Austin Gardner

Trips
As you know the country has a population of thirty five million inhabitants, and we, as the Light Baptist Church have a great responsibility of carrying the gospel to these people that live in darkness.

To be able to reach this goal we have established a project which we are calling Seven Cities. In this project,
we have divided the country into seven principal points, with their seven principle cities being
approximately two hours from another. For example, one can pass from one of the principal cities to the border of another in only two hours.

We actually have two places where we are working. We make a trip to another city every week to have meetings there. We have a group of brethren that meet to grow and to learn of God. From the our zone within two hours distance there is another city. We have had a group meeting there and Lord willing we will continue to do so again.

Each week the trips we make are full of surprises as we must journey from where we live in the north of our country to the south, about five hours. During these trips we have had many anecdotes to occur. I will be sharing these with you below.

Salvations
To this point in the year we have been working on evangelizing people in the street, people that come to our
meetings as well as acquaintances of those who attend our meetings. This year, God has given us the privilege
of seeing two new people come to the feet of Christ. One of them is named *** and he is from the city we live in. He had been coming to our meetings and after a long while with us hearing the message of Jesus Christ he placed his faith in Christ. They say that the average time required for an individual in a muslim country to
place their faith in Christ is five years after hearing for the first time.

The other person is a lady. This lady was very excited to place her faith in Christ. Now we only ask God that he would help us to be able to be a blessing to the new Christians.

Light Baptist Church
Our church is advancing in the work little by little in its own city; the brethren are learning to take responsibilities as new Christians. One of our church members has family a member that is being helped to Christ and is coming very close to placing his faith in Jesus Christ. Please pray for him, that God would give him a great desire to know more of God.

The church
Our new workis advancing, each week we travel and the meetings we have there are growing to the point we actually have no place to meet. We are doing so in the homes of the church members. Until now, things are going well there, but we are looking for a place to rent. Please pray that God would provide the funds to be able to rent a place and also that he would continue to provide for the trips that we are making to the other city each week. If you have the desire to help support the work in the other city it would be a great blessing. Each week that we journey it takes approximately $60 USD.

Pastor Friend
In one city friend named. He studied for a few years in Lebanon but now he is doing the work here and as you
will know, here in Lebanon it is not possible to pay the pastor, but thanks to God this brother has been faithful to his ministry and continues on, but please pray that God would provide him a way to financially sustain himself. As a missionary, I am convinced that the works of nationals is of great importance. If any of you would like to make a special offering or adopt him as your missionary, please let me know.

This pastor receives the contacts that we have in his zone and he does the follow up and visits with them. Please pray from him. In various opportunities the police have been following him to see what he is doing. Both he and his wife have been interrogated by the police on different occasions.

Training
For the past seven weeks we have had one day each week in which we have been capacitating the brethren that feel call to serve more faithfully in the work of God. Two brethren have been taking this course and another one from another city. We have been studying about the church, each week we have had different lesson that have been of great blessing to them and a great challenge for us to share these lessons in Arabic.

God has been very merciful with us to help us to learn this language, although we are still in the learning process.

In this training we have been able to touch on other topics that came out while we were teaching the lessons. Really these last seven lessons have been of great blessing. This Friday we will be finishing our series of eight week about the church and we will see what the next topic will be.

Documents
We will have to renew our visas soon. I want to ask for your prayers for all of the documents that we must
obtain. As you know, this country will not give us residence for three to five years, we are obligated to renew our visas each year. The authorities here are suspicious of all foreign missionaries that preach the gospel here, which is why they only grant annual visas. Please pray that God would grant us favor before the police so
that we can continue to work another year
.
Missionary situation.
During the last year, a country in North Africa has become obsessed with expelling the greater quantity of missionaries. The news here states that 7,000 ulemas, (Muslim legal scholars), have publically rejected Christian proselytism. In this country the king is the person they call “Guarder of the Believers”, so by having this title, he cannot permit other religions to come in and to evangelize his Muslim people.

Accompanying this event, the ministry of the interior began expelling Christians in the month of March. In 2010 so far, they have expelled one hundred thirty missionaries and workers from different organizations. The last expulsions have taken place since last week.

Please continue praying for this situation of Christian and also for all of the missionaries that are working in this place. If you would like more information about this topic, please write and I will send you the material that you would like about the expulsions.

While we witness
Last week while we went out into the street to evangelize one by one I found a young man that was reading a Muslim book. It was the book that the “Prophet” Mohamed. I thought my friend was going to speak with him, but he didn’t so I stayed there and sat down to witness to him. While we were talking I realized that he was searching for the truth. It was on Friday, so he had been to pray and was seated to read a little more of Islam
and of Mohamed’s orders.

