How the Gospel Changes Our Lives and Church Communities

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Sharon Dickens
So I’m not one of those Christians that remember the day or the time or the year, and I don’t have it written in my Bible. And I remember the exact moment where I had probably what I would consider one of the first real light prayer Conversations with God, totally to paint it over everything that was going on and said, I don’t really understand this. I don’t know anything about who Jesus says other than what they’re telling me. I don’t understand the Bible. But I know that you die for my sins, and I need to trust you.

Blair Linne
It is so good to be here. I’m so happy to be here with you all. In particular, in order to record Glo. We’re here for the first episode, which is this new podcast that we’re doing for the gospel coalition. For those of you guys who are watching and listening, my name is Blair Linne. I’m here with my my sister, Aixa de Lopez, Sharon Dickens and Soojin Park. And we’re grateful that we are able to gather together with four women from four different context. But we have the same goal, right, which is to magnify Christ, we want to testify about what he’s doing in our lives and our ministries. And ultimately, what is he doing around the world, right, we want to be able to bring that to light. And our goal is just to expand our vision so that we’re aware of what’s happening around the world. So I’m excited to hear from you guys here what the Lord is doing. Oftentimes, we can look at our own circumstances, and we kind of question, you know, is God working? But then we lift our eyes upward, and we look at the global church, and we see, absolutely God is working, he never stopped working. And so yeah, we’re gonna be able to share our experiences, share our stories, so that we can we can hear what the Lord is doing in places that are different from where we live. So I’m excited for this time. And over the next 10 weeks, you guys know, we’re going to be talking about a variety of topics. We’re talking about art, we’re talking about the prosperity gospel, we’re going to be talking about caring for orphans, receiving others into our homes, just to name a few of the topics we’ll cover. But before we get into today’s topic, I just want each of you guys to go around and just briefly introduce yourself for those who are listening.

Aixa De Lopez
Okay, well, I am so grateful to be here. I have to say, English is my second language. So bear with me. I am Ashley Lopez. I’m from Guatemala. Born and raised. We have my husband and I Alex have four kids. And I am just so happy and thrilled to be here. Thank you.

Sharon Dickens
I’m Shannon Dickens. I’m from Scotland. I mean, English is my first language. But you might need subtitles. I have two kids, and I am serving my church in Edinburgh. Thanks.

Soojin Park
Hi, my name is Susan Park. English is also my second language. But I came to the States a long time ago. So I have no excuse. I live in Northern Virginia right now I’m on staff at a PCA church in my context. And I was just telling you guys right before we started in Korean culture, it’s really important to establish the role you play in a group. And so I will proudly as the only one of my 30s Play the Hmong navel, which means the youngest in the group. And you guys are my unease, which means older sister in Korea. So I’m so thrilled to be here with three new unease of my life as the Hmong they have the group.

Blair Linne
Oh, wonderful. Thank you. And I’m Blair Lin. I should say that English is my first language. I was raised in the States. I currently live in Philadelphia with my husband Shai and our three kids. And yeah, writer, do women’s ministry and just grateful to be here, we’re going to talk about faith. As you guys know, this is our topic for today. And faith is the word that we can throw out oftentimes, but we don’t necessarily define it. And so you know, faith, Biblical faith is to have an active current belief, a confidence in and trust specifically in the object of our faith, which is Jesus Christ, who’s our Lord. And so Faith is not something that we just had at one particular time in our life. It’s continuous, right? We have been justified by faith and yet we walk by faith. And so you know, personally, I made a profession of faith. When I was nine, I did what they call walked the aisle and responded to an altar call. I was baptized at nine years old and really got involved in the church. What I didn’t realize at the time is though, I made a profession of faith. I didn’t know Christ, the person in a very personal intimate way. I didn’t think I was that bad because I just kind of went on being moral. I think there are a couple of ways that we can run from God and some run towards immorality, and I ran towards morality. And so because of that, when I heard the gospel the first time very clearly at 22, I thought Well, I’m okay, I’m saved, I’m sanctified. I’m filled with the Holy Spirit. I’m good. And, you know, someone who shared the gospel at the time just challenged my life and said, Well, are you believing this? What does this look like presently in your life? As I began to study the Scripture, I realized I wasn’t as good as I thought I was actually the Scripture says, no one is good, I realized that I was dead in my sins and transgression for the first time. And I cried out to God in a state of hopelessness, because I had sinned against God, a God who was holy. And in that moment, as I prayed, I was reminded, and I had this, you know, impression upon my heart that you know, you and your sin, that’s exactly why I sent my son Jesus, to die for you, the sinner. And in that moment, I understood for the very first time why the gospel was called good news. And I’m so grateful to be saved. I’m so grateful to have faith. So that’s my moment when faith became personal for me, I would love to hear, when did your faith become personal for you, when when were you born again,

