Ministry in Dark Places

I am on a discussion group of Christian's from around the world. One said he lives in a dark culture that has many rules and policies that are contrary to godliness. He wanted wisdom on how to touch the society.

The other post mentioned he was teaching classes at a Christian school on the difference between Islam and Christianity. He wanted wisdom and guidance.


Here was my response.

Blessings and power and love as you face the fallen world. Your notes caused me to think about the challenges we face as Bible steady believers in every culture. One thing that has helped me is looking at the history of the Christians who lived in the various eras of the church to see how they behaved. I have read many articles and books by Christian's involved in Sociology and evangelism. It seems that the challenge is always being salt and light in a dying and dark society. 

My pondering how the early Christians managed to thrive in cities with temples dedicated to having sex as a way of worshiping yet there are few biblical sermons warning members to stay away from sexual sinners.  Sexual sins today are rampant but go to Italy to see how the people decorated their homes and cafes with pornography! 

One of the greatest challenges of my life as a Christian came when I was teaching in Asia. I attended a conference on domestic abuse with some of my Pastor friends since my topic was marriage, family and healing. I asked God to connect me with someone that He wanted me to meet and develop a relationship with. That person was a Muslim Counselor who headed a large Counseling center for Muslim women. 

I worked with her and the Association of Muslim Professionals for three years. I trained their Peer Helpers. I trained their leaders and coached them how to deal with abuse. I wanted to be light and salt. 

In one instance we invited her to attend our classes in the Faith Community Baptist Church.  Two ladies and one man, a religious leader, came to the classes. I asked my class to welcome them in grace and mercy with no theological confrontations. Build trust and openness with love. 

At the end we had testimonies. The leader said with tears, "I have never seen such love and caring before. I wish my Muslim community knew how to do this." 

I started out as a scared American. A fish out of water! I only got involved with her and the AMP because the Holy Spirit told me to. In retrospect it was a wonderful experience with interested people. I learned how to plant seeds of the good news in the midst of some very hard ground. 

See my book, Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty to learn how to minister to these hard to reach people. 

May you, _____, teach those young people to show that which Islam finds impossible to imagine: grace, mercy and love.

May you, _____, learn to love your broken neighbors.