Good day,<\/p>\n
I wanted to ask: What can I do in my local community to get the word of God out, not just about salvation, but the natural progression of the conversation about the right church?<\/p>\n
For context, I am in South Africa. This is rather significant because most churches in my local area are black churches. That’s not being racist, just observant. In South Africa, I can’t walk into a congregation and debate as Paul had because racism has reversed in South Africa. My white race might make it a problem and, therefore, get me into a lot of problems with the law, as in South Africa, you can get arrested for any <\/b>racial problem, no matter how big or how small.<\/p>\n
So I wanted to ask what I could do and how I could do it in an ensured safe way.<\/p>\n
Kind regards.<\/p>\n\t
It has always been true that talking about the truth will upset people who are not interested in it (Matthew 5:10-11). Jesus mentioned this just before discussing the need for Christians to let their light shine in the world. This is not a race or nationality issue. The Greeks and the Jews rarely got along, yet Jewish Christians went out among the Greeks and converted many from idolatry to faith in God.<\/p>\n
When a Christian follows God, his life becomes notably different from that of worldly people. This is particularly apparent when someone who once lived a worldly life suddenly changes his behavior. It makes people curious, and they start asking about the change. One of our recent members is finding this out. He became a Christian when he realized he had no control over his anger. He changed so radically that his co-workers started asking him questions. He ensures he gives God the credit and tries to answer their questions with Bible verses. During breaks at work, he finds his co-workers are interested in this Bible they heard of but know so little about. One recently told him that he bought a Bible so he can read it for himself. Even his family has noticed the change and now asks for his advice on solving problems. He directs them to what the Bible says. He is finding all of this strange because he used to isolate himself, and he is still learning God’s word. I pray that much fruit will result from this.<\/p>\n
Talking to people you know and explaining your reasoning by citing what God said will go a long way toward bringing people to God. If you want to go where religious people hang out, attend some Bible study groups and be the odd one who brings up Bible verses instead of offering his opinion. Let God do the talking. Then, people won’t be as focused on you.<\/p>\n\t
Thank you so much for your advice. I truly appreciate it.<\/p>\n
I have always been pulled to spread the truth as far as possible. I was baptized into the church as a teenager but left the faith when I was around 18. I lived a very worldly life. Luckily, I didn’t get myself involved in too much trouble, such as drugs and the like. There were many cases of other sins, but recently, I left my ‘new’ faith to rejoin the flock of God. I studied the Bible very intensely before and after I left the faith. I never stopped supporting the church or true Christians, so I still retain much of my biblical knowledge. I’m even reading the Bible from Genesis for the third time.<\/p>\n
I am now in my twenties, so I am lucky to have rejoined the faith before I got too lost in my pagan ways. My passion for spreading the Word is even higher now than ever because everywhere I look around me, I see these ‘churches’ with many people entering every Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Seeing all these lost souls breaks my heart because I have been where they are, and I want to help them toward the truth of God.<\/p>\n
Again, thank you so much for your advice, and God bless you!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Good day, I wanted to ask: What can I do in my local community to get the word of God out, not just about salvation, but the natural progression of the conversation about the right church? For context, I am in South Africa. This is rather significant because most churches in my local area…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[215,214,451],"class_list":["post-67055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-prejudice","tag-racism","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41064,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-whites-and-blacks-worship-separately-in-south-africa\/","url_meta":{"origin":67055,"position":0},"title":"Why do whites and blacks worship separately in South Africa?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who was the first black person in the world? Why did God choose to make people of different races? Is a black person a product of a curse? You can give verses to refer to, I would appreciate it. I'm sorry to ask this type of question. Answer: See:\u00a0How\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28340,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-was-the-gospel-preached-in-africa\/","url_meta":{"origin":67055,"position":1},"title":"When was the gospel preached in Africa?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question is: What of Africa? Was the gospel preached there? Because I can still trace back to the times when the Gospel first came to these lands, and it wasn't in those times. Answer: Among the visiting Jews who heard the first gospel sermon were people from Egypt,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34586,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thoughts-from-south-africa\/","url_meta":{"origin":67055,"position":2},"title":"Thoughts from South Africa","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hendrik Joubert Sentry Magazine, December 1999 Convenience or Conviction? Recently I have spent much time working on helping brethren understand that as Christians we should change. We should study the Bible to find out what it is that God wants us to be. I have been thinking about some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17954,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-would-like-to-help-the-starving-kids-in-africa-do-you-know-of-a-trustworthy-organization\/","url_meta":{"origin":67055,"position":3},"title":"I would like to help the starving kids in Africa, do you know of a trustworthy organization?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I really would like to send some money to the starving kids in Africa. Is this biblical and do you think that 'Feed the Children' is a good place to send this money too? If you know of a more trustworthy one, please let me know. Answer: \"For you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89361,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-no-hope\/","url_meta":{"origin":67055,"position":4},"title":"Is There No Hope?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson Can racial prejudice exist apart from people? Obviously not. Racism is an individual heart problem, a deeply flawed attitude, based on wrong teaching, fed by pride, and reinforced by cultural peer pressure. Does this mean there is no hope for improvement? Not at all.\u00a0Whenever a child is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56979,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-effective-is-your-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":67055,"position":5},"title":"How Effective Is Your Congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 16, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gilbert Alexander Evaluating a local congregation and its effectiveness in a community is not a simple task. Population shifts affect the number of members in a local church. Such shifts may be caused by economic changes, persecution, or the relocation of people who have an interest in spiritual things.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}