Easter In Dublin

We have now been in Dublin a few days and the jet lag seems to be subsiding. Tomorrow is Easter (duh) and we are planning to go to Trinity Church. Hopefully all of my family will go with us. We are having somewhat of a family reunion here in Dublin with my (Gary's) sister's family from Oklahoma and brother's family from Budapest.

Walking around the city the last couple of days, I have been thinking about something that some missionary friends of ours told us they do when speaking to a group of North Americans to illuminate them on the spiritual plight in Europe.

Say you're in a room with 100 Americans. In the US, depending upon the poll taken, roughly 1 in 3 are Bible-believing Christians. So you have 33 of the 100 stand and tell them that their task is to go and speak to 2 others about their faith. Somewhat daunting, but manageable. This is meant to display what we as believers are up against if all of us were sharing our faith regularly.

Now, you tell them all to sit and have one person stand. That person's task is to go and speak to each and every one of the other 99 in the room about their faith. This is what Irish believers are up against. The actual figures show that less than 1% of the population of Ireland are Bible-believing Christians -- and that number has increased dramatically in the past 30 years that GEM has been working here (not to imply that they are the only or even main cause of the increase). You can read more about this here.

One of the main focuses in our job as GEM missionaries is to help equip the Irish to reach their land with the Gospel. Much, much work to be done.


So back to the streets of Dublin. As I stood there watching all the people from all nationalities scurrying past, I couldn't help but be somewhat overwhelmed at the realization that maybe one person in every 150 that passed by has a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The whole purpose in celebrating this weekend is because of the greatest single event in history -- the God of the Universe coming to earth in the form of man and, as a sacrifice, making it possible for everyone who chooses to have a close, loving relationship with Him.

Yet how many are there worldwide who don't have a clue? There is still much work to be done. In the neighborhoods of America, on the streets of Dublin, in the bush of Africa. We must press forward and not allow ourselves to sink into despair of the odds that are against us. Taking up our crosses, we can operate in the assurance that if it's good news to us, it's good news for every other person around us.