ShEEP BECOMING SHEPHERDS

Not every step toward faith begins in a church: sometimes it begins with a question typed into a search bar. 

Jawad, a native Arab in the Middle East, began searching for answers about Christianity online, unsure of what he would find. There are very few Christians in his nation, and questions like his couldn't be raised with just anyone, so the internet was the only place he felt like he could ask them safely. His boldness would eventually lead him to an online conversation. His boldness started with an online conversation and eventually led him to in-person meetings with Abdul, a local Arab believer eager to continue conversation, patiently, week after week.

Abdul wasn't a stranger to this journey. Years ago, he was the very first person the team in the Middle East led to faith. He was discipled, completed their local training school, and began working with the team full-time. Now Abdul is the one who is leading and discipling - the first sheep brought into the flock is now the one going out to bring in the next.

Jawad and Abdul met one-on-one for months, working through the basic foundations of what it means to follow Jesus. But the moment that actually changed him wasn't an argument or apologetics. It was reading the Sermon on the Mount for the first time and recognizing, in his own words, “this has to be God”. This God that he was reading about was the one he wanted to follow.

Jawad had never set foot inside a church before, but he finally worked up the courage to attend a gathering at the Middle East Missions Base. Then came the moment that stopped him cold: the passage the group was working through, verse by verse, was the Sermon on the Mount. They were studying the very words he had been wrestling with on his own. And not only were they studying it, but they were living it. The love and joy that Jawad felt when he walked into the room reinforced his belief that Jesus was the one he wanted to follow.

Not long after, Jawad chose to be baptized. 

Jawad and Abdul walked a similar path: their stories, their wrestling, and their questions connected them in a unique way. This allowed Abdul to guide Jawad along this journey, like a shepherd guiding a sheep through a narrow ravine to a green pasture. One day, Jawad may very well be helping to guide the next lost sheep on the path to life.

Disciples are making disciples in the Middle East, as God is taking local believers from sheep to shepherds.