Billy Graham:
We have one task to proclaim the message of salvation in Jesus Christ.

The whole Church must be mobilised to bring the whole Gospel to the whole world. This is our calling. These are our orders.

Kristian Lande:
We believe in a God, in a Father, who goes off to find the one sheep who is missing.

In this podcast will look at the millions of refugees living in Europe today, which is some of those sheep that God goes off to find. What is His heart, and His work? To see them coming home. And how can you and I, and our communities, be part of it?

Father God, we cry out to you: Drive out workers to that harvest. Open our eyes to see what you are doing, and what you're seeing. And Holy Spirit; come and do your work in us as we listen and process.

This is the mobilization thread for the Lausanne 2021 Conversation. My name is Kristian Lande. And our guest at this month's podcast is someone who’s heart is to co-work with God in exactly this, mobilizing individuals and churches to reach out to refugees. Vimal Vimalasekaran; welcome.

Vimal Vimalasekaran:
Thank you.

Kristian:
It's great to have you here.

Vimal:
Yes, yeah. Wonderful. Thank you.

Kristian:
I heard quite a bit about you already. I'm excited to hear your story, and to hear how you are getting involved in mobilizing Europeans, and European churches, for this harvest field. The reality is that there are millions of refugees already in Europe, and especially know from Afghanistan, more will come. Of course, we could discuss the political realities of that, legal parts, and all these things and challenges connected to it. But what he would like to focus on today is what is God doing? How can we reach them with the gospel, and what is our role in it?

But before we move to that, I would like us to get to know your story Vimal. Because I know you yourself were a refugee once.

Vimal:
That's correct. Over 35 years ago, I had to escape from my own country, Sri Lanka, to India as a refugee. In that moving, from my place to the refugee camp in India, the Lord has met me. And that is where I met Jesus, you know, I gave my life. I stayed there for over three and a half years, as a young person. I worked voluntarily, serving God. I was converted at time when I was eighteen and a half years. I had no fears, I love the Lord and just went around and preach the gospel. I don't know how did I do it, but I did it.

Kristian:
This is the beauty you know, it's a world in chaos, it's lives in chaos, and then God breaking in and doing His thing and bringing salvation.

Vimal:
Yeah, you said it exactly. The world is in chaos. But the Lord is not in chaos. We see that is chaos, but he sees … It is his way of doing His will in our life, in everyone's life. So, there's no chaos with God, it’s chaos with us.

Kristian:
Exactly. Exactly. That's it.

So, then you lived in India, and then you move back to Sri Lanka, and then you ended up in Europe. Could you give us a brief input about your family, where you live now, and what you are doing?

Vimal:
Well, I you know, after three and a half years, I had to go back – it was after the peace - we went back to Sri Lanka. But then Lord opened my heart and I needed to go into ministry. I got this opportunity to study in London, in a Baptist Bible College. Then I moved to Northern Ireland, I became an assistant pastor in a small Northern Irish church. That is an amazing story in itself - in those days in 1990. Then I met an English lady, God provided a wonderful wife, and we both prayed for and believed that God wanted us to go back to Sri Lanka. But because of the Civil War in Sri Lanka, we were graciously guided to come to Germany, for an outreach where we were visiting refugees, and God opened our hearts. So, we just followed God's will and said; okay, we will come and work with refugees in Germany. It’s 21 years ago, that we came to Germany. We came only for five years, but we are still here. We have four kids, the oldest is 19, and the youngest is 10. Three girls and a boy.

Kristian:
It’s typical God isn’t it: It is Sri Lanka, it’s India, it’s Northern Ireland, it’s England. And now you're serving refugees from the whole world in Germany. That's just beautiful.

I have a question: What is God doing among refugees in Europe today? Could you give us some stories and some examples, and maybe some numbers?

