Amir is an underground disciple-maker serving in a majority Muslim region. Any given day Amir is surrounded by a million Muslims. This is his remarkable story of being led by the Spirit. How do we know if we should stick to the method or pivot? Amir shares the answer in this real-life encounter on the streets.
Back in October of last year I met a man from the African Coast named Azaan and a couple of his friends as they were coming out of a mosque. That day I had been handing out tracts about Islam and the Bible. However, when I saw them, the Holy Spirit led me to refrain from giving them a tract.
Instead, I greeted them in Arabic, and they all responded enthusiastically in Arabic as well. It turns out they all spoke Arabic fluently and we walked off together chatting away excitedly, happy to meet others that share the same language in a country with few Arabic speakers.
They invited me to their favorite tea shop, and we spent the evening together. I never let on that I was a Christian, nor an evangelist, and they assumed I was a Muslim, much to my pleasure. I realized that the Holy Spirit had wanted me to do nothing with them that night except build rapport. I walked away from that night with three new friends and their phone numbers vowing to stay connected and keep meeting with them as long as we are in the region.
A few months went by, and we entered a hectic season. It was not until recently that I was able to start meeting with Azaan again. He had offered to teach me Arabic months ago, so I finally took him up on the offer.
We have been meeting every other day for about four hours a day for the last two weeks. I was delighted that he was willing to read Bible stories with me in Arabic and so far, we have listened to four chapters together and discussed them using simple inductive questions from a Discover Bible Study (DBS) app called Waha.
He has enjoyed the questions and listening to the stories in Arabic and Somali. (His native tongue is Somali but speaks Arabic like a native.)
One of the Discovery Bible Study questions asks,
“What problems do you face in life and how can you help each other with them?”
Azaan told me that his main problem is that his businesses keep failing, so I offered to help him by making an advertisement for Azaan’s Arabic tutoring service. He really appreciated that. (Let us pray he gets more customers!)
Azaan is well connected to the community of Somali refugees that live in and around the city. I pray that the Lord draws him, saves Azaan, and makes him a Disciple Maker amongst his friends, family, and wider community. I plan to continue to take him through Discovery Bible Study lessons as the Lord allows.
Join me in praying for him please! He seems very open-minded and curious to know more. He also does not seem afraid to share the Bible stories with others. A genuine person of peace.
I looked back on this encounter with Azaan and his friends and remembered my conversations with other disciple makers/missionaries from around the world.
Some go by the name “missionary,” some go by the name “disciple maker,” some reject all titles, some use Disciple Making Movement (DMM) methods, some use more traditional methods like street preaching and tracts (where it is allowed of course).
Still others use inductive Bible studies to share with locals in hard-to-reach countries, some gather local seekers and believers into churches, some choose to help local believers focus on reaching their friends and family.
Some are like me and see a need to blend methods or at least be open to using one here and another there. I have learned in my time as a missionary that we need to give each other a lot of grace. We need to recognize that the Spirit causes people to use various kinds of ministry methods and focus, and this is healthy and good.
We need to be able to work with a variety of fellow Christians using a variety of methods to reach the lost. Mostly this comes down to following the Holy Spirit’s leadership.
May God help us to listen to his voice in our hearts as he guides us in the work of gathering his people that he is leading through us, amen.
Be the Underground Church
