Location Arab World

Life in Arabia

Arabia. The name invokes memories of fables about a mystical land of sweeping, soaring sand dunes, desert date-palmed oases, Ali Baba, Aladdin and flying carpets. My husband and I have lived in this far-away, beautiful part of the world for many years, among people who are so very different from us, and yet not so different at all.

While the dominant religion is Islam, there are many here who do own Jesus as their Lord. However, they must do so in secret, as apostasy (conversion from Islam to another religion) carries serious social and legal consequences: the annulment of marriage, the removal of children, and the loss of all property and inheritance rights. Apostasy is also punishable by death.

One day a Western friend, who is married to a local Muslim, shared with me that her husband was suspicious of their eldest daughter. The daughter did not pray five times a day nor did she want to go on the Hajj, the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca. The husband suspected her of following his wife, and believing as she did. But when the questioning got a little out of hand, in anger and frustration he put his open hand in my friend’s face, and said, “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know!” He did not want to fulfil the duties and obligations required of him if his daughter was bringing dishonour to the family. My friend and I cried and prayed together over her situation: how does a woman be a wife to a man who she knows would kill their daughter if he knew the truth?

We had been in the country for less than a year when I realised just how closely our family was being observed by our neighbours and our community. I was approached by a neighbour, covered in black from her head to her toes, shaking her finger at me as she insisted that I come to her home: she had been watching us and she wanted to know why we were so different.

I was asked about my children, and why my sons treated their sisters the way they did. The women could not understand why my sons were considerate, loving and protective toward their sisters, because within a Muslim family, regardless of age, a daughter is there to serve her brother. It was a great opportunity to explain that as we were Christians, our family relationships were based on love for each other. And that men and women, sons and daughters, are equal in God’s eyes. As parents we were equally proud of both our sons and our daughters: they were not worth more (or less) because of their gender.

While I was talking with these mothers I was watching their children playing outside in the courtyard. The boys were kicking a soccer ball around, and when it hit one of the girls in the stomach, she doubled up in pain. But the boys did not show the least concern for their sister, and she received a severe rebuke from her mother for interrupting the game.

In this Muslim land we are watched because we’re different, and that works to our advantage because it opens up all sorts of opportunities to share about God and His love. A group of married women from my work once asked me to explain my ‘love story’. They had been watching my husband and me for many months. They saw the consideration my husband gave me in the simplest of things, like opening the car door for me (an Arab man would never do this for his wife, as it would be considered demeaning), and walking beside me when we were out at the Mall, instead of requiring me to walk behind him. So the next day I brought my wedding album into work, and explained how our marriage was based on the fact that we loved each other, and wanted to spend our lives together. I showed them photos of the church and the ceremony, and explained that the vows we made were a sacred promise before God and the community: my husband promised to love, honour and cherish me for as long as he lived, and I promised to love, honour and obey him.

Women in this country do not marry for love. They do not even get to choose their own husbands. While they are still very young, their parents choose their groom for them, from amongst their first cousins (which later often leads to major health issues in their children). In Arabia, the legal marriage age is 14, but I know women who were married and mothers by the time they were 11 years old. The formalities are completed at the courts by the fathers, and then at a later date set by the couple themselves they have the celebration.

There are actually two separate wedding celebrations: one for the groom and one for the bride. At the celebrations they dance and party until at least midnight, then the groom and his wedding party go across town to the bride’s celebration, to claim her and take her to his home. When he and his wedding party enter the wedding hall of the bride, within the twinkling of an eye the room becomes a sea of black, in stark contrast to the music and dancing, eating and laughing, gossiping and talking that the bride and her guests had been enjoying up to that point. This is a very sad analogy of how marriage is viewed. The bride should not have to hide herself from the bridegroom, but these brides are not loved, and they know that.

I remember being shocked when a young local woman told me that it was not right to seek love from her husband, that the object of life was to become wise so that Allah would accept them into Paradise. To believe it is unacceptable to seek love within marriage, when it is the one thing they desire above all else, leaves both men and women empty, angry and deeply lonely.

My husband was approached in the supermarket one day by a stranger, who hesitantly asked him, “Do you love your wife?” My husband arranged to meet him later for coffee in a more private setting, at which time the man explained he was deeply troubled because he was being forced into a marriage he didn’t want. My husband was then able to share with him that God’s plan for marriage includes love, and that He instructs men to honour and cherish their wives, and even be willing to lay down their lives for them, as Christ did for us. We have no idea why he approached my husband except that God obviously wanted him to speak with a follower of Christ and learn a little of what he himself knew was very different from his culture and religion.

Although many are hungry to learn more of this God who is so different from the harsh taskmaster of Islam, it is almost impossible for them to understand His love because of their cultural background. Because they do not understand love, they cannot accept God’s love, and they sincerely struggle to understand why He would do such a thing as allow His Son to die for them. Only the working of the Holy Spirit within the hearts of these people will make them truly believe that God loves them unconditionally, and give them the courage to become seekers of the Truth. Please pray for the land and people of Arabia. We come from two different worlds, two different theological frameworks, but we share the same longings: to be accepted and to be loved.

