Messages & Meetings

Nadim* sent his first message to the Maarifa site on 28 July 2009:

Good evening - may the peace of Christ be in your hearts. I’m so grateful for your kind feelings towards me and the great service you render to Christ. I was a Muslim, but I have become a Christian some time ago. But what grieves me is that people don’t believe a Muslim can become a Christian, so they look at me with suspicion. I don’t know why. I hope you will accept me - thank you.

The only other things we knew about him were his age and a phone number. But we trusted that, as we corresponded with him, we would find out more. Would his commitment to Christ turn out to be genuine?

We corresponded a few times and then there was a break of five months until January 2010, when he wrote again:

Thank you for your correspondence. I hope that, once you receive my letter, you can think of me as a friend or family member. I am a Muslim who has become a Christian but unfortunately I haven’t found any Christian who would encourage me or teach me this religion. Every time I spoke to one of them about this, he would avoid me and not give me any consideration, so I began to feel I was not wanted. Is it wrong for me to adopt this religion? Is it open to all or is it restricted to certain people? So I have decided to put my trust in Christ and to write to you. Perhaps I will find someone who is prepared to reply to me and guide me to the truth. Thank you.

We continued to correspond but realised that it was important to have a sympathetic Christian believer visit Nadim as soon as possible. They met in April 2010 and our co-worker Dan* sent us this report:

We met in a cafe. Nadim brought me flowers and had tears in his eyes multiple times when telling his story. He told me that, even as a child, he was intrigued by the Christian faith. He wants to emigrate to a country where he can practice the Christian faith. I do not doubt that God is working mightily in his life. He wanted a Bible. I told him not to fear even unto death because of Christ’s promise of eternal life. He responded positively.

Since then, Dan has done his best to link Nadim with a local fellowship. At the end of June, Nadim wrote to say that he had met a local believer and received the Bible from him. We give thanks that we have been some of the links in the chain which has brought Nadim this far.

*Names have been changed.