Being Relevant in a Shifting Context

A female Muslim journalist speaking on the political aspects of Islam? Not exactly what you would expect at a typical IFES conference!  But then, with so much turmoil, violence, and uncertainty, nothing is typical in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

That didn’t stop organisers of the MENA regional conference from gathering 180 participants from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Qatar and Palestine to learn what it means to be living stones in their various contexts.

Their desire to be relevant to the current situation of political turmoil in the region prompted the unusual step of inviting an open-minded Muslim journalist to speak. The goal was for students to understand the lives of Muslim friends in relation to the current political changes, and to adapt their discourse to the political context of the region.

The journalist is committed to exposing and denouncing abuses against Christians. One student asked her, ‘Why have you, a Muslim, decided to defend us?’ She responded, ‘You do not ask a Muslim any questions when a church is burned. But when I defend the rights of Christians, you wonder why I’m doing it. This is a sign that our relationship has reached a very poor level.’  Everyone applauded her statement, realising that she was right, and that work needs to be done to establish mutual respect between the two communities before the gospel can be shared with Muslims.

Sometimes, however, it is important to leave aside political differences for the sake of unity of the Christian body. We heard from J, a worker in the region:

Between 15-18 people came to the conference from three different regions of Syria. They had lots of issues travelling within the country, but they made it.

People are a bit divided; some for, some against the revolution. We tried to avoid discussing the political issues in Syria at the conference because the most important thing is unity in the faith. Regardless of what regime is in power, the challenge is to keep your eyes on maintaining unity among Christians. Pray for stability and peace, that the revolution will bring about something good and give freedom to the minorities.

A leader of an underground church came from Yemen, where there is currently no IFES movement. We prayed for him, and as we prayed he started crying, saying “This is the first time that so many people have prayed for me!” Please pray for peace there. The security of Christians is a real problem, for they cannot say they’re Christian or they may be hanged! There is no place for religion other than Islam.

Give thanks with us that this conference took place and so many students from around the region were able to attend. Give thanks that students were greatly encouraged by the conference: Rosy from Lebanon said, ‘I learned how I can apply the Living Stone vision in my own life by offering myself as a sacrifice in the service to brothers and sisters.’  Diana, also from Lebanon, added, ‘Students like us can influence our society and we can work for revival in our respective countries to bring more souls to Christ.’ Carol from Egypt said: ‘I didn't expect to see the ministry is growing with such blessings in a country like Palestine. I am going to have a Bible study in my campus and tell them about the Lord as well.’

J concludes:

Pray for students. We know that when they return home, for some it will be "hell": one cannot imagine, for example, what life is like for Syrians and Palestinians in their political context. There is a lot of uncertainty. We pray that Christians will at the right time play the desired role, and not remain on the margins of what is happening. But they need God’s wisdom to know how to be involved.

Source: www.ifesworld.org