The author and her husband are Kiwi partners, serving within their professions in Arabia. They have five children, who are now all adults.

2009년 4월 1일/작성자: 인터서브

Jesus, Prince of Persia

Theology / Church, Arab World

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which forced out the Shah and installed an Islamic Republic, Iran has become a byword for Islamic fundamentalism. Nowhere has the so-called “clash of civilisations” been put into sharper relief than in the tortured relationship between Iran and the US, with President Bush labelling Iran as part of the so-called “Axis of Evil” in 2002 and President Ahmedinejad describing the September 11th attacks as “a suspect event”. Under these circumstances perhaps Iran, run by an oppressive régime incapable of tolerating dissent, is one of the least likely places in the world to witness a large-scale revival of the body of Christ. And yet, amazingly, that is the situation in modern-day Iran. The spirit of God is moving over the parched sands of Persia.

The history of the Iranian church is remarkably long. Acts 2: 9 records “Parthians, Medes and Elamites” hearing the gospel on the day of Pentecost and there are churches in Iran that date back to the days of the apostles. Ancient churches and historical artifacts testify that Christian missionaries from Persia travelled as far as India and China in the 8th and 9th centuries. Even though Christianity in Iran has been a minority religion throughout its entire existence, buffeted by the whims of Zoroastrian and Muslim authorities over the centuries, the Iranian church has survived.

This, in itself, is remarkable, but even more remarkable is the extent to which the church is thriving. Western missionaries worked in Iran for over 100 years, scarcely seeing any fruit at all, but the seeds they planted were crucial. Thanks to their work, and the work of people like Haik Hovsepian and Seth Yeghnazar, along with his sons Sam, Lazarus and Luke, by 1976 a few small churches had been established. Following the 1979 revolution the new régime allowed Christians and other minority groups to gather openly and then clamped down savagely, closing churches and imprisoning Christians across Iran. These attacks culminated in the 1990s with several killings of senior Iranian churchmen. In 1989 Hossein Soodmand, pastor of the Assemblies of God (Jama’at – e Rabbani) church, was executed for apostasy. Mehdi Dibaj, another member of the Jama’at – e Rabbani, was imprisoned for ten years, from 1983 to 1993, before being freed in January 1994 following a global outcry. At his trial he boldly declared ““I am not only satisfied to be in prison for the honour of His Holy Name, but am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus my Lord”. Following his release he was abducted and murdered later in 1994. In 1993 Haik Hovsepian, an Iranian bishop in the Jama’at-e Rabbani, was asked by the government to sign a document stating that he would not allow Muslims or Muslim converts into his church. He refused, declaring “our churches are open to all who want to come in”. He was murdered in January 1994.

The brutality of this persecution forced many Iranian Christians to meet in underground churches, but, as is often the case with persecution, it strengthened and encouraged the Iranian church rather than destroying it. There is currently an extensive network of underground churches in more than 40 cities across Iran, largely consisting of recent believers from Muslim backgrounds, and recent developments such as Christian satellite broadcasting are reaching millions more. The website of 222 Ministries (www.222ministries. com) contains many testimonies from Iranian Christians and stories of how the church in Iran is growing – Muslim clerics, leaders of mosques, drug addicts and prostitutes all testify to the power of Christ. 222 Ministries even run an online theological college which currently has over 800 students, including Muslim clerics, and their staff members receive 1,000 phone calls a month from Iranians wanting to commit their lives to Christ. Lazarus Yeghnazar, the President of 222 Ministries International, calmly states that “conservative estimates put the size of the Iranian church at over one million people”. The scale of this revival is astonishing.

Naturally, spiritual warfare being what it is, the persecution of the church in Iran is intensifying, a testimony to the size and momentum of this revival. Since April 2008 there have been 53 arrests of Iranian Christians all over the country – in Tehran, Mashad, Esfahan, Shiraz and elsewhere. In July 2008 an elderly Christian couple were leading a gospel meeting at their house church in Esfahan and baptising new believers in a tub of water in their lounge when their house was raided. The police were particularly incensed when they discovered that the husband, Abbas Amiri, was a respected haji who had visited Mecca on several occasions and who had also fought for Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. He was beaten and died on his way to hospital. His wife Sakineh Rahnama later died of shock. Recently the Iranian government provisionally passed legislation demanding the death penalty for Muslims who leave Islam – previously courts could hand down hard labour sentences or jail terms instead, but the death penalty could soon be the only option. The flourishing church is not the only evidence that many Iranians are unhappy with their government – for example, a United Nations report in 2005 revealed that Iran has the highest drug addiction rate in the world, and the Iran Press Service reported in 2006 that government agencies are considering creating legalised brothels to combat a massive rise in prostitution. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that something is rotten in the state of Iran.

