Temperatures in the shade were well in excess of 40°C and we couldn’t eat or drink in public as it was Ramadan, a month of fasting during daylight hours. We had recently arrived from the UK, unable to speak the local language, and were busy setting up home with our children. During Ramadan little is done during the day, shops open and close at unusual hours and finding workmen to do essential jobs is difficult, but we had to clean our rented house, and buy and install everything from kettle, cooker and washing machine to furniture, air-conditioning and school uniforms, and the air-conditioning in our borrowed car wasn’t working properly. Nothing could have prepared us for such a move, but we can testify to God’s help and presence through it.
Why are we here?
The vast majority of Arabs have never yet heard the gospel clearly or met a Christian believer. They watch the best and worst of Western TV shows and films and it is difficult for them to understand that there is a difference between Christian and Western values. Despite increasing access to the gospel via satellite TV and the internet, most have never had the opportunity to reject Christ properly because they have never been introduced to Him.
The few followers of Jesus saved from Arab Muslim backgrounds often suffer a lonely existence. They may have little or no fellowship with other believers and be too afraid to confess their faith openly. Social pressure causes some, publicly at least, to return to Islam.
As we came to understand this great need, my wife and I sensed a clear and progressive call to this region of the world and moved here six months ago.
What are we doing here?
Initially, my wife and I are looking to devote up to two years to full-time language study. Arabic is difficult to learn, but knowing the heart language of locals is crucial if we are to play our full part in witness, discipleship and church planting. Ultimately we want to see churches of local believers worshipping, reading Scripture and being taught in Arabic.
After language study, we intend to commence a ‘tent-making’ ministry by securing long-term employment within the region; you need a job to get a visa. We anticipate that our main sphere of ministry will be among work contacts, friends and neighbours.
What do we like about our location?
There are many good things about being here. For a start, the sun shines a lot!
People are extremely welcoming and friendly, so it is relatively easy to make acquaintances. If you knock on a neighbour’s door, you will quickly find yourself sitting on the floor in their majlis, a room used almost exclusively for entertaining, being offered coffee and fruit as a minimum. However, they expect a lot more from relationships - you can’t get away with a phone call every other month.
Most larger cities have at least one English-speaking evangelical church (for foreigners) and whilst it can be tough adapting to multi-denominational congregations and varying worship and teaching styles, it is possible to have good fellowship.
For us, our regular fellowship with other believers who are here for the sake of the gospel, especially with those who know the town, the language and the culture, has been particularly valuable. They have worked hard and given so much to help us settle here (Acts 4:32).
We are also thankful that our children have settled well into church and their international school and have made friends quickly.
Cultural challenges
Cultural training can teach you many things: Arabic greetings and responses; not to acknowledge someone of the opposite sex in public; how to sit; which hand to eat with; how to offer and accept food. But you will still make mistakes.
For instance, if you know someone’s wife is ill, it would seem natural to ask her husband about her health. But to do this (assuming you are a man) implies that you have inappropriate desires for her. Fortunately for me, my friend maintained his honour by pretending he hadn’t heard my question! Locals are used to our blunders and will make allowances if we are sincere and are careful to learn from them.
Other considerations are more practical, but equally important to be accepted as a respectable family in the neighbourhood. For instance, men should dress smartly and wear long trousers. Women should cover their arms and legs; in a few locations it is preferable or necessary for women to cover their hair with a scarf or veil.
Separation of the sexes permeates every aspect of life here. You cannot be alone with a person of the opposite sex unless you are married or close family, otherwise inappropriate activity is presumed to have taken place. So if either of us is not at home, the other will not permit someone of the opposite sex even through our yard gate. The neighbours are watching. When local ladies enter to visit my wife whilst I am at home, I will stay out of sight within the house. This promotes honour and mutual trust, something which can take many years to build.
Whilst we can accept and adjust to some things, others are harder. For instance, people are treated according to their perceived status in society: local ranks above foreigner (with further distinction by race and skin colour), male above female, age above youth. It is also unpleasant having men stare at your wife and children in the street. It seems so contradictory when it is culturally unacceptable for my wife and I to hold hands in public.
Spiritually we face the daily challenges of living in a Muslim country and in an area where there is deep and widespread superstition about jinn, ie, spirits, both good and bad. Houses are built with jinn lights in each room, small coloured night lights left switched on to deter the jinn. Almost anything can be blamed on jinn, from major road accidents to lights turning themselves on and off - things we might attribute to bad driving or poor electrical wiring.
So we need to work hard to understand both our and their social and religious conditioning, to be spiritually discerning without being judgmental, to subject everything to the light of God’s Word, and to be salt and light - sometimes passively, sometimes proactively.
Opportunities
We rejoice that God is at work in the Arab world. The number of hits on Christian internet sites is unprecedented and increasingly there are reports of people being saved, although the numbers are still very small relative to the overall population (John 4:35). There is a need for more committed believers to move here (Matt. 9:37,38), so that God can bring us into contact with interested individuals.
As mentioned above, it is easy to make acquaintances. To visit someone is to honour them, so it is no problem just dropping in on neighbours. You know the interest in friendship is mutual when they phone or visit you. We are trying to deepen relationships with a couple of families by developing regular visiting.
I have made contacts at the car wash, in a coffee shop and in a wadi (or riverbed) where we were having a family picnic. Sometimes these can be followed up after exchanging mobile numbers. Our most substantial relationships with locals are with our language teachers, who see us at our best and worst every weekday in class! We have to trust that the Holy Spirit works in and through our weaknesses, which we are relieved to find is just what the Bible teaches.
Proselytising is illegal. However, being upfront about your faith is fine, as Muslims don’t see a separation between secular life and spiritual life. So we try to drop things into conversation which might evidence or spark interest in Christ. This is particularly important in “chance” meetings. I met a young, affluent guy with his flash Mercedes at a garage and he told me it was possible to avoid paying speeding fines if you knew the right people. It seemed perfectly natural to remind him that ultimately God will hold us all accountable. He didn’t respond, but I subsequently discovered that he is known to another ‘tent-maker’ here.
Getting a reaction is good, even if it ends up in debates, for instance over the Trinity and the eternal Sonship of Christ. We try to defend the truth both rationally and passionately, though we know that winning over a Muslim solely by argument is virtually impossible.
So as a family we are still adjusting to our new host culture. There are times when this process is exciting and challenging, and others when it is physically, spiritually and emotionally draining. We are so very thankful for the continued encouragement and prayers of believers at home. Please pray with us, that God will give us and other believers here increasing opportunities with locals, and that we will be ready, able and willing to take them for His glory.
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