KJ grew up following Islam in Gambia, a sliver of a country in West Africa. Eleven years ago, a missionary from Nigeria showed the JESUS film in KJ’s village. He began following Christ. Facing persecution, he had to walk to the next village to shop as those in his village refused to do business with him. He now helps lead a church in his village, has planted churches in two others and is working to start a fourth.
This is one of three stories about people from Muslim cultures turning to Christ that we’re working on for Cru StorylinesTM. We rarely get to tell such stories as we need to protect these believers and ministries. Yet in some places, believers are bold enough to share their stories.
In Great Britain, an immigrant from Iran who grew up Muslim helps lead a ministry. She and her husband, also a Christ-follower who grew up following Islam, take the gospel to other Muslim immigrant families through FamilyLife®, a Cru® outreach.
On campuses across North Africa and the Middle East, where virtually every student is Muslim, teams of Christians visit to tell about Christ. Because their time in these countries is short — up to a year, but sometimes shorter — they can take risks that long-term missionaries cannot. If they face trouble, they can leave earlier than planned with little damage to ongoing ministry.
We’re preparing a story about a young man who came to Christ thanks to such an outreach. Because we cannot show his photo, we’ll show the story in a series of illustrations — almost like a true-life comic book. This is a new process for our team.
While my team works on such stories, Anne Marie continues writing about the work of the International School Project. Their work, likewise, often takes place in countries where we must report only carefully. Read more about ISP at http://www.isponline.org/.
Thanks for praying for Anne Marie as she works on her article from Cambodia. She’s made great progress, with some work still to go. As you think of us over the next few weeks, would you pray for wisdom as we make our summer travel plans? We’ll be in Colorado for our bi-annual Cru staff conference, and will be visiting friends and churches on the way.
Thank you so much for praying for us, and for your generosity.
Since we can’t show you photos from these stories, above is a photo of us at the Myriad Botanical Gardens in Oklahoma City. We visited there during the Evangelical Press Association convention last month.