Avondale Seminarians experience cross-cultural evangelism
Avondale Seminarian Maciej Kuberek’s first trip overseas brought an opportunity he hadn’t anticipated—presenting his first evangelistic series.
The intercultural experience is part of a unit called Evangelism In Practice. It saw the students form five teams to present programs on Rarotonga, Aitutaki and Atiu islands. In doing so, the students learnt the importance of cultural context, the need to rely on the Holy Spirit and the role of public meetings as an evangelistic tool.
Stephen Duncan, the student who partnered with Kuberek, says he learnt to do what seemed impossible. “The experience of teaching about Jesus after beginning to understand a different cultural setting opened doors to presenting God’s message of love to groups of people we could never have dreamed possible.”
The growth of the students has been incredible. Their preaching style, their sensitivity to move with the Spirit and their ability to deliver the gospel in the local context was a blessing to see.Avondale Seminary Head Dr Kayle de WaalAnother student, Jacob Ugljesa, despite being well prepared for his presentations, often felt inadequate and unprepared. “I had to rearrange the sermons to be more applicable for a Rarotongan audience,” he says. “I had to rely solely on the Holy Spirit to work through me.” Ugljesa and Rosemary Andrykanus’s presentations about parables in the Bible were so well articulated listeners often said they could imagine themselves involved in the stories.
The experience also helped challenge Jonathan Gillard’s observations that evangelism is all about the evangelist giving a blessing to others. “I received just as much as I gave during this trip,” he says. “Midori [another student] and I noticed how hospitable the church members on Rarotonga were and how respectfully children interacted with adults.”
The three teams on Rarotonga presented a two-week evangelistic series called Jesus in Revelation in the evenings and Weeks of Prayer in the primary and middle schools at the Papaaroa Adventist School in the mornings. Students Apii Inukiha’angana and David Leo also led a Week of Prayer at Teka’aroa Adventist School on Aitutaki.
The school programs were important because half of the children were not affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The children chose to attend the evangelistic series because they enjoyed the meetings and because they got to play with and get to know the Avondale Seminary students.
Inukiha’angana, Leo and Clinton Dutlow and Fabiono Niyonkuru, the other two students on Atiu and Aitutaki, learned to appreciate the dynamics—and challenges—of a small island where up to five Christian denominations coexist. “One woman said she was convicted to keep the Sabbath after the change of the Sabbath presentation,” says Leo, “but felt she would be betraying her family who had been part of the Cook Island Christian Church for generations.”
Avondale Seminary Head Dr Kayle de Waal and Lecturer Pr Mike Parker noticed improvements in the students’ preaching, too. “The growth of the students has been incredible,” says de Waal, who worked with the students on Rarotonga. “Their preaching style, their sensitivity to move with the Spirit and their ability to deliver the gospel in the local context was a blessing to see.”
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