Establishing two new congregations in Turkey

Local Turkish churches want to take responsibility for church planting in Turkey - and we can help them do that.

Increasing persecution

Missionary Jinwook Kim was stabbed to death on the street in November 2019 and 30 missionaries and their families were kicked out of Turkey in 2019.

On November 19, 2019, the 41-year-old South Korean missionary, Jinwook Kim, stabbed to death on the street in Diyarbakir. Kim was married and had one child, and his second child was born a few days after his martyrdom. The killing may serve as a warning to other missionaries in the country about what happens if they are, according to Our contacts. Christians have not been martyred in Turkey since 2007, when two Turkish Christians and a missionary were stabbed to death at the Christian publishing house Swiss stone pine i Malatya.

In addition, 30 missionaries and their families have been expelled or denied entry in 2019 alone. Things are moving fast right now, and if they continue, there will soon be few foreign missionaries in Turkey - and they remaining will not be able to take leadership positions in the church. This means that local Turkish Christians will have to take more responsibility than before. For many years, foreign missionaries have helped and strengthened the local church with education, training and leadership, and even though the Turkish churches are losing many skills and abilities in the short term, greater responsibility for local Christians is part of a healthy and positive development for a Turkish church that stands stronger and stronger. Even though this is happening against a sad background where they are being squeezed out, it is the wish of many foreign missionaries to hand over leadership to locals.

Greater spiritual openness to the gospel

Along with increased pressure on the church, the Danish European Mission's contacts say that over the past 1-2 years, a new openness to the gospel has been noticed in Turkey, not least among young people. Fhe attempts to Islamize the country have paradoxically encouraged the trend as they create frustrations that cause Turks to leave Islam. The private polling institute Conda reports that the percentage of atheists in Turkey has increased from 1% to 5% from 2008 to 2018. Aparts, who fast during Ramadan, has dropped from 77% for 65%, just as the proportion of, who describe themselves as religious Muslims have dropped from 55% to 51% in the same period.

Some Turks seek answers in the Christian faith instead, and in In one church, 1,500 copies of the New Testament are being distributed monthly, which is far more than before. Before the summer vacation there were in the same church a two-month period during which 40 Turks professed the Christian faith.

Traditionally, a large proportion of Turks who have converted from Islam to the Christian faith have fallen away under pressure to genome conversion from friends, families and communities. As a result, the number of Turkish Christian converts has remained constant at around 4000-5000 for many years. But now it seems that the number is beginning to exceed 6000.

This is good news in the land that in New Testament times laid the ground for great churches. There is an open window and a spiritual hunger like never before, but the harvest is taking place under attempts at Islamization and persecution.

Example of church for Turkish converts: Church of the Resurrection in Izmir.

Relationship-based church planting

Turkish Christians want to utilize itto favorable moment and even plant churches. The church planters are part of Evangelical Alliance churches in Turkey and will be mature Turkish Christians who are ready to step into this ministry. Local Turkish churches will support the church planters and ensure that they receive tailored training, supervision and mentoring as needed. The church planters will already have a close relationship with the pastors behind them, so contact can be very informal.

Risk

In a country like Turkey, where pressure on Christians seems to be increasing, it is it is possible that church plantsthe family may be forced to move due to persecution, for example, and that the church plant is therefore not implemented as planned.

Therefore, the support is paid quarterly so that a decision can be made on how to possibly Excess funds must be used, and whether the church planter can continue elsewhere, for example.