Vimal:
Sure. I mean, the numbers are hard. But I can give you stories. I mean, what God is doing throughout our ministry here … I have seen, people come to know the Lord, or the Lord met them. We are kind of an instrument in between - just connecting these dotted lines. Many of them have given their lives. I tell you a story about last year: I had an eighteen year old Afghani man, who came from Greece to Germany. Somebody contacted me from Greece and told: Hey, Vimal, we have this guy, we don't know if he’s a Christian or not, but now he has arrived. It was during the lockdown - you remember the start of the lockdown last year. So, I went first time and met with this guy - he can't speak much German, a little bit of English. I met with him every week for several weeks during this lockdown. In my van, we read the New Testament. He had his Farsi Bible. Eventually, I took him to church, and he has been going to church. By the way, I don't do things without connecting people to church. Church is bigger than us, so we must do that. So, I took this guy to a church, he connected there, and know he will be baptized. This is his story: He gave His life to Jesus in a park, together with an Iranian brother, we met together. I can tell you another story. It’s a Syrian guy. We had a summer outreach here last year. He can't walk, he was a victim of the war, of the bombing, in Syria. He was in a wheelchair when we met him. And now, three, four weeks ago, I went and visited him again. He wanted to go to church, an Arabic church. So, I took him in his wheelchair to this church. He loved it. He said, he never did something like this in his life. He wanted to continue to go, even this Sunday I would like to take him back to this Arabic church. Actually, it is a German and Arabic speaking church. It used to be a German church, through our contact and help, they opened up their doors to the Arabic speaking people. And now it's an Arabic German church. They're almost 50-50% of Germans and Arabs meeting together, working together and praising God together. This is a story you can tell every time that you go around refugees. is a good thing.

Kristian:
Exactly. You know, for me it sounds like God is using people like you, and probably others as well, to connect: He's working in people's hearts, and he's bringing people to him, but then he needs these workers to connect those who are coming to faith with those who are believers and living in local churches. So, I just hear the need for more people like you, who are connecting. But I also hear the need for local Christians, living in local communities and churches. Germans, Arabs, Norwegians, Czechs, English, whoever … to actually embrace, and be willing to be connected.

Vimal:
Definitely. You know, I call them bridge men. We are bridges, you know, allowing people to walk over our lives. My experience with church people - I think 90% or more of the Christians are very good people. You know what I mean? They are not against refugees, that is just a bad caricature. But they do not know how to go about, or they do not know how to get connected. So, once you do that, I think they are the best place … I still believe the church is the best place for taking care of refugees - not for the short-term, but for the long-term strategy.

Kristian:
Beautiful. I think this is this is really important for us to hear, that: When you feel overwhelmed, when you see in the news … and you feel like we should do something, but you don't have the power to do it - There are people, like you Vimal, who could actually help us to get going and to get connected. Help us to find out how we can welcome them, and how can we include them and disciple.

Vimal:
Well, actually, you need to know, Europeans don't like to be helped. If you say you are going to help, they say no, we don't need your help. We can share our lives, we can share our faith, we can share our perspectives. By sharing our lives, I think we can open up each other, and then maybe I can be helped, and they can be held, if we are open to be helped. Because, you know, what does it mean being helped. You know, someone doesn't like to be.

Kristian:
Yeah, that's a good point. So, instead of saying, we need to help, we need to encourage to actually just share life and walk shoulder to shoulder?

Vimal:
Definitely brother. I say to myself; I don't help anyone, because the Lord is the helper. We are facilitators, I mean, we just happen to be there. We are in the best place, with the Lord, to be your friend. You know, what connects you and me, is nothing more than Jesus Christ. So, let's do it that way. I think we will be glorifying God in that way.

Kristian:
Amazing. You know, I just heard from a friend of mine - she referred to a German Bishop from the Landeskirche. This Bishop shared that several of his priests, of his pastors, they didn't believe in God anymore. But then he had seen, on several occasions, that Syrian refugees had found Jesus, or Jesus found them probably, on the way to Europe, or in Europe. And these refugees through their new faith led these priests to faith in God. And I was like: Wow, this is so beautiful.

Do you see other examples of that happening?

Vimal:
Remember, we talked about chaos at the beginning? You know, that out of chaos … I don't think it's chaos. You see the way God works? Reverse, back - his will to the people of Europe. He uses these chaotic people from East, or wherever they come from, to re-evangelize, or re-open their minds to see that Jesus is true - he is living. Because Syrians sound that they met him on their way to here. Once you meet a person, it's hard to deny that he doesn't exist. So yes, I can very well confide that many people, not just Syrians, many Iranians … 1000s of Iranians have gone into churches, they have said to the priests: Hey, I met Jesus in my dream. What are you talking about? The natural tendency for the European priest is to be perplexed. Huh, is it true? I think God is doing something bigger than us, greater than us. Sometimes that's why we cannot understand. But, if we are humble enough, we can hear it. God is using a different way to bring back his own people. He has not forgotten Europe, I think he loves so much. He creates chaos, and out of this chaos he brings out these beautiful stories. Stories of how we can turn back to him and say: Jesus lives.

