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2011-02-14 |
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| Ask! Search! and Knock! |
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| A practical approach to a closed cousin village / Harun Kim |
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INTRODUCTION
"Hey, it’s here, don’t you see it? It’s right in front of you.”
Have you ever heard that sound of discontent from your wife? I do hear it fre-quently. Sure, I couldn‘t find the object that I wanted, but (‗out of the blue‘) my wife always found it. Does she have a special gift of find-ing things? No, I don‘t think so. It is mainly because I didn‘t do my best when I tried to look for something. I just expect it to automatically appear. I think it’s a matter of mind rather than sight. If the mind is not pre-pared, then the object you want to find will elude you.
In John chapter 4, the story of Jesus in Samaria, Jesus saw what the disciples didn‘t see. So, He en-tered the region where the disciples even never tried to go (due to their prejudice toward Samaritans and the land of Samaria), and dared to talk with a woman there. Why did Jesus declare Samaria a ‗harvest area‘? Didn‘t He know the relationship between the Jewish and Samaritan people? Or was He sure that His spiritual power was so great that he could ignore all of the problems in reality. No, as it was mentioned above, He really saw something important that His disciples failed to see.
Since 9.11, the atmosphere of conflict between the Christian West and the Islamic Middle East seems to have reached its peak. As a result, our mission work for them has be-come much more difficult. A Korean man was martyred in Iraq, and sev-eral years later, two more Koreans
were martyred in Afghanistan. The deaths caused the retreat of all Korean missionaries from these two countries. Nowadays, the image that the Islamic World is a very difficult place for us to harvest as well as enter has become fixed in our minds. More-over, the sharp increase of Muslim immigrants into Korea has made us become more frustrated and more distant from them.
Then, how can we expect to see the harvest for that area? Is the Islamic land closed or open? If Jesus were here with us, would He declare again that ‗this is a harvest land‘? Yes, I am sure that He would. In Jesus‘ eyes, the entire world including the Islamic land is open. If we begin to look at the current situa-tion in the way that Jesus did, not in our own way of thinking, I think it is possible.
John Chapter 4 describes a ministry across socio-religious barriers. The barriers existed between the Samaritan woman, who was influenced by a culture which was regarded as a cult according to Jewish religious point of view, and Jesus who was a Jewish. But Jesus won the Samaritan woman over by convey-ing a message that passed through the barriers. He successfully conveyed the essence of faith and wor-ship, and He must have known how to reach out across the socio-religious barriers. Jesus demon-strated that the essence of the Gospel can be ex-pressed differently depending on cultural background.
On the basis of this proposition, Jesus executed His strategy for the Samaritan mission. Let us trace His strategy. First, He boldly went into the Samaritan territory and associated with them. He asked for wa-ter from a woman beside a well. He approached this woman on her level as a human being and not as a prophet. Secondly, He saw into her heart where there was a lot of pain and great need. He identified and dealt with her current issues of relationships (such as multiple husbands and prostitution) and other per-sonal problems (such as avoiding the other women when fetching water). He tried to meet her needs as He spoke with her. Thirdly, He respected her religion and culture and He talked to her keeping in mind her religious and cultural context rather than His own. Furthermore, He freed her so that she could manifest her faith life in her own socio-religious setting. This was a very different approach than what the typical Jewish person had done in their relationship with a Samaritan.
Now, it is the time for us to change the way we have looked at the Islamic World, where in history a deep emotional valley has grown due to the religious and cultural differences. New approaches but the Bible old ones are needed. I think this is an approach that we should identify ourselves with them in order to find their real needs as human beings, accept their culture as far as the Bible confirms, and adapt it in evangelism.
I have lived in the Islamic World for 10 years. I have ex-perienced many things during this time. All of my activities in the mission field have been inspired by Jesus‘ incarnation model. It‘s a way to enter a village as an outsider in order to win a soul, cross-culturally. This was supported not only by my own experiences, but by the experiences of my predeces-sors and their practical teachings.
This is a sequel to my personal research on ‗Understanding the Localized Religion - Javanese Islam’ which examined Islam by tracing its propagation and the re-sulting social stratifications. Here through this article I attempt to present a particular strategy for the mission field. I need to mention that the last step of mission work, which is multiplica-tion or movement, has been omitted because I have yet to ex-perience it. It‘s a long term goal, but God‘s willing, it should be done.
