2009 December - Getting to know our contacts face to face |
In December 2009 we held a "get to know one another" meeting at a Christian cultural centre and cafe for those who had contacted us through our "Knowing God" website. Nearly 600 people were invited but the attendance was low because of cold and rainy weather.
All who came were respectful, friendly and open minded. They were mostly Muslims but there were also atheists and agnostics. Several people came to help and a band played some of their music. There were no heated arguments but loving and open sharing on deep spiritual subjects. At the end of the time they were given books and booklets and filled out surveys.
Some of those who came:
Hasan came originally from Bitlis in South-eastern Turkey. He is 40 years old and married with 2 children. He was open minded and there is a good chance he will be attending church and learning more about Jesus.
Ozkan is a 19 year old agnostic university student. We had spoken with him before on our own chat system and and on another on-line chat system popular in Turkey. He comes from a very religious Islamic family and is very intelligent. He no longer believes in the Kuran and therefore calls himself an agnostic. He wanted me to explain to him, not using the Bible, proofs that Jesus lived and about his claims. In addition he asked exactly what we believed. He said if he came to believe in the Bible and found it logical he would believe and give his life to Jesus.
Zeki is a man in his 30's. Because of his dress and actions we thought he might be a policeman. Last year he came in contact with us through the BCC website and met a believer from our office. He has his own shop and works in the food business. He is an open minded seeker.
Nihan is a young woman from Antalya who now lives in Istanbul. She works at a private company. She talked with 3 other believers at the meeting (2 girls and 1 guy). She speaks English well. She wants to learn about Christianity because she doesn't believe most of the Islamic teaching. She visited a church three or four times while living in Izmir. If we follow-up on her I believe there is great hope that Nihan will come to faith.
Bulent is a 40 year old businessman. He is respectful and open minded, As soon as he received our invitation he called saying he would be coming. Again when he first came he had the air of a policeman about him but later gave me his business card. I found him to be more nationalistic than Islamic.
Fikret is a 50 year old, married with 6 children. He called the day before the meeting and said he was a Muslim and there was no way he would become a Christian and asked if there was any reason to come. I told him to come and we would drink a tea together. In our discussion he stated a common saying among Muslims, "We love and believe in Jesus more than you do," but after talking awhile he realized we were not typical of the way Christians are usually portrayed and were people of true faith. One of the recent believers among us spent the most time talking with him, the first time he had shared his testimony with such a strong Muslim. When he left Fikret said that he wanted us to teach him more about Jesus Christ!
Murat is 30 years old. He travelled from his city, about 4 hours from Istanbul, especially to be at our meeting. Initially he kept to himself and preferred to listen but at the end of the meeting I talked with him personally and realized he was looking for acceptance and love and was feeling alone. He is single and is unemployed but wants to live and work in Istanbul. In spite of this I didn't get the feeling that he was looking for material help.
Yunus was the first person who arrived at the meeting and the only one who had become a believer before arriving. I hadn't heard his testimony but while he talked with others I heard him always defending the Bible and Jesus. I guess that he had remained a secret believer until this time. I hope we can spend more time talking and that he will grow in his faith in the coming days.
Those are a few who attended the meeting. Please pray for them and for us as we dream in the future. We would like to have at least two of these meetings every year on a much bigger scale, inviting the thousands of our contacts from all the BCC ministries. We would also like to see this expand beyond Istanbul to other cities on a regular basis.
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