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Compassion and Courage
Testimony and Stories from some of our Church Planting
Teams in the Islamic World
A team working among refugees in the Middle East has seen numbers of people come to faith despite the serious threat of persecution. The following is an extract from a recent prayer letter:
‘“I would kill anyone who left Islam with my own hands,” said the young man, his dark eyes fixed with intense hatred on my husband, himself a convert from Islam.
‘I have often thought about those dramatic scenes in Scripture where the religious elite start gnashing their teeth and covering their ears and demanding the speaker’s death. It is quite a response! A response that most of us do not expect when we share the good news. Two days ago, as part of a five-hour visit with a poor refugee family in dire straits, I thought for the first time that we may not be so very far away from such a response. This was perhaps the most difficult debate I had been in and it was not at all difficult to imagine that this man would kill.
‘Ironically, he is named after the “prophet” Jesus, whom he claims to respect, has had some exposure to the good news and even gave me a copy of the Jesus film that he had seen. Yet it was too much for him and his family when they met someone who had encountered Jesus personally, and heard his claim to have eternal life through his atoning death on the cross and his triumphant resurrection.
‘Hostility and hatred were almost tangible in the room, and anger could not be suppressed. I looked across at my husband whose eyes shone with the brandmark of the Holy Spirit's presence in him, the gentleness and love in his compelling arguments and testimony, and the boldness of a profession that leads to calls for his death.
‘As I think of the costly death of Jesus and the costly obedience of those who follow him in the shadow of death, living martyrs, I am inspired even more to take up my cross. I recognise all kinds of fears that surface in me but strangely enough these are put into perspective when I hold my life lightly. I am not here for myself, nor do I belong to myself, nor is my life in my own hands. I was bought and I am possessed for his purposes. The One who resides in me now has full control of all things and has engraved the knowledge of his extravagant love into my soul with his own scarred hands.’
Multiplication and Mountain Pass Rescue
In Central Asia, one of our teams has planted a church and aims to train indigenous leadership. God has spoken prophetically about multiplying the work, so some of the team are moving to another town where there are no known Christians. The region is very mountainous, which brings additional challenges as this story shows:
‘Chris and Dave were sitting in a taxi, going over the Northern pass, when all of a sudden everything went white. Once the snow had settled they wondered where the car they were following had gone! Was it under the big pile of snow in front of them or had the avalanche taken it down the mountain? They got out to find the car a total write-off about 300m down the mountainside, with luggage and people strewn along its path. The first sign that anybody was still alive was a little boy crying. Their taxi driver grabbed a rope and headed off down the mountainside, whilst Chris and the others stayed at the top and pulled them all back up to the road. All were alive without major injuries, just in shock. So they gave them hot coffee, chocolate, wrapped them into dry, warm, clothes and sleeping bags and did some first aid. What a miracle that everybody survived!
‘The avalanche totally blocked the road in front and a second avalanche a few minutes later blocked the road behind them, so David and Chris ended up for ten hours on the top of the pass until the bulldozers managed to clear the road. I know that many of you prayed for them, thanks!
‘Despite the dangers of travel, the journey is worthwhile as the meeting with the mayor at the new location couldn't have been more positive. The local government is eager for us to open an office in their town for our social action project and said they would provide a building for it! This is far more than we had prayed for!’
Young Believers Speak Out
A particular challenge can be for believers to share their faith with others, as this often results in persecution, but we are beginning to see believers being more courageous, as these testimonies from Turkey demonstrate.
‘We have had three days of prayer and fasting, seeking God for breakthrough in the lives of the new believers and the town. Carol went to see Rose, who fasted until yesterday evening, and was really encouraged by the things she shared with her. It seems that she went with one of her sisters to visit some relatives that she hadn’t seen for several years. As they talked the lady said to Rose, “I hear that you’ve changed your faith. How could you do that? You might die tomorrow and then what would happen to you?” To which she replied, “Well, if I did die I know that I’d go straight to heaven!” After this, the lady and her family asked a lot of questions, and Rose said she felt a great sense of peace as she shared. We felt very proud of her.’
In another city, David and Scilla Devenish were talking to a young man who had recently been converted. Both his grandfathers had been Mullahs and, following his conversion, his family even threatened to kill him because of the dishonour this brought to them. Following these threats, Jesus had appeared to him in a vision and told him ‘he would never leave him nor forsake him’. Our friend did not know at that time that this was in Scripture. At the time of our chat, he was about to go into the army in the Islamic nation of which he was part. He was praying to God to give him the opportunity to witness whilst in the army, something that could be very difficult to do in such a context. Later we heard that around 4,000 new recruits were gathered together on his first day and the commanding officer said that he believed that all the new recruits would be good Muslims and that if anyone was not, then he should say so. Our friend stood up in front of this vast company of people and declared that he was a believer in Jesus and started to give his testimony. What an answer to prayer!
House Church New Testament Style
David Devenish writes, ‘Many eastern style houses have courtyards and on one occasion in Pakistan this year I visited a church we had planted the year before. 120 people were gathered together in the courtyard of a house in a rural community. They were sitting on the floor, worshipping God in a wonderful grace-filled atmosphere and listening expectantly to the Word of God. There was room in the courtyard for probably around 250 – a true Biblical house church. A few days later we visited another area where we want to plant a church. The house we visited had two rooms. All the furniture had been moved outside and both rooms were filled with about 60 people, again all eager to hear the Word of God. It is really inspiring to visit true Biblical “house churches”!’ |
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