Crosslinks In Depth April 2008

Questions put by a colleague of Jonathan and Jessica  Heeb in Finland to a friend of one of those martyred in Turkey in 2007

How did you become  a believer in Jesus?

Seven years ago I was wondering  if I should believe in God or  not. I decided to pray one final  prayer. I said to God: if you really  exist show me in the next  seven days the way I should follow.  If you don't show me I will  become an atheist. Nothing happened.  Then, just before the time  was up I was taking a walk  with my friend and suddenly  we were standing in front of  a church. This was not what  I expected! I thought this  was a sign from God. There  was an invitation to a prayer  meeting on the next day at  the same place so I decided to  go. I received a Bible and started  reading it. One day I was reading  the Sermon on the Mount and for  some reason I could not continue.  I felt blocked. I felt the presence  of Jesus in the room and I  realized that I had sinned. Then I  prayed ''I accept you''. Suddenly  there was peace I was able to   read on. I realized that the Bible  was different to all other books in  the world. I was raised a Moslem  and we were taught that the  Bible has been corrupted and is  not authentic. On that day I realized  that this is not true. The  Bible has real power.   

How did your family react?   

At first there was no problem. I  continued living at home for  about two years. However, then  the media started saying bad  things about the Protestant  Church of which I was a member.  For example: according to  the media Protestant missionaries  are the third biggest threat to  national security after the PKK  and the Hezbollah. So my family started opposing my faith. In Turkey the culture is different  than in Europe. Here the family  wants to influence your life,  the family feels responsible   for your decisions. They asked me not to go to the church anymore, not to read the Bible and not to meet Christian friends. But I   couldn't do that so I had to  leave home. I stayed with a Christian friend. Sometimes we  did not even have money for  food. Some Muslims helped us  and gave us food. That was  interesting! Even though we disagree  with them in our faith, they  helped us. Nowadays I receive  support from American Christians.  God bless America! But Europe is much closer! Why does the Church in Europe not help us?

What could the Church in Europe do  to support you?   

First of all pray for us. And pray for  Europe also. I pray a lot for Europe. I  don't want Europe to be like Turkey. On  paper I have the right to give away  Bibles on the street but if I do that people  threaten to beat me. And who protects  me then? Nobody. Every day we  hear the prayers of the Moslems saying  that God has no son. But if I say Jesus  is the Son of God, they say I am offending  their religion. They want to express  their faith and at the same time  they repress our faith. Outwardly  Islam often presents itself as a tolerant  religion, but this is not tolerance.  Don't let Europe become  that way!

Second, use political weight to affect  change in Turkey. Right now Turkey is  making efforts to join the European  Union. Turkey needs access to the market  of Europe and also the financial support  from the EU so now is the time to  ask changes from the Turkish government.  For example, according to the  authorities our Church does not really  exist. Nevertheless we have to pay  taxes! They say we are a company. But  you can't run a Church like a company.   

What are the mistakes that Christian missionaries and mission organisations  make in Turkey?

The local church has many advantages for missionary work within a country: their members know the culture and the language; they know what is safe to do and what not. Also, a lot of Turks are suspicious of foreign missionaries and are more receptive to the Gospel when it comes from their own people.

What can Christian missionaries do better?   

It's important to be respectful of the  local culture. People are easily offended  when their culture is not respected.  What's also important in Turkey is to live  a good moral life: a missionary who is not faithful to his wife will not be respected. The family is held in high  regard in Turkey.   

What does the Turkish local church need most of all?   

A big threat at the moment is lack of  leadership. Take for example Malatya,  where the killings took place in April  2007. As a result of the massacre many  missionaries and ministers left. But the people are still there. They are like  "sheep without a shepherd". This is a  very sad situation. We need a good Bible School to train new church leaders.    The Malatya massacre actually had a  positive effect for the local Churches.  For example, there is greater awareness  of the Turkish Church. We have  heard from people who decided to  become Christians because of what  happened. One thing that had a powerful  impact was when the wives forgave the murderers of their husbands.   

In general, the Internet is one of the  most powerful tools for evangelism.  People in Turkey use the Internet a lot  and websites offer a safe place where  people can explore the Christian  faith, ask questions and participate  in discussions. There are cases  where a couple of people who  found faith on the website started a   Church together. That is very  encouraging!   Turkey is one example. Please take  our neighbours to heart and prayerfully consider how you can become  involved in outreach. For more information,  see the April edition of the  Crosslinks magazine.   

Opinions expressed in In Depth are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent Crosslinks policy