I asked him if he had read the gospel and he told me that he never had. So he began conversing with me and after about twenty minutes of talking about Jesus, the death of Jesus, (Muslims believe that Jesus never died but that he ascended into Heaven before dying), I had to leave him. I left him with a New Testament and marked the story of Cornelius, (Acts 10), as this history is like the life of many Muslim people who with their
hearts are trying to seek God.

While we journeyed this week I had the opportunity to sit with a person that was very young. After a few moments seated in a very hot bus without air conditioning we were both sweating in an uncontrollable manner. After a while he took out a piece of bread and began to eat, and as a part of his culture he offered me some. After this the Spirit of God began to work on my heart to witness to him about Christ. This young person turned about to another man behind us and said ‘this foreigner thinks the Gospel has not changed’. The person behind us told him that indeed it had not and the young man was very surprised and began stating the Gospel was lies and they two began to talk for about two hours. The young man seated behind us was actually one of the men being trained with us who was traveling with me that day. At the end of it all, several people were upset with us because we are Christians but at least we were able to share the Gospel with these people.

The police
In these last few weeks the police have called my friends to be interviewed. They have been threatened by the police. At this moment in this country the Christian nationals are interrogated continually. They never know when the police will call them and cause them to give account of their faith in Christ. I thank God that my friends have not denied their faith. They have witnessed to the police, sharing their personal decision to follow Christ without receiving any gain. Many people believe that Muslims only convert to Christianity for money, trips or the like.

The people think that others only become Christians to receive money. They are incredibly mistaken. I know many Christians personally who for the love of God and His Savior have converted to Christianity.

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from Mission Network News

Pakistan (MNN) ― A Pakistani Christian mourns the loss of his family after a Muslim mob murdered his wife and four children, according to Compass Direct News.

Jamshed Masih, a police officer, moved his family to Mustafa Colony after he was transferred from Gujrat to Jhelum, Punjab Province.

When the predominantly-Muslim community learned of the family’s faith, Maulana Mahfooz Khan, a Muslim religious leader, approached Masih and told him and his family to leave, saying the community did not want “scum” in it. He said no non-Muslims had ever been able to live there and the residents feared the family would be a bad influence on their children.

Concerned, Masih shared these threats with the pastor of a local Presbyterian church, Saleem Mall. Mall also warned them of the danger and advised them to leave.

On June 21, Compass said Masih left for work, leaving his children singing hymns at home. Later that day, Masih’s wife sent one of their sons to the store for detergent. But when the shopkeeper asked if the boy was a Christian and he said “yes,” the shopkeeper refused to sell him anything and told him to never come back.

The boy returned home, relaying the events to his mother who called Masih, begging him to come home.

A short time later, a Muslim mob, led by Khan, arrived at the house, accusing him of blasphemy against Muhammad.

Before police or Masih arrived, the family was murdered.

Now, local authorities refuse to press charges against Khan and his mob because they fear what he will do to them.

According to Compass, Masih filed a complaint with the chief minister of Punjab Province asking for justice to be served. Pastor Mall said they are appealing to the government so they can simply live in peace.

Pray for justice to be served and for God to comfort Masih through this tragedy.

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from here on Fox News

A North Carolina pastor was relieved of his duties as an honorary chaplain of the state house of representatives after he closed a prayer by invoking the name of Jesus.

“I got fired,” said Ron Baity, pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. He had been invited to lead prayer for an entire week but his tenure was cut short when he refused to remove the name Jesus from his invocation.

Baity’s troubles began during the week of May 31. He said a House clerk asked to see his prayer. The invocation including prayers for our military, state lawmakers and a petition to God asking him to bless North Carolina.”

“When I handed it to the lady, I watched her eyes and they immediately went right to the bottom of the page and the word Jesus,” he told FOX News Radio. “She said ‘We would prefer that you not use the name Jesus. We have some people here that can be offended.’”

When Baity protested, she brought the matter to the attention of House Speaker Joe Hackney.

The Freedom Scale 1
Freedom Scale 2
The Freedom Scale 3
The Freedom Scale 4
The Freedom Scale 5
The Freedom Scale 6

3. International Pressure in media and in diplomacy

The last key to moving a country up the Freedom of Conscience and Religion scale is to apply international pressure through media and diplomacy. This is last because it is both last in importance and last in sequence. The first two keys will precipitate the third.

