The Need for Teachers
June 29, 2023
In South Asia, we often hear of people coming to faith because of a miraculous event—often, a healing. While miracles are surely incredible, the fullness of Christian missions is not just praying in Jesus’s name and seeing awesome things happen. In the book of Acts, we see that while there were miracles occurring with high frequency, they were insufficient for a person to truly become a disciple of Christ. Consider how the apostles believed their primary ministry to be prayer and teaching the word. Proper teaching of the gospel of Christ and the biblical canon are essential; and today, I want to share with you a story of an Acts student that, while is miraculous, testifies to the need for sound teaching.
B. was an atheist living in South Asia when his mom became quite sick. His family had taken her to the hospital and even witches who practiced black magic with hope that she would be healed. As her health continued to decline, B.’s aunt, a believer, came and shared the gospel with B. and his parents. After a week of considering the gospel, B.’s parents became believers, but B. still disbelieved. After about a month B.’s mom was made well, but even that was not enough for B. to believe. He could not bring himself to believe that there was a God when there was inequality in the world. It was a question that a healing would not answer.
But, one day, B. ventured into a church during service and was struck by the kindness of the people. One kindness was that the pastor gave him a Bible to read. Within days, B. had read the whole New Testament, the Psalms, and the Proverbs. At that point, he drew some conclusions about the Christian God, but also had some questions. The pastor explained to him aspects of basic Christian theology, and it was at that point that B. trusted in Christ for salvation.
While it is true that a miracle marked B.’s history and a miracle played a significant role in his commitment to serve Christ in ministry, the careful explanation of Scripture by his pastor is what the Spirit used to regenerate him. Now, B. is a student at an Acts Training Center with a vision to plant a church among the unreached. He is being trained to rightly handle the word of truth that others might hear and believe.