Transition

Other

It felt like ages but it was such a short time…That time between seeing the support come in and leaving.
The uncertainty.
To pack or keep going with life as it is.
To move around or stay put.
To organise one more visit or have time for yourself.
To invest in new relationships – or not.
To communicate with supporters and not to spam.
To research, understand or be overwhelmed and pause
To watch relationships change – yours with others, others with others, groups and organisations that you care about shift and bend.

With one email, it changes.
“Congrats guys, you can buy tickets.”
The excitement and the fear.
The packing and unpacking.
The suitcases and scales.
The cleaning and dumping.
The coffees and the crying.
The times to meet people.
The people you have no time to meet.
The crowds and commissioning.
The solitary and the sad.

It takes a community to raise a child. It takes a community to do life. It is in community that the kingdom is glimpsed, a future hope present today.

It is community that is ripped away.
No shared history
No inside jokes
No common understanding
No one with the same experiences.
No one.
Ever.

Old friendships are like a favourite jumper. Warm and familiar. Comforting and secure. Loved, patches healed and memories stored within the stretchmarks.

But summer is here and the times for wearing jumpers is few and far between.

The summer wardrobe awaits.
New. Unfamiliar. Ill-fitting in places.
Clean and unweathered.

And so tears come.
Grief for relationships changed and friendships lost.
Grief for potential friendships that never had time to grow.
Grief for people that don’t seem to understand
Grief for the friendships that know the heart without having to use words.
Grief for stuff once owned, once valued, locked away or discarded.
Grief for childhood experiences never to be experienced.
Grief for knowledge unlearned.
Grief for organisations and structures continuing and changing without us there.

But summer is coming and beneath the heat, a seed germinates. A promise of the kingdom now and to come. A seed that needs to sit in the soil for a while. To grow from the life that has been before. To push through the dark-yet-safe. To reach for the sun.

Stacie is an Interserve Partner, serving with her family in Cambodia

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From one community to another

Other

“Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.” 3 John, 5–8 ESV.

“We are to grow up…into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephesians 4:15–16 ESV.

The team in Central Asia has a beautiful cultural and denominational diversity. We are supported by dozens of sending communities from places as far-flung as Germany, New Zealand, Korea, and even China. Despite such varied backgrounds, there is a palpable sense of unity and shared vision when we come together for our annual conference. This year, through a series of talks by Dr Chris Wright, we were encouraged to consider the importance of community in the context of God’s redemptive mission. As we studied Ephesians and worshipped together, I found myself reflecting on the strength and love of my sending community back in Australia, who support my work and generously allow me to invest in this place.

When anyone starts thinking about leaving their passport country for overseas mission, the first question that must be asked is how their church community can support them. The early church provides some wonderful examples. One of my favourites is in Acts 15 where the congregation in Antioch rejoices over the encouragement in a letter from the Jerusalem church. I think I know how they felt, having rejoiced in a similar way over letters and emails! With this in mind, I decided to ask some of my co-workers about their experiences.

Sent by community

R has been in Central Asia for nine years, involved in theological education. She was in her early fifties when she first considered taking her work overseas. “When I first thought of going, my friends and colleagues resoundingly said, ‘Yes! Go! We’ll support you in every way we know how’.” That support has been unceasing; for example, there is a group of women clergy that has met for many years to pray for missions. When I go back on home assignment we always have a meal together. I hear about what they’re doing and it‘s wonderful. Such funny stories! We share our joys, difficulties, hopes. It is a source of mutual encouragement.’

There are many other practical ways that the church can remind its overseas workers that they are valued members of the sending community:

“Receiving care packages is a big deal. Some of my favourite things are coffee beans, handwritten notes and nice stationery. It’s not just the material blessing of small things – sometimes by the time I get the parcel other people have gone through it and it’s always sad if something’s missing – but it’s knowing that someone has cared for me and carefully considered what I’d like. And gone to the expense.” (B, from Holland)

“I had a group from my church come and visit. It was the best thing they’ve done for me. Even though there’s cost involved on both sides, you can’t put a price on a shared experience. They saw how I lived and who I worked with, and had direct experience of my daily challenges and relationships. Now they can pray for me and visualise my life, and I feel deeply satisfied to know that.” (C, from the UK)

“I’m awful at writing letters and am always behind with my emails, but I still love hearing from people. It opens up my own perspective in various ways, as lives are shared. I can think of them as I pray for them, as they pray for me. It’s a shared thing.” (R, from Australia)

On the whole, our workers in Central Asia seem to feel well-supported by their churches; so, does this influence the way they contribute to their new community in Central Asia? After all, part of the role of a partner is to foster our team on the ground.

