Ministry looked very different in the Middle East. There were lots of extra hurdles we had to clear to do ministry effectively. All of this made ministry in the Middle East look completely different than ministry here in the US. So what was ministry like in the Middle East?
Ministry in the Middle East was Far Easier
It might surprise you that I say ministry was much easier. But, yes, sharing the gospel with Muslim college students was often times far easier than talking with college students here in the US. In America, people have been coddled like infants, and because of that we hate anything that’s mildly uncomfortable. Talking about spirituality is often times uncomfortable, especially when people recognize they don’t know much about the topic, or begin to see that the Bible says they are sinners. Whereas in the Middle East, people already believe there is a God. We didn’t even need to talk about the Big Bang, the creation, or the proof of Jesus’ existence.
Additionally, people in the Middle East highly value friendship. This made meeting new people on campus extremely easy. Of course, us being some of the only Americans on campus helped in the friendship-making department. It was so nice to have friends who were willing to talk and hangout for hours. They weren’t crazy busy like most Americans, who could hardly spare an hour and often times had to cancel.
Getting into spiritual conversations was also incredibly easy. Often times they started the conversation either out of curiosity or simply because they wanted to convert us to Islam. Either way, talking about God wasn’t taboo at all. I didn’t do this, but it would’ve been fairly normal if I walked up to a guy I never met and said “Hi, what do you believe about Jesus?”
Ministry in the Middle East was Far Harder
As much as it was easy, there were also aspects that were so hard. Trying to have a deep conversation with someone who could hardly speak English was one challenge. Trying to prove the validity of the Bible, or the truth of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection get’s a lot harder when you have to speak in another language. Of course thinking at all also gets a lot harder after you spent four hours that morning blowing your brain up with language school.
Besides this, communicating in general was tricky. Arabs don’t have the same phrases as Americans do. Saying something like “slip through the cracks”, “bait and switch”, “Strike three”, or “back to square one” just doesn’t work. On top of this, we also discovered our Muslim friends had vastly different definitions for critical words like, grace, mercy, just, holy, love, faith, righteousness, or salvation. Even when could communicate in English, it often still felt like another language.
Language and communication aside, simply getting our Muslim friends to think proved another huge hurdle. A lot of them didn’t know how to properly reason, and a good number of them couldn’t think critically at all. Some didn’t even know how to ask questions. The sad part was that many of our friends didn’t know they could ask questions because they were so afraid someone would find out or that God would punish them for not being confident in their faith. A good chunk of our friends were so indoctrinated that they never even thought to question Islam. We often got completely blank stares when we asked questions like “Why did you become a Muslim?”, “Why do you believe Islam is the true religion?”, or “What proof do you have to show this statement you heard is true?”.
Ministry in the Middle East was far Weirder
As I think about our ministry, I just don’t think I will ever be able to accurately describe it for you. It was just weird. Unless you spent months living it out, you just couldn’t understand. I can explain it, but you’ll never actually comprehend the depth of what I’m saying.
To walk onto campus with the intention of sharing the gospel, while also praying and hoping no one will think to ask you specific questions of why we were there, is a very unique way of living. In the back of our minds we always had to make sure no one knew we were there as missionaries. The government didn’t know, our friends didn’t know, and almost all of our church friends didn’t know either. Some of our Muslim friends grew suspicious and would ask very pointed questions like “How do you afford to be here?” or “why do you have VPNs?” Holding a secret as big as this, has an interesting impact on your daily emotions and overall life.
Ministry was also weird in the Middle East because guys couldn’t talk to girls and vise versa. This might sound weird, but it would be just as shocking for me to talk to a girl in the Middle East as it would be for me to walk onto a US campus with only my underwear. I never said hi to my female teammates on campus.
And to top it all off, even though the risk was low, there was always the possibility that some radical Muslim would find us and do something . . . well . . . radical. There’d be no warning. No indications. No difference. Simply any Arab I passed, had the extremely slim possibility of seeing my blond hair and deciding my death was Allah’s will.
Conclusion
In the end, ministry in the Middle East was very different. I can’t say it was easier or harder, but that it was God’s will and he worked it all out. I’m so glad he called me to the Middle East despite my fear because I grew so much, and I saw God use me in so many unique ways. To top it all off, I had a very unique experience that I will never forget or regret.
Thank you Todosey for asking the great question! If any of you have a question, please feel free to ask. I’d love to answer them, and hopefully encourage/equip you through the answer!
If you didn’t check out the last question I answered, you can check it out here: What Made You Afraid of Going to the Middle East?
If you are having a hard time overcoming your fears, you’d probably learn and grow a lot by reading my blog: Conquering Fear
