After a short break I’m diving back into a study of the 11 countries our squad will be working in…leaving in 11 weeks! This is part 4 in the series aimed to guide my prayer and prepare me for each unique country. Once again, the 11 countries are Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, India, Nepal, China and Mongolia.
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Turkish Flag |
Istanbul, the capital of Turkey, is the third largest city in the world. 99.8% of the population in Turkey is Muslim. I am looking forward to spending more time engaging new friends on identity, who is Jesus, the purpose of his death and fact of his resurrection over many cups of Turkish tea.
No law explicitly prohibits proselytizing or religious conversions, but Turkey is the least evangelized nation on earth. Many Christians who live in Turkey are persecuted where they live and where they work. There may be some risks involved with sharing our faith here that we have not experienced before, but our God is faithful and strong. We can go bravely into every battle because God has already won the war (Dustin Kensrue, It is Finished). My faith has been weak and begrudging of late, and my cry to God is that my faith would be the way Paul describes in 2 Timothy 1:6-7.
This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hand on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
For safety reasons, Adventures in Missions has not published details of what we will be doing in Turkey. Much of it is related to supporting the local church, which is heavily persecuted and burdened. We may be doing home visits or ministering to refugee children who have not yet gained legal refugee status.
There is rich history in Turkey. I have been here once before in 2007 with my Mom and I was amazed. Most memorable for me were the massive, majestic mosques and visiting Cappadocia in the eastern region of Turkey. Cappadocia contains many interesting rock formations known as “fairy chimneys” and was a place where early Christians hid to escape persecution before Emperor Constantine granted religious freedom to Christians via the Edict of Milan (313 AD).
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“fairy chimney” rock formations in Cappadocia, Wikipedia |
My prayer for Turkey today is for forgiveness and hope to arise in the culture. I pray that the power from God’s active love would open the people and especially leaders to the gospel in spite of the history of our war and sin that stands in opposition to this openness. Several small Jesus-centered churches in Turkey have been recognized legally but I pray for more religious freedoms (legally and culturally), physical protection of the Christian minority and protection of the purity of God’s strong gospel in the churches that are standing strong.