Building new community

This can be a difficult reality. Central Asian life is rarely easy and never simple, and the routines we used to take for granted now require a surge of effort: finding ingredients for a balanced meal, catching public transport, paying bills, communicating basic concepts in a second language. Life takes a lot of energy. And yet, building community doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it can be as simple as offering friendship and caring for people. The tried and true buddy system, where an experienced partner helps to orientate a newly arrived worker, is the first step in this important process.

“I make it my business to meet new people and do what I can for them. When I first arrived, I remember someone telling me not to expect anyone to invite me to dinner because they’re all too stressed themselves. And yet I’ve been enriched by being an orientation buddy to so many people, and connecting them with others. I want people to feel like they belong because we are all very scattered with our work: women’s evenings, for instance, young parents, different ethnicities. It’s not easy here! We must provide a sense of belonging.” (R, from Australia)

“Arrival can be very traumatic. Experienced partners need to meet people, go with them to new places. You have to do community on the ground; one of the most important things is just being a friend. Why not invest in new arrivals? They’re God’s people. You miss out if you don’t.” (S, from America)

For my part, I’m profoundly grateful to be part of the community here. It is manifested in different ways: in my small group that meets to eat, pray and share together; in a wide variety of friendships; in the pastoral and professional care that I receive.

But it doesn’t end there.

Bridging communities

My relationship with my sending community is not one-way. They have sent me out with financial support, prayers and blessings; how can I bless them in return?
• By communicating a vivid, honest picture of this country and its needs, so that they can pray in an informed and specific way, with love in their hearts.
• By encouraging them to see a broader picture of God’s work in the world, and communicating as much as I can about the work of our company.
• By sharing good news and answers to prayer, so that they can rejoice.

Whether we are serving God in our passport country or overseas, we can’t do it in isolation. The body of Christ is called to be in community, and it is the particular blessing of workers to participate in numerous communities. When the time comes for me to return to Australia, I’ll have an enriched understanding of the sending church’s role; I’m pretty excited to see what my part will be.

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Capturing Nepal

Other

Since 2008 Rowan Butler has worked in Kathmandu as part of the communications team of International Nepal Fellowship (INF), a Christian development organisation. His main work is in photography, promoting INF’s worldwide profile to raise human and financial resources so it can serve the people of Nepal through health and development work. Rowan, who previously worked as an electrical engineer with the United Mission to Nepal, is also occasionally consulted on engineering problems.

These stories recount Rowan’s interaction with two very different Nepali children: one in the course of his normal work, photographing an INF medical camp; and the second in a chance encounter, part of living life together with Nepali friends.

Ram
Eight years old, undernourished at 15kg and sad looking, I met Ram* as he waited on a chair along with his uncle before he went into surgery to remove a bladder stone. No one could cheer him up. The operation was done at an INF medical camp by a surgeon from New Zealand who had volunteered for the medical camp and paid all his own expenses to come to Nepal, travel to a remote location and stay in a local hotel.

This camp had the luxury of being run in a small hospital, but some take place in remote areas in ordinary buildings and without the benefit of wards for patients to recover in. They are run specifically for the poor and sometimes people like Ram walk for days over steep country to get treatment.

Finally, a smile from Ram! He was feeling much better and his mother had bought him a toy digger and he was enjoying playing with it.

The Kumari

She was being carried down the street at night, a small party accompanying her. Ahead walked a man carrying a burning torch and above her was held a large parasol, trimmed in red and gold. This was the Kumari of the Patan area, the living goddess, that Hindus believe is the incarnation of the goddess Durga. She was on her way to visit my friend Ritesh’s relatives, as they are descended from the ancient Malla kings of the Kathmandu Valley. There are a number of Kumaris in the Kathmandu Valley, all representing the same goddess. She remains set apart until she reaches puberty, at which time she returns to normal life and another girl is chosen.

On another occasion, she was in public for a festival and I took pictures of her. Then after she was taken inside and I was packing up my camera, I was asked if I would like to go in and take more photos of her.

On telling one Nepali friend that I had photographed the Kumari in private, he seemed to barely believe it, and Nepali colleagues at INF seemed astounded. Perhaps it is like being invited in to photograph the Queen!

The Kumari’s mother had asked if she could have copies of the pictures, so I went back later with prints and took two items to give the Kumari as a gift; one a game, because she is really just a girl, and the other, a small Nepali book in comic form about the life of Jesus. It's not often that one has the chance to present the gospel to someone who is considered a god.

