‘Re-birth’ Movement Aims to Ignite Faith
Five young guys answered God’s call to bring hope to Europe.
Calling this movement “Re-birth”, the recent Operation Mobilization Mission Discipleship Training graduates—Nathaneal (South Africa), Kyle (South Africa), Samuel (Sweden), Christo (South Africa) and Davide (Italy)—set out for one month with EuRail train passes in hand and no definite plans or provisions. Their purpose: Trust God completely to meet their needs and to practice a radical faith that brings people the hope of God.
They recently returned from their journey to South Africa and OMer Ruth caught up with them to learn more about their experience in the will of God.
Ruth: What was the aim of your journey across Europe?
Re-birth: We had a few goals. One was to reignite the faith of young people and the church. We found in our own lives that we as the church don’t trust God enough and that faith isn’t our foundation. That’s also why we felt we had to live without our own money and accommodation; we were personally challenged to trust God for all we needed. We wanted young people to see what God does in our lives during this month and then be inspired to have more faith in this great God that we serve.
Ruth: How tough was it depending totally on God to provide what you needed?
Re-birth: To be honest it wasn’t too tough. God really started providing before our journey to Europe even began. He showed us in the very early stages that He is there and that He has our back. When things got rough and things didn’t look good, we struggled to trust even though we knew God was with us, but God came through every time.
Ruth: What lessons did God teach you?
Re-birth: That we shouldn’t do things for ourselves and with the wrong motives. We found time and time again that when we do things that seem right to us, instead of seeking God, His kingdom and His will, things didn’t run nearly as smoothly as when we really sought God. Seek first the kingdom of God!
He also confirmed to us that we can’t have divine appointments or effective ministry without Him! We knew this but still sometimes tried so hard on our own. The effective ministry came when God brought people to us or gave us appointments. So we learned to leave God to do His work but be available and listen to when He wants to make you part of it.
Ruth: Tell us a story of how God impacted someone you met.
Re-birth: Some of us were looking after the luggage and we saw a girl sitting in the station. She had her head deep down in her arms at times and tears streaming down her cheek. Instinctively, one of us walked up to her to see what was wrong and if there was anything we could do.
God planned for us to be on the same train and we got to spend a great eight hours with her, having deep conversations. Her words at the end of the day were: “I’m so glad you guys found me. Before I was crying, but I really had a good time with you. It was just what I needed. You are fun and yet deep. Thanks for cheering me up.”
Ruth: What was the most moving moment of your journey?
Re-birth: One of the most moving moments we had was in a bus in Greece. While we were on the bus a family got on. Their baby was already crying and she never really stopped; later we heard the woman crying as well. This was really odd, so one of us looked back and saw that the man was hitting her! He tried to do it in subtle, unseen ways, and he had no idea that we saw him.
As I* looked at this man, I knew that Jesus wanted me to do something, but it was very hard. I started bargaining with God, saying that I would do something the third time the man hit her. But at the third time I still had no courage.
Long story short, I stood up the fourth time and exposed the man before the bus. It made a lot of people in the bus think, and after I spoke to him, I just stared in his eyes and begged him with my eyes to stop what he was doing. After this whole episode, I went back to my seat and started weeping! I can’t explain the moment. That’s why it was so powerful; it was the work of the Holy Spirit.
Ruth: Does the Re-birth team have any future plans?
Re-birth: There are plans for a few of us to go to Thailand and then possibly Romania; we saw a lot of need there. Some people have also asked us to travel with them to India using the principles we applied in our Europe trip. We definitely want to keep inspiring and ignite faith, so in the future we want people to act on this inspiration.
To hear more from Re-birth, visit their website at www.the-rebirth.com and watch out for the three-part documentary coming soon.
* Re-birth team member requested to remain unnamed in this instance
