二○二一年九月十一日／十二日
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或順或逆，靠主宣道
周曉暉牧師
使徒行傳十六章記載保羅的宣教小隊向福音未達之地進發，但聖靈卻兩度攔阻他們的去路。
有位在創啟地區的宣教士，有次乘搭火車去找一位本地信徒，到埗後，怎也找不著這信徒，他只好坐火車折返。回程中，宣教士偶然和身旁乘客攀談起來，彼此還交換了電話號碼。自此，大家偶爾會電話聯絡。有一天，宣教士又搭火車去另一地區工作，他想起這新朋友正好住在那地方，就打電話去問候，怎料，新朋友說最近遇上很大的困難。於是宣教士便向他講起福音，結果那天就領了這人信主。那看似不順利的火車行，原來是新佈道旅程的開始。
近年，宣教工作受到越來越多干擾，雖不能斷言這就是聖靈禁止，但宣教路受阻，或許正像保羅小隊領受進到馬其頓的異象一樣，其實是要叫宣教工作邁進新的領域去。
保羅得了異象之後，是怎樣確定那是從神而來的指示？經文這樣寫：「我們就認定……」（10 節，新譯本）
「我們」是指保羅小隊，他們是一起去辨識的。過去北宣家就是在群體中同心分辨如何為差傳資源的調配作決定。至於「認定」，是指根據事實來作判斷。保羅小隊受阻，要轉到特羅亞，當時由亞洲前往歐洲的馬其頓，必須乘船跨越愛琴海，而特羅亞正正就是橫度歐亞船隻停泊的大港口。保羅小隊依據這事實，就知所得的異象確是主的指示。
進到新領域後，要怎樣領人信主呢？保羅去到馬其頓省的腓立比，沒有像以往一般到猶太會堂去辯明福音，卻是靈活變通，以其他方式傳福音，並帶領了呂底亞一家相信基督。
在一些較封閉的地區，宣教工作無法按特定的模式推進，宣教士要尋找方法接觸當地人。數年前，北宣家有位姊妹前往一個穆民國家短宣，幫宣教士看守一個書攤，找機會與看書或買書的人打開話匣子。姊妹自言不善用英語與穆民搭話，宣教士對她說：「要祈禱，求神把人帶到你面前，或把你帶到人面前。」旅程快完結前，有一位多次來看書的青年再來書攤，姊妹邊與他閒談，邊心中禱告，最後談到耶穌十架的愛、受死並復活的盼望。隔天青年再來，她便把英文／阿拉伯文的新約全書和一隻 VCD 作禮物送出，年輕人高興地收下了。
疫後的世界，形勢無疑變了，但或順或逆，主總有帶領，我們只管認定異象，靠主宣道。
（本文撮錄自今年《差傳特刊》文章。）
Pastor's Sharing Preach the Word by God's Grace in Good Times and Bad
Rev Arnold Chow
In recent years, the mission field of East Asia has seen increasing disruptions. Platforms for mission appear to be blocked. But just like Paul's team which was stopped by the Holy Spirit, there was a reason for this. They had another mission: The Lord wanted to send them to Macedonia.
A missionary in one of the Creative Access Nations (CAN) once took the train to visit a local believer. At the destination, he could not find the believer however hard he tried and so he could only take the train home. On the return trip, the missionary chatted with the passenger sitting next to him and they exchanged phone numbers. Thereafter, they remained in touch. One day, the missionary took the train to work in another area and remembered it was where the new friend lived. So, he gave him a call to see how he was doing. To his surprise, the new friend said he was in deep trouble. The missionary then shared the gospel with him and led him to Christ that day. The seeming unsuccessful train trip turned out to be the beginning of a new mission journey.
After Paul had the Macedonian vision, how was it confirmed that it was the instruction from God? The Scripture says: "…concluding that God had called us.…" (v.10).
Here, "we" refers to Paul's mission team. They discerned together before concluding. All along, the NPAC family has hammered out the way to allocate mission resources by corporate discernment. The "conclusion" is drawn based on facts. The disruption for Paul's team put them in the port of Troas. At that time, when people traveled from Asia to Macedonia in Europe, they must sail the Aegean Sea, and Troas was the big port for the trans-Aegean fleet. Based on this fact, Paul's mission team concluded that the vision was the Lord's instructions.
How did Paul lead people to Christ in the new horizons? In Philippi of Macedonia, Paul did not go to the Jewish synagogue to reason with the Jews as in the past. He was flexible and used an alternative method, which led to the conversion of Lydia's family.
In some more restricted territories, mission work cannot proceed in certain specific ways. Missionaries will have to find other means to reach out to the locals. A few years ago, a sister from NPAC went on a short mission trip to a Muslim country. Her main duty was to help a missionary look after a book kiosk. She would find opportunities to start conversations with visitors reading or buying books. The sister thought that she was not good at conversing with Muslims in English or the local language. But the missionary told her: "You need to pray and ask God to bring people to you, or you to the people." Towards the end of the trip, a young man who visited the kiosk frequently went there again. The sister chatted with him, praying while they talked. Finally, they talked about Jesus' love on the cross, the crucifixion, and the hope of resurrection. When the young man came back another day, she gave him an English/Arabic New Testament and a VCD, which the youth gladly accepted.
The post-pandemic world is no doubt a different place. But whether in good times or bad, the Lord will be leading us. All we need to do is to identify the vision and preach the word by God's grace.
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