Rowan is an Australian Presbyterian World Mission missionary with Interserve, which in turn seconds him to the International Nepal Fellowship.

*Names have been changed

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An MK perspective on community

Other, Other

GO asked two missionary kids to reflect on what community means to them – the strengths and highlights of growing up on the field, their experience of community as they transitioned to living in Australia, and how the Christian community in Australia can support MKs.

Sophie

We lived at a boarding school for missionary kids in the north of Pakistan, where my parents were teachers, and it was incredible experience doing church and community with such a range of nationalities and church backgrounds. It was great to learn from each other and see Jesus as such an important commonality. It was a blessing to be part of a close-knit Christian community, all living onsite or close and sharing so much of our lives with each other. We called everyone who wasn't a teacher auntie and uncle. I really missed this coming back to Australia where we have very individualistic tendencies, not really knowing our neighbours or inviting people into our homes as much.

Transitioning to living in Australia was a little bit of a shock. It felt hard to connect with people, even as a teenager, and now with hindsight I can attribute feelings of isolation to this less-involved community life, even in our churches. I think we need to work harder to be culturally different here. The MK network was my closest and most-at-home-feeling community for a number of years when we got back, and it's hard to explain why, other than that we have shared experiences and it’s easier to just ‘get’ each other.

What is helpful for one family or individual might not be helpful for the next, but in general the Christian community can support and encourage MKs by keeping in communication and taking an interest in those who are on the field in a two-way capacity; don't just ask them questions but let them get to know you too. Don't treat them as a phenomenon when they return, but give them room to be who they are and feel as ‘mk’ as the want to feel, while exploring who they are in other capacities, most importantly as a child of God hopefully.

Alison

I spent nine years in Nepal as an MK with my parents. Nepali people tend to be quite community oriented and there were kind people from our church, from the hospital where my Dad worked and people who worked for our family who welcomed us into their lives. The missionary community was also a highlight. With on average seven kids in the small school, the one teacher was more like an auntie than just a teacher.

I also attended a Christian boarding school for a couple of years while my parents were on the field. Though I found it hard to be away from my family at times, being at boarding school was great fun. With about 350 kids, it was also a helpful transition between my small village school and my school in Australia with 1000 students. Starting at the Australian school was overwhelming; a couple of the students tried deliberately to shock me in my first few days, but it was generally a fairly accepting place, which contributed to me settling in.

I found some great support in my church youth group and a girls’ Bible study group. It was in this group that I grew a lot in my faith and understanding of God. Another great source of community for me was the Missionary Kids Network. My brother, sister and I caught up with MK friends at annual camps and Interserve weekends. From our common experiences we could share about leaving ‘home’ to come back to our parents’ ‘home’ that was not really home for us at all. I often did not feel very Aussie … in fact my feelings and reactions often seemed to be much more Nepali.

My family was also a great source of community for me, and we helped each other when it was tough. During the time we’d been in Nepal our extended families had been great at keeping in touch with us, so when we came back our cousins were already our good friends. Church friends or people in the mission agency can play a significant role during home assignment, which is a busy time for parents. Taking MKs out to do special, fun things with them is helpful. On one home assignment I remember a wonderful lady from Interserve taking us out ice-skating with her children.

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Dear Supporters

Other, Other

This magazine has a great name; GO. Three years ago, we went. But for many of you, you have not gone; you have stayed to be used by God in Australia. For you who have stayed – but still care about us who have gone – it is to you who I dedicate this letter!

When we were asked to write an article for Go, I was excited. I like to write. When I was told it was on prayer….that made me think twice. That’s because, well…. I’m really not such a great pray-er. As many Mums of young children might identify, I sit down to pray and within a few minutes of quiet I’m either fast asleep or back on my feet dealing with the latest toddler emergency.

I’m really a little embarrassed to admit it of course, because aren’t most “Missionaries” (except me and my husband) pretty perfect? Hmmm. Anyhow, here’s where you come in. Though I strive for a better prayer life, and hope for a great intercessory future, right now, I am a better dish-wiper than intercessor. Yet, we are blessed to have a God who knows our weaknesses and I am eternally grateful for those of you who are faithful intercessors on our behalf.

I know that God hears your prayers for us. I hope you have also seen the evidence of this, and been encouraged, as you read our newsletters, and hear the stories which prove His, and your, faithfulness.