Some of the terms I use in this article are local ones that might be different from those of the Middle East. I hope this difference does not cause any misunderstanding in worldviews or in the expression and understanding of the Gospel. This article addresses ways for Muslims, not us, to understand Jesus and the Gospel. I don‘t deal in detail with all of the mission field issues; instead outline a process to be used when ap-proaching Muslims.
SMOOTHLY SETTLING DOWN IN A VILLAGE
A keyword of my ministry is "smooth". The first step of my ministry is smooth settling-down in a village. It is very simple; just "living" as a common villager. If you want to name it as a strategy, I would call it that of being a "common neighbor". I participated in almost every village event with an open heart; even in the "night watch program" (it is a duty of all men in the village to watch over their village monuments on significant holidays such as national or presidential Elec-tion Day, etc.). The duty continues over night when it is very cold (it does get cold at night even in the tropical area). I do my best in performing the assigned duty honestly until com-pleted. As a result, the villagers gave me even the right to vote and I was accepted like one of them.
My social identity is a businessman (I opened a legal trad-ing company). As a businessman, I could legitimately meet people in all the villages without any suspicion. I swept away all the vagueness of my identity when I had a student visa for four years. I think it very important to settle down well as the first step for doing ministry in a closed area. It is the time to let them know me as who I am where I live. It is a process that the villagers come to know me and form their opinion on whether
I am good or bad, proud or humble, outgoing or closed. The groundwork for my ministry has been established during this stage.
MY RELIGIOUS IDENTITY IN THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM
How you introduce yourself in a seriously-Gospel-resistant-area is critical for an evangelist. To say "I am a Christian" is one way and I hope so as much as possible. Yet, you might have side-effects if you use that expression. This is due to (I am sorry to say this, but as we know) their misunderstanding on Christianity as a religion containing immoral western cul-ture and influence from their rivalry Euro-American politicians. So, your relationship would never start and you would lose a chance to share the Good News. But remember; never hide your faith because of fear. Therefore, in order to build up good relationship with them, we must introduce ourselves as true believers as clearly as possible in a way that avoids the misun-derstanding. We need an approach based on the Bible and genuine faith (not on our own skills/techniques) that is accept-able in Islamic culture.
When you are asked about the nature of your faith, I sug-gest that you begin your reply by stating "I am one who fol-lows Abraham‘s way of faith." The father of our faith is a righteous man whom God made so through his faith apart from the law. (Romans 4) Muslims also regard themselves as Abra-ham's descendants. Abraham is the father of their faith, too.[1] So, we can claim to Muslims that, just like for the Jews, Abra-ham's faith took precedence over all laws including Muham-mad's law which was developed a few thousand years later. It is important to have confidence that this can be the basis for our cousins‘ belief. I would like to say, "I believe and follow one God whom Abraham the forefather of our faith believes." The belief that Jesus is the Savior is included in the faith of Abraham. I believe this is captured in the words of Jesus when He said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of see-ing my day; he saw it and was glad." (John 8:56) Even though this doesn't look like a common Christian approach, it is an important and very acceptable way in the Islamic context. This helps our cousins understand what the faith in Jesus means without any stereotypical prejudice about Christianity.
It is recommended to talk about Jesus when a close and intimate relationship has already been built with trust. More-over, it needs to be the perspective of Abraham's belief. At this point, we may prepare to talk much more about Christ and our belief in Him, yet how much we share is totally dependent on the field situation. And how we live our life will give direct message as well. But if sharing more about Jesus is held back due to the fear factor, it should be avoided. We are encouraged to be ready to reveal that you are a genuine follower/disciple of Jesus. However we need to know how much we open will depend on the preparation of the receiver's heart and mind.
DEMONSTRATE THE GOSPEL THROUGH WORSHIP, PRAYER AND SERVICE PRIOR TO TALKING ABOUT IT
Like Judaism, Islam is also a religion of ritual. Your belief is to be evaluated only by the practice of worship, prayer, and almsgiving, etc. Anyone who practices these things regularly is so to speak a good Muslim or a Jew. For the Jews, they rarely analyze the Word of God, instead just receive as the Word of God in fear/reverence and do as the Word commands. We read in James as follows: "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." (James 2:26) The first receivers of this Word were the Jews. Everybody who read this passage at that time must have known that their everyday actions were not just a matter of behavior but faith. Whereas, in the book of Romans, we read another message about faith. "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:10) In this passage, it is important that faith is linked ‗to something that we believe in our heart and confess with your mouth‘. We must think carefully about the background of the first readers. It was intended for the Romans in Hellenistic worldview.
