Are there any modern-day Apollos? Who is Apollos anyways? Well, Acts 18:26 records that, “[Apollos] began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.” This is a wonderful example of discipleship at work in the bible, where Priscilla and Aquila invested in discipling and raising up Apollos, a young servant of God.
Picture left: Monday night bible study and discipleship with Ms. Nong (center - bottom), her brother Peter (center - top), and her son Bing (left)
“Why English teaching?” some may ask. Does it really make a spiritual impact in the lives of people? Is it really in line with God’s kingdom work? One of our prayers during this initial stage of establishing student ministry is that we may create a presence and build relationships through meeting felt needs – and one of the biggest needs among Thai university students right now is to learn English. English teaching doesn’t sound as spiritually glamorous as door-to-door evangelism or preaching the gospel to the masses, yet God can still work through it in ways that surprises us!
Our first few months at Walailak University has mainly been to build relationships and establish a presence on campus. One of the ways that we have been able to do this is through meeting the felt need of teaching English to both students and faculty.
We have had a few opportuniites to share the gospel, but we have been wondering if we were really making any headway and wondering if we should be re-evaulating our approach. But amazingly enough God gave us a wonderful confirmation to continue teaching English through a student.
Before I chose to serve God in mission, I never would have chosen to serve in children’s ministry. I have a really hard time being around children who are ill-mannered. But after I volunteered to come to serve in Nakhon Si Thammarat 2 years ago, I found that I was actually spending the largest share of my time in ministry with children.