A perfect example was when we needed $10,000 to save the School (for the poor) that we serve at: we asked and you prayed. Two years in a row, at the last minute, we saw God answer these prayers in miraculous ways. Like some of our mission heroes, we now have evidence of God’s providence when we were handed a $10,000 check from an individual we didn’t know, just days before the cut-off. This has not just happened once, but several times. So in the last few years, not only has our ministry been able to continue, but our faith has also grown, through these (character building) waits for God’s answers!

Similarly, when the nation we serve in had some violent and unsettled months, we had to make some tough decisions. Should we stay? Should we go? Would we be safe here? What was God’s will for us at that time? Through those especially scary months, we needed your prayers more than ever. And even when the internet was out for a long while, we knew that you were watching the news and praying for our family. And when it came time to make decisions, God clearly led us into deciding to stay in that nation, despite the uncertainty. But if I had not known that back in Australia there were people committed to praying for us, and upholding us daily, I’m not sure that we would have made the same decision.

There are the simpler things you have prayed for – that don’t make such exciting stories – but are just as important. When you asked on our behalf, for a home for us on home assignment, God answered your prayer. Sometimes I wish God would not wait until it is down to the wire for things, but by now, we are getting much better at trusting in God’s provision! We also saw the provision of a car from a stranger, who happened to email the State Office at the right time, with the right car, and a generous heart – after you prayed. Thanks!
Similarly, we have been aware and humbled that people have been praying for us continually in everyday things, like our walks with God, for our kids settling in a foreign country, and especially for our health and safety. We are happy to share we have not got many exciting stories in that area – a divine answer again.

Individually, some may say these things could be lucky coincidences. They just happened to work out in our favour. But when we look back, over three years, and see the continuous blessing, provision and protection of God on our lives and ministry, we hope you see this cannot be true. There have been countless examples of our family being protected – through death threats at work, in the traffic, and in day-to-day life of emotional strain. As you uphold us in consistent prayer these potentially critical situations have been diffused.

In one situation we were aware that a gang of armed youths were active in our city, and had threatened to come and visit the school. They had attacked churches and other schools, damaging property extensively and slashing and attacking a number of young people indiscriminately, sending six seriously injured youths to hospital. We asked you to pray protection over each child, teacher and the premises. A prayer team from the UK specifically prayer walked the area two weeks before the time of the incident.

The gang did come to the school just before students were released one evening. When they came, my husband came out to confront them, dressed in a suit and dress shoes, and without a weapon of any kind. Yet, when they saw him, the entire gang ran from him, so he chased them into the next suburb, where they dispersed into the market. The school students were able to be dismissed safely, and the gang hasn’t returned yet. Why would the gang not do the same thing here as they had done throughout the city in the weeks previous? Why would they fear a slightly crazy foreigner chasing them? My only credible explanation is that some faithful pray-ers were covering him and the school that day. I don’t know why God chose to protect here and not the other places. But we are very thankful that hundreds of kids were kept safe.

I wish I could understand the mystery of prayer. I wish I could be a great intercessor. The hard times have pushed me into praying more passionately but I still have a long way to go! What I am most grateful for is that you have been there praying for us, and your prayers have been answered time and time again.

It is not only our own supporters for whom this letter is written. Every Partner serving cross-culturally could share of God’s faithfulness and answers to your prayers, just like us. On behalf of them all, to each one of you, our faithful prayer partners: thanks!

Love S.T.

The author is an Interserve Partner

And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
Isaiah 65:24 (KJV)

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Hopeful for the Future

Other, Arab World

The van came to a stop at a wayside tea house in Warduj. My young Kiwi guest and I stayed in the vehicle satisfied with our scroggin. I had been warned that the least secure section of our journey was the valley of Warduj.

Close to the Pakistan border with Afghanistan, Taliban fighters had found it to be a safe haven for their activities in the region. I had hoped to pass through unnoticed as quickly as possible. Stopping for tea was not part of my plan.

But our driver called out to us, “Come have some tea”. Reluctantly we joined the group of men under a spreading tree by the simple hut. They placed a paratha, a Pakistani fried flat bread before us, and asked the standard questions: our origins, our reason for coming, our opinions of Afghans. Thankfully the conversation turned away from us to the surrounding canyon walls enclosing the valley.

“Is there a path to the top?” I asked.

“Yes,” our host replied. “From the top of the canyon walls you can fire guns right across to the other side. Many battles, before the time of Karzai, were fought high above the valley floor.”

“It is a great place for fighting,” one of the men offered, to affirmations from rest. I stuffed a salty piece of paratha into my mouth and washed it down with sweet tea.

Now back in New Zealand on a visit, I am often asked what will come next for Afghanistan. What will happen when the international troops leave? Will the Taliban regain control of the country?