Soojin Park
my story is actually a little similar to yours, Blair, where I grew up in the church, I come from a family of pastor’s ministry. And I think for a very long time, I thought I was a believer, but it really wasn’t until I was about the college age where the big turning point for me was recognition of my own personal sin. That was crucial for me, because, you know, the gospel message states that all have sin, fallen short of the glory of God, and Jesus Christ came and saved us from our sin. But if you don’t believe that you are one of those sinners, that message is not very good to you. And I think, you know, growing up, I knew I had problems. You know, I knew I had hurts and brokenness, but I don’t think I necessarily understood that I was a sinner, and there was a price to pay for my sins. And so I think, the moment my sins became real, to me, it wasn’t necessarily this crushing moment where I was sad, I was actually really happy. Because all of a sudden, all the things that felt wrong in my life, there was an answer. It’s not just because, you know, I’ve gone through certain hurts or whatever, that I have these issues. It’s because I’m, I have sin, and this world is sinful, and Christ came to pay for my sins, and he’s going to return and restore all things and make all things knew including all the things inside of me. And so I think that was a really freeing moment for me. I think that’s when the gospel became real. And my faith really became personal to me. Yeah. Thank you.

Blair Linne
How about you, Sharon,

Sharon Dickens
I actually love hearing testimonies where you guys grew up in Christian homes. And we’re told the gospel from very young ages. I am from an uncharged background. So nobody my family is as a Christian or saved. And it’s a very bizarre story, my boyfriend at the time, was estranged from his father and wanted to have a relationship with Him. And so we went looking for him and found him and he just became a born again, Christian, which was totally weird to me. They were weird. I found it completely alien. And so we would spend time with them, they would tell us about Jesus. They wanted to go to recall, it’s up to you guys with a small group who wants to get Bible study. So we would babysat while they went, and then they’d come back and tell us everything. And so I was in a very toxic, really unhelpful, at times, quite violent relationship, which, for lots of reasons I allowed to happen. And when they came back and told us about Jesus, my boyfriend got saved, which I couldn’t work out at all. So because he overnight was completely transformed into this other person, a male in my head. And so I had no issue with people telling me that I was a sinner, I was very clear about all the decisions I’ve made in life. I knew the type of person that I was, but I just couldn’t grasp the con that just the whole concept that bet let you believe that God would actually love me, which Saint Jesus today for me, even though he knew exactly what it was like. And so I wrestled with this for a while, the relationship was very different and very strange and or people sometimes sanctified over time, but he changed and a lot of ways very instantly. And I would railroad against that, because I wanted to prove that the old self was still there. And so there’s wrestling went on. For a long time I knew who I was really wrestling with. It was it was me and God, I didn’t like what he was saying to me. And I’m not one of those Christians that remember the day or the time or the year and I don’t have it written in my Bible. And I remember the exact moment where I had probably what I would consider one of the first real light prayer calm sessions, we got totally to paint eight of everything that was going on and said, I don’t really understand this. I don’t know anything about who Jesus says other than what they’re telling me. I don’t understand the Bible. But I know that you die for my sins, and I need to trust you. And so that was in my late teens. I mean, life got much more complicated, then didn’t really understand how to be a Christian and a Christian without, it’s not an experience. And but yeah, that for me was was how it was. I mean, it was a long time ago now. But I bet you Asia? Well,

