Fields, Rocks, and Boulders

This was written a man who was living in a country where there is NO native Christian population. Say you are in Syria, Egypt, or Jordan--chances are that people know where a church or two are and may have a few Christian friends or neighbors here and there. Not in his country. I will be publishing some of his material over the next few months. His style of writing is quite different than mine, but I find his insights helpful.

I remember with joy the last time our families visited with each other. We chatted for long hours about culture, religion, and compared out differing circumstances in our two countries.

This information cannot be found on the internet. For security reasons his real name is not used. I have opted rather to simply call him 'Abd al Haq--servant of the Truth.

Fields, Rocks, and Boulders: The Gospel and Muslims I
by 'Abd al Haq

There is a purpose to the conversations (evangelism) that we have with those we live among. That purpose, in evangelism, is declaring The Story. However, for me, most of those that I come into contact with have absolutely no idea of what our beliefs are or how we live our lives. So, most often, my purpose in these conversations ends up being to break ground. There are tons of analogies out there concerning what we are doing. Some say we are scattering seed, others say that we are clearing the rocks from the field so that we can scatter seed, I even had one friend say that this was what he thought he would be doing prior to arriving in the Middle East, but has since discovered that his role is not to remove rocks … because they are not rocks, but gigantic boulders! And now he sees his role as breaking the boulders up into little chunks so that they can be moved and then the field can be prepared and then the seeds can be planted.

While I’m a little more optimistic than he was, I do think that we need to always consider our audience. In the case of what is written below I would like to make it very clear that this material is intended for those who have had virtually no contact with disciples of Jesus that are actually obedient to the Scriptures. In many cases people may think themselves somewhat familiar with “Christians,” but this does not in any way mean that they are even remotely familiar with what disciples of Jesus believe or how we live our lives. That is my typical audience and that is who this material is intended for. So, the hearer may not be ready for The Story. They may get hung up on some of the foundational things. If this is the case, then they simply are not ready and we should move on until they have submitted to the truth that they have heard and are ready for more. But we should also rejoice that a seed was planted, or a rock moved or maybe even that a boulder was chipped at!