I reply that the place does not lend itself well to predictions. I can’t say. As with most cases in life, it really is a bit of a mixed bag. But I do know that the Afghans I am most in contact with are hopeful for the future.

We recently returned from a conference in Europe where we had taken a few of our Afghan colleagues along. Upon his return, one of our managers was asked why he had not stayed in Europe. He replied, “The countries of Europe were torn by war fifty years ago and they rebuilt their nations into what we see today. I am a young Afghan and I want to build my country in the same way.”

Our role is to engage with Afghans, like our colleague, in whom we can help build their capacity to make a better life for themselves and their nation. Yes, evil men with evil intentions are at work there. But God has led us to work with men and women of peace. Investing in their “good skins” can give us a cause for finding hope in an otherwise hopeless situation.

Today I received a February prayer calendar for Afghanistan. It included the following: These past few weeks the security in Warduj, Badakhshan has deteriorated. The result is that it now cuts off five other districts from receiving aid.

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New Doors in the Middle East

Other

The convoy of four-wheel-drive vehicles was coming his way. Amazingly, it was almost exactly to the minute that he had sighted them the previous week. They were making towards one of the wadi valleys at the foot of the mountain range behind him. As luck would have it, the last fork in the track took them to the wadi right below him. He was in the perfect position to observe their activity.

Drawing to a stop at a point in the track where only the reckless would drive further, the group began to emerge from their airconditioned cocoons. The sound of closing doors and distant voices drifted up to the spy’s hilltop shelter. Greetings were exchanged; some folk were clearly old friends while a few others, passed around in a circle of introductions, were obviously new. The whole process was almost obscenely rapid by local standards. But, even in the late afternoon, the sun still had considerable power and people were restless to move up into the shaded steeper parts of the valley.

It was the first time the spy had seen them this close. He was confused. He had thought he would be able to categorise them immediately into one of the expected social strata he was accustomed to in his country. Instead, the variety staggered him. Wishing he had a camera, he quickly scrabbled for a notebook to capture the details: Arab, Asian, African and European. Almost a third were his own countrymen, cheerfully removing national garments to reveal shorts and T-shirts. There were even a couple of national women in modest clothing suitable for hiking. His keen eye, used to supervision of his sister’s social activities, appreciated that they came in cars with other women.

Amongst the others there was a wide range of nationalities – many he would not expect to see together. In the fragments of speech that rose up to him, he could detect British, American and South African accents, along with various Asian ones, and some others he could not identify. The wide range in ages, too, was perplexing: some people were clearly of retirement age, others were in their thirties, and there were even some teenagers and children.

After tightening bootlaces and adjusting day packs, the group seemed ready to go. One voice rose over the others; the spy observed the speaker point generally up the wadi and, after just a couple of sentences of instruction, the group moved off. How he wished his own briefings could be so quick. The spy realised that, from his vantage point, he would have them in sight for some time. This allowed him time for some deeper reflection. What on earth could bring such a disparate group of people together like this? There was certainly no militaristic discipline to the march. Some leaped ahead like gazelles over the rocks (he was pleased to note that the majority with this skill were his own countrymen), but others were clearly struggling with the difficult terrain and were being guided by more experienced members.

As the people wove their own tracks up the wadi valley, he noticed that conversational groups seemed to form and reform without regard to nationality, gender or age. It was a sharp contrast to the strict gender segregation he had been brought up with. However, he felt strangely undisturbed by the sight. Even at this distance he could observe the body language of respect and deference among the group. Hands that would probably never join together in any other situation were held out in offer – or receipt – of help over difficult parts of the track. The spy wondered why he could not summon any moral outrage at the sight. Even the contrasts of the wider scene began to speak to him. Here among the ancient fossilised rocks was a trickle of happy human life. Was this a new form of community emerging from the hard and rigid traditions he and his people had lived with for centuries? What were the possibilities?

Among the last traces of voices fading in the distance was the occasional gleeful shout of discovery. Had the spy been closer, he would have heard some of the people marvelling at the ‘creation’ around them. Again he would have been puzzled. His experience with politically correct textbooks and media had led him to believe that the whole Englishspeaking world could only relate to a godless ‘nature’.

Just on dusk, the spy was roused by returning voices; he was able to see by the clusters that there was still no distillation of the group into expected social categories. As people eagerly gathered around a small cool box at the rear of one of the vehicles, the spy raised his binoculars again. At last – something to report! What illicit substance were they getting out of it that led to such cries of delight? Disappointingly, however, the box just contained chilled, damp facecloths, that brought great refreshment to the hot and weary hikers.