Aixa De Lopez
I guess I can identify with parts of each of your stories. And as you say, I don’t think I have a date. I think the Lord was very kind in, in just a tender in guiding me. But I would have to say that a moment that I considered like a pivotal moment in my walk with God was, I was already a pastor’s wife, I was working curriculum for the kids at our, than the church that we served in. Then my pastor, my husband was a pastor, associate pastor in and I was alone in I played a Tim Keller sermon, I came across, you know, TGC content, and I thought, I’ve never heard a sermon on this topic. And it was Abraham and the torch. And in this scene, where Abraham, you know, in God have this moment where they actually have this ceremony, very graphic where they cut up animals, and, you know, he walks in between the animals, but Abraham since still just asleep. And then Tim Keller goes on to say, in to explain in a very typical way, how he goes through twice because we could never, and as I was listening to this, I was working, because I illustrate and so I was working, but I pause, and rewind and said, what, what did you do? And I nit, so I kept doing that throughout the sermon, and I ended up weeping in my desk, just thanking God and just in all of the substitution, because I had never explicitly heard it. And so that was I was far, far long, my walk with Christ, but I understood the immense gift, like the inability that I had to save myself. I understood it, that something clicked in me that day. And, you know, I had this leadership position. And, you know, I taught and I felt a release and a joy that I didn’t have. And I think that that’s, that’s something that marks the life of a true believer. There’s a joy, there’s sacrifice, but there’s a joyful sacrifice that I didn’t have before. I kept working for God to like me. Like you. I understood the first part of the gospel I am I’m bad. You know, I need I need mending. So I’m gonna try really hard to make you liked. And it never worked out. And it was so good.

Blair Linne
Man, that’s good. That’s good. Yeah, cuz he loved us. Exactly. We’re still exactly in our sin. I would love to hear what the local church looks like where you guys live? Could you describe it? Yeah, too.

Aixa De Lopez
So what the my life in Central America, I think Latin America has been bombarded from the late 70s, to now with prosperity gospel. So there’s a lot of evangelical subculture That’s really strange. We have had a lot of beautiful outcomes, because God is good, and the Bible is opened. But we have a lot of Bible illiteracy. And like me, we want to be be pleasing to God, we want to join, you know, I joined the church because I needed to be better. And so I think a lot of people go that route, without ever experimenting, the joy that is the person of Jesus Christ. So I have to say that it is we see a shift, there is a revival, I would say. Social media has played a big role in this. So people are exposed to better preaching to Bible centered preaching. So we’re seeing a new wave of believers in young people seeking to open their Bibles from for themselves, which is beautiful. That’s how I would describe like the general, you know, movement of God, where we are

Sharon Dickens
actually when you were telling your story, one of the things that really struck me was the fact that you said, All that time you’d spent in church and nobody told you the gospel, and I understand that. From a very young age, I’d spent a long time in church, all those Sundays and Sunday schools, and I never once or was told or understood the gospel, which makes me sad. That also makes me grateful. And I’m really grateful for the church that I’m in now. So every Sunday, it’s nothing fancy. We sing some songs really well, we love singing. And then there’s 14 minutes of gospel centered, theologically sound, robust teaching. And then afterwards, we sing some more songs in hangout. It’s not it’s not fancy. I mean, if you’re a preacher must be a bit done. And we’re not very gregarious as a conversation. We can just congregation we just stare at people. But we don’t know more. But actually, afterwards, we’re at that we’d be where we hang out. We meet people we see spend time with them, we fellowship. So yeah, really simple.

Aixa De Lopez
That’s actually what my Sunday now looks like, I have to report that I were enjoying church time, like you described, which is beautiful to see in what Amala and I listen to you and I can picture my Sunday. In my little part of the world,

Sharon Dickens
I suspect you sing and may be a wee bit more contagious than ours. Yes,

