Participants: Gary Krause (Host), Sam Gungaloo & Ana Costescu
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS000704B
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00:07 So behind me is Pastor Sam, a young pastor here in Britain
00:11 who is one of the people who came up with the idea 00:14 of the Sabbath sofa, which you can see here 00:16 in the middle of the street. 00:17 And pastor Sam has this vision of introducing 00:22 the concept of the Sabbath to people, 00:24 busy people walking down the street 00:26 and he and his team have trialed it 00:28 in many, many different places 00:30 and it's just amazing how people react and open up 00:33 and talk about the busyness of their life 00:35 and how they're open to finding 00:38 a little bit of peace every week. 00:39 And when the concept of the Sabbath 00:41 is shared with people, the idea of 24 hours a week 00:44 where you can be immersed in family, friends, 00:48 get away from materialism, 00:50 get away from work, markets, busyness, shopping 00:53 and all that sort of thing. 00:54 People really love the idea, 00:56 which should be fairly natural since it was created by God. 00:59 So, Pastor Sam is talking with some people, 01:02 it's a very cold day here in Watford, 01:04 just outside of London 01:05 and so most people are just trying to keep warm little 01:08 and stop and sit down at a sofa, 01:10 but let's see what happens. 01:12 Hi, My name is Sam. What's your name? 01:14 Liza. Liza. 01:15 Terry. This is my friend Gary. 01:18 Hi, Terry and Liza. Okay, hi. 01:21 Yeah, so I'm assuming that you saw the sign, 01:24 did you notice what it said? 01:26 Yeah, are you tired? Have a seat. 01:29 So are you tired? 01:31 I'm a little weary, I could always sit down 01:34 when there is a comfy piece of furniture. 01:36 Well, you're looking pretty relaxed actually. 01:38 Yeah. Yeah. 01:40 We've had a relaxed afternoon. 01:41 Yeah we have. 01:42 Well that's good, a day off work? 01:44 Half a day for me, and you were working 01:45 from home earlier. 01:46 Yes, I was and it's now half past four 01:48 for any of my employers who are watching 01:50 so I am finished for the day. 01:52 Okay. 01:53 So can I ask in general, in terms of your lifestyle, 01:57 do you tend to work long hours? 02:01 It varies. Yeah. 02:02 You're nine to five most days, aren't you? 02:04 And I'm sort of all over the place. 02:06 I can work any hours day or night really. 02:08 Okay. All Right. 02:10 We're trying to gauge whether well, Watford in general, 02:14 people in general society are exhausted. 02:18 If I was to say to you, that we generally 02:21 are like machines that keep going 02:23 and going and going as a society, 02:25 would you disagree or agree with me? 02:28 I'd say that every machine needs fuel, 02:32 and that that can be exhausted 02:35 and I would agree that 02:37 the majority of western society is fatigued. 02:40 I think the serious issue is stress 02:43 and exhaustion in general. 02:45 I mean, a lot of people 02:46 who I know have genuine sleep issues. 02:49 I'm lucky I still get, 02:51 you know, a seven or an eight hour sleep, 02:53 and I can do that effortlessly but I know that 02:55 that's rare for a woman of my years these days. 02:58 Okay. All right. 03:00 What do you mean of your years, you're not that old? 03:02 Well, late 30s. 03:04 Yeah. 03:06 You can quite easily forget what a stop button is 03:08 and that you're actually allowed to press it. 03:10 And I think we've recently rediscovered 03:11 our stop points haven't we? 03:13 After being part of the machine for a long time 03:16 and getting ground down within it and by it. 03:18 But we have recently discovered that 03:20 we've got a stop point 03:21 and we're fully allowing ourselves 03:23 to press it on a frequent basis. 03:24 I had to wrestle him. 03:27 Not literally. I'm really, happy. 03:30 I'm really happy that both of you have identified that 03:33 and you're really making an effort, 03:34 or it seems as so, you're making efforts to try 03:36 and, I guess I don't know 03:38 if medicate is the right word for it but-- 03:41 It is. It's self-medication. 03:42 Okay. 03:44 So its-- Not medical medication. 03:45 It's very consciously done, 03:47 you've got to fight for it you know. 03:48 So it's evident that in society people keep going. 03:53 What's the solution? 03:57 To remember that they've got a stop button 03:58 and that their allowed to press it regularly, 04:00 I think, for me. 04:02 Yeah, and of course it's like socioeconomic factors that 04:08 come into play there and depending on the lifestyle 04:12 you want to keep you've got to be real with yourself. 04:14 You know, just all these people 04:17 busting their gut to have immaculate homesteads 04:20 and immaculate gardens 04:23 and keeping up with everybody's ideal expectations. 