Iglesia Bautista Emmanuel received several teams of Logos Hope crewmembers over the course of three days. Each of the days concentrated on a different theme, encapsulating the Ship Ministry's purpose: sharing knowledge, help and hope.
The first team to visit the church showed the members how they can explain the message of salvation through a drama, through using a paper cross (telling a story while folding a sheet of paper to reveal a cross) or by using a bracelet produced by the One Wish ministry.
The One Wish bracelet features simple symbols and invites discussion of their meaning: a diamond, a square with a white half and a black half, a hand with a dot in the middle and two hands shaking. The ship’s volunteers explained that they can start conversations with a question: ‘If you had one wish, what would it be?’ When the person they are interacting with responds, it can open up a conversation on the spiritual explanation of each symbol.
The diamond represents the value people have in God’s eyes; the square with two sides represent light and darkness and the fact that sin separates people from God; the hand with a dot represents Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, giving each person an opportunity to receive salvation; while the two hands shaking represent the reconciliation with God through following Jesus.
Naibi Aguilera (Mexico) explained to the church, “God is also an artist: we are creative because He is creative. We can show who He is through art.” She continued, “God commanded His people to make piles of stones so that when the younger generations would ask what their meaning was, they would remember what God had done.”
Pastor Jaime Sepúlveda Almonacid considered the visits and teaching time a blessing for his church, and said that other fellowships and Bible study groups should take up the opportunity to learn different ways of sharing the gospel too. “Thank you for serving the Lord through creative evangelism,” he told the ship's crew. “This was new to us, simple and practical.”
On the second day, practical help in the community was given by the church and a team from Logos Hope working together. On the third day, another group of crewmembers joined the church members to put into practice what they had learnt on the first day. Naibi was joyful learning that, using the drama they had learnt two days prior, the church participants had added a part to it, showing they were ready to be creative themselves, as they tell others the message of God’s forgiveness.