Although precise statistics regarding the church in Iran are hard to come by – it’s an underground church, after all – what is clear from many sources and from the increasingly desperate restrictions introduced by the Iranian government is that the message of Christ is spreading in Iran, and spreading fast. Lazarus Yeghnazar believes that the church around the world needs to be prepared for an avalanche of new believers both inside Iran and in the extensive Iranian diaspora around the world, and wants Christians to pray for this as a matter of urgency. The ancient bones of the church in Iran, dating back to the time of the apostles, are coming to life in thrilling fashion, providing a wonderful example of the power of Christ over the plans of men.

2009년 1월 1일/작성자: 인터서브

Theology / Church Arab World

Jesus, Prince of Persia

Theology / Church, Arab World

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which forced out the Shah and installed an Islamic Republic, Iran has become a byword for Islamic fundamentalism. Nowhere has the so-called “clash of civilisations” been put into sharper relief than in the tortured relationship between Iran and the US, with President Bush labelling Iran as part of the so-called “Axis of Evil” in 2002 and President Ahmedinejad describing the September 11th attacks as “a suspect event”. Under these circumstances perhaps Iran, run by an oppressive régime incapable of tolerating dissent, is one of the least likely places in the world to witness a large-scale revival of the body of Christ. And yet, amazingly, that is the situation in modern-day Iran. The spirit of God is moving over the parched sands of Persia.

The history of the Iranian church is remarkably long. Acts 2: 9 records “Parthians, Medes and Elamites” hearing the gospel on the day of Pentecost and there are churches in Iran that date back to the days of the apostles. Ancient churches and historical artifacts testify that Christian missionaries from Persia travelled as far as India and China in the 8th and 9th centuries. Even though Christianity in Iran has been a minority religion throughout its entire existence, buffeted by the whims of Zoroastrian and Muslim authorities over the centuries, the Iranian church has survived.

This, in itself, is remarkable, but even more remarkable is the extent to which the church is thriving. Western missionaries worked in Iran for over 100 years, scarcely seeing any fruit at all, but the seeds they planted were crucial. Thanks to their work, and the work of people like Haik Hovsepian and Seth Yeghnazar, along with his sons Sam, Lazarus and Luke, by 1976 a few small churches had been established. Following the 1979 revolution the new régime allowed Christians and other minority groups to gather openly and then clamped down savagely, closing churches and imprisoning Christians across Iran. These attacks culminated in the 1990s with several killings of senior Iranian churchmen. In 1989 Hossein Soodmand, pastor of the Assemblies of God (Jama’at – e Rabbani) church, was executed for apostasy. Mehdi Dibaj, another member of the Jama’at – e Rabbani, was imprisoned for ten years, from 1983 to 1993, before being freed in January 1994 following a global outcry. At his trial he boldly declared ““I am not only satisfied to be in prison for the honour of His Holy Name, but am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus my Lord”. Following his release he was abducted and murdered later in 1994. In 1993 Haik Hovsepian, an Iranian bishop in the Jama’at-e Rabbani, was asked by the government to sign a document stating that he would not allow Muslims or Muslim converts into his church. He refused, declaring “our churches are open to all who want to come in”. He was murdered in January 1994.

The brutality of this persecution forced many Iranian Christians to meet in underground churches, but, as is often the case with persecution, it strengthened and encouraged the Iranian church rather than destroying it. There is currently an extensive network of underground churches in more than 40 cities across Iran, largely consisting of recent believers from Muslim backgrounds, and recent developments such as Christian satellite broadcasting are reaching millions more. The website of 222 Ministries (www.222ministries. com) contains many testimonies from Iranian Christians and stories of how the church in Iran is growing – Muslim clerics, leaders of mosques, drug addicts and prostitutes all testify to the power of Christ. 222 Ministries even run an online theological college which currently has over 800 students, including Muslim clerics, and their staff members receive 1,000 phone calls a month from Iranians wanting to commit their lives to Christ. Lazarus Yeghnazar, the President of 222 Ministries International, calmly states that “conservative estimates put the size of the Iranian church at over one million people”. The scale of this revival is astonishing.

Naturally, spiritual warfare being what it is, the persecution of the church in Iran is intensifying, a testimony to the size and momentum of this revival. Since April 2008 there have been 53 arrests of Iranian Christians all over the country – in Tehran, Mashad, Esfahan, Shiraz and elsewhere. In July 2008 an elderly Christian couple were leading a gospel meeting at their house church in Esfahan and baptising new believers in a tub of water in their lounge when their house was raided. The police were particularly incensed when they discovered that the husband, Abbas Amiri, was a respected haji who had visited Mecca on several occasions and who had also fought for Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. He was beaten and died on his way to hospital. His wife Sakineh Rahnama later died of shock. Recently the Iranian government provisionally passed legislation demanding the death penalty for Muslims who leave Islam – previously courts could hand down hard labour sentences or jail terms instead, but the death penalty could soon be the only option. The flourishing church is not the only evidence that many Iranians are unhappy with their government – for example, a United Nations report in 2005 revealed that Iran has the highest drug addiction rate in the world, and the Iran Press Service reported in 2006 that government agencies are considering creating legalised brothels to combat a massive rise in prostitution. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that something is rotten in the state of Iran.

