AsiaStories

Hands On Challenge: Travel to a foreign country and make an everlasting impact for Christ in six-months. You most likely won’t know the language or understand the culture. Most people you come in contact with have never heard the name Jesus. Chances are your new friends will reject your beliefs! Are you up to it?

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While the challenge seems overwhelming to some, it excites Ashley Benson and Mandi Mapes. They want to share their faith in an area of the world where the Gospel is not welcome.

So, the 20-somethings from The Church at Brookhills, Birmingham, Ala. put their young careers — Benson an accountant and Mapes a singer-songwriter — on hold and move to China for six-months. Their goal is to share Christ with everyone they meet through words, love and actions.

“There are still places in the world where people can be born and live and die and not hear the Gospel,” Mapes says passionately. “That causes my heart to be burdened. Life is too short. When I stand before God, He’s not going to care how many songs I wrote. He cares about His Glory and all of the Nations. I just had to go where He said.”

Stepping out of their apartment and onto the street brings the Global Evangelism Map decorating their wall to life. On the map, most of Asia is decorated like a Christmas tree, indicating those who have yet to be reached with the Gospel message. On the street, the dots become the faces and names of their neighbors.

“They [the unevangelized] live RIGHT outside our apartment building,” Mapes says, pointing out it’s a huge change from her “Christian bubble” back in Alabama. “We know some of them by name. We have conversations with them. We’ve shared the Gospel with them. Yet …”

Benson nods, knowing Mapes’ thought without her finishing it. Despite their zeal and enthusiasm, no one they come in contact with during their six months decides to put their faith in Jesus. The Chinese are taught in school, from a very young age, that there is no God. When you add that to the language barrier, it’s been hard.

Hands On Opportunities

In this semester-long mentored missions experience, you will:

• Help people in spiritual and physical need
• Learn to boldly and sensitively share Christ
• Experience the joys and challenges of serving in another culture
• Start new churches and lead people to Christ.

Learn More

“It’s exhausting sharing the Gospel and getting rejected,” Benson admits.

Hands On Reality: The challenge is not as easy as you think, but it’s definitely worth the struggle!

“I can see why people give up and get discouraged in ministry here. It’s a hard, dark place. No one wants to hear at first,” Benson says, noting that people laughed at her for sharing her faith and even walked away. “To be a Christian here, you definitely have to count the cost. It affects what job you get, how your family relates to you — it can even mean prison or persecution.”

When the two get discouraged in their task, they look no further than the small community of Chinese believers for inspiration. Some of these friends are among the first Christ followers among their people group (red dots on the evangelism map). Their Chinese friends encourage them to keep sharing, no matter the results.

Benson admits that when you can only speak Mandarin like a three-year-old, you have to think of creative ways to share your faith on a deep level. They try everything from baking muffins to hanging out at the coffee shop. It’s music, however, that opens the most doors for the duo.

When Mapes and Benson pull out their guitars, people flock to them, whether it’s in the park, a coffee shop or on the steps of their apartment building. They sing in English, but that doesn’t deter, music is a universal language.

The best friends strum their guitars in the park. Mapes’ strong voice carries from their grassy spot to the walking track. A Chinese man stops to find a seat on the nearby bench, grinning from ear-to-ear as he takes in the impromptu acoustic concert. Benson prays for him and the others listening as she accompanies her friend.

When they finish the song, Benson asks the man if he understood, since it was in English and not Mandarin. He smiles and says, “No, but it sounded like heavenly voices and gives me peace” — giving the two Americans and a Chinese friend the perfect opportunity to share the story of Christ. He tells them that "is a lot to think about," and then leaves the park smiling and humming. Benson and Mapes are not discouraged, in fact, they are excited — a seed is planted.

“When our Chinese Christian friends tell their testimony, most start out with, ‘A few years ago, an American came and shared with me and I rejected it. Then, another American came and shared with me and I believed,’” Mapes says. “Our job is to plant the seeds. It might be hard now, but one day, a harvest is going to happen.”

The young women hope someone will come after them and continue sharing with their friends. They pray that one day their friends from the unreached people groups in this city will have a testimony that goes something like this — “An American came and shared with me and I rejected it. Then, another came … and I believed.”

Will you be the next to share? Take the Hands On Challenge and apply today!

For more music by Mandi Mapes visit iTunes.

The Chinese noodle shop didn’t look like much, just some tables and chairs, but it was clean and cheap. The family who owned it offered a bowl of noodles for less than $1.

The restaurant quickly became a lunchtime favorite of Hands On workers Ashley Benson and Mandi Mapes. It was just outside their apartment building and their five new friends always took time to help them practice their Mandarin.

The Americans teased back-and-forth with the family as they ate. At some point during the meal, however, their hearts always ached for this family. Signs all around them were a constant reminder of the differences in faith between them and their friends.

“We were confronted with lostness every single day. That bothered me,” Benson said about their six-months working in China with the International Mission Board’s Hands On program. “In America, there are lost people but it’s not in your face. These people were visible to us and they are our friends.”

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Ironically, just before moving to China their home church, The Church at Brookhills, Birmingham, Ala., began praying for East Asia. Little did Benson and Mapes know God had plans for them to become friends with the exact people prayed for by their church family. They moved to China to work with English-speaking university students. However, they saw this family more than anyone because of the proximity to their apartment. They hung out at the noodle shop with their guitars and shared American chocolate from home.

After months of building a relationship, Benson and Mapes decided it was finally time to share their faith beyond the simple sentence, “I am a Christian.” They memorized and practiced the Gospel presentation in Mandarin over and over, praying for God’s guidance.

Sliding into the initial conversation about Jesus was easy. It was Easter and the family often talked about “American culture” with the young women. As they explained the meaning behind Easter, their friends looked at them with disdain.

“When we said that Jesus is God’s Son, they laughed at us,” Benson said. “They heard a little more, then they got up and left!

“I was really surprised that they just walked away,” Benson continued. “We tried to give them a Bible, but they wouldn’t accept it.”

The Hands On workers took the rejection in stride but it was obvious there was a strain in the relationship. Benson said they felt compelled to rebuild the friendship, noting that Jesus was rejected. The thought of their friends not joining them in heaven caused them to press forward, even though it was hard.

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They continued to eat at the noodle shop, practicing their Mandarin. They brought gifts of appreciation. They also continued praying for their friends. Eventually, the friendship was restored at an even stronger level. At every opportunity they managed to share parts of their personal testimonies, until one day, the family accepted a Bible as a gift.

“We ask you to pray for them. Out of everyone we’ve shared with, our hearts have been stirred the most for this family. We love them and are deeply burdened for them,” Benson said. “There are days it is hard to keep walking from them to our apartment when I know they are not destined for heaven.

“Through our Hands On experience, an unreached people group became real people to us — people we want to see become believers,” Benson added. “This experience changed me so much. It’s not always an easy task to share the Gospel. When we are rejected, we see Christ’s great sacrifice more clearly.”