Who can't believe?

Back to Charles Marsh's thesis that none is Too Hard for God ... (see "Not by Bread Alone ...")

Gabriel and I went to see U and his wife again.  We discussed Romans 1-8 with U and what it means to be a real Christian and not just a church-goer.  He wanted ch.6 and being dead to sin explained.  He has indicated strongly that he is ready to follow the Lord Jesus, but he is concerned that it is very difficult for his wife and he sees that it would be a big mistake for her to follow his lead, rather than making a decision for herself.

So, is U a one-off?  Well, no ... we went to see some members of his family and found an old man listening to a Christian radio station that broadcasts primarily in Fulfulde - his excuse for listening is that they speak GOOD Fulfulde!  The same man's wife was amazed at "the white man who seems like an Arab" because I was dressed in local garb and greeted her in Fulfulde and, having inquired whether I was acquainted with Islamic practice, she expressed the opinion that "at the end of life God might forgive such a white man, even while he does not forgive many a Muslim"!

While we were dealing with U, Gabriel  arrived with another Muslim Pullo who not only had questions, but showed, by his questions that he had, in fact, read parts of the New Testament.  He wants to continue discussions with us.

The following week, Gabriel  was faced with 3 Muslims, not so young this time, who asked if he were a Christian.  He asked why they wanted to know first (a straight "Yes" is not advisable as it often shuts down the conversation and gives you no opportunity to correct their misunderstanding of what a real Christian is) and they said that they had noticed that he lived an orderly life like a Muslim (what does that say about Christian testimony in our town?).  He pointed out that he was a follower of the Lord Jesus and asked if they too believed in Jesus and in His return.  They said that all good Muslims must believe in the return of Jesus.  He then asked what they were doing to prepare for the return of Jesus!  Well, that led to all sorts of other discussion and 2 of them made an appointment to meet with him at a later date.

Last week, Gabriel  advised that he has another enquirer who would like to come and see me when we return from our trip to Yaoundé.  I asked him where he was finding all these guys (thinking he had recently decided to make a real effort to reach Muslims) but he said he didn't go looking for them - it just happened!

Of course, none of these has believed ... yet.  But there IS willingness to talk, to discuss and to consider who Jesus really is. So, is the problem that they can't believe or is the problem that we can't believe it's possible for them to believe?

I'm also beginning to wonder if it isn't easier for many Muslims to accept Jesus the Messiah (even the Son of God) than to accept the "Christians", "Christianity" and "churches" that claim to act in His Name.  It may be that they are "too hard" for us, but "Is anything Too Hard for God?"

Not by Bread Alone ...

For many of us (dare I say most?), evangelising Muslims is missionary work at its most difficult.

"Muslims are so hard and so resistant to the Gospel of Jesus Christ," we say.  "It's so difficult to even start talking to them of Christ, never mind convincing them of the truth of the Gospel and leading them to faith in Christ.  Since they are likely to be killed by their own family members for converting, how can we expect anything else?"

In his book, Too Hard for God?, Charles Marsh intimates that, in fact, the Gospel is as capable of winning a Muslim just as much as the next person.  Until recently, I had intellectually accepted his point, but I struggled to see it in the world around me and so I struggled to act upon it.

Enter Gabriel with a string of Muslim Ful'be enquirers!

I arrived home from a trip to the news that Gabriel had been round to say that he had made contact with a young Muslim Pullo who was very interested in the gospel and wanted to come and see me.

Well, U arrived with some questions but, rather than the huge debate that I had anticipated, he seemed very ready to listen.  He took a Bible home with him (wrapped up so nobody would know what it is) and presented us with his Qur'an.  His wife was flabbergasted to find out he had traded his Quran for a Bible, but when she heard that we have the Injil (the Gospel) and other materials written in Fulfulde Arabic Script, she said she would like to come and see.

A few days later, he came with his wife.  He had read Luke's Gospel and parts of Matthew and John and was looking for "more homework", so I gave him Romans 1-8 to read.  He asked more questions.  His wife can read Arabic well (but without understanding), so I gave her the Psalms in Fulfulde (her own language), but written in Arabic script and asked if she could read that.  At first she said it was too difficult and I thought that was her polite way of saying she wouldn't take it.  However, I encouraged her to take a look and, after examining it, she decided she might be able to read it after all and took it home with her.