Although precise statistics regarding the church in Iran are hard to come by – it’s an underground church, after all – what is clear from many sources and from the increasingly desperate restrictions introduced by the Iranian government is that the message of Christ is spreading in Iran, and spreading fast. Lazarus Yeghnazar believes that the church around the world needs to be prepared for an avalanche of new believers both inside Iran and in the extensive Iranian diaspora around the world, and wants Christians to pray for this as a matter of urgency. The ancient bones of the church in Iran, dating back to the time of the apostles, are coming to life in thrilling fashion, providing a wonderful example of the power of Christ over the plans of men.

2009년 1월 1일/작성자: 인터서브

Theology / Church Arab World

Jesus Prince of Persia

Theology / Church, Arab World

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which forced out the Shah and installed an Islamic Republic, Iran has become a byword for Islamic fundamentalism. Nowhere has the so-called “clash of civilisations” been put into sharper relief than in the tortured relationship between Iran and the US, with President Bush labelling Iran as part of the so-called “Axis of Evil” in 2002 and President Ahmedinejad describing the September 11th attacks as “a suspect event”. Under these circumstances perhaps Iran, run by an oppressive régime incapable of tolerating dissent, is one of the least likely places in the world to witness a large-scale revival of the body of Christ. And yet, amazingly, that is the situation in modern-day Iran. The spirit of God is moving over the parched sands of Persia.

The history of the Iranian church is remarkably long. Acts 2: 9 records “Parthians, Medes and Elamites” hearing the gospel on the day of Pentecost and there are churches in Iran that date back to the days of the apostles. Ancient churches and historical artifacts testify that Christian missionaries from Persia travelled as far as India and China in the 8th and 9th centuries. Even though Christianity in Iran has been a minority religion throughout its entire existence, buffeted by the whims of Zoroastrian and Muslim authorities over the centuries, the Iranian church has survived.

This, in itself, is remarkable, but even more remarkable is the extent to which the church is thriving. Western missionaries worked in Iran for over 100 years, scarcely seeing any fruit at all, but the seeds they planted were crucial. Thanks to their work, and the work of people like Haik Hovsepian and Seth Yeghnazar, along with his sons Sam, Lazarus and Luke, by 1976 a few small churches had been established. Following the 1979 revolution the new régime allowed Christians and other minority groups to gather openly and then clamped down savagely, closing churches and imprisoning Christians across Iran. These attacks culminated in the 1990s with several killings of senior Iranian churchmen. In 1989 Hossein Soodmand, pastor of the Assemblies of God (Jama’at – e Rabbani) church, was executed for apostasy. Mehdi Dibaj, another member of the Jama’at – e Rabbani, was imprisoned for ten years, from 1983 to 1993, before being freed in January 1994 following a global outcry. At his trial he boldly declared ““I am not only satisfied to be in prison for the honour of His Holy Name, but am ready to give my life for the sake of Jesus my Lord”. Following his release he was abducted and murdered later in 1994. In 1993 Haik Hovsepian, an Iranian bishop in the Jama’at-e Rabbani, was asked by the government to sign a document stating that he would not allow Muslims or Muslim converts into his church. He refused, declaring “our churches are open to all who want to come in”. He was murdered in January 1994.

The brutality of this persecution forced many Iranian Christians to meet in underground churches, but, as is often the case with persecution, it strengthened and encouraged the Iranian church rather than destroying it. There is currently an extensive network of underground churches in more than 40 cities across Iran, largely consisting of recent believers from Muslim backgrounds, and recent developments such as Christian satellite broadcasting are reaching millions more. The website of 222 Ministries (www.222ministries. com) contains many testimonies from Iranian Christians and stories of how the church in Iran is growing – Muslim clerics, leaders of mosques, drug addicts and prostitutes all testify to the power of Christ. 222 Ministries even run an online theological college which currently has over 800 students, including Muslim clerics, and their staff members receive 1,000 phone calls a month from Iranians wanting to commit their lives to Christ. Lazarus Yeghnazar, the President of 222 Ministries International, calmly states that “conservative estimates put the size of the Iranian church at over one million people”. The scale of this revival is astonishing.

