AbdeRakhman and his sister Maimona are among several people in our Sub-Saharan city who are open to the Good News. Together we’ve gone through an entire series of health lessons that incorporate stories from the Word.
Now AbdeRakhman and Maimona are convinced that everyone needs to know the ways of God to truly have good health. Recently they asked us to help them share the lessons in their home village. They made plans for us to meet with the village sheikh to explain what we could offer the community.
“We’ll just go to the one village and speak with the sheikh there,” they assured us. “We won’t do any lessons. This will just be for planning.”
Some people had walked miles from outlying villages to hear from us.
For five hours we drove across dry scrubland to reach the village of AbdeRakhman and Maimona.
When we arrived, we didn’t find just one sheikh. Instead, about 50 men were waiting for us under the shade of an old tree. They were thrilled to see us and ushered us into a rustic building to eat roasted goat meat and to rest from our journey.
After some time, we heard singing outside. About 100 women were slowly walking toward the building, chanting and waving their arms to welcome us.
Suddenly our meeting with one sheikh had transformed into a group of nearly 200 people.
They had gathered hoping we would offer our health program right then and there. Some people had walked miles from outlying villages to hear from us.
Suddenly our meeting with one sheikh had transformed into a group of nearly 200 people.
But we know from experience that our health and storying process doesn’t work with large groups. The program works best in small settings where people can talk and ask questions to better understand the lessons.
Plus, we needed to speak with the village leaders and get their permission first.
Awkwardly we turned from the crowd. A village elder led us away to a shaded mat. Behind us followed a group of men from the crowd. After we all settled down, we discovered that these men were leaders and elders from a dozen surrounding villages. All together these sheikhs represented about 12,000 people.
We explained in depth the process and the goals of our health program. We told them that we include stories of Jesus and the prophets—stories with lessons that help people become whole in body and spirit.
All together these sheikhs represented about 12,000 people.
We also explained that the program doesn’t work with a crowd of 200. It’s most effective when shared with a few families who then teach the lessons to other families, and those families teach others still.
“If we come and teach a group, and then that group doesn’t teach anyone else, it will be as if we had never come,” we explained. “But if the group we teach goes and teaches another group, and then the members of that group each share the lessons with another group—then soon all 12,000 of your people will have heard how to enjoy better health and how to follow the path that God shows us in the Word.”
The leaders loved the idea. They agreed to nominate five families from five villages to start the lessons and share them with other families.
AbdeRakhman has already met with most of the designated families. They’ve gone through the entire series of health lessons and Bible stories. These families now are sharing them with people in their villages too.
- Praise God that families in these villages are hearing the Word, and pray that hearts will turn to Christ.
- Pray for the Lord to open more doors for Frontiers teams to reach Muslim communities with the message of the Gospel.
- Ask God to equip and send new teams of laborers to bring God’s blessing of health and eternal life to families throughout the Muslim world.
Seeing his neighborhood in turmoil, a Muslim-background believer named Javed is driven to share the hope of Christ and start Bible studies with hurting families.
This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.
Main photo by Albert González Farran/UNAMID