A church who shares their faith

Not too long ago I was on holidays, travelling the island of Bali. While Indonesia is largely known as a Muslim country, the island of Bali has very strong Hindu roots.

I joined an Intrepid small group tour for part of my trip - it’s a great way to explore & experience new places without having to organise anything yourself! (Winner!) On this trip we got to visit some lovely Balinese locals, see their home compounds and learn about their beliefs and culture.

There are temples everywhere in Bali. Each family compound has a temple for their personal use. Each village has a community temple and each city has multiple temples.
At the entrance to these temples are two rock gates. They’ll often have various statues out front too, and they are always two - one on either side for ‘balance’, one for good and the other for evil.

The locals make daily (often multiple times!) offerings to leave out for good spirits to give them blessing or to appease bad spirits. It makes me even more astounded and thankful that Jesus has made an offering to God on our behalf (his own sacrifice in the cross) that is acceptable for all people for all time, for those who choose to accept the gift it is.

It always gives my heart a painful twist to see a people so devout in their faith, yet so far away from salvation.

There are many people all over the world who are far from God but think they are close, perhaps even here in Mount Eliza.

I hope that we might be a church in Mount Eliza that everyone knows because of our faith in the good news of Jesus, and I pray that our local community here will know us from each one of you - openly & lovingly sharing the gospel in all you do and say - so that more people might be truly saved. Amen!

Amy