As an example of a country moving up the Freedom Scale as these three keys factors play out we can look at the imprisonment of Fransisco Penzotti in July of 1890. Penzotti had been won to Christ and discipled by an American Methodist missionary in Uruguay. This missionary sent him out as a licensed preacher and distributor of the Word to the Pacific Coast of South America. Upon founding a Methodist church in Callao, Peru, Penzotti was jailed by the Catholic governor where he preached to the prisoners.

He remained in jail until March of 1891 when a the international pressure mounted for his release. An American engineer by the name of E. E. Olcott had taken his picture in prison and had published it in the New York Herald and other newspapers. Penzotti’s release marked the last time an evangelical would be jailed by Catholic extremists for preaching the gospel.

In this example we see all three factors: a bold foreign missionary having prepared a bold, national believer and international pressure as a result of his persecution.

None of these three keys guarantees religious freedom to be forthcoming for a country. God is sovereign over all the decisions of man. Sometimes God chooses to allow evil to continue that he may be even more glorified in the deaths of his saints and in his eventual and miraculous victory. We cannot pressure to control the events of history or the actions of kings and governments knowing the God alone controls. We will undoubtedly see thousands of martyrs shed their blood for Christ before we see the governments budge and inch. That is why it is key to remember that martyrs die for the cause of Christ not the cause of religious freedom.

These are, however, three God-ordained and history-proven keys that we must employ in every Muslim country in the world. We want to see religious freedom grow because it is just for it’s people and it is good for the wide-spread preaching of the Word.

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I hope these articles written by my friend will at least help you to think through the process. Feel free to comment or ask questions.

The Freedom Scale 1
Freedom Scale 2
The Freedom Scale 3
The Freedom Scale 4
The Freedom Scale 5

There are a few keys to the long-term progress of these countries up the ladder of the Freedom Scale:

1. Bold National Believers

For each level there will be different consquences but the need is for believers willing to die for their faith. If we will be faithful to teach the Word the disciples will grow in their boldness. We do not force or even push a disciple of Christ to take a public stand with his faith. The Word of God and the Holy Spirit must do the pushing.

Through this public declaration of their faith, believers in Algeria have won the right to the freedom of religion. This step is pending for the countries of Morocco and Tunisia. The only thing we are waiting on is the boldness of the local believers causing them to step out and take a stand on a national, public level.

For countries ranking 0 on the freedom scale, boldness for Christ will likely result in the shedding of their own blood. That is tragic yet glorious at the same time. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

2. Bold Foreign Missionaries

Missionaries willing to take risks for Christ’s name will find that they can train disciples equally willing to do the same thus impacting their respective country on a national level. Boldness does not always mean street preaching. There is a time to meet in secret as long as it is in preparation and strengthening of the body for the day the church will stand openly for the faith.
The question has been asked, “Can a Christian be a secret Christian? Can a church be a secret church?” I believe that is an easy one to answer according to Christ’s teaching: No. The more difficult and needy question to ask was posed by Piper in his book Desiring God, “How long can a Christian remain in secret before offending his Savior? How long can a church remain secret before offending her bride?” Many believers in Muslim contexts believed before anyone knew. They are no less believers in Christ than those of us who accepted Christ at an alter call in America.

However, if they are true believers of Christ they will grow in Christ. Anyone growing in Christ recognizes he must confess Christ before men and not deny Him. Therefore, he will come to a point where he makes himself known first to friends, then family, and possibly even his country on a public, national level.This will bring glory to Christ even with the persecution that it brings.

The missionary going into a Muslim context must know this about his work: it will (or at least should) create martyrs at varying levels. This is a difficult realization by a missionary who imagined a very different result to his efforts to bring the good news as an idealistic seminary student or viewer of missionary presentations. As most missionaries begin their path toward missions they are imagining churches not martyrs. They imagine training pastors who will stand and lead large groups not sit alone in a prison cell. They imagine years of fruitful ministry baptizing, marrying, and burying not a red stamp on their passport after 3 or 4 years of ministry that says, “Access Denied”.
The danger is that we make our ideal of missions our pattern. We stop allowing the Word of God to mandate our work. We change our strategy so as not to face the “red stamp”, the social and family rejection, and the martyrs. We thus become the pattern for the national believers and stunt their growth in Christ. What often happens is that the national believers will see hypocrisy in the life of the missionary who claims to follow the Bible but is unwilling to live by it’s mandates.

