The Time is Now

On this trip we have worked hands on with many of our missionary friends as a way of identifying with their strategy and mission.  We have participated in street evangelism, Bible distribution and have sat in on various training sessions.  Much of what our teams do here involves a lot of hard work with very little tangible (earthly) reward.   Our team in one of the French port cities, for example, will often work 14 hour days with only 2 days off a week.   They talk to a lot of people who spit on them, insult them and throw things at them.  But they are passionate about what they do and tell us they wouldn't want to be anywhere else or do anything else.

I agree with John Piper who says the missionary is the ultimate Christian hedonist.  The more one gives his or her life away, the more joy flows from them.  This is certainly true of the amazing group of young missionaries we have met here.  And for all the rejection and insults, occasionally something miraculous happens that reminds them their work is Kingdom work.

Like the story we heard of the Tunisian who came to Christ after reading a New Testament he was given at the border and then sought out believers in a town near his hometown.  Today he is a pastor who has planted many churches.  When I asked his friend who told us the story how many Christians there are today in this part of Tunisia, the man thought about it a minute and said with a smile, "Too many to count."

"Too many to count" is a significant answer for a part of the world where a few short years ago you could count the number of evangelical Christians on one hand.  But today the churches are multiplying exponentially.  The reason for their rapid growth is that these are not just random examples of a few people here and there coming to Christ, these are full fledge house church movements.  House churches are planting house churches.  Because of the way they are multiplying they are not confined to church buildings.  "The governments are helping us out by not allowing them to build churches and by persecuting believers, this keeps the movement alive."  John Brady tells us.

Our friends in this part of the world are involved heavily in leadership training to encourage church planting movements.  They tell us that there are three basic objectives to the discipleship in these churches;  1.  Bible teaching  2.  Practice or application of what is learned and 3. Accountability through prayer.   They have learned through the years that when these three things are in place in the discipleship of the house church, not only will the people grow in Christ, but they will plant other churches.  This is how the church is spreading like wild fire all over Asia and is now beginning to take hold in the Middle East in some of the most surprising places.

We watch the news and are amazed at the  cataclysmic changes taking place in North Africa.  Our friends here have a completely different perspective- one that is purely spiritual in nature.  They see it as the work of the Spirit to evoke changes on the political landscape so that His Kingdom work can be accomplished more readily.  They believe the leaders of these countries were getting in the way of the work of gospel, and so God took them out.

I've thought about that a lot the past few days and am intrigued not just by the enthusiasm and worldview of our missionaries, but also the sense of urgency they feel as they see world event change and the cracks of opportunity open up.   "We don't have five years, we don't have several months, the time is now!"  John Brady passionately told the trustees yesterday.  "If Baptist people will give us the opportunity now to reach the Arab world, our people on the ground will shed their blood if necessary to get it done!"

He pauses for a moment to gather himself before continuing,  "I've buried seven missionaries in this land the past few years and I don't want to cheapen their sacrifice by not giving it my best."