A few highlights from our teams in Austria give insight into what God is doing in the country.
Soccer creates friendship
An OM staff member regularly meets every Saturday with people who have come to Austria as refugees in his town to play soccer. However, many of the players move to larger cities once they receive a positive asylum status. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm and joy of playing soccer together was so great that an 'International Football' chat room was started to keep in touch and already has 27 members. Two players, who moved to Vienna and Graz, take the long journey to this small town almost every Saturday to play soccer together. Afterwards, while cooking and eating as a group, the OMer shares his faith with those gathered in a natural way through the friendships that have developed. The Iranians in the group meet once every one to two weeks with the staff member for Bible Study and to discuss any questions they have about Christianity. Last time, they studied the Trinity.
'I want to know more about Jesus'
Through someone who works with OM among refugees in Switzerland, a team member in Austria came into contact with a young Kurdish man from Syria. A friend of his had come to faith in Jesus — an uncle who is currently doing an Al Massira course in Switzerland — and he too is interested in the Christian faith. When they met and our team member asked how he could help him, the young man said: "I want to know more about Jesus." "That was so good," said our worker. "Because anyone who works among immigrants and refugees knows how often people just want practical help. And of course, we are happy to help them as best we can and make God's love visible in a very practical way. But we are often disappointed when it stays that way and only this help is sought." He was able to establish good contact with the young man who said he has done a lot of bad things in his life, but now honestly wants to get to know Jesus.
Homework and many questions
Many of the kids from our ministry with people who have immigrated to Vienna are open to Jesus and wonderful conversations about faith arise over and over again. Once, our staff experienced the following situation: During homework, an Afghan fourth grader asked: "Why do Christians actually believe that Jesus is God?" A Pakistani girl the same age immediately joined the conversation. Both children are bursting with questions: "How can Christians be sure that they have eternal life? Because we Muslims don't know." "Can you explain the Trinity to me?" "Can we compare all religions so that we can know what the truth is?" Thankfully, the children had very little homework that afternoon, so our staff were able to devote plenty of time to their questions.