through the Kairos course together with the rest of the missions committee.
Kairos is a nine-week discipleship course that seeks to give participants a biblical worldview on God’s heart for the nations. Even as he started taking this course, he doubted the content and didn’t know how it would really play into his own faith and life.
Throughout those nine weeks, however, something clicked for Tom: “In the early parts of the Kairos book, I read about the Great Commission. I’ve known about the Great Commission for years, but I’ve never heard it explained as Kairos did, and for the first time in my Christian life, I found that there was much more for me to do than just my own personal Christianity. God left for me a mission.” His enthusiasm and exuberance are now infectious. “I’ve lived my life as a Christian since the age of 20 when I first came to know the Lord,” says Tom, “and that whole time period was about myself, my own personal salvation, and how to better myself and learn more and more. But when you take the Kairos course, a whole other world of evangelism opens, and then you see what God has asked us to do. This task is really a great joy. You know God loves you, and he wants you to share his word with others.”
Since taking the course, Tom led the church in a community garden project in a location close to the church and where many Muslims, Buddhists, and non-religious people of many ethnicities live. This garden serves a practical need in the community but also offers a way for the church to connect with those who do not know the Lord.
No matter what season of life you are in, no matter where you live, Jesus commands all believers to fulfil the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations. For you, this call might take you across the street or across the world, but we are all called to obedience.
The Kairos course helped change Tom’s entire outlook on the Christian life. Are you ready to be challenged in the same way? Join us online in August as we launch the next Kairos course. What does faithfulness to the Great Commission look like in your life?
Want to learn more? Click here for all the details.
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