Aixa De Lopez
we are a bit more. You know, fiery, lively, yes,

Soojin Park
yeah, I think for myself. I mean, Blair, I’m sure we could, you know, agree to certain things. I think the church in America is more polarized than ever. We talked about this a little bit last night when we had some free time. And, you know, I think people still think of America as a quote unquote, Christian nation. But I think it’s actually really hard to come by, like a gospel centered church, a church where you can walk in and hear Christ centered preaching where, you know, like you’re getting fed the gospel each week. And I think it’s harder and harder to come by communities that want that to, I’m so thankful to be at my church, Christ control in Northern Virginia, where it’s a predominantly Korean American church. So it’s an ethnic minority church. But it’s really rare in that most Korean American churches are tied to like an immigrant base, like a first generation base, but our church is really rare in that it’s mostly second and third generation. And so it’s actually been a source of healing for myself and a lot of other younger members. And that I think the immigrant Church has always come with pains of cultural and generational divides that have been hard to overcome. But I think the fact that it sounds silly for I think those who don’t know, but I think for anyone listening who understands is experienced to walk in and to see people who look like you who are older, but could speak your language and understand where you’re coming from, is a huge source of healing, I think, for many of us. And so, I think our church has been a great home to many second and third generation Korean American believers in our area. And so I’m really thankful to be there. And I think when you guys describe your Sunday experience, it’s very much the same, right? We walk in, we hear good preaching, we sing, we are not as lively as probably your church at yesha. We’re pretty calm and our singing. You know, we congregate, we have fun, we fellowship and we share meals together. And that’s really our Sunday experience, which I think it’s shared across the globe.

Blair Linne
That’s great. I have quite a range of experiences. When it comes to church, I was raised in more of a traditional African American church. And then for a while was attending a more prosperity based Church, the Lord in His mercy saved me. And then I attended a church that was nondenominational. I then attended a church where I was a minority. Once we got married for almost half of our marriage, we were the only African American family in our church. And then the past seven years, we’ve been at a church in Philly, my husband helped plant called risen Christ Fellowship, which is a diverse church has diverse leadership is the first time I’ve been in a church that’s like this, in that it’s just a their gospel people. But it’s just beautiful. How much diversity exist among the believers that are there. And we’re a small church, it’s maybe 60 to 70 members. But I would say probably like, maybe 40%, African American, 33, white, 15% Asian and 9% Latino. So it’s, it’s a pretty diverse church from any other experience that I’ve had and there’s much vibrant thing. So we love singing. You know, we sit and listen to the gospel every Sunday. And it’s a beautiful congregation in that. You know, we’ve walked through so much together over the past seven years. I mean, I imagined even through the pandemic, you know, we’ve been through so much, but to see members of the Church love on each other. You No bring meals to one another. There’s just a love amongst our community that is just so sweet. And I’m just so grateful for it. So praise the Lord for the local church, ladies as a Bible believing Christian, I wonder, are you guys in the minority or majority where you live? What does that look like for you?

Aixa De Lopez
Well, it depends, I guess, what Amala is a very mixed culture as as is. Nobody is one race. We have indigenous communities, but the city is very, very mixed. So you never really feel like a minority I would say. And I think one of the most beautiful things about my community now, our local church is how the pastor’s had been really intentional in keeping the mixture. Like, we don’t have segregation, as you know, only teens meet, or only mums meet, I mean, we do have special activities. But the community groups that missional as we call Michelle groups, are all mixed. So you have a grandma, and you have, you know, a grandma in in grant daughter from a ravine coming in, in probably mid Millionaire Next Door. And so you have all that in, I’m so thankful because of it. So I’ve never personally felt like a minority in in my community.

Sharon Dickens
What is a Christian? So in your community? Are there lots of Christians? Or are you one of the few

Aixa De Lopez
what Amala, you know, actually boasts itself wrongly in saying that half of the population is a believer, which, you know, other numbers like malnutrition, and domestic abuse, and all that kind of stuff really negates that that number. So it’s not unusual for you to be you know, if I went out the street and ask, Are you a believer? They probably will say yes. But to get back to where we started, what kind of faith? Is it? Is it faith? So, so no, I’m not a minority.

