It's my first full day back from my two week trip to Egypt. I'm reeling with still processing all that I learned and experienced, and I'm almost at a loss as to what I should write about -- there's just so much. So I think I'll do this a little bit at a time over the next few days so I can continue unpacking it and also so I don't give you all the "inch-deep" version of everything all at once. There's too much to just do a general overview. So here we go...
My professor, Scott Sunquist, and his wife Nancy left a week before the rest of our group to start teaching the class we're all taking Middle Eastern Church History: 1800-Present to the Egyptians in the class at the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Cairo where we were all staying. The group of ten who I travelled with were all supposed to leave on Feb. 26th, but because of another snow storm we were delayed two days and left on the 28th - arriving in Cairo on March 1st.
Our first full day in Cairo we were in class with our four Egyptian students. One student is a woman, V, in her late twenties I think, then there is S & F two twenty-something guys, and A, in his thirties and married w/ a one-year-old daughter. (I'm using initials because I don't want to write anything that identifies them and/or gets them in trouble with the government in Cairo.)
That first day, in some of our discussion in class, "A" shared about a woman in his church. This woman had converted to Christianity from the Muslim faith, along with her 5 children (ages 11-28), she was unmarried. Apparently the children have different fathers, and the family of one of the fathers started harassing her and the kids. She moved to a different place, but they tracked her down. The church even tried to help her leave the country with her children, but they were at the airport almost leaving when the police came and stopped her and wouldn't allow her to leave. The church is trying to help her by finding another place for her to live and taking food so she doesn't have to go out in public much, but that can't last forever.
The other dilemma that can come out of a situation like this is that sometimes when Muslims convert to Christianity they have a hard time being accepted by the Christian church community. Many fear that the person might be a spy for the government/police, so they never quite accept them into the community, they're always left at arm's length. Imagine never really making deep relationships with other Christians around you because they would never fully trust you!
That's a really big problem within the Christian community in Egypt. It's against the law to evangelize, and it's against the law to baptize someone who is officially (in the eyes of the state) a Muslim. So if a pastor baptizes someone who converted from Islam and gets caught, they can go to prison for 5-7 years.
What would YOU do if you were the pastor? You don't know if the person is legitimately coming to Christ or if they're a spy. By baptizing them you could go to jail. But if they really are converting, how can you deny someone the joy of baptism?
One little nugget of what we experienced in Egypt. It has opened my eyes to the reality of the persecuted church and what that really looks like in the eyes of Christ-followers in that situation.
On one hand it was really depressing and you were at a loss as to what to tell these pastors. Then on the other hand, we'd experience joyous worship, laughter and fun, and just normal times together with these people. They have great hope and enormous faith that God is in Egypt and is doing huge things in the midst of the persecution there...and we saw so much evidence of it! And they have to just live life! If there was no "normalcy" they'd go crazy! So there's this tension of living like things are fine and normal some of the time, and then there's the reality of living in a 90% Muslim country where converting people is illegal - and you're a pastor!
The ministry that goes on there is amazing. I think I'll leave that for my next blog, but suffice it to say that the ministry that goes on in this persecuted country puts the churches in my country to shame.
Much to think about, much to pray about and to pray for. Please pray for the persecuted churches of our world and the leaders who are trying to follow Jesus and shepherd their people. It is an enormous task and burden for these pastors, and many of them so very young.
I pray for my friends in Cairo, that God will continue to bless their lives and their ministries and keep them safe to continue the work that He has called them to.
Amazed by His grace,
~Sally
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