04:26 So we've got a concept that we'd like to, 04:29 get you to think about. 04:31 We'd like you to imagine something. 04:33 Gary, would you like to tell them a bit more about it? 04:35 Well, just if you would imagine 04:37 that every week for 24 hours you could just switch off, 04:41 so in that 24 hours there's no shopping, 04:46 there's no business, 04:48 there's no getting on the internet 04:49 to check up on your stocks and shares 04:51 if you happen to have them 04:53 and you just invest that in family and friends 04:55 and rest, how does that sound? 04:57 It sounds like a wonderful idea. 04:59 Yeah. Dream come true. 05:00 Do you think it's feasible? 05:02 Absolutely, it is. 05:04 For most people. For western society? 05:08 The way it functions at the moment 05:10 I think you'd get a lot of resistance, 05:12 for individuals I think it's feasible. 05:15 To make businesses is actually close 05:17 for a specified 24 hours I think you would have 05:19 your work cut out for you. 05:21 Because we very much have a 24/7 05:23 functionality don't we, in many regards. 05:25 But let's just say that we could possibly try 05:29 and opt for something like this 05:31 would it give much more positively 05:33 to use as human beings? 05:35 I think it would. 05:36 I grew up in a time when shops closed half days, 05:38 Wednesdays and shops were never open on Sundays. 05:42 Nothing happened on a Sunday, 05:44 we did have telephone in the house, 05:45 we did have a TV, we did watch that, 05:47 but it was very much a family time. 05:50 And yeah going back to that 05:51 I don't think would be a bad thing at all. 05:53 In fact, we're quite a rare breed in that sense 05:55 that we actually don't have we don't watch TV in our home 06:00 and we still read books 06:02 and our child has very limited access 06:05 to technology in general. 06:07 We're aware of the fact for our older children 06:10 that they can get consumed by this idea of being pulled in 06:15 and actually we prefer our families to have down time. 06:19 So would you find it strange to learn that 06:23 in my entire life for one day a week 06:26 I have never watched television, 06:29 I have never worked and I went through university 06:31 and I did absolutely no study 06:33 and done exactly what I just described to you, 06:35 do that sound strange? 06:36 One day per week? 06:38 One day per week, every week of my life. 06:39 No, it doesn't sound strange at all. 06:41 That's like a Sunday in our house. 06:43 I mean, it sounds like an excellent idea. 06:46 Congratulations for putting it into practice. 06:48 Yeah, we are going to definitely maintaining it. 06:50 There actually 18 million of us 06:52 who try our best to do this globally, 06:54 I'm one of them and some of my team here are doing that. 06:57 We try to adopt this ancient concept called the Sabbath, 07:01 have you ever heard of it? 07:03 Yeah, it's a-- leads to Judaism. 07:07 A holy day, a day of rest. 07:09 So it well-- Judaism is Saturday isn't 07:11 it usually in the UK? 07:13 Christianity, Sunday. Yeah, mainstream. 07:16 We also believe in from Friday sunset 07:20 to Saturday sunset is the main 07:22 and most busiest time in western society. 07:26 I believe it and I think we believe it 07:28 that it can really dramatically change society. 07:31 So we're here today to introduce you 07:32 to the Sabbath sofa, which you're sitting on. 07:36 It's been in various different locations 07:38 across the globe here and there, 07:40 so you're fortunate to be on it. 07:42 And we'd like to inspire you today 07:44 to experience the Sabbath for yourself. 07:46 You've described essences of it in little ways in your own life 07:50 and I commend you and applaud you for doing that 07:52 and we really hope that you can discover 07:54 the Sabbath in a special way for you. 07:55 So we're here today to inspire you, 07:57 to tell you you're not a machine 07:59 and you can experience the Sabbath too. 08:01 So thank you very much. Sounds very good. 08:03 Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you. 08:04 Thank you. Nice to meet you. 08:05 Thank you very much. Well done. 08:10 The Sabbath sofa is a creative idea. 08:12 It was a brain child 08:14 of just three young pastors here in Britain. 08:16 They got together, prayed together, 08:18 how can we make a connection with the community 08:20 and you don't make much more of a connection 08:22 than putting a sofa in the middle of a busy street. 