Sharon Dickens
Scotland is strange. I mean, when people think about it, they think about his historical stuff, where like, we’re the land of the book and stuff like that. But the reality is, probably about 5% of Scottish people would see that we identify as being Christian. So I mean, we’re about to become an unreached. Nation. And if you were talking Evangelical, you’re looking at more 2%. And then they would be to bet like, what are you she was saying earlier? It would be in specific areas. So that would be a more predominant areas. So in the scheme’s, you’re looking at probably much less than that, like 0.02. Like if you were doing percent installed on where I come from, in the scheme of Scotland, the the reality is that the emulator scheme just came up via deprived area. So I live in one of the most deprived areas in Edinburgh, which compared to where you live, are you showing Guatemala’s is not deprived at all, it’s just different. And so it’s a vase spiritual area. So they would, it would be far easier for me to have a conversation with God, because they’re more likely to understand because of some sort of historical thing with their family. And then it would be in probably the more affluent areas where they would normally reject God and so on and in our area and Nidrei in Edinburgh, the conversations about God would be much easier, just because they expect you to because you’re from a church, I don’t feel like a minority. And being a Christian, I do feel like there’s a debt when I look at people dealing with horrific life and complex issues and watching them destroy their life and without hope I feel that I feel the depth of of being that minority I feel the desperate need for them to know Jesus. And so the fact that there’s a few of us just that that that makes the urgency to tell them a bit Christ more. So yeah, I don’t feel like a minority but I do feel the urgency of being the few

Aixa De Lopez
I would add something that you you made me think about minority in a different in a different light. I think in since it’s mainstream, evangelicalism is mainstream, and weird, evangelicalism is mainstream. I feel in that sense, when I now that I have a full altar of a Christ centered Bible reading, understanding by the grace of God, that makes me feel like a minority, and also in the topic of adoption in vulnerable care, and stuff like that. I do feel like a minority. That’s just a different level of or a different, you know, range of it. But in that sense I do.

Soojin Park
I actually looked up some statistics, because I wasn’t sure. And I found University of Virginia did a study on religious trends in Virginia, and they said 73% of the state identifies as Christian. But what’s interesting is, only 19% are evangelical 11% are mainline Protestant, 8% Catholic. So if you do the math, there’s a huge percentage of those who identify as Christian. But don’t affiliate with any religious body, no church, no, you know, nothing. And so, you start to wonder, What do you mean by you’re a Christian? And I think actually, the statistics reflect my experience, too, because, in a way, again, because you know, American suburban culture still somewhat identifies as Christian, you have the majority kind of say that are Christian, I think you can somewhat blend in as a Christian. But the more you dive into it, and the more you think about, are you actually living in a biblical manner? What do you actually believe? I think you very much feel like the minority. And I think especially before I did vocational ministry, I used to work in the corporate space and 100%, you work, you walk in, and you’re a minority, if you you know, talk about your beliefs, if you talk about what you did over the weekend, you’re dead on a minority. And so I think even though, we can culturally say maybe we’re a Christian society, I think, kind of like what you said, if you really think about who is living in a biblical manner with a biblical worldview. It’s very few people, I think, in my area. And so yeah, I think more and more, and especially after just the craziness of the pandemic, and 2020 all the you know, I think it even filtered out more people, less and less people identify as Christian, and more and more people don’t want anything to do with that religious affiliation. And so, yeah, I feel it even more now that being a true Bible believing Christian in my area, I feel a minority. Yeah.

Blair Linne
I agree. I relate to that as well. I wonder if there’s any, any resources on faith that you would recommend any thoughts, books that you would recommend for someone who might be either struggling in their faith or new in their faith? What has ministered to you? Would you say, yeah,

Aixa De Lopez
I really, I really have to recommend coalition. I mean, gospel coalition in Spanish has been a blessing. They put out resources all the time, free resources, devotionals, podcasts like this. So that’s blessing in Spanish, go look for you. And this was called asanas which is Revive Our Hearts in Spanish. And there’s a very good website, Chile and based, that’s called accessory director, and they have a curriculum that’s called clue penguin. And it goes through basic questions that you can use as basis for discipleship, which I love. So I think that that’s kind of the go to, for me,