Naturally, spiritual warfare being what it is, the persecution of the church in Iran is intensifying, a testimony to the size and momentum of this revival. Since April 2008 there have been 53 arrests of Iranian Christians all over the country – in Tehran, Mashad, Esfahan, Shiraz and elsewhere. In July 2008 an elderly Christian couple were leading a gospel meeting at their house church in Esfahan and baptising new believers in a tub of water in their lounge when their house was raided. The police were particularly incensed when they discovered that the husband, Abbas Amiri, was a respected haji who had visited Mecca on several occasions and who had also fought for Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. He was beaten and died on his way to hospital. His wife Sakineh Rahnama later died of shock. Recently the Iranian government provisionally passed legislation demanding the death penalty for Muslims who leave Islam – previously courts could hand down hard labour sentences or jail terms instead, but the death penalty could soon be the only option. The flourishing church is not the only evidence that many Iranians are unhappy with their government – for example, a United Nations report in 2005 revealed that Iran has the highest drug addiction rate in the world, and the Iran Press Service reported in 2006 that government agencies are considering creating legalised brothels to combat a massive rise in prostitution. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that something is rotten in the state of Iran.

Although precise statistics regarding the church in Iran are hard to come by – it’s an underground church, after all – what is clear from many sources and from the increasingly desperate restrictions introduced by the Iranian government is that the message of Christ is spreading in Iran, and spreading fast. Lazarus Yeghnazar believes that the church around the world needs to be prepared for an avalanche of new believers both inside Iran and in the extensive Iranian diaspora around the world, and wants Christians to pray for this as a matter of urgency. The ancient bones of the church in Iran, dating back to the time of the apostles, are coming to life in thrilling fashion, providing a wonderful example of the power of Christ over the plans of men.

2009년 1월 1일/작성자: 인터서브

Theology / Church Arab World

Too Late For Some

Theology / Church, Arab World

One of the most poignant stories I have ever heard comes from the life of the famous missionary to China, J. Hudson Taylor. The first man to come to faith through Taylor’s preaching was a leader of a Buddhist sect, and it was a sweet moment when he testified that after years of searching for truth and rest, he had found them at last in Jesus. But the experience turned bittersweet when he inquired just how long this life-giving news had been known in England. “‘What!’ said he, amazed. ‘Is it possible that for hundreds of years you have had the knowledge of these glad tidings in your possession, and yet have only now come to preach it to us? My father sought truth for more than twenty years, and died without finding it. Oh, why did you not come sooner?’”

How easy it is for us, even those of us living among ‘unreached’ people, to lose track of how quickly the time is passing, and how many people all around us are literally dying to hear the ‘glad tidings’ which brought us life. Demanding jobs wear us down, the daily pressures of life consume our energy, ‘political correctness’ or even fear of reprisal may sap our boldness… all conspire to numb us to the awful reality that people we know, and millions we don’t, are racing towards an everlasting separation from God.

Paul implored the saints in Ephesus to walk wisely, ‘redeeming the time (literally, ‘buying the opportunity’) because the days are evil.’ Sometimes ‘the opportunity’ is obvious. Several months ago we first met ‘Sarah,’ who was staying in the slum with her brother’s family, and had come to the city in search of medical treatment. A quick examination revealed that she had come much too late. The cancer which had begun in her mouth had completely eaten away her tongue, and had spread into her neck and jaw. She was in terrific pain, and pleaded with us to help her. With heavy hearts we explained to her and her family that there was no medical solution, but that our God is able to heal, and so we prayed for her in Jesus’ name. And so began the journey.

Sarah often cried and kissed our hands when we brought her pain medicine or ‘milkshakes,’ or gave a little massage that helped to relax her frail and withered body a little. We also found that Sarah listened eagerly to our stories about the man named Jesus, who touched and healed people, and who willingly sacrificed himself for sinners. She dreamed one night that Jesus came to her and said, ‘God heals you.’ Sometimes she called out his name when the pain was too much. I saw her a couple of days before she died, very agitated and in a lot of pain. I prayed with her for God’s mercy, and she said ‘amen’ with me, and then calmed down and went to sleep. I know that she was touched by God’s love through our care for her. God knows if she is with Him now in glory, yet we are grateful for the precious opportunity we had to tell her of the Redeemer.

But often the opportunity is gone before we know it. I knew that ‘Matthew’ was special from the first day I met him. Unlike many of the other men from this poor community, Matthew went out of his way to help me, often escorting me around the slum until I got into my car to leave. His very humble shack was nevertheless neatly organized and clean… the tiny ‘kitchen’ he had set up for his wife even had shelves! He worked hard, seven days a week, as a garbage collector, in order to provide for his family, and would never have allowed his wife to beg on the street, as so many women do. We were encouraging him to organize other like-minded men to work together on improving their community. We had occasion to share with him that we were followers of Jesus, and that we ourselves had new life because of him. And we looked forward to telling him more. That is, until the day he was killed. One day a charitable organization showed up to distribute food and blankets in the community, and things got out of control. Everyone was grabbing, and tempers flared when Matthew and another woman reached for the same blanket. In the blink of an eye, the woman’s husband exploded in anger and stabbed Matthew in the chest. Witnesses later told us that he threw his arms around a young girl who was standing there and cried out for forgiveness before he collapsed and died. And the opportunity was gone. We learned last week that the man who killed him has been executed. Another opportunity.

