Jude sat down and explained the gospel of grace to Bill. His main concern was that he’d spent a lifetime ignoring the Lord Jesus; would God have him back? With dogged persistence Jude kept on pointing him to the promises of God, “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. Much to Jude’s dismay Bill said he needed more time to think things through. Jude was quite direct at this point, “Bill you don’t have much time, please decide for Jesus”.
Jude called a few of her colleagues together to pray for Bill. We asked the Lord to have mercy on this tough old blighter and open his eyes to the truth of the gospel.
The next day Jude was at Bill’s side asking him to place his life in Jesus’ hands. Without hesitation Bill agreed. He confessed his sins, asked for God’s forgiveness and was brought to new birth. Bill was dead within the week.
Now that is Jude’s lot. Without any help, Jude has planted a church (of 20-30 people) in a local nursing home. She visits each member of her congreagation(s) on a weekly basis, runs services, preaches and leads the singing. And people like Bill - men and women on the edge of eternity, keep turning up. Jude has led a good many to a living faith in Christ. She receives no stipend and very little recognition. But as far as the nursing home is concerned, Jude is “their” chaplain. She knows the staff by name and they don’t hesitate to call her if there is a pastoral problem.
To my surprise and delight Jude is not alone in this nursing-home-church-planting-thing. Annie and Les have done a similar ‘plant’ down the road. Their congregation varies from 15-25 people and comprises self-care and hostel residents and others who have disabilities and require specific care. Patiently and methodically Annie and Les explain God’s love in Christ to their flock. It’s a simple liturgy with three well known hymns (they have 9 in all and cycle them through). Norma plays the piano and the singing is just beautiful. Like Jude’s group, death is a just a breath away. And that’s what drives Annie and Les - a love of people and a love of the Lord Jesus. They want to see their people saved and that for eternity.
My dream now is to plant a church plant in every nursing home in the district. I just need to find more old(er) ladies to do it!!