FROM THE MIDDLE EAST TO THE USA - THOMAS IS TAKING A LONG ROAD TO MEET WITH JESUS

BY TIM ALLAN, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Many people in the Middle East are reluctant to give you their real name when they say they want to learn more about Jesus.

That’s why SIM worker Joe* took six months to find out who Thomas* really was.

Joe had first encountered Thomas in an online forum, which helps inquirers from the Middle East learn more about Jesus. Their first face-to-face meeting took place in a local bookstore and café.

Thomas immediately told Joe he’d had doubts about his faith from the age of 10; that he had bought books addressing those issues when he was 13; and that he had rejected his faith aged 16.

When he told his parents of his decision a year later, they rejected him. He was forced to leave his homeland and flee to a nearby country, where he had since lived as a religious refugee.

Now aged 19, he told Joe he detested the faith he had grown up with, but knew he loved Jesus.

Joe said: “He went on to tell me all the things that had attracted him to Christianity and to Jesus in particular.

“He shared a dream he’d had of a man in white coming towards him and, with his finger, making the mark of the cross on Thomas’s wrist. Then he began to ask me question after question about the practices and beliefs of Christians.

“I did my best to answer his questions while repeatedly coming back to the foundation of knowing Christ - of believing in him, trusting in him, loving him, obeying him and worshipping him.”

Middle East coffee shops offer friends an opportunity to discuss significant

Over the course of several weeks, Thomas started coming to Joe’s church. The pair also met for coffee every now and then, but as their conversations ebbed and flowed Joe could never quite decide whether Thomas was genuine.

At times, he seemed more an atheist than someone who was examining the claims of Christ.

Then, after months of not seeing each other, Thomas contacted Joe once again.

He told Joe he had just received his papers to emigrate to the US and was leaving in just four days. He wanted to see Joe before he left. When they got together, he told Joe how his US visa application, which had come through in near record time, had been a massive answer to prayer. He said he had been desperate about his application and, despite having doubts about even the existence of God, had cried out to him for help.

Joe told him he too had been praying - and was blown away when Thomas replied, “So, I was hoping you could help me find a church to attend in the US.”

of God’s handiwork, admiring from a distance God’s divine pursuit of this precious image-bearer. Thomas is precious to God and known by name. Thomas told me his true name that evening, almost six months after I’d met him.

“He wanted me to know his name, and after walking with him for six months he trusted me enough to share that part of his identity.”

And, just as God had planned, a new member of Joe’s team had recently arrived from the very city Thomas was heading to and was able to suggest a church.

Thomas is now settling into the US, secure in his new country and getting to grips with his new faith. Thomas has a lot to contend with right now but he has already seen ample evidence of God’s goodness to him.

Joe is praying Thomas will soon find all the answers he is searching for in the life, person and grace of Jesus Christ.

If you’re interested in serving in any of the countries of the Middle East in which SIM works, email middleeast.personnel@sim.org for more information.

*Name changed for security reasons

THE MIDDLE EAST

• Approximately 473 million people live in the region

• Around five per cent (23.6 million) would call themselves Christian

• Less than 1.5 per cent (6.8 million) would call themselves evangelical Christian

• The region contains 168 people groups, 92 per cent in the ‘least-reached’ category

Source: joshuaproject.net