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An update for April from the Network
Mahabba’s vision is to see ministry among people of Muslim heritage become a normal part of church life - Mahabba is a relational network - Encouraging prayer – Envisioning the Christian community – Enabling all Christians – Engaging with Muslims
What is God showing us in challenging times, this ‘new normal’ we’re now living? He remains unchanging and he is still working out his purposes. And our calling is unchanged - to bless the peoples here among us. What new opportunities and possibilities might be opening to us?
In summarising Mahabba’s vision we come to the fourth ‘E’ - Engaging with Muslims. The Encouraging, Envisioning and Enabling are all towards Engaging - taking God-given opportunities, reaching out in love, building ‘bridges’, serving in practical ways, befriending, sharing Jesus and making disciples who will reach their own community.
Here are some encouraging examples from the Network of new ways we are finding to Engage:
“While many activities have come to an abrupt stop for us, some have been able to continue and even expand. I’m part of an English class that has been meeting weekly. We decided to divide the ladies between us and call individually via WhatsApp video. In this way we get to practice virtual hospitality; they come into our homes (via video) and we are in theirs. Some high points have been an assignment to interview a family member - they met my son and we met many of their children and enjoyed their dance performances! One lady has very limited English ability and yet regularly asks me to pray for her, ‘for everything’. What a privilege to call and pray with her. And one of my favourites was when calling another lady with limited English - I suggested our husbands could chat thus connecting our families even further.”
“As part of our Prophets’ Stories group I called one lady who asked, “What religion are you?” adding incredulously, “The stories are so similar!” She had been thinking on this and even discussing with her husband who seems interested in being part of a similar men’s group. I’m not sure that would have happened apart from one-to-one time with her. It also happened to be her young daughter’s birthday that day so we all flooded the WhatsApp group with birthday messages - virtual community! We’re excited to see what else God might do!”
“Last night we had our first MBB discipleship group and Bible study through Whatsapp and it went surprisingly well. I think next week we will move to Skype or Zoom or Jitsi Meet to enable us to do a group call with a larger number of people, but we had a great time through Whatsapp chat. We broke into smaller phone call groups of three for the discussion and prayer time. We managed to watch a five minute Elam film together, from their discipleship section, and also used three Farsi worship videos. So, a good start and encouragement as we explore these virtual ways of sharing faith and doing discipleship. Those who participated last night were very positive about the experience and I think it went a long way to everyone feeling more connected too. Adversity is the mother of invention!”
“We are taking the opportunity to start a new initiative, Faith Partners, inviting church and mosque leaders to connect during this time of restricted movement. It is an invitation to grow understanding, care for each other in a time of common need and offer prayer.”
Could you invite a Muslim friend to a local church’s streamed service on Easter morning? Or maybe introduce them to The Chosen, an outstanding series dramatising the life of Jesus https://studios.vidangel.com/the-chosen
Do please share ways you are finding to connect with Muslim neighbours and colleagues at this time. Feel free to comment below or join the discussion on Discourse https://discourse.mahabbanetwork.com/t/opportunities-in-challenging-times/430
Mahabba groups are discovering the potential and some advantages of on-line meetings:
“It worked very well and we’ll be ‘Zooming’ again for the foreseeable future. As we meet at 7.15am some will find it easier to join in if they don’t have to travel.”
“Our first group meeting since lockdown was on Zoom. Some who rarely attend were there. We worshipped with a Youtube track, shared freely and split into break-out groups to focus in prayer.”
“We are continuing to meet using Zoom and our numbers have gone up significantly!”
May we have ears and eyes open for all God is saying and doing at this time. May our ‘new normal’ be tuned in to his purposes to ‘make the most of every opportunity’ Col 4:5.
Happy Easter!
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From Phil G