08:25 And its just amazing I've witnessed over and over 08:27 how people come and sit down, take a seat 08:31 and then you just start talking to them 08:32 about the busyness of life, the stress of life, 08:35 and one after another they say yeah, 08:37 your life can be exhausting 08:38 and when you introduce the concept of the Sabbath, 08:42 the 24 hour rest that God gave us 08:44 their faces light up and they say oh if only. 08:48 And this connection is continued 08:52 because as you see afterward Sam talks to the people, 08:57 he makes sure that they get a photo together 09:00 and he says we're going 09:01 to put this photo up on our Facebook page. 09:04 And so that connection continues 09:06 because they'll go to the Facebook site 09:08 Sabbath Sofa to see their photos. 09:11 There's the links where they can continue 09:12 to keep in touch via social media. 09:15 So it's a tremendous way to keep up 09:17 that contact to mingle with people 09:19 and to make that connection for Jesus Christ. 09:27 Next stop we travel to Nepal 09:28 and we hear the story of how a man found Jesus 09:31 through Adventist World Radio. 09:40 Rajesh Hada is the studio manager 09:42 for Adventist World Radio in Nepal. 09:45 When he was younger he had a strong interest in music 09:49 and one day he decided to take his interest to the next level. 09:53 My family background is very musical, 09:55 family environment very musical. 09:57 I used to sing a song playing the guitar with my father. 10:03 Then my, father, my family suggested to me, 10:07 why don't you open your own studio? 10:10 Rajesh took his family's suggestion to heart 10:13 and in 1996 he opened a studio 10:15 in the capital city of Kathmandu. 10:19 Right from the beginning business was booming 10:21 and Rajesh was very busy. 10:23 One day an Adventist Radio World worker 10:26 came into his studio and asked if Rajesh 10:28 could do some recording for their programs. 10:31 At this point he didn't know anything about Jesus 10:34 but he agreed to do the job anyway. 10:43 Over time he was draw to the music 10:46 and to the sermons that played through his speakers all day. 10:49 Rajesh decided to give his heart to Jesus 10:52 because of the work he was doing. 10:56 Now he has a passion to reach the Nepali people. 10:59 He knows that the people of Nepal 11:01 are open to hearing the message. 11:04 In the country of Nepal many stations are commercial. 11:08 So if we put it on the commercial radio station, 11:11 then non-Christians also listen to out programs also. 11:15 And many of the listeners will call in with requests. 11:18 For prayer for them and ask for books, Bibles. 11:21 So they are very interested. So it's very effective. 11:27 I think it's very effective. 11:30 Families like Chinbahadur and Bijuri 11:32 came to know the gospel message through the radio broadcast. 11:36 This couple owns a small shop and farm to sustain themselves. 11:40 A few years ago their son was sick. 11:43 They took him to the local healer 11:45 but the son's condition got worse, 11:47 and he eventually died. 11:49 They fell into deep depression until one day 11:51 they heard encouraging words on the radio. 11:54 They wrote down the number at the end broadcast 11:57 and called everyday to ask for prayer. 12:00 The staff from Adventist World Radio 12:02 eventually came to visit and bring encouragement. 12:07 We can't read so we learn more about Jesus 12:09 by listening to the radio. 12:12 In many cases people cannot read 12:14 or don't have access to Christian materials. 12:16 The radio is their only opportunity 12:19 to hear the gospel message. 12:21 Yes, we want to learn more and we want to live for Jesus. 12:26 The radio is a powerful tool 12:28 for reaching the un-reached in all areas of the world. 12:32 Workers like Rajesh dedicate their lives to God's mission. 12:36 The result is that people throughout Nepal 12:38 have the opportunity to hear the message 12:41 and give their lives to Jesus. 12:43 Please pray for the work being done in Nepal. 12:46 Pray for workers like Rajesh 12:48 who play a key role in supporting this work. 12:51 And thank you for your support of mission, 12:53 through Adventist World Radio. 13:01 Well, I hope you've enjoyed today's 13:03 360 degree view of mission around the world. 13:06 From huge cities like London to more rural areas, 13:10 many people are sharing the light of God's love 13:13 and thank you so much for your continuing prayers 13:16 and financial support for mission around the world. 13:19 Before we go I'd love to send you a small gift 13:23 as a small thank you for your continuing support for mission. 13:27 If you live in North America 13:28 we'd love to send you a small gift, 13:30 it's this book God's Great Missionaries 13:33 full of inspiring stories 13:34 of God's missionaries in the Bible 13:37 and how the principles of their life 13:39 and work still apply today. 13:42 For Adventist Mission, I'm Gary Krause 13:44 and I hope you can join me next time here 13:46 on Global Mission Snapshots. |
Revised 2015-08-20