I recently visited the family of an eight-year-old girl who was raped by a neighbour with a wife and children of his own. As I write this, I am convicted that I keep meaning to seek out his family, and maybe even the man himself, before it is too late. But life is so busy…

Hudson Taylor’s reflections on that first convert, written more than a century ago, still speak to us: “A whole generation has passed away since that mournful inquiry was made; but how many, alas, might repeat the same question today? More than two hundred millions in the meanwhile have been swept into eternity, without an offer of salvation. How long shall this continue, and the Master’s words, ‘to every creature,’ remain unheeded?” Can we not find the time to share that offer? Can we not pray?

2008년 10월 1일/작성자: 인터서브

Theology / Church Arab World

Too Late For Some

Theology / Church, Arab World

One of the most poignant stories I have ever heard comes from the life of the famous missionary to China, J. Hudson Taylor. The first man to come to faith through Taylor’s preaching was a leader of a Buddhist sect, and it was a sweet moment when he testified that after years of searching for truth and rest, he had found them at last in Jesus. But the experience turned bittersweet when he inquired just how long this life-giving news had been known in England. “‘What!’ said he, amazed. ‘Is it possible that for hundreds of years you have had the knowledge of these glad tidings in your possession, and yet have only now come to preach it to us? My father sought truth for more than twenty years, and died without finding it. Oh, why did you not come sooner?’”

How easy it is for us, even those of us living among ‘unreached’ people, to lose track of how quickly the time is passing, and how many people all around us are literally dying to hear the ‘glad tidings’ which brought us life. Demanding jobs wear us down, the daily pressures of life consume our energy, ‘political correctness’ or even fear of reprisal may sap our boldness… all conspire to numb us to the awful reality that people we know, and millions we don’t, are racing towards an everlasting separation from God.

Paul implored the saints in Ephesus to walk wisely, ‘redeeming the time (literally, ‘buying the opportunity’) because the days are evil.’ Sometimes ‘the opportunity’ is obvious. Several months ago we first met ‘Sarah,’ who was staying in the slum with her brother’s family, and had come to the city in search of medical treatment. A quick examination revealed that she had come much too late. The cancer which had begun in her mouth had completely eaten away her tongue, and had spread into her neck and jaw. She was in terrific pain, and pleaded with us to help her. With heavy hearts we explained to her and her family that there was no medical solution, but that our God is able to heal, and so we prayed for her in Jesus’ name. And so began the journey.

Sarah often cried and kissed our hands when we brought her pain medicine or ‘milkshakes,’ or gave a little massage that helped to relax her frail and withered body a little. We also found that Sarah listened eagerly to our stories about the man named Jesus, who touched and healed people, and who willingly sacrificed himself for sinners. She dreamed one night that Jesus came to her and said, ‘God heals you.’ Sometimes she called out his name when the pain was too much. I saw her a couple of days before she died, very agitated and in a lot of pain. I prayed with her for God’s mercy, and she said ‘amen’ with me, and then calmed down and went to sleep. I know that she was touched by God’s love through our care for her. God knows if she is with Him now in glory, yet we are grateful for the precious opportunity we had to tell her of the Redeemer.

But often the opportunity is gone before we know it. I knew that ‘Matthew’ was special from the first day I met him. Unlike many of the other men from this poor community, Matthew went out of his way to help me, often escorting me around the slum until I got into my car to leave. His very humble shack was nevertheless neatly organized and clean… the tiny ‘kitchen’ he had set up for his wife even had shelves! He worked hard, seven days a week, as a garbage collector, in order to provide for his family, and would never have allowed his wife to beg on the street, as so many women do. We were encouraging him to organize other like-minded men to work together on improving their community. We had occasion to share with him that we were followers of Jesus, and that we ourselves had new life because of him. And we looked forward to telling him more. That is, until the day he was killed. One day a charitable organization showed up to distribute food and blankets in the community, and things got out of control. Everyone was grabbing, and tempers flared when Matthew and another woman reached for the same blanket. In the blink of an eye, the woman’s husband exploded in anger and stabbed Matthew in the chest. Witnesses later told us that he threw his arms around a young girl who was standing there and cried out for forgiveness before he collapsed and died. And the opportunity was gone. We learned last week that the man who killed him has been executed. Another opportunity.

I recently visited the family of an eight-year-old girl who was raped by a neighbour with a wife and children of his own. As I write this, I am convicted that I keep meaning to seek out his family, and maybe even the man himself, before it is too late. But life is so busy…

Hudson Taylor’s reflections on that first convert, written more than a century ago, still speak to us: “A whole generation has passed away since that mournful inquiry was made; but how many, alas, might repeat the same question today? More than two hundred millions in the meanwhile have been swept into eternity, without an offer of salvation. How long shall this continue, and the Master’s words, ‘to every creature,’ remain unheeded?” Can we not find the time to share that offer? Can we not pray?

