E-Connected Archive - March 2011
A LIFE THAT RAISES QUESTIONS
Just six weeks after he left for the Middle East, Jonathan found himself in his living room opening the Quran and his Bible with four Muslim guests. These men, all students from an English class Jonathan was running, had accepted his invitation to come to his home to study together.
They came because Jonathan had demonstrated a deep spirituality in his personal life, while at the same time showing respect to their religion. From the very first day of class when Jonathan stood up to address his students, he had made his spirituality clear to them. |
 |
He faced questions such as “Who are you?” “Why are you here?” “What makes you different from the other Christians we know?” To these questions, Jonathan answered honestly, using words that would communicate a correct understanding. Jonathan says, “The last thing I wanted to do was to deceive anyone.”
From the beginning, Jonathan invited his listeners to dialogue with him. He would say, “I believe I may know some spiritual truths that you do not know, and I also believe you may have insight on things that I may not know. Why don’t we, who are serious about our relationship with God, share our insights together as friends?”
His behaviour raised questions in the minds of his students. Jonathan comes from a country his students consider a “Christian nation.” Many of his students assume people from “Christian” countries smoke, drink, sleep around and believe abominable things. They think Christians worship three gods and believe God came down to have sex with Mary to produce Jesus. But to them, Jonathan evidently lived the life of a genuine spiritual man. “They couldn’t figure that out, with me not being a Muslim,” Jonathan says.
One day after class, a student came up to Jonathan and began asking him spiritual questions and challenged the truth of the Bible. Jonathan asked, “Would you like to come to my home where we could study this together?”
The student replied, “I’d like to do that.” A young man standing behind him overheard the conversation and asked, “Can I come too?”
Another nearby student chimed in, “I’d also like to come.”
And then another!
“Next thing I know,” recalls Jonathan, “I have four hard core Muslim guests in my home.”
For the last two years, Jonathan and his small team have continued to conduct similar studies with devout Muslims. Although many of those who come to these studies can recite Quranic verses from memory faster than a computer can pull them up, Jonathan and his team have seen tremendous fruit in studying the Quran and Bible side-by-side with their Muslim friends. Many who have attended these studies have grown fascinated with the person of Isa al Masih (Jesus).
They have willingly and eagerly investigated God’s message in the Old and New Testaments. Already, more than twenty Muslims have chosen to follow Isa al Masih as they have studied these books together.
Jonathan and his team encourage their friends to begin leading weekly studies very early in their spiritual journey. They look for participants who could lead discussions. They will tell the person, “OK, Abdullah, next week you must come prepared to lead the discussion on the next five verses. You need to read and study these verses, asking the questions, ‘Who?’, ‘What?’, ‘When?’, ‘Where?’, ‘Why?’, and ‘How does it apply to me?’ Be prepared to answer these questions for us and to lead our discussion.”
Jonathan and the team look for individuals who have the potential to lead and act to get them involved quickly. Even if they are still seekers and have not yet come to faith in Jesus, they will be encouraged to lead the next study. “In contrast to the West, where often we seek ‘a decision’ then may or may not effectively disciple a person, we endeavour to do the discipleship up front. We trust that a person will come to genuine faith after being taught truth.”
‘A life that raises questions’ is an edited version of a story told in the book ‘Where There Was No Church’. Used with permission.
For more information on this book or to order a copy, please contact the Frontiers office or visit the Learning Together Press Website.