What to do when almost half of the committed members of your fellowship leave?

If anyone wrote a book answering this question, I would've gladly bought one. Last semester, about five Molave Christian Movers left the dorm. When you become so used to their presence, the fact that they won't be here anymore can be rather disconcerting. It's nice to be in the so-called comfort zone. But Jesus wasn't talking about having a "nice" time when He called us to follow Him.

So with all our discomforts and apprehensions, God called us to share the gospel to the dormers (which is what we should have been doing in the first place anyway). He provided us with a fresh mission field: the influx of new residents who are mostly sophomores. One's first month of stay in Molave is almost like applying for membership in an org. one has to deal with a "talent night", a welcome night and the all too popular sigsheet. It is the new residents' task to get the signatures of the old residents; the supposed purpose of which is for the newbies and for the oldies to get to know each other.

But God took the getting-to-know-you part a step higher and used this opportunity to make Himself known to the dormers. Whenever we would sign their sigsheets, we made it a point to share the good news of God's love and salvation to them. Most of them listened intently and some even expressed interest by asking a lot of questions. So was there a harvest? Well, if you measure it in terms of MCM fellowship attendance, there doesn't seem to be much. But we continue to hope in the Lord, confident that now that the seed has been planted, the Holy Spirit will work in their hearts. God is not currently in the business of dramatically increasing the membership of MCM but rather in using MCM to spread the gospel in the territory He assigned to us.

The sigsheet season is now over and we'll be moving on to a new strategy: the room-to-room evangelism. Our goal is to visit one room a week and share the gospel to the occupants. Will there be a harvest? This is what we constantly pray for.

Through the loss of people in the fellowship, the Lord has taught us that we should not anchor the strength of MCM on people but on Him. After all, His word says that He is our strength. He also taught us that it's not the quality that matters; it's the hearts that are willing to be conquered by His grace that He cares about. And He reminded us of our duty as His servants, which is to make Him known and to declare His Truth.