The same thing that happens to the individual as he grows in Christ will happen to the house church the missionary plants: it will (or at least should) grow increasingly public as it’s members grow in Christ. This will bring persecution but eventually will bring more religious freedom. This should not be a course of events the missionary tries to prevent but instead allows to happen as God works in the hearts of the believers corporately.

So the question a church planter and missionary must ask is no longer, “Can the church I plant remain in secret?” but instead “How long can it remain in secret before it offends Christ who gave himself for it?” I don’t believe anyone can give an actual time (1 month, 1 year, 2 years, etc) but this question must be answered by every church begun in secret in the Muslim world or outside of it. The job of the church planter is to give the disciples Biblical answers to this question on a case by case basis, support them in it’s inevitably dangerous outcome, and instruct them in wisdom on behalf of those who are young and fragile in the faith.

I have seen great damage done to believers whose missionary pastor has started their church with the idea that the church will always be kept a secret. The believers are robbed of their great honor of being some of the first in their country and culture to stand and suffer for Christ publically like the Apostles after Christ, Ignatius of Antioch in 117 ad, Marcellus of Tanger in 298 ad (never heard of him? You’ve got to read his story!), and countless other martyrs who have gained that honored place in heaven described in Rev. 7:14. The converts of such a “secret at all costs” philosophy tend to be very fearful in the way the view evangelism, the Bible, other believers, and the lost around them. They are treated like baby’s to be coddled and protected and, in fact, end up as baby’s never growing strong in Christ.
However, if missionaries will just let the Bible speak for itself into the lives of these new believers they will eventually take a public stand for Christ. This will cause persecution for them but more and more will take this stand for Christ, each one adding a stepping stone of motivation into the swift moving waters of Islamic Jihad. Every time a believer takes a more public stand for Christ than had been taken before, others, however new, with the Spirit of God in them, feel an inner impulse to not be left behind in being named by the name of Christ. There is a strange thing that happens as men run toward martyrdom each to join those taking the boldest stand. None wants to be left holding on to his fear when Jesus counts his saints.

We must foster this inner strength and desire to stand for Christ motivated by the Word. Boldness and openness must not be a conjured speech or man driven motivation but a gradual realization on the part of the disciple as he studies the words of Christ. This is the most difficult and important task a missionary in the Muslim world has: to encourage new believers toward pain and not shield them from it.

When we do this, our job, the countries we serve in will over time move up the ladder of the Freedom Scale.

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The Freedom Scale 1
Freedom Scale 2
The Freedom Scale 3
The Freedom Scale 4

3- Algeria, Egypt, Jordan

a. Stated religious freedom

b. Discipleship: A believer is often known locally by family, friends, and others on a local level and many have taken a stand publically on a national level without any government persecution.

c. Evangelism: Proselytism of Muslims is against the law carrying a small jail time and fine however rarely enforced. Foreigners caught proselytizing are either strictly warned or immediately expelled.

d. Church Planting: The national churches have been given to freedom to organize, meet, and even build their own buildings. It is made difficult for them but is possible.

e. These countries admit that they are not 100% Muslim gladly. Algeria for example acknowledges it’s 50,000 converts from Islam as Christians.

f. Ministry opportunities: The pastors in these countries are in need of training. TV and other media are also very effective.

4- Turkey, Lebanon

a. Full religious freedom (at least on paper)

b. Discipleship: Believers are often known locally and many pastors are known nationally on a public level appearing on television or even on their own TV shows.

c. Evangelism: Proselytism is legal and guaranteed as a freedom of speech. Foreigners find it very difficult to gain religious visas so usually end up going the business or NGO route.

d. Church Planting: The national churches have been given full freedom to organize, meet, and build their own places of worship.

e. These countries admit that they are not 100% Muslim but not gladly.

f. Ministry Opportunities: The need for discipleship, evangelism, and church planting is huge, especially in the eastern side of Turkey.

5- Senegal, Mali, Niger

a. Full religious freedom

b. Discipleship: Believers are often locally known and some nationally known. Pressure from family and friends is present as always.

c. Evangelism: Proselytism is legal and guaranteed as a freedom of speech. Foreigners find it very easy to get a missionary visa.

d. Church Planting: The national churches have been given full freedom to organize, meet, and build their own places of worship.

e. These countries admit that they are not 100% Muslim with no problem.

f. Ministry Opportunities: The need for discipleship, evangelism, and church planting is huge. The cost of faith will be the loss of family and friends temporarily.

