How Severe Illness Helped a Church Movement Grow

Gangrene isn’t something you pray for when asking God to bring Muslim families to Jesus. But the Lord has a track record of taking unexpected adversity and using it in a powerfully strategic way. 

In rural Pennsylvania, God had given a small church a dream to send a team to South Asia. But they needed help bringing their vision to life.

Frontiers’ Church-Based Teams staff walked alongside the leaders of the congregation as they formed a team. They worked in tandem to evaluate the readiness of their future workers and guide them through training. After a couple of years in partnership, the church launched its team of three families to South Asia.

God had given a small church a dream to send a team to South Asia.

Team members dove into language learning and immersed themselves in their new Muslim community. They also helped train Christians in local churches to share the Gospel with Muslims. These believers started making disciples among Muslims throughout the region. God gave two of these new Muslim-background disciples, Ismail and Nayam, a vision to reach their entire communities with the message of Christ.

Ismail and Nayam started partnering with the Frontiers church-based team. They began meeting for encouragement, fellowship, and prayer, and team members trained Ismail and Nayam to lead Bible studies.

Ismail and Nayam invited family members and neighbors to study the Word, and their Bible studies quickly started growing and multiplying. Many Muslim men and women believed in Jesus Christ and were baptized.

But then Ismail contracted a severe case of gangrene. He became critically ill and was near death.

Many Muslim men and women believed in Jesus Christ and were baptized.

Frontiers team members cried out to God to heal Ismail. They were not only concerned for his life but also afraid of what would happen to Ismail’s ministry if he succumbed. “Will it all die out with him?” they wondered.

Ismail survived, but it took a year for him to fully recover.

But his absence from ministry created an opportunity for God to raise up six new leaders from within the growing body of Muslim-background believers to serve in Ismail’s place. Suddenly the leaders of this emerging movement of faith multiplied from two to eight. The result was a stronger, healthier, and more resilient church movement.

Suddenly the leaders of this emerging movement of faith multiplied from two to eight.

Frontiers team members have continued training leaders for fruitfulness. Today more than 500 Muslim-background men and women from this area are gathering regularly in about 50 groups to study God’s Word. About 230 Muslims have become disciples of Christ and more than 100 have been baptized.

This exciting growth has also come with opposition. Two Muslim-background believers have been killed for their faith. But God is strengthening this growing church movement to withstand persecution as more leaders are raised up with a vision for the Gospel.

• Praise God for His wonderful work among Muslims.
• Ask the Lord to continue increasing the number of men and women who are engaging with the Word and responding to the Gospel.
• Pray for new Muslim-background believers to share the message of Christ with boldness and confidence in spite of persecution.