Muslim hears truth about Jesus
I’d never been in a mosque before. As our host and village leader, Vladimer*, ushered us towards the door, I was skeptical that we would make it in past the elderly grandmas who guarded the entryway, since we had no head coverings and were obviously foreigners. But to my surprise, they offered toothless smiles as we passed and spoke to Vladimer with kindness in their voice. As we passed from the dusty courtyard into the front hall, I expected a haunting silence. Instead, we were greeted by the giggles of young girls and the muted voices of boys who had been surprised to have visitors interrupt their study of Islam.
It seemed that everywhere I turned I was surprised at what I found. But nothing astonished me as much as being invited to climb the minaret and look out over village K. I saw the speakers wedged into a roughly hewn window and I found the microphone of the muezzin. So common, I thought, not really scary at all–although the sound of the call to prayer earlier in the day had sounded ominous and foreboding and dreadful. As I looked out over the village from the minaret I was compelled to pray for God’s glory to come down on village K and for Him to be known through His son Jesus Christ.
As I tenuously made my way down the steep stairs, I was relieved to enter the main room that was layered in a mosaic of brightly colored rugs. I walked into a conversation that was even more shocking than all the previous events. Vladimir was asking our American volunteer, a pastor from Texas, a question.
“What do you believe about Jesus?” Vladimer asked. “Do you believe He was a great prophet?”
“Not the way you do,” Tommy responded. “He’s the Savior of the world.”
There it was, I thought, the highpoint of this trip–sharing the truth of Christ while standing in a mosque. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Village K
Village K is hidden away high in the Rhodope Mountains of Bulgaria. The old men meet and play cards in the town hall, the old women gather on benches outside to share the day’s news, and the young people congregate at the school yard to play soccer and dream about having money and fame. It is one of the few completely Muslim villages in Bulgaria.
Vladimer shared without hesitation that only the old men and women faithfully attend the mosque. He also epitomized the villager’s nominalism while speaking to Tommy about his faith.
“I know only a little about Islam,” Vladimer said. “I mainly know that we believe there are more prophets (than the ones in the Bible). We believe that God sent his prophets to tell people to believe in him, and when people don’t believe God sends new prophets to tell them.”
This nominalism mixed with a new disco in town and a dwindling population has led to openness on the part of village leaders to anyone willing to help them have hope and a future. Both radical Muslims and evangelical Christians have been welcomed. The former have begun Islam classes for children as well as a campaign to popularize the burka through financial incentives. Christians are helping the community through assisting Vladimer, the school principal, in bettering his educational program. Volunteers have come to teach English, give advice and offer friendship. They have also hosted Vladimer and his wife in America.
How to Win them
Alexi*, a Bulgarian missionary working to reach the Muslims of Village K described his plan to share Christ with them.
“Building relationships–providing value to the people, meeting needs, building cultural bridges…and all this packaged with the Gospel message,” he said.
While visiting in America, Vladimer visited in a local school district and learned many things that he has now implemented in his village. From a better use of time, to more accountability between teachers and students to adding new whiteboards, the school is in transition.
“When I have a problem at school, I open my notebooks from my time in America and look for ideas,” Vladimer said.
But the friendship has had a wider impact on Vladimer than improving his school. While in America he also visited a Baptist church for the first time and heard the Gospel. When Tommy, the equivalent of an imam to Vladimer, came to his village, it was Vladimer who began the conversation about Jesus. Later when they were talking about the day, he commented on Tommy’s demeanor.
“You were not what I expected from an imam,” he said. “You are lively and warm and real–you care.”
Tommy plans to come again and continue building the relationship he’s begun in Bulgaria, because the people of village K need hope.
“I think being real, and genuinely loving people with the Love of Christ will build strong relationships of trust,” Tommy said. “These people have been burned by those who came in the name of God–both Islam and Orthodoxy–and by communism. They are distrustful.”
Tommy wants them to say, ‘here’s an American guy and there’s something about him I like and I want to open up with him.’ He hopes to be able to talk about what life is made of…what’s real…what lasts.
Standing in the mosque that day and hearing the identity of Jesus clearly defined, was a great first step.
*Names have been changed for security reasons
Posted by Karen Pearce on Aug 13, 2008
Similar: Bulgaria
