Editor's Musings

Editor's Musings

Did you ever imagine what life would be like if you could not read or write?

Sharon Cress

Dear Ones,

Here is the latest copy of your magazine—The Journal. When you picked it up, you began to read. Reading and writing are two gifts we now pretty much take for granted. We learned at an early age the importance of written communication.

Did you ever imagine what life would be like if you could not read or write? I’m not talking about the conveniences of emails but basic information for a comfortable survival.

Last month, Hepzibah Kore, Shepherdess Coordinator for Southern Asia Division, and I met with many pastors’ wives from central India and the students in their literacy classes. These pastors’ wives have a God-guided ministry in their towns and villages—providing hungering folk with the gift of literacy.

To watch a 65-year-old woman read from a primer, to hear the story of a woman who after decades of being consistently lost is now able to read bus schedules and move about town with security. To listen as a man tells about finally understanding if he is being cheated at the vegetable scales. To watch as a woman signs her name and writes a note of thanks to her teacher. These are the moments I will never forget.

These pastors’ wives are following the example of Jesus—find out what a person needs and help them find it. Women (and a few men) are learning to read because these clergy wives love them enough to teach them.

I don’t know what your neighbors need. But you can find out by just getting to know them. My neighbors don’t need reading classes, but they do need God. It is my job to find the road that will lead them there. That’s your mission/ministry, too.

Most of us aren’t the up-front, preach-on-the-platform type. That’s okay. Don’t try to be something you’re not. While Jesus did public proclamation, it was not a three-week blitz. Most of His ministrywas one-on-one and in small groups—finding a need and pointing the person to the answer. We can all do that.

Blessings to you all,

Sharon

P.S. Look on the back cover for pictures that tell the stories—without words!