Waiting until after the last of the group climbed back into their vehicles and drove away, the spy finally unfolded his cramped limbs, grimacing in discomfort as he did so. He was puzzled by what he had observed, and suspicious of the unusual camaraderie and acceptance he’d witnessed within the group… but also strangely drawn to it. There was no other option: he would return.

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Grace Seeking Muslims

Other

Osama Bin Laden is responsible for more Muslims following Jesus than anyone else alive* today, according to Patrick Johnstone, the founding author of Operation World.

His claim, backed up by years of research, is made because the atrocities that are being committed by radical Islamists seem to be backfiring on them.

By that I mean that while Islamists are inflicting judgement on non-Muslims for their secular materialism, moderate Muslims see what is being done in the name of Islam and are saying to themselves, “If this is the truest expression of Islam, I don’t want it.” Some such moderates are choosing to find other ways of submitting to God, including the option of turning away from the ‘way of the Prophet’ (i.e. Muhammad) and instead following Islam’s second most prominent prophet – ‘isa al-masih (Jesus Christ).

Johnstone’s claim is supported by analysts such as David Garrison, who goes even further, saying that, “More Muslims have come to Christ in the past two decades than at any other point in history.”

Brother Andrew has stated, “We must start spelling Islam ‘I Sincerely Love All Muslims’. We need to take time to get to know Muslims and show them real love.”

Taking this stance does not mean we have to become politically naive about the agenda of radical Muslims. I have always been concerned about the potential of such radicals especially when they become politically subversive or organise themselves into the networks that are sympathetic to Al-Qaeda’s vision. The Christian response to this sort of Muslim is the power-encounter which comes through concerted intercessory prayer. However, the Muslims who are turning to Christ are not from the radical core but the moderate fringe. These are the ones I call ‘ordinary’ Muslims. My optimism for Muslims comes not from the popular lack of understanding that is usually based on shallow news-coverage, but from firsthand experience of living and travelling in the Muslim world. It is my personal knowledge of Muslims, both radical and ordinary ones, that has brought me to the place where the love of God can come in and dissipate fear. The Bible is clear that love and fear cannot coexist (1 John 4:18). As a result, my instinctive reaction to Muslims is no longer one of fear or anger but compassion.

In the past I felt a sense of isolation amongst western Christians due to my belief that Muslims could – and would – follow Jesus, but now many others believe the same. Destructive fear is turning into constructive prayer. This is a trend that has been paralleled over the past twenty-five years by a marked increase in the activity of God’s Spirit among Muslims around the world. Take, for instance, a Pakistani-born British Muslim woman who became a follower of Jesus in Leicester. She told me that when she visits her extended family in her Pakistani hometown, she finds more Muslims following Jesus there than she does in the UK. Logic says this should be the other way around but these are the upside-down ways of God.

It seems that the early twenty-first century is likely to be a time in which hundreds of thousands of Muslims choose to follow Jesus. According to the research of Reverend Dr David Barrett, in one area of India up to fifty thousand Muslims are believers, and hundreds of thousands of Muslims are choosing to follow Jesus in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Iran, Palestine, Iraq, Turkey and across North Africa.

It is time for the western church to make a connection between the patient ‘tilling of hard ground’ over the centuries and the present movements of Muslims to Christ. New technology (such as satellite TV and the Internet) is also reaching the once-isolated areas to reap a harvest. Sources in the Gulf report seeing the DVD of the Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ selling out of the boots of cars in areas where there were no cinemas because of the strict Wahabi Islamic laws. The Spirit of God is also working through dreams, visions, healing and deliverance. Jesus is appearing to Muslims in various places. Here are some examples.

• A group of Nigerian Muslims saw Jesus as they were performing the hajj pilgrimage at the ka’aba in the heart of Mecca.

• Jesus told a string of individual Gulf Arabs the exact name and address of a Christian bookshop in a neighbouring Middle- Eastern country where they could buy the Bible. The shop owner told me that one of them walked in and pointed to a picture of Jesus on the wall and said, “He told me where I could buy the injil (Gospel).”

• Minaz is from the isma’ili group within Islam, and owns a luxury-car dealership in the north of England. One day in 1999, a light came into the room. The face of Jesus appeared in the light and He spoke to Minaz for about ten minutes. During this time Minaz felt the love of God enter his body, cleanse him internally and heal him. He began to follow Jesus that day and soon afterwards his wife joined him. They now run an outreach to others.

