An Historic Moment
Faithful readers of my blog/newsletter may recall that this weekend was the first ever Muslim Evangelism training seminar (une formation) that the French AG has done in France. Saturday was the first of four seminars that we will be doing over the next year in the Aquitaine region. We advertised the seminars through the local AG churches and had people send in a registration card for the series of seminars. Having people sign up for a year-long program is very French. While it does help us with our planning to have an estimate of how many will attend, the inscription mostly lends seriousness to the seminar—people know they are making a commitment to be a part of this program.
We had nine people who came to the seminar. I know that seems like nothing at all, but I was thrilled. Those nine people represent five churches, a couple of hours from one another: two of the nine are young pastors, just starting out in ministry, but determined to reach Muslims in their area. One was a young woman, still in high school, whose best friend is Muslim. Another lady said she works with almost all Muslims in a factory. Another man said, “I have never talked to a Muslim, but I feel that if I learn how to talk to them, God will start sending them my way, and I can share my faith with them.” It was so exciting to hear their various reasons for attending the seminar, and the various Muslims that God has already put in their paths. From this small beginning, God can do great things. They already represent nine answers to prayer! We know that the next seminar, in October, will be even better attended, due to the enthusiasm we saw in our first nine people.
I taught two sessions: one on prayer as the best strategy for evangelism, and one on the Koran. I had been preparing for weeks: doing research, organizing my information, creating a PowerPoint presentation in French, and finding personal anecdotes to liven up somewhat dull facts. Saturday morning, I got up at 6 AM just to go through my notes again, to make sure I was ready. I think, due to the preparation and all your prayers, I wasn’t nervous at all on Saturday. After I mentioned that I had worked in Palestine, I became something of a novelty to them, and they asked a hundred questions about my experiences there. Other than saying I had un petit accent, no one commented on my French, which means they understood me. And all of them asked me if I would be teaching at the other seminars in October, February, and May, so I felt really encouraged personally.
Thanks for praying for this project. The team I work with and I are all praying that these nine people will be just the beginning of what God can do in Muslims here in France. One problem that we discovered is that we are dependant on the pastors to announce this series to their churches, and although we sent posters, information packets and reminder emails, many pastors still didn’t announce it at their churches. For the next seminar in October, we are already praying that God will help do our “promotion” in the hearts of the pastors that don’t seem to be interested.
In other news: While I was driving to work this morning, I saw a French man with a classic “mullet” haircut walking along the sidewalk. Because I was in heavy traffic, he was keeping time with my car as he walked, so I had ample opportunity to observe the mullet. It was very short in the front and on the sides, to the ears, but the rest was halfway down his back, obscuring the advertisement on his work tee-shirt. I couldn’t help but wonder if the French have a word for “mullet” hairstyles, and if they do, do they make fun of people who still wear them? Discuss amongst yourselves.
We had nine people who came to the seminar. I know that seems like nothing at all, but I was thrilled. Those nine people represent five churches, a couple of hours from one another: two of the nine are young pastors, just starting out in ministry, but determined to reach Muslims in their area. One was a young woman, still in high school, whose best friend is Muslim. Another lady said she works with almost all Muslims in a factory. Another man said, “I have never talked to a Muslim, but I feel that if I learn how to talk to them, God will start sending them my way, and I can share my faith with them.” It was so exciting to hear their various reasons for attending the seminar, and the various Muslims that God has already put in their paths. From this small beginning, God can do great things. They already represent nine answers to prayer! We know that the next seminar, in October, will be even better attended, due to the enthusiasm we saw in our first nine people.
I taught two sessions: one on prayer as the best strategy for evangelism, and one on the Koran. I had been preparing for weeks: doing research, organizing my information, creating a PowerPoint presentation in French, and finding personal anecdotes to liven up somewhat dull facts. Saturday morning, I got up at 6 AM just to go through my notes again, to make sure I was ready. I think, due to the preparation and all your prayers, I wasn’t nervous at all on Saturday. After I mentioned that I had worked in Palestine, I became something of a novelty to them, and they asked a hundred questions about my experiences there. Other than saying I had un petit accent, no one commented on my French, which means they understood me. And all of them asked me if I would be teaching at the other seminars in October, February, and May, so I felt really encouraged personally.
Thanks for praying for this project. The team I work with and I are all praying that these nine people will be just the beginning of what God can do in Muslims here in France. One problem that we discovered is that we are dependant on the pastors to announce this series to their churches, and although we sent posters, information packets and reminder emails, many pastors still didn’t announce it at their churches. For the next seminar in October, we are already praying that God will help do our “promotion” in the hearts of the pastors that don’t seem to be interested.
In other news: While I was driving to work this morning, I saw a French man with a classic “mullet” haircut walking along the sidewalk. Because I was in heavy traffic, he was keeping time with my car as he walked, so I had ample opportunity to observe the mullet. It was very short in the front and on the sides, to the ears, but the rest was halfway down his back, obscuring the advertisement on his work tee-shirt. I couldn’t help but wonder if the French have a word for “mullet” hairstyles, and if they do, do they make fun of people who still wear them? Discuss amongst yourselves.