Therefore, for the Muslims who have a similar worldview like Jews, I dare to suggest expressing the love and power of God through their form of worship and prayer as well as good life behavior rather than trying logical explanation on the Gos-pel. This approach is most effective in helping Muslims understand and accept God‘s gifts of faith and holiness.
These forms should always be biblical and at the same time contex-tual. For example, when we practice the Muslim form of worship, it does not mean that we have become a Muslim. Rather, we are lifting up to God our prayers of intercession for Muslims through their custom of worship, whether in a personal or in group setting. Yet, it is important to understand it as not a pretending technique but a contextual and bibli-cal form of worship. Any form of true worship must be internalized in our heart where genuine faith in Jesus is founded. When our heart is prepared, we can truly worship God through Sholat (Islam form of worship) and pray real prayer through Do’a (Islam form of prayer). Our prayer is not a tool of demonstra-tion to influence them. Genuine, intercessory prayer itself is a powerful weapon of spiritual warfare that reveals the entities of darkness and unties all bondages in any situation. We can sit on a Sajadah (Islam worship/prayer matt) wearing a Topi (traditional hat) and pray to God in our mother tongue or even in tongues. When our Muslim neighbors listen to our voice of prayer, our hope is that their hearts will be calmed and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Once again, it surely is not a technique what we do. It is a natural expression of the lives of holy peo-ple who know and love God through Jesus as well as the peo-ple whom He has sent us to. By doing so the Gospel of the Kingdom will gradually take root.
In addition, we can find much more proper expressions in the biblical perspective for the celebration days of Islam (e.g., 'Bulan Puasa/Ramadan‘[2], ‗Idul Fitri‘[3], ‗Idul Adha‘[4], and ‗Sukuran‘[5], etc.).
PREPARE FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD THROUGH BUSINESS
Since independence day and passing through the Korean War, the Gospel was preached in a way that Jesus is the only way to Heaven and non-belief leads to Hell. This message met the needs of Koreans who had been living with suffering in poverty without hope for the future. They desperately needed a way out of their anguish. Even though many Koreans re-sponded to the Gospel message leading them to the heaven afterworld, yet the significance of our lives in this world was omitted. The only goal of mission in Korea looked like only winning souls. As the result, even though ten-million people has embraced Christianity, the Kingdom of God has not yet been realized from many aspects in Korea. The absurd reality is that Korean missionaries are diligently repeating this kind of incomplete mission for the sake of the Gospel. I truly think we need to demonstrates the Kingdom of God as a present reality in the earthly lives of those who truly receive our Lord.
A way to realize this is through social development activi-ties in which most village people can take participation voluntarily. By act-ing business model we can create op-portunities for employment and let them exercise creative wisdom, coop-eration, faithfulness, earnestness, and relationships based on biblical princi-ples. Social development programs (like CHE)[6] deriving the self-esteem of villagers can help them build the Biblical worldview too. This kind of development, which could be called the Kingdom ministry or movement, should not belong to outsiders but be-long to insiders who really enjoy the progress of developing their society for themselves.
There are two fold reasons on why we do these activities. One is to demonstrate the power of the Gospel to the people who were reluctant to hear it because of the misunderstandings and prejudices pertained in their lives. And the other is to pro-vide background for the truth in the Gospel that is to be shared later. Anywhere that this movement is successfully established, the people will taste the Kingdom of God and be happy.
LET THE GOSPEL DANCE IN STORIES
It is a well-known fact that most people enjoy stories more than logical debates. Stories are a melting pot conveying joy, anger, and love into people‘s hearts as an entertainment. Sto-ries seem to be little known as a tool for communication. As an owner of a company, I usually use storytelling as a method to share the Bible message when I conduct training in my staff meetings and try to share the Gospel with the villagers. Some-times they politely reject the message of the stories, but they do not reject me. In most cases, I experience the stories of the Gospel affecting people‘s hearts. Stories can be good tool for preparing the hearts of those who receive the Gospel as well as creating an atmosphere in which the evangelist can share the Gospel directly. Storytelling can continue to be used to help believers grow as disciples after accepting Jesus as their Savior. The same storytelling may be used by those new believers to evangelize their families and friends. Even many parables in the Qur‘an that are parallel with the themes of Bible can be used to make stories. This may help our cousins listen easily.