• Jesus appeared simultaneously to an Islamic cleric in the Middle East and at the foot of the hospital bed of his dangerously ill daughter in Germany. As Jesus told the cleric He was healing the girl, she was instantly cured. When the father received confirmation by phone of the miraculous healing, he left the country with his family in order to follow Jesus.

• Sources in Iran say that since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, tens of thousands of Iranian Shi’ite Muslims are following Jesus Christ inside Iran, in spite of sporadic persecution. Thousands more Iranians around the world are following Jesus.

• A North African nation has one of the fastest church-growth movements in the Muslim world. An estimated fifty to eighty thousand Muslims are following Jesus and an estimated fifty home fellowships are being set up every year. Believers are meeting in homes daily in spite of opposition. They also experience dreams, visions and healings. Even former terrorists and Islamic sorcerers are now following Jesus.

• One Christian organisation reports that over five hundred Muslims are visiting its Arabic website each month to enquire about Jesus. It is also reported that over the past ten years a thousand home fellowships of believers from Muslim backgrounds have been set up across the Middle East.

• Amer is from a nation that borders Israel. He was a radical who became a violent jihadic activist. He ended up in Khartoum, the capital of North Sudan. One evening he was praying alone in a mosque and the voice of Jesus boomed into the mosque asking, “Why are you persecuting Me?” At the same time the glass window high above Amer shattered and Qur’ans toppled off shelves. This supernatural intervention triggered Amer’s search for Jesus. He soon took the dangerous step of becoming one of His followers.

The Great Commission contains no exclusion clause for Muslims. God loves them as much as anyone else, and His grace is actively seeking them.

Beware – God is at work! God is not only touching Muslims but He is also gently creating a new climate of faith for them among Christians.

Open Doors with Brother Andrew ended a seven-year prayer initiative for the Communist world in 1989 – the year the Berlin Wall came down. They then embarked on a ten-year prayer initiative for the Muslim world. In 2000, I visited the World Prayer Centre, directed by Dr C. Peter Wagner in Colorado Springs, to familiarise myself with their state-of-the-art technology. It is used to track the millions of Christians around the world who are praying for Muslims, especially during the Ramadan month of fasting. Shortly after my visit to the Centre, Peter Wagner reported that the intercessory networks for Muslims around the world were growing so fast, they had become impossible to count and were therefore humanly ‘out of control’. God is initiating this prayer thrust for the remaining unreached.

What began as droplets of Muslims following Christ in the 1980s became a trickle in the 1990s and a tiny flow around the turn of the millennium. The attacks in America on 11 September 2001 proved to be another factor that compelled Christians to pray; they also loosened the heart allegiance of thousands of Muslims from their traditional structures, causing them to turn to Jesus Christ.

The flow is not yet a flood; nevertheless, Christian leaders in the Muslim world tell me that the phenomenon of Muslim enquirers who want to talk about spiritual issues is now a daily occurrence. The baptism of believers from Muslim backgrounds has also become a regular feature of local church life in several Muslim lands.

The Great Commission contains no exclusion clause for Muslims. God loves them as much as anyone else, and His grace is actively seeking them right where they are, both within the Muslim world and the West.

Steve Bell is National Director of Interserve England and Wales. This article is extracted from his book, Grace for Muslims?, published in 2006 by Authentic Media. If you would like to buy this book, please contact our office.

* Osama Bin Laden was killed in May 2011.

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God is Shaking the Nations

Other, Arab World

Attention was focused on Sudan and Lebanon as 2010 drew to a close, with the impending referendum in Sudan and indictments in Lebanon for the death of Rafik Hariri. There were many calls to pray for Sudan, recognising the referendum raised potential for war in this strife torn country.

2011 began with a bang, quite literally, when a bomb exploded on New’s Year Eve outside an Orthodox Church in Alexandria as they were celebrating mass. Then suddenly Tunisia erupted, calls for change and the removal of President Ben Ali resulted in the end to more than 20 years of authoritarian rule. The question began to be asked whether this could be repeated in other countries, including Egypt, and many commentators said no, Egypt did not have the level of education that Tunisia enjoyed.

How wrong they were: the end of January saw people come out onto the streets and call for change, violence erupted, and in the end,theNations with the implicit backing of the all-powerful military, the protesters won the day and another leader was toppled – with the jury still out on what is to come. And it did not stop there. The President of Yemen announced he would not stand for election after his term ended in 2013, and added that he would not pass power on to his son. In Algeria, the President announced that he would soon lift the 19 year state of emergency. The Palestinian President is reshuffling his regime, Jordan and Iran have seen demonstrations calling for change, and the government in Lebanon has fallen with the future there increasingly uncertain.

