CONNECT TO MISSION
As the friendships grew, the impulse to share the gospel lurked closely. So many of us who grew up in church were taught to treat gospel sharing as an urgent task to check off rather than as a natural part of a growing relationship. Yet it felt out of place to use such a tactic among my Muslim neighbours who have gently shown their love to me through our daily lives. With a deep desire to honour them, I chose to share life first, and surrendered the urge to check off my own evangelism to-do list. Through choosing friendship first, I began to trust that taking one neighbour coat shopping or learning to make baklava from another neighbour were God’s creative ways to soften the fertile soil in my neighbours’ hearts. I admit that this slow process isn’t easy, and the doubts of me not doing the “right Christian thing” still linger. It’s in this tension that I came to rely on praying regularly for my neighbours and the Muslim world. The 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World prayer movement (https://www.30daysprayer.com) has taken place every year since 1993. It encourages believers to pray for Muslims during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Garrison attributes this prayer movement as a key reason why record numbers of Muslims are now turning to Christ. I had heard about this prayer initiative before, but not until God introduced me to my neighbours did I come to rely on prayer as the key strategy for God to open
doors of faith among Muslims. Participating in this prayer movement has given me the hope to believe that God hears our collective prayers and is working to draw my neighbours to Himself as part of His greater redemptive story. Every time I pray, the doubts fade and I choose again to trust that God is invested in the lives of my neighbours much more than I am. While I still haven’t had a chance to share the gospel with my neighbours yet, I have made friends with whom pre COVID-19, I watched movies, celebrated birthday parties, and foraged at the local park. Being friends with my neighbours allows me a place in their lives to continue sharing my faith through love and conversation. As I listen to their hearts, they can listen to mine too. As well, prayer has become an essential activity in my little corner of this unfolding drama, especially during the pandemic when I can’t visit them as I used to. Besides praying for my neighbours by name locally, and praying for the Muslim world to experience breakthrough globally, prayer also girds me with strength to trust that God will show up in my neighbours’ lives and call them home to Himself. Ramadan will take place from April 13 to May 12, 2021. God invites us to take part in His story of redemption in the Muslim world through dedicated prayer. Will you join in?
A WINDOW ON latin america For the next five years, the Baptist Women’s Union of Latin America is our prayer partner. This spring we invite you to pray the Lord’s Prayer as often as you are able for our Latin American sisters in Christ. Here is one version you may pray.
God, who is in us here on earth, holy is Your Name in the hungry who share their bread and their song. Your Kingdom come, which is a land flowing with milk and honey. Let us do Your will, raising our voice when all are silent. You are giving us our daily bread in the song of the bird and the miracle of the corn. Forgive us for keeping silent in the face of injustice. Don’t let us fall into the temptation of taking up the same arms as the enemy. But deliver us from evil. Give us the perseverance to look for love, even if we fail; so we shall have known Your Kingdom which is being built forever and ever. Amen. Adapted from a Latin-American Lord’s Prayer, credited to numerous sources. Sourced from Sojourners (sojo.net) live • March - April 2021
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