26th October, 2005

JIM REIHER

Have you ever wondered if what you are doing as a Christian really has any impact on anyone? Sometimes we get so busy doing things for church, that we don’t see a lot of outcomes. Lives changed. Souls saved. That sort of thing.

There was a time, some years ago now, when my wife and I helped run a small tea house that was sponsored by our local church. It was called 'Tea and Talk'. We operated from a small shop front in Manly in Sydney. It was up the road a little from where the Manly ferries came in from Sydney Harbour. As a result, there was always a steady flow of people who would pop in for a tea or coffee, after disembarking from a ferry. The tea house was not really a commercial venture: we only wanted to break even. Our main purpose was to meet members of the community and in a non-threatening environment, if opportunity arose, share the Gospel with them.

JUST A FACE IN THE CROWD? Reiher 's experience shows that even what appear to be the most ordinary of encounters can have a life-changing effect if you're prepared to share Christ's love. PICTURE: Lior Angel (www.sxc.hu) "(You) never know when you are sharing the love of God! Just being a Christian, just being genuine, just being a friend - it can change a life. Small gestures of love can be just as profound as big rallies and altar calls. Even more profound. Small gifts of kindness that should come naturally to the Christian can be huge gifts to a person not used to receiving any such thing."

A lot of people came and went during the year when Julie and I managed it, and we often wondered if any worthwhile ministry was really happening. Oh, it was a nice place for the Christian youth groups to drop in at, after their meetings. It was a good “cool” place for Christians to pull out a guitar and just start singing. And of course, a lot of non-Christians visited too. But a lot of what went on seemed to be just busy work - preparing teas and coffee and serving and cleaning up - that did not appear all that different to what we could be doing anywhere else.

There was, however, one visit by a stranger late one night that has left a permanent impression in my mind. He popped in just as we were about to close. The door was half open and we were tidying up. It was a week night and no-one else was in the shop. The stranger nearly left when he saw we were obviously winding the evening up, but I noticed him and signalled for him to come in. He seemed happy with that and he sat down. We made him his coffee, sat and chatted with him - for all of 20 minutes - not much really - and we said very little of any eternal consequence. He did ask us why our prices were so low, and we were able to share with him that the shop was a church run shop not aimed at making a profit - rather aimed at meeting people. But we did not say much else.

The stranger talked about his wife who had recently left him for another man, and how she had moved interstate with his kids to be with her new partner. He was obviously sad about it, but did not seem overly distressed. A small ‘coincidence’ was discovered when he explained that his wife use to work at Manly Library. I had worked there too, but after she had left. We worked out that it was her job that I had taken.

Soon the gentleman said goodnight and left. And I forgot all about it.

Twelve months later, however, we met again. I had left the tea house by then and it was managed by others in the church. I had moved into a full-time career as an ambulance officer, and the hours and work did not allow me to run the tea shop. Joining the ambulance service gave me a 'make-over' as well. In those days, ambulance officers had to have short-back-and-sides hair cuts (off went the long hair flowing down to my shoulders!), and no beards (that had to go too). To be totally honest, I don’t know how the chap remembered me when he saw me a year later! Perhaps he recognised my wife first and then worked out she was not really with a different guy!

He came over and told me his story of the intervening year.

The night he met us, he was actually on his way home to commit suicide. As he walked past the tea house, and noticed the door ajar, he made an impromptu decision to have a coffee, and he popped in. That was how we met. We had a light and friendly conversation, and I always thought it was pretty ordinary. But he left there thinking that Julie and I had something that his marriage never had. He recalled our conversation (that pretty ordinary one with no Gospel presentation) and remembered that we were with a local church. He liked the fact that we were doing the tea house just to meet people. He decided not to kill himself with the pills he had in his pocket. He would try to recontact his wife and see if she would let him visit the children. He would give her a couple of weeks to reply, before taking his plan for suicide any further.

Well, his wife replied. He was given permission to visit. He caught a bus, went interstate, and reconnected with his children. The new man on the scene was very nice to him. Everyone got on well. He ended up moving to that state to be closer to the children. He rented a house. His neighbour was a minister. They became friends. Soon he was going to the minister’s church. Not long later he prayed to receive Christ.

When this man saw us that year or so later, he was a new creation. Born again. Life turned around. Optimistic about the future. He had a healthy relationship with his ex-wife and her new husband. He had a great relationship with his kids. And he was alive both physically and spiritually.

What a privilege it was to be blessed with a glimpse into this man’s life! What a lesson we learnt as we ‘accidentally’ reconnected and found out about the turning point in that man’s life! We never knew until then, that we had played any real part at all, in that man’s life journey.

The overwhelming lesson we learnt from all this is that you never know when you are sharing the love of God! Just being a Christian, just being genuine, just being a friend – it can change a life. Small gestures of love can be just as profound as big rallies and altar calls. Even more profound. Small gifts of kindness that should come naturally to the Christian can be huge gifts to a person not used to receiving any such thing.

John 13:35 reminds us of Jesus’ emphasis: “By this will all people know that you are my disciples - if you have love for one another.” Jesus did not say that people will know you are my disciples by your large buildings or special programs. People don’t know we are disciples of Christ by our denominational publications or even our tea house outreach plans! They know we are followers of the King of Kings, by our love for one another. Love in action: the hallmark of a disciple.

I am not a particularly sensitive and intuitive person. I don’t get words of knowledge or audible messages from the Holy Spirit. I had no idea that this man was thinking of killing himself that night we met. Despite my lack of counselling insights and people skills; despite my lack of picking up on body language and subtle messages in words he may have been dropping - God still worked that night. By simply demonstrating love in action; by being a friend; by having the time to say, "I will listen to your story"; by demonstrating the joy Christ puts in our hearts; and by sharing love in our words, and eyes, and our smile - a man’s life was turned around. I had no idea!

There must be hundreds and hundreds of these same kind of moments that happen to all of us, all the time, without us knowing. The world is not a happy place. A lot of people are unhappy, or at best, “just get by”. When they see the love of Christ, it’s like honey to a bee. Most of the time we wont even know we are having an impact for God - and that is kind of nice when you think about it. Genuine friendship and love is a most profound power and force that changes lives when we don’t even know it. Never despair that the things you are doing are not 'big time' enough. Never stop showing small and daily acts of love to those around you! It is the very heartbeat of God.

Jim Reiher (BA (double major in history), BA in Theology, Dip Ed. MA in Theology (Hons)) is a full time lecturer for Tabor College Victoria, lecturing in church history and New Testament; and also has speciality interest areas in women’s ministry, creative ministry, and the New Age movement. His views are not necessarily those of other Tabor faculty members or of Tabor College.

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