It's fall, and I'm in a city in Central Asia to visit convert Christians that the Danish European Mission supports and works with.
Today, a friend and I are meeting Rashid and after greeting each other, we sit down at a table, drink some tea and talk: "Do you want to tell your story Rashid?" I ask.
"Yes with pleasure! From my childhood I was taught the Quran. My father read from the Quran every morning after the first call to prayer sounded from the mosque. Every Friday I would go with him to the mosque for Friday prayers. We always sat at the front of the mosque because my father was a well-known person in the city and people held him in high esteem."
"In my father's eyes, renouncing Islam was the ultimate betrayal"
"When I was 14 years old, my uncle told us one day that he had become a Christian!
It came as a huge shock, and it also angered many in the family. But he held on to Jesus and continued to come to church despite the opposition and persecution from family and friends."
"In our family, my uncle was discussed every day and my father was very upset. It was as if a bomb had gone off in our house, that's how it felt! In my father's eyes, renouncing Islam was the ultimate betrayal of both Allah and the Quran, and it was also a shame that my uncle had brought upon his entire family!
"Two years later, suddenly something even more horrible happened! My own sister also became a Christian and started attending the same church!
Now I was also getting angry and yelling and hitting her when I was at my angriest!
'It is a plague that is spreading, a disease that has struck our family!" I said, and my father said angrily, "I am convinced that it is not only a disease, but a conspiracy against us that Satan has created!
Rashid continues: "I was very upset and even had very dark thoughts! But I came to my senses and decided instead to go to the church and tell them my honest opinion and how wrong and destructive this false Christian teaching was and that they should stop seducing devout Muslims!"
The converted Christians' answers surprised me because they knew the Quran and Islamic teachings as well as I did!
"I got talking to some Christian converts and their answers surprised me because they could actually answer my questions! This was because they had a Muslim background and therefore they knew the Quran and Islamic teachings as well as I did. So that's why many of my arguments fell flat".
"What actually surprised me the most was that I felt they had something that I didn't have! However, I didn't understand what it was that was so special about them. It was only when I met Jesus myself that I realized it was because they had him in their lives!"
"So when did you accept Jesus, Rashid?" I ask.
"It actually took two years before I finally accepted Jesus. I'm not the kind of person who just gives in!" he smiles, but then says seriously: "Actually, it had to be clear to me first that God really was the God that the Bible claims he is. So I started reading the Bible, comparing it to the Koran, and after a while I started coming to meetings in house groups and in church. But God gave me the time I needed and there were many people praying for me. Then one day I was involved in a bad traffic accident where I almost lost my life, but I didn't get a scratch! That very day, I decided to give my life to Jesus," smiles Rashid.
"My father was a fiery Muslim and I had become a fiery Christian, so there were sparks between us"
"So how was your new life as a Christian, Rashid?"
"It was amazing that Jesus was now in my life and it was almost everything, but I actually had to go to Russia almost right after I came to faith to earn money as a migrant worker. But it also meant that I avoided persecution from my own family, because my father was beside himself because his son, whom he had trained in Islam, had now become a Christian, and the rest of the family was also very angry."
"So what happened when you came back from Russia?", I ask.
"My father was a fiery Muslim, and I had become a fiery Christian, so there were sparks between us. My uncle had just been installed as an imam and he and the family were angry too! It wasn't an easy time," sighs Rashid. "But God gave me strength," he smiles.
"God's light shone through me and into my family"
"But actually, we've always had discussions in our family about faith because my father was Sunni and my mother was Shia, but when I became a Christian, they completely forgot to discuss!" laughs Rashid.
"But as for my father, God's light shone through me and into my family, so my mother became a Christian. My dad hasn't accepted Jesus yet though, so I still pray for him!"
Rashid continues: "When I had been a Christian for a few years and had become grounded and more mature as a Christian, I traveled to Turkey for two years as a migrant worker and while I was there I joined a church in Istanbul. Every week I went to the mosque where an old friend of mine worked as an imam. He is now a very well-known imam and I talked a lot with him and his disciples about Jesus and some of them started coming to the house church we joined."
The authorities wanted to put me in jail for 16 years for mission!
"When my Turkish visa ran out, I came back here to my hometown and started telling Muslims about Jesus. It's been a few years since I came home and I have witnessed to many Muslims in that time, but a few months ago the authorities arrested me and accused me of proselytizing! The authorities wanted to put me in prison for 16 years for mission!
"What would you have done, Rashid?", I ask.
"I had gone into a mosque because an old friend, who is an imam, had asked me to come. I did the same thing in Istanbul! But here there were some people who didn't like it, so they reported me to the authorities."
"It was a difficult time during the trial, but the priest and the church helped me a lot, and God answered our prayer and gave me mercy, and I got away with paying a big fine!"
"How big was the fine, Rashid?"
Rashid is quiet for a moment, then he answers: "It cost me my apartment! But then the authorities also dropped the charges against me for proselytizing and I avoided going to jail with Islamists and terrorists!"
"I experienced my Christian siblings' love for me like never before!"
I think for a moment before I ask him: "Have you learned anything from all this, Rashid?"
Rashid thinks for a moment and then answers: "Yes, I think I have learned several things! Firstly, to trust God through my hardships, and I've also learned that it's important to have both boldness and wisdom as an evangelist. I didn't have enough of the latter though!".
He hesitates a little before continuing: "And I also learned that without my church, I am weak! Yes, I experienced the love of my Christian siblings for me like never before!"
He pauses for a moment and then says: "It moves me! Both their love, but also God's love and grace for me", he says quietly, and ends: "I haven't lost my fire to tell others about Jesus, but in the future I will do it in a slightly different way!", he smiles.
Today, Rashid serves in the church that Danish European Mission's improvers and donors support through the Bags of Hope project and theological training for pastors and leaders.