Kristian:
This is great, because I think, you know, we started out this podcast with the question: How can I be part of serving refugees? But then what we see: This is not just about what I need to do for them. This is about what God is doing. For them, for us - how he is working into the chaos, which is the European chaos, which is the chaos in other parts of the world. And he is just doing beautiful stuff, and we can be part of it.

Vimal:
Yeah, I very much agree. I don't like the idea that we are serving or helping refugees – It is true, we do. But I find it a little bit, you know, very pompous - You know, we are like helping refugees. But I think – as you rightly said - that God is bringing his people … enabling us to be part of this mission. I mean, I’m just obeying Jesus to be here as a missionary. I'm privileged in that way. I'm just in the right place. So, we are just sharing our lives. I would like to say it again: When I go to the refugee camps here in Germany. I am anguished. I am challenged. I am encouraged in my faith. Even though I'm going to help people. The word “helping” is a very interesting work. But you know, when I go there, God is helping me to love him and serve Him. So, in this process, I am learning more about Jesus, and so they. So, it works wonderfully for both of us - for the refugees and for me.

Kristian:
Yeah, exactly. And I think this brings us back to what you what you started with. It's not about helping; it's about sharing life. And I think if you look at the big situation in Europe today, you can see that God is sending quite a number of missionaries to Europe, from other parts of the world - whether they come as refugees, sent by mission agencies, or as tentmakers - they're coming here sent by God as missionaries. Then we have us native European Christians. And we need to stand shoulder to shoulder. What I hear you saying is that we need to start with just sharing life. Do you have some very practical ideas? How do we start?

Vimal:
First of all, we need to change the idea that church is mine. I mean, church belongs to our Lord, and He is doing it. And so, when somebody like me comes into your church, I think you need to look at me not just as the guest. You know, I'm here for a long time. And you know, refugees are not here just for one year, and then move. No, they are going to be here for a long time, they are going to be here with their families, they are going to have their children, they're going to be here. So, I think first thing is to understand the long-term perspective of migrant, or diaspora ministries, or the refugee ministries. Once we understand, then we can start to help and to be part of the process.

Kristian:
What struck me when I think about sharing life - whether it would be with a missionary from Brazil, or a refugee who had come to faith on the on the road to Europe - I would probably just eat a meal with them. Some Norwegian food, some Iranian food, some Brazilian. I mean, I love eating. I bet you have done a lot of that?

Vimal:
I think it's true, I think invite them. For me, I think opening your home is the best thing in your life. That is biblical by the way. If you don't open your home to the people, don't go and preach the gospel - it just is a hypocrisy. I mean, there is no way that you can close your door and then preach the gospel and come back and sit down. Open your home, because people need to see that what you preach, what you believe, is true in your own life. You know, when I go outside, I put on very nice clothes, I get trimmed, and it looks better. Only in my home, I have no … you share better. It's important that you eat together. And invite them, learn from them, and understand where they come from. Quite often, we misunderstand a person, because we don't know where they come from, what do they do - so it takes time; understand them, don't underestimate anyone in your life. You know, I do that. I don't underestimate others. God told me that, so I don't underestimate any person who is created in the image of God. I had to learn that - it was not natural to me. Once you do that, if a person is created in God's image, you don't underestimate. You don't know what this person will be in 20 years, 10 years. I have seen people who were just refugees, now they are running stores, and they are doing businesses. I mean, this is something that God is doing. So, I think you invite them, eat with them. Take your time - you know, I know it's time is a big issue for us in Europe - spend time, get to know the person. It's a work, it is intentional.

Kristian:
It's probably exactly that last thing, because time is what we lack, we think so at least. And so probably that's the challenge, to give what we really want to protect and not to give. To give our time, to eat together, to serve one another and pray together. And I think that's a good challenge for us to start there.

And then I know, Vimal, that you would be willing to help and to support, or sorry, not to help.

Vimal:
Yeah, that's right. I would share my life.

Kristian:
Yes, you would love to share life with those who would love to share life with you, and then find out how to move on. Great. Thank you Vimal. This has been a pleasure. I think we got a lot of inspiration and new thoughts, certainly I did.

Have a blessed Conversation.