What Surprised the Arab Guest at the Carol Service?
Some years ago I began working with Friends International. This organisation works in Universities in the UK seeking to make contact with overseas students with a view to sharing the good news of Jesus. My wife and I had the great delight of welcoming into our home students from many different countries – we are still in touch with some many years later but today I want to write about just one from a country in the Middle East.
He had come to the UK to study for his Ph.D. with a view to returning home to lecture at a local university. We held weekly Bible studies for men and, although a Muslim, he joined the group. He was keen to learn about what Christians really believed. I found that we had much in common and he was a frequent visitor to our home. Around Christmas time we felt that we should invite him to a carol service. It was a creative evening with a clear gospel presentation. I was interested to get his reaction afterwards but what he said greatly surprised me:-
“I expected that you would talk about killing Muslims but instead you talked about, love peace and justice.” This spoke volumes to us both regarding what he had been taught and his deepening understanding.
He is back home now but we are still in touch. We are thankful that he went home with a Bible and even invited us to his recent wedding even though Covid and distance prevented us from going. We still pray for him and believe that the Christmas invitation was far from wasted.
Ken
Click here for more about Christmas with Muslim friends