What in the world is happening? Or what is God doing in the world at this time, in particular in the Middle East and North Africa? He is building His Church. Last year we were hearing reports of God at work in ways we could not have imagined. He is shaking the nations. God is at work for purposes that are far bigger than anything we could have asked or imagined, and I for one want tosee Him bring to fulfillment all He has purposed for this region.

These are challenging days. Our peace has been shattered, there is uncertainty, risks, and instability. I am reminded, though, that when we pray for peace we need to pray for God’s wholeness for the nations, not just the absence of war or conflict. In Egypt, where the new year started with suffering for the Church and fear about the future of relationships with Muslim neighbours, recent days have seen Christian and Muslim standing together to protect their neighbourhood, relationships being built that would otherwise have taken years.

At the end of last year I felt we needed a year of focused prayer and fasting for this region, not knowing what the beginning of this year would bring. It is still our cry that many would join, setting aside one day a week, throughout 2011, to fast and pray for the Arab world. God is at work. I don’t know what the end will be, but I know I want to be where He is, joining hands with what He is doing, and seeking His glory in these nations. God is building His Church. We have an opportunity to be part of that great work by joining with the Church here, to stand with, support, and be a part of it, serving God’s Kingdom purposes. One leader wrote that he feared the weakening of the Church in Egypt, as many foreigners have gone, and many local Christians are also looking to leave. He asked that we not forget the Church, a cry that has been echoed by leaders in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere. In the midst of conflict and turmoil there is still the need for people who will be available to God to come and live in this region, join hands with the Church and be messengers of transformation.

/작성자:

God is Shaking the Nations

Other, Arab World

Attention was focused on Sudan and Lebanon as 2010 drew to a close, with the impending referendum in Sudan and indictments in Lebanon for the death of Rafik Hariri. There were many calls to pray for Sudan, recognising the referendum raised potential for war in this strife torn country.

2011 began with a bang, quite literally, when a bomb exploded on New’s Year Eve outside an Orthodox Church in Alexandria as they were celebrating mass. Then suddenly Tunisia erupted, calls for change and the removal of President Ben Ali resulted in the end to more than 20 years of authoritarian rule. The question began to be asked whether this could be repeated in other countries, including Egypt, and many commentators said no, Egypt did not have the level of education that Tunisia enjoyed.

How wrong they were: the end of January saw people come out onto the streets and call for change, violence erupted, and in the end,theNations with the implicit backing of the all-powerful military, the protesters won the day and another leader was toppled – with the jury still out on what is to come. And it did not stop there. The President of Yemen announced he would not stand for election after his term ended in 2013, and added that he would not pass power on to his son. In Algeria, the President announced that he would soon lift the 19 year state of emergency. The Palestinian President is reshuffling his regime, Jordan and Iran have seen demonstrations calling for change, and the government in Lebanon has fallen with the future there increasingly uncertain.

What in the world is happening? Or what is God doing in the world at this time, in particular in the Middle East and North Africa? He is building His Church. Last year we were hearing reports of God at work in ways we could not have imagined. He is shaking the nations. God is at work for purposes that are far bigger than anything we could have asked or imagined, and I for one want tosee Him bring to fulfillment all He has purposed for this region.

These are challenging days. Our peace has been shattered, there is uncertainty, risks, and instability. I am reminded, though, that when we pray for peace we need to pray for God’s wholeness for the nations, not just the absence of war or conflict. In Egypt, where the new year started with suffering for the Church and fear about the future of relationships with Muslim neighbours, recent days have seen Christian and Muslim standing together to protect their neighbourhood, relationships being built that would otherwise have taken years.

At the end of last year I felt we needed a year of focused prayer and fasting for this region, not knowing what the beginning of this year would bring. It is still our cry that many would join, setting aside one day a week, throughout 2011, to fast and pray for the Arab world. God is at work. I don’t know what the end will be, but I know I want to be where He is, joining hands with what He is doing, and seeking His glory in these nations. God is building His Church. We have an opportunity to be part of that great work by joining with the Church here, to stand with, support, and be a part of it, serving God’s Kingdom purposes. One leader wrote that he feared the weakening of the Church in Egypt, as many foreigners have gone, and many local Christians are also looking to leave. He asked that we not forget the Church, a cry that has been echoed by leaders in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere. In the midst of conflict and turmoil there is still the need for people who will be available to God to come and live in this region, join hands with the Church and be messengers of transformation.

/작성자: