‘Whatever it takes’, we cried out from the hilltops of Townsville each week in January. A small group of us were meeting together with one thing in mind – to pray for the lost in our city.
By the end of January, the floods hit and they continued into early February. Although this was clearly a disaster, we knew God was using the waters to shake things up and draw people to Himself. It wasn’t long before locals rose to the occasion and social networks boomed throughout the city. People who never knew their neighbours were now focussed on the souls living next door. Local fishermen grabbed their tinnies – deploying them like an aluminium army on the flooded roads – saving who and what they could.
People gave up food, clothes, cars, furniture, rooms to anyone in need. Church buildings were converted into daycare and donation centres, full of free food, toys, linen & clothes. People were focussed on people, and that’s a mighty good place for harvest workers to engage in.
The incredible partnership of serving practically and spiritually cannot be overstated. It seems in the aftermath of this disaster – God is answering our prayer.
Currently, there are multiple families who want to discover ‘our God’ because harvest workers (whose houses were also flooded) took time to reach out to them practically and spiritually, and the love they saw through Christ’s own people blew them away. These harvest workers were spiritually obvious and willing to get their hands dirty!
Please pray for the disciple-making movement that has started growing in Townsville, especially post-floods. As I type this, I’m preparing to meet yet another lady in the harvest who once resisted God, but now wants her household (who were flooded) to start following God. She said that both she and her husband ‘want to be like them (disciples of Jesus)’.
We have an AWESOME God!
– Mel Behrens – Praxeis Worker based in Townsville, North Queensland.