To come and visit us, they travelled right across town.  However, what really amazed me was what happened when we dropped them home that evening.  Suspecting that they had nothing to eat, Gabriel gave them something for some bread.  It was then he discovered that U had only 50f  left in his pocket - not enough to buy even one loaf of bread.  I know he paid 300f to the motorbike taxi to come and talk about God's Word - that could have bought him 3 loaves of bread ...

Mr Missionary …

“Mr Missionary, could you organise a meeting for young people – something that will deal with the challenges of their experiences in the light of the Gospel?”

“Mr Missionary, could we have a Bible study on Saturday afternoon with you?”

“Mr Missionary, there’s another man who could come to a study on Friday afternoon, could we study God’s Word together that day?”

“Mr Missionary, there’s a group of Chadians in town who are looking for guidance to start a local church – they would love to have your help.  They want to know if you will come and help if they find a place to rent.”

“Mr Missionary, there’s a group of Tupuri, who have all decided to quit their different denominations and be united in Christ – but they need teaching – could you …?”

“Mr Missionary, we need a programme of evangelisation so we can grow an assembly of Christians quickly.”

“Mr Missionary, we’re not praying enough, we need another meeting – for prayer only.”

“Mr Missionary, we need more teaching – and once a week is not enough.  What about a Bible school?”

“Mr Missionary, since we can’t have the Bible study next Friday because you’re travelling, can we have it on another day before you go instead?”

“Mr Missionary, your residence card has expired …!”

*           *           *           *           *

All the above (except the last, which I added facetiously), are from recent conversations I have had.  A month or so ago, we were chugging along quite nicely, with our group of 4 Christians at Manwi, plus visitors, plus the once-a-month weekend Bible teaching trip to Dompla.  We were aware of some Chadian members of “les Assemblées Chrétiennes du Tchad” who had some vague needs – but seemed to lack direction or the will to put anything together.  We were aware of the fact that all the Christian Tupuri of every denomination meet together every Sunday afternoon – and of the potential of that to develop into some kind of local church in the future.  But all of these things were just vague rumblings which did not intrude on our little routine.

Then life started to get complicated …

Gabriel, our Chadian friend, decided some time ago that he wanted some help with Bible Study – so he decided that if I could make some time for a study with him once a week (in addition to the study at Manwi), then he would come and do some work in our garden one morning a week.  That was fine with me.  However, then others wanted to join the study – but it’s hard to find a day that suits everyone.  Also, not everyone has the same knowledge of the Bible, so you really need several different types of study on different levels!  What to do?

Raoul, our old language helper, then suggested that the group of Manwi Christians had a responsibility to evangelise.  However, when they started to talk about evangelising, he posed a whole lot of questions about the church and suggested that we needed more teaching about the local church to ensure we’re all on the same page before we go out with the gospel!  So, we have organised to have a monthly workshop on the local church which started on Sunday past.  The concerted programme of evangelisation awaits!

Meantime Gabriel has informed me that a group of the Chadians would like to meet with us, but that Manwi is too far for them to go.  They would like to have a place in town … if we could just help them!  He has also informed us that a group of his fellow Tupuri just out of town have withdrawn from the various churches they attend to form a single, unified group.  While this has great potential in forming a Biblical local church, the group would appear to be a mixture of real Christians and mere church-goers, which presents its own problems.

So, now what?  We’ve got a variety of groups threatening to form local churches, but just not quite able to put it together – but also seemingly not able to join up together.  Then we’ve got lots of different people asking for help in studying the Scriptures but all at different levels and all available at different times!  How do we put it all together?  Where do we concentrate our efforts?  Which groups can work together?  Which Bible studies should be associated with which groups of people?

Add to that the fact that we have daily responsibilities to home-school Clare and we’re supposed to be carrying on with lessons in the Fulfulde language, and you have a serious timetable problem!  Recently we have also experienced a raft of problems – first having to change banks, then having to renew our residence cards, then having to call a plumber to fix a major leak (which was only discovered because the water authorities finally granted us a water meter – nearly 2 years late!) and latterly having to re-install everything on our primary computer (3 times!). Although those are all simple enough tasks at home, here a 20-minute task can take days!

So where do all these new things fit in and how can we work out the puzzle?

There are two obvious responses:  firstly, I have become more and more convinced through our time here that it is the intervention of Almighty God that works out all these puzzles and, to some extent, that we are more witnesses of what He is doing than the means by which He does it;  and, secondly, I have started to wonder, with so much going on and so many opportunities, surely there must be somebody out there whom the Lord is preparing to come over and help us?!  It couldn’t possibly be YOU, could it?

Give thanks for all the interest and opportunities … but, also, PLEASE PRAY!