Sharon Dickens
one of the issues that we had when people were being discipled. Is this from an unchurched background, there’s no foundation at all. And so we make a lot of assumptions in our discipleship, and that there’s this presupposition of just even the big stories, like Joseph and stuff like that. And our guys just don’t know. I mean, most of them don’t even know how the Bible works. And so we’ve developed over a long time, a series called first step series, stanlow books and lots of different writers from different backgrounds. Some of them are American, some of them are Scottish. I’m working through right from the very beginning. Who’s God’s, and what’s the Bible? Why can I trust it all the way through what names saved what voices are speaking into my life, and thinking about how we do biblical relationships, and it’s as basically a year of foundational series of foundational discipleship. And it can be done as a group or individuals, it’s done so that there’s a lot of characters in a little scenario so people can interact with and think the same way as people do. And so I find that really helpful to work with and for Christians struggling. And one of the books that I’ve found, probably the most helpful. It may have been just because of the time that I was struggling and it was just the right book at the right time. But I’ve read, I think it’s comfort from the cross. By Elise, have you read that? Elyse Fitzpatrick is daily devotion the teacher I can’t remember. See, it’s three months. I can’t remember exactly, but you Each day focuses on an aspect of Christ and the cross. And in the struggle brings you back to the main thing all the time. And I think as Christians in any dark time, that’s what we need to be brought back to the main thing, which is Christ, take your eyes off yourself and look to Him. And so I found it really helpful. It’s such a good book.

Blair Linne
There’s one that I think of, which is a kind of popular resource. But one of the first books that I read when I was a Christian, when I became a believer was Pilgrims Progress. It is a wonderful book and allegory of the Christian life that may be an encouragement to someone out there.

Aixa De Lopez
I have to say that I illustrated the children’s version and it’s coming out soon.

Blair Linne
That’s wonderful. Yes,

Aixa De Lopez
I am very happy to have it available, both in English and Spanish and

Blair Linne
Portuguese. Wonderful. Congratulations. Thank you. So

Aixa De Lopez
we are now closing our time, and I’m so happy we have this chat, we will shine a light in our differences by sharing one specific dish or food that you would consider like something super signature of your culture. So I’ll say black beans. Black beans are a staple. Either you are millionaire or the poorest of the poor black beans in Guatemala are a staple. And you have all sorts like soups and refried. And for breakfast and for dinner and for school. You put it out in the little bun and you’re off to school. So black beans are a staple in my country in a heart warming part of almost every meal.

Sharon Dickens
I feel like I need to say what is Scottish which is how I guess it was we call it haggis neeps and tatties. So haggis potato and I think you guys call it well, it’s turn net for us. Sweet. But actually, if you’re asking me for Rio, I would just say fish and chips, fish and chips playgirl.

Blair Linne
You certainly can’t go wrong with it.

Aixa De Lopez
Just Can I want to learn how to say potato like you.

Sharon Dickens
I want to learn how to speak like with a nice accent.

Soojin Park
For my dish, I’m gonna say it’s called Korean army stew. So there’s a story behind it. So after the Korean War, Korea was a totally impoverished nation, right? So people are like scavenging food wherever they can find. And so there’s a story that people would go to the American army bases and like, take their foods like processed foods like baked beans, spam, sausages. And so Korean army stew is basically the base is a kimchi stew. So it’s like a soup base with kimchi. And you put in all the things you found at the army base. So you put in the baked beans, you put in the sausages, the ham, whatever it is, and you just boil it up. And it’s this thick bowl of goodness, it’s my soul food. And I always say if I had one dish to choose before I die here on Earth, it’s going to be that

Blair Linne
I guess I would choose also food as well. And it’s called collard greens, and cornbread. So that’s kind of traditional food that we would have. And it actually kind of comes from the south. So from the transatlantic slave trade, often, those who are enslaved would receive just the scraps that which wasn’t really wanted. So they would take a salt pork, which is not the best quality of meat and boil that down and add in collard greens, which are really a tough type of greens. But boil that down with seasoning, make cornbread, and eat that together. And it is amazing. Sometimes you can slice thin slices of tomato on top and some hot sauce. I’m getting. You’re right. That’s right. So thank you ladies just for sharing. It’s so wonderful to be able to hear and learn and grow and understand more about who you are and what the Lord is doing in your lives and ministries. And for those who are listening. Thank you for listening to our first episode of glow. We want to encourage you remind you that you are the light of the world a city that is set up on a hill shall not be hidden. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a lampstand and it brings forth light into all that are in the house. So let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. We hope you join us next week on Glo.