LET THEM TASTE THE KINGDOM OF GOD THROUGH A HEALING AND POWER EN-COUNTER!
This step can go side by side with storytelling. Generally, when we talk to people, we have a chance to talk beyond a planned subject. When I meet people in a business setting, the topic of discussion frequently moves from business to other issues, such as our common interests. This also happens in the relationships with my neighbors. If it is a more intimate setting, people love to talk about their families, neighbors, and private emotional issues (e.g. sadness, hardship, and personal difficul-ties, etc). These moments are good opportunities to invite peo-ple into the Kingdom of God by counseling and praying for physical or spiritual healing, as well as freedom from demon possession. This experience could make them open their hearts widely toward Jesus Christ. I dare to say that this is evangel-ism via life situation without direct mentioning of a specific verse from the Bible. His Kingdom is realized when many are to be healed and freed from their bondages just as Jesus did.
INTRODUCE JESUS BY WORD AT A CRU-CIAL MOMENT ONLY
As we pass through the above two steps, our cousins‘ hearts are being prepared to accept Jesus‘ reign. Yet, at the same time they may fall into anxiety. By choosing Jesus as their savoir, they may question whether or not they should leave the community where they were born and have always lived. Now, this is the time, I think, for us to do evangelism by using the Scriptures. In doing so, we need to add a bridging step prior to talking about the Scriptures. Some phrases from the Qur‘an can be selected as connecting tools for evangelism. Introducing Jesus as the Savior through some phrases from the Qur‘an could calm down the difficult and mysterious issues in their hearts. There are many Bible friendly stories in the Qur‘an. Most phrases in the Qur‘an addressing Jesus are very positive. Jesus is described as a great healer (even one who restored life to the dead), the Word of God, and the Spirit of God. In addition, you may verify that He is the Savior through reinterpretation of some verses in the Qur‘an written in the original Arabic language.
SOME CASE STUDIES OF TINY BREAK-THROUGH
A cursed man It happened when we lived in a mountain village before moving to the village where we now live. My housemaid‘s brother had been sick due to being cursed. One day, his condi-tion suddenly worsened. One of my local co-workers was called by his family and asked help. She (a young lady) went to his house and found that he was demon possessed. So she removed an occult ring from his finger, and a demon fled from his body after approximately 10 minutes of spasms.
I arrived at the house soon after the demon had gone and realized that the demon was no longer present. So I prayed for the brother‘s physical recovery (he was still sick with disease). I invited the villagers to pray together by saying, "Well, I found a great prophet who healed people and raised the dead. His name is ‗Isa Al Masih‘ (Jesus the Messiah in Arabic). Whenever I pray, I rely on His Name." I challenged the villag-ers by asking "Can you pray for him in His name?" I could hear their response saying "Amin".
One month later, the man died. The day before he died, the local co-worker visited him. Actually, she had been visiting him very often since the event. She prayed for him along with her expression of giving him comfort. An ‗Imam‘(Islamic teacher) had visited the man and prayed for him and a ‗Dukun‘(shaman) did the same, but the man couldn‘t do any-thing except moan due to his pain and his terror of death. But, when the local co-worker came into the house, the man wel-comed her with smile. All of his family members were sur-prised by this. He asked her to sing, so she sang the hymn: "The Bright Way to Heaven". As soon as the song finished, he asked for one more song. So she sang the hymn: "Amazing Grace". Soon after she finished, he thanked her with a bright face. The next day he was gone.
We are not sure whether or not he was saved. But we con-firmed the power of the Name of Jesus and the Gospel in front of the Muslim villagers.
Storytelling and Evangelism
A man whom I have known for several years shared his problem with me. He was my driver, so I could have some time together with him almost every day. His story was about a former boss visiting a shaman to secure his success in business. He gave a ride to the boss. And yet he also wanted to be rich. So he tried to follow the boss when he visited the frightening place owned by a shaman. Along the way, they had to pass through six gates and declare an oath to a spirit in front of each gate. When the driver was about to pass through the third gate, he stopped because of great fear. However, his boss continued. As a result of this, his boss became richer, but there was a price to be paid. The boss had promised a sacrifice to the spirit. The last son of his boss was dead as a result of the oath and the driver witnessed everything. Since that very day, whenever the driver was alone or just about to go to bed, he was greatly troubled by a terrible fear of the spirit. This lasted until he lis-tened to a story that I shared with him.
