Project North Africa

This was the question that Bro. Cushman posed to a panel of missionaries to Muslim peoples last week during the first ever “Kanisa Conference” (Kanisa in Arabic means church so the meeting was about church planting in Muslim countries and people groups). Here are a few of the answers that were most common among the 30 or so who answered:

1. The lack of laborers

2. The apathy of the churches

3. The unpreparedness of the missionaries being sent to practice 1st century Christianity and apostleship(this was my answer)

To all of you who were there, Thank you! It was an awesome time. I heard reports from the Summit in Gatlinburg and the SGI in Detriot that some of you have dedicated your lives to reach Muslims. If this is the case with you, write me at sadiq@injeelmp3.com. I’d love to hear from you about how God did this work in your heart and what your plans are from here.

Over 50 adults attended The Kanisa Conference held in Middletown, OH over the last three days. Here are the statistics:

-14 different languages were represented (not including dialects of Arabic)

-Countries represented included Turkmenistan, Kazakstan, Turkey, Russia, Singapour, Senegal, Egypt, North Africa, and a few others.

-The focus was church planting.

more to come…

The push in the Muslim world is that pastors of house churches would also (or I should say especially) be professionals or tradesmen. The thinking is that since it is illegal to have a church, a pastor if his income came from the church would have a hard time explaining where his money comes from to friends and the government.

Isn’t that backwards logic, though? If we started with the Bible, what would we say the goal is? That all peoples would hear and that a growing local church would be established.

Seeing that to be the goal how has that been accomplished?

In the Bible: by preachers (prophets). Peter, James, and John left their professions to be full-time, poor, despised preachers. They preached without shame! Paul built some but mostly was a preacher. He was not primarily known as a businessman by anyone. He was a preacher/prophet. In the Old Testament God used God-called men like Samuel, Nathan, Isaiah, and the others. They were prophets!

In history: God used John Bunyan and C.H. Spurgeon in England. They were prophets. God used Jonathan Edwards, Francis Asbury, George Whitfield, and others in a mighty way in America. They were prophets.

Yes, you can write a list of businessmen that God has used and I am happy for that. I would not say that God cannot use anyone, even or especially a businessman. But since God told us he has chosen preaching it seems obvious in history that he has chosen the preacher.

So here is my prayer and vision: “God give us young men who are preachers and pastors in the Muslim world. Young men willing to be fools and poor. Young men willing to accept the shame and be despised. Young men who love the lost and disciple the new believer. Young men willing to go to jail for their faith. Young men willing to tell their families and friends that they are training to be preachers of the Word of God!”

That would be radical in a Muslim country. Well, maybe, but isn’t that what we need? Some radical Christianity?

So next time you travel to a Muslim country why don’t you try telling the man who asks you on the train that you’re a preacher and that you studied theology in college and you are called by God to tell him about Jesus and salvation?