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The Freedom Scale 1
Freedom Scale 2
The Freedom Scale 3

2- Morocco and Tunisia

a. Feigned religious freedom

b. Discipleship: A believer is sometimes known locally by family, friends, and others in his city as a Christian. He receives harassment but an “honor killing” would be prosecuted by the government. Christians are not known on a national level for fear of persecution.

c. Evangelism: Proselytism is against the law carrying a small jail time and fine however rarely enforced. Foreigners caught proselytizing are either strictly warned or immediately expelled.

d. Church Planting: The national churches currently meet in secret. The government will quite them down if they become too well known but for the most part allows them to exist. As long as the house church remains secretive and doesn’t cause a disturbance, it is tolerated.

e. These countries consider themselves 100% Muslim at least officially, not allowing Muslims to make an official conversion to Christianity thus denying real religious freedom.

f. Ministry Opportunities: Ministering by radio, TV, and Internet is highly effective in these countries. Missionaries wishing to disciple new believers and plant churches will find these countries to be a relatively safe place to minister with the dual identity of business or NGO. Missionaries attempting this biblical style ministry should be ready to be expelled at any time. A church planter should make his goals in terms of one term not 20 years.

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To fully understand this post be sure and read the two previous posts by our missionary friend who works and lives in a closed Muslim country.

The Freedom Scale 1
Freedom Scale 2

1- Iran, Turkmenistan

a. No religious freedom

b. Discipleship:There are many believers locally known who are greatly persecuted by their government with beatings, imprisonments, and even executions.

c. Evangelism: Proselytism is severely punished.

d. Church Planting: There are many house churches meeting in secret. The movement is often so large the government cannot keep up with them. Foreigners are not tolerated in a “missionary” role even if done in secret and is very difficult as tourism is not an important part of their economy.

e. These countries pride themselves on being 100% Muslim and are trying to stamp out the “Kafar” presence and work.

f. Ministry Opportunities: Ministry in the country may be physically dangerous. Especially singles should consider this risk for the Gospel. Ministering by radio, TV, and Internet is highly effective in these countries. Some ministries are finding success at reaching these people groups outside of their countries. Turkmen and Iranians have accepted Christ in great numbers in Turkey and Germany. Many have gone back to be a witness for Christ in their countries.

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Learn more from my friend who lives and works among Muslims. Ask questions or make comments in the comment section below.

Freedom Scale 1

0- Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Eretria, Yemen

a. No religious freedom

b. Discipleship: If a new believer were to become known to his family or friends he would likely or possibly be killed for his faith, a murder the government would allow or even participate in. Christians are often imprisoned for their faith.

c. Evangelism: Proselytism is severely punished.

d. Church Planting: There are no known house churches meeting. If there are meetings they are between two or three believers. If the government were to know of the meetings they would be immediately stopped.

e. These countries pride themselves on remaining 100% Muslim with no exceptions.

f. Ministry opportunities: An effective outreach for these countries is through Internet and Satellite Television. Social outreach like medical aid and schools may provide a long-term opportunity to live out an example of Christ. More work needs to be done to reach people from these countries in Europe and America.

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The following article was written by a great friend working in the Muslim world. He understands first hand what the ministry there means. He has lived it and is leading a team there at this moment. Read and enjoy. Feel free to comment below.

A tool for understanding the complexities of Muslim missions

Many people have a hard time understanding the difference between Afghanistan and Turkey or Saudi Arabia and Morocco. “They’re all Muslim countries, aren’t they?” is the general American understanding. Well, yes, they are. But they are all very different in their method and severity of implementation.
Many young missionary candidates, like myself, are passionate about church planting, discipleship, and leadership training. As a result, they are looking for a place they can exercise these passions. Knowing the laws against these things in some Muslim countries, they never consider going to any Muslim or Arab country. Having thus decided, they ignore more than 20% of the world’s population (including half of the world’s unreached people groups).

Some other young missionary candidates, like myself, are passionate about reaching Muslims. So they change their missions strategies to fit a “Muslim” or “Closed” country mentality. They change their goals from being church planting to “blessing” the country with business or with their influence. Instead of tailoring a strategy to a country or region they would paint it all with the same brush and thus miss out on great opportunities for Christ’s glory.

Possibly a better understanding of what freedoms exist in each country will open up minds and hearts to reaching Muslim peoples. I have observed that there are basically four types of Muslim countries in terms of the religious freedom they grant their people. You could call this the “Freedom Scale” for quick reference. You can fit every majority Muslim into one of these six categories however each country has it’s own peculiarities. Muslim countries are also in a constant flux as leadership and attitude in the country changes. A country may move up or down a level in a day. Look at the Islamic revolution in Iran or the secularization of Turkey under AtaTurk for opposing examples.

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