I have read 20 times the story in the Bible which talks about a demon possessed man named "Legion". I memorized it in the local language and dramatized it in order to make it look like a common story. One day when I met the driver, I asked him, "Do you still have the problem you have shared
with me?" He said "Yes". So I asked him another question. "I have a story of a prophet who is capable of casting demons out of a man. Do you want to hear this story?" He appealed his interest, so I told him the story like a drama. I challenged him so that I could pray for him in the name of "Isa Al Masih". As he wanted so, I prayed for him in Jesus‘ name so that he could be freed from any fear of the spirit troubling him. (He didn‘t look like fully overwhelmed by demon possession. Rather, he appeared to be annoyed by a spirit. But this spirit was not in his body.)
Several days later, I asked him, "Do you still have the problem with the spirit?" He replied, "No, brother." (He was intimate enough to call me his brother.) He continued, "Since that very night when you prayed for me, I have slept very well without any problems." After that, I used the passages in Al Qur‘an several times to acquaint him to Jesus as his Savior, and he ultimately accepted Jesus as his Savior. Now I am train-ing him through bible study.
Jesus Film and Evangelism
It was Good Friday Night when I was on night watch duty. A carpenter who had worked on my house for two months was on duty with me. We chitchatted about several topics. As I had known him for two months, I had been praying for a chance to share the Gospel with him. I felt that night was the time. So, I started to talk about Jesus by questioning: "Have you ever heard about Jesus?" I asked very cautiously because I wasn‘t sure how he would respond. But surprisingly enough, he said, "Yes, I have been seriously thinking about Him." I asked him, "Why?" He replied, "I watched the Jesus Film on a public TV channel." (The Jesus film used to be on air by a public TV station every Good Friday in this country.) He continued to talk. "Jesus was arrested, accused, beaten, and even killed on the cross without any sin. Jesus withstood this suffering with-out any self-defense or counterattack. He went His own way. It was very impressive to me." With all of surprise in my mind I explained the carpenter why Jesus did so. I talked about our sin (including the carpenter‘s) and emphasized the fact that anyone who believes in Jesus who died on the cross and rose again as the Savior would be saved. I challenged the carpenter to accept Jesus as his Savior and he did.
Incidentally, within a week I had to fire him because of his harsh treatment of other workers in my office and home as well as his insincere work attitude. Ever since that time, I have not seen him because he won‘t meet with me.
I am still not certain of his motivation for accepting Jesus as his Savior. Maybe he was motivated just to keep my atten-tion in a positive way. I hope to be able to check on him some-time when we meet again.
CONCLUSION
The Kingdom of God, as it is so in heaven, should be real on earth. We, as messengers of God‘s Kingdom, must have knowledge about the earth as well as knowledge of heaven. Specifically, if we are mission workers for the Islamic World, then we must know this world well. Not just through our own
eyes, but seen from every perspective. Is it really closed? Does God command "Mission Impossible"? No, never! So, what is the problem? Do we need to reveal ourselves to a totally dif-ferent world by approaching them only from our own perspec-tive? If we did so, we would realize the reality of its ineffec-tiveness and take a new approach which is meaningful for them.
In addition, this reminds us of the boldness that Jesus dem-onstrated to reach out to the Samaritans without concerning on the break of Jewish customs and laws. Just like the Samaritan woman who became a stepping stone for bringing revival to the whole of Samaria, who knows if there will be another "Samaritan woman" in our cousins‘ region, waiting for us to come? (AFMI/ASFM)
ENDNOTES
[1] It is not important that they are really descendants of Abraham or biblically-based, because the most important thing is that they truly believe it. Even though it is their doctrine, in their mind set, it is the real world. So if we develop dialogue based on what we want, it is impossible to breakthrough their mindset.
[2] The month for the fasting of Muslims.
[3] The festival after the fasting month.
[4] The festival for the pilgrims after travelling to Mecca.
[5] Thanksgiving ceremony
[6] CHE is short for Community Health Evangelism created and ran by the Life Wind International. The formal name was Medical Ambassadors International. CHE is a strategy approaching the mission fields in holistic way which discipleship, church planting and development are integrated.
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