Purpose of a Bridge

This Kerinci boy is crossing a bridge that spans the river and links his village to a neighboring village. The purpose of the bridge is not to stand on it or admire it. The purpose of a bridge is to get over it and reach the intended destination.

Cross-cultural workers sometimes get confused about the purpose of a bridge. Within the host culture or religion there are often bridges that can be built in order to share the Gospel. Sometimes workers get caught up in building the bridge. They become fond of the bridge. They spend a lot of time on the bridge. They want to make the bridge stronger and more attractive. While none of this activity is bad in itself, it becomes a problem when the worker forgets the purpose of the bridge and never get around to sharing the Gospel.

A bridge doesn’t have to be fancy or look pretty to achieve its goal, which is to get to the other side!

Pray for workers on Sumatra to use bridges for their intended purpose; to share the Gospel.

Pray for workers to have wisdom to see new bridges without spending too much time on developing the bridges.

Pray for the peoples of Sumatra to cross over these cultural/religious bridges and reach the intended destination of saving faith.