By Chris Doyle/IMB
PARIS, France (IMB) – Reports continue coming from Paris. The Summer Olympic games are impacting the City of Lights while Christians are sharing the light of the gospel.
Eric and Su-Jeong Kuykendall are International Mission Board missionaries who serve Chinese churches in Paris. The Kuykendalls said there are 600,000 Chinese living in Paris, with less than 5% being professing Christians.
They have been encouraging churches to engage people with the gospel.
“With the Olympics happening here this summer,” Eric said, “this gave us a great opportunity to actually put feet to our faith, get out into the streets and use the Olympic pins as a tool to share the gospel.”
The Olympic pins offered by the IMB are designed with different colors representing elements of a gospel presentation. (IMB Photo)
Pin trading during the Olympics has been a popular activity for years, and the IMB offers special trading pins that feature different colors representing elements of a gospel presentation. Eric said they have passed out more than 1,000 pins, and he gave his fellow pin distributors specific instructions when they offer the souvenirs.
“You cannot just pass these pins out,” he instructed. “You must give a full account of the gospel verbally, and they need to be listening or appear to be listening before they receive a pin.”
Both Eric and Su-Jeong shared exciting results of church members sharing pins and the good news. One blessing of this experience is the involvement of second-generation Chinese who are more fluent in speaking French and serve as translators.
“We are so desperate for French speakers,” Eric and Su-Jeong said. “We said to our Chinese partners, ‘Do you have kids that could come with us?’”
Through this witnessing experience, the Chinese Christians are growing in their faith and becoming more confident in sharing the gospel.
“They see what the effects of being obedient to the Great Commission can do without reservation,” Eric said. “Thank God that they’ve seen the fruit of their efforts because now they know God can use them where they are to share the good news of Christ. We’re confident that this is not just a one-time event but will continue going forward.”
After five days of ministry in four major Chinese areas of Paris, the Kuykendalls reported the Chinese ministry teams have distributed 5,038 gospel materials and 1,155 Olympic gospel pins. There have been 1,219 gospel conversations and 112 professions of faith in Christ.
Carter Tan of Grace Chinese Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, is involved with the mission work in Paris and shared stories from the experience.
“One of the Chinese sisters met a group of her old friends, about 30 of them,” Tan reported. “She said, in the past, she never dared to share the gospel of Jesus with them. But today she had an opportunity to share with all of them and invited them to church! She was so joyful when she came back to the group to share this news.”
Tan said team members went to Disneyland Paris and engaged people from different countries.
“We had the opportunity to share the gospel with people from all over the world, such as Germans, Australians, Thai and British,” he said. “The world came to Paris, and God used this opportunity for our church team to share the gospel with the nations!”
Eric said these reports have encouraged other churches in Europe.
“I had a Chinese sister in Barcelona contact me who wants to do street evangelism,” he said. “She had just seen our testimonies. Praise God!”
Eric also offers thanks to Southern Baptists who give financially and pray for their work in Paris. “Without them we could not do what we do,” he said.
Excitement remains in Paris with the Olympics but also with Christians taking this golden opportunity to share the gospel with the world.