2008년 10월 1일/작성자: 인터서브

Theology / Church Arab World

Too Late For Some

Theology / Church, Arab World

One of the most poignant stories I have ever heard comes from the life of the famous missionary to China, J. Hudson Taylor. The first man to come to faith through Taylor’s preaching was a leader of a Buddhist sect, and it was a sweet moment when he testified that after years of searching for truth and rest, he had found them at last in Jesus. But the experience turned bittersweet when he inquired just how long this life-giving news had been known in England. “‘What!’ said he, amazed. ‘Is it possible that for hundreds of years you have had the knowledge of these glad tidings in your possession, and yet have only now come to preach it to us? My father sought truth for more than twenty years, and died without finding it. Oh, why did you not come sooner?’”

How easy it is for us, even those of us living among ‘unreached’ people, to lose track of how quickly the time is passing, and how many people all around us are literally dying to hear the ‘glad tidings’ which brought us life. Demanding jobs wear us down, the daily pressures of life consume our energy, ‘political correctness’ or even fear of reprisal may sap our boldness… all conspire to numb us to the awful reality that people we know, and millions we don’t, are racing towards an everlasting separation from God.

Paul implored the saints in Ephesus to walk wisely, ‘redeeming the time (literally, ‘buying the opportunity’) because the days are evil.’ Sometimes ‘the opportunity’ is obvious. Several months ago we first met ‘Sarah,’ who was staying in the slum with her brother’s family, and had come to the city in search of medical treatment. A quick examination revealed that she had come much too late. The cancer which had begun in her mouth had completely eaten away her tongue, and had spread into her neck and jaw. She was in terrific pain, and pleaded with us to help her. With heavy hearts we explained to her and her family that there was no medical solution, but that our God is able to heal, and so we prayed for her in Jesus’ name. And so began the journey.

Sarah often cried and kissed our hands when we brought her pain medicine or ‘milkshakes,’ or gave a little massage that helped to relax her frail and withered body a little. We also found that Sarah listened eagerly to our stories about the man named Jesus, who touched and healed people, and who willingly sacrificed himself for sinners. She dreamed one night that Jesus came to her and said, ‘God heals you.’ Sometimes she called out his name when the pain was too much. I saw her a couple of days before she died, very agitated and in a lot of pain. I prayed with her for God’s mercy, and she said ‘amen’ with me, and then calmed down and went to sleep. I know that she was touched by God’s love through our care for her. God knows if she is with Him now in glory, yet we are grateful for the precious opportunity we had to tell her of the Redeemer.

But often the opportunity is gone before we know it. I knew that ‘Matthew’ was special from the first day I met him. Unlike many of the other men from this poor community, Matthew went out of his way to help me, often escorting me around the slum until I got into my car to leave. His very humble shack was nevertheless neatly organized and clean… the tiny ‘kitchen’ he had set up for his wife even had shelves! He worked hard, seven days a week, as a garbage collector, in order to provide for his family, and would never have allowed his wife to beg on the street, as so many women do. We were encouraging him to organize other like-minded men to work together on improving their community. We had occasion to share with him that we were followers of Jesus, and that we ourselves had new life because of him. And we looked forward to telling him more. That is, until the day he was killed. One day a charitable organization showed up to distribute food and blankets in the community, and things got out of control. Everyone was grabbing, and tempers flared when Matthew and another woman reached for the same blanket. In the blink of an eye, the woman’s husband exploded in anger and stabbed Matthew in the chest. Witnesses later told us that he threw his arms around a young girl who was standing there and cried out for forgiveness before he collapsed and died. And the opportunity was gone. We learned last week that the man who killed him has been executed. Another opportunity.

I recently visited the family of an eight-year-old girl who was raped by a neighbour with a wife and children of his own. As I write this, I am convicted that I keep meaning to seek out his family, and maybe even the man himself, before it is too late. But life is so busy…

Hudson Taylor’s reflections on that first convert, written more than a century ago, still speak to us: “A whole generation has passed away since that mournful inquiry was made; but how many, alas, might repeat the same question today? More than two hundred millions in the meanwhile have been swept into eternity, without an offer of salvation. How long shall this continue, and the Master’s words, ‘to every creature,’ remain unheeded?” Can we not find the time to share that offer? Can we not pray?

2008년 10월 1일/작성자: 인터서브

Agriculture Arab World

Pot inspector

Agriculture, Arab World

For most of the past 10 years my family and I have lived in a part of the world where relatively few people understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

When we arrived I had anticipated putting my honours degree and doctorate to good use in some sort of agricultural project which served the poor and gave ample opportunities to live out our faith. Instead I became the world’s most highly qualified pot inspector!

It all began quite innocently really – or was that ignorantly?

Firstly, I knew nothing about the product we were selling (pottery), in fact I didn’t even like it. My only prior exposure had been when my wife dragged me down to the Sunday markets to ‘revel’ in the pottery on sale – a highly evolved form of conjugal torture!

Secondly, I knew nothing about doing business – I was an agricultural scientist, the son of a Marxist. In my family, business was a sleazy alien we stopped at the front door along with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. We were encouraged to pursue honourable professions which would benefit the world (medicine, education – even science). So although I could model ‘heat and water vapour transfer’ I couldn’t distinguish a balance sheet from a shopping docket!

Thirdly, we had no capital – well what do you expect of a Christian socialist!

Despite this trifecta of what might be kindly described as business handicaps, we somehow (or more accurately, God managed) to build a business exporting pottery to Western markets. Along the way we became the leading pottery exporter in that country. We employed about 20 people full-time, up to 30 casual staff, and through our subcontractors generated employment for more than 200 people. We worked in more than 10 different communities across the country and worked with more than 70 different subcontractors (including accessory suppliers and packaging suppliers).

It started very simply – a fellow Christian worker (who was a trader by background) needed someone to help him pack pots. He had figured out that the pottery was cheap and that there was perhaps an export market for it. But if the price was low, the quality was lower, so to control that he inspected every pot he shipped – the trouble was there was only so many hours in the day and when you have to pack 50,000 pots just to fill up one container, that’s a lot of hours.

The solution of course was to bring in the world’s most highly qualified pot inspector (moi!). I knew all those years of studying heat and water transfer through the rhizosphere (even my computer doesn’t know this word) would eventually come in handy! So there I sat, day in day out, surrounded by the grubby poor I had envisaged serving, looking at their cruddy pots and throwing most of them away (not a way to make them love you – let alone admire your walk of faith!).

Occasionally to break the monotony (believe me, inspecting 50,000 pots out in the open, with only dust, sun and smelly potters for company is monotonous), I’d discover they were cheating and slipping my rejects back into the boxes we were shipping. Then I’d get a chance to express my love for them!

Here, strangely enough, is where the trifecta really begins. My tirades of abuse and pot smashing (along with their attempts to cheat me) brought about a real relationship. We needed each other – I had customers to satisfy – they had families to feed – it was a relationship of mutual need – so we couldn’t just walk away – and in the end we had to be reconciled. After all we had a job to do and neither I nor they could stop until the container was done. So over a soft drink they’d illuminate me as to how white lies (which is what apparently this was) were really okay, let alone culturally appropriate. And I’d illuminate them on how regardless of a potter’s theology of truth, our customers were not so culturally ductile! We began to really communicate!

Over the years these people with whom I fought on a daily basis became trusted (not with their pots) and valued friends. In turn we became trusted members of the communities in which we worked. In many ways we (and our staff) became a part of those communities, bought property and were present day in and day out.

From the income generated from our business, new businesses sprung up, other businesses grew. We were able to develop products specifically to generate employment for women and gradually help our suppliers to understand that acting with integrity and building trust were essential to business success and indeed helpful to all forms of human interaction.

We didn’t get everything our way – we still struggled with our subcontractors employing their children rather than sending them to school, we were threatened by local authorities with having buildings demolished if we didn’t pay bribes. There were enough moral dilemmas to keep a Christian socialist wannabe do-gooder busy for the rest of his life!

Ultimately though, we wanted to see people blessed, not just materially or by living ‘better lives’ (important as these things are) – but we wanted them to experience the transformation that can only occur through meeting Jesus, through experiencing God’s forgiveness and being reconciled to our Father and Creator. But the reality is we didn’t see much harvesting though we did lots of sowing.

In our location, as in many of the societies where Interserve works, there is a kind of ‘faith lock-down’ going on. This is at least partly a result of the trauma these communities are going through as they seek to adjust to the impact of globalisation and development. In the midst of turmoil they cling all the more desperately to the one thing that has not changed (or at least they have some hope of not allowing to change) – their faith. Hence our attempts to persuade them to follow Jesus can easily be perceived more as reckless social vandalism than ‘love in action’. That of course is the great challenge in our post-modern/pre-modern world – to live with such integrity that our oral communication of the gospel only explains what our lives already state.

What we have done, we have sought to do as an outworking of the law of love in our lives. The funny thing is that love can be manifested in inspecting 50,000 pots and rejecting more than half of them – it really can. Because the story of love in this context is about telling the truth in love (being real) – that’s what the gospel is all about I think. About the truth of our circumstances today, tomorrow and in eternity. But it can’t start if you’re not there – sitting in the dust and heat, surrounded by smelly people who begin by thinking that the aim of the game is to pull a quick one over you. It’s a wobbly start, but then that’s life all over!

The author has lived with his family in the Middle East, where he pioneered a successful business. They recently relocated to another BAM project in South Asia; they are currently preparing through a year of intensive language and culture study.

2008년 4월 1일/작성자: 인터서브