Challenges of Church Planting in our Muslim majority Context
Planting a church can be difficult under the best of circumstances. Doing so in a Muslim context brings with it a whole new level of challenge and complexity. Mission to the World missionary Neal W. shares some of his team’s experiences in planting churches in a Muslim majority context and some of the important lessons learned.
While my wife and I were studying at Columbia International University, we were introduced to the mysterious, unreached lands of Central Asia and challenged to be “1 in a million” (a common mobilization slogan in the 1990s) by answering the call to be a light in the darkness of the Muslim World. Little did we know what that would entail when we departed in 1996, but as my grandfather predicted at our wedding rehearsal, “We’d love every minute of it”—until we did not. We were willing to go but knew very little about what we would encounter as we embarked to, as C. T. Studd once said, “set up a mission just outside the gates of hell.” Though our initial term of service was to teach English, we quickly realized the need for something more. With this in mind, we completed our term and returned to the US with the intention of preparing to be a part of a church planting team (see Greg Livingstone’s book Planting Churches in Muslim Cities: A Team Approach [Baker, 1993]). And that is where the real lessons begin.
To establish a new church planting work in Central Asia we had to navigate a variety of challenges. Since we desired to be a part of team, we began the process by recruiting a group to consider what it might look like to attempt such a task. Friendships through our college, seminary, and denominational connections provided the best place from which to find these potential candidates—or so we thought. We had recruited a team of three couples and three singles to seek the Lord’s will in this regard. But recruiting, maintaining, and working as a team are all far more difficult when you are in a rather hostile environment. In our almost thirty years of working on church planting teams, we have seen significant turnover and difficulties regarding this model. And yet, it is one we still fully believe in regardless of seeing 15–20 people come and go. Currently, we are building a team that will soon have a total of 14 people with varied levels of experience, working in one large, urban city.
As one can imagine, there are many benefits and challenges to working on teams, but at the beginning, that was the least of our worries. In the early stages, our initial team had the difficulty of deciding how we wanted to be sent. There are many sending agencies working all over the world. As we were all from the Presbyterian Church in America, it made sense to pursue Mission to the World (MTW). Unfortunately, at that time, MTW was not sending workers to our country of interest, so we decided to pursue other options. But in a very providential turn of events, MTW had a change of plans and invited us to lead the establishment of a new work in our country of interest. This certainly pleased our sending churches and made the decision to join MTW much easier. Our initial team began the process of joining MTW, but for various reasons my wife and I were the only ones to complete the process of joining. Despite our disappointment, the decision had been made, we believed God was in the process, and we decided to move forward with the hope of recruiting a new team.
With these decisions made, we now had to figure out how to acquire residency in a Muslim majority context that does not provide visas for religious workers. Fortunately, again through our relationships, we were able to connect with a non-profit, humanitarian organization that would invite us to work with them. This invitation provided the pathway but did not entirely answer the challenging question of identity. Who are you? Why are you here? This is probably one of the biggest reasons we have seen field workers come and go. While many people are interested in Christian ministry and/or church planting, fewer are able or willing to pursue legal residency in a way that is possibly disconnected from the “real” reason they want to be in the country. Over the years, we have obtained visas and held identities in the areas of English teaching, NGO/humanitarian work, project management, business ownership, property ownership, consultant work, education, training, and even being a board member. The challenge is finding an identity that genuinely connects with who you are and what it is you believe God has called you to.
Once you are sent by your church and received in your host country, it is time to get to work. But even in that regard, there are many challenges. In one country where we have served, the oil industry has caused a great deal of pollution. Over the years, more than 2.14 million cubic meters of oil-contaminated earth have been cleaned and repurposed in our city due to oil pollution. The spiritual soil of Central Asia is much like this oil-polluted earth. Before planting or building on the polluted soil, it takes years of hard work to recover the soil. This is how many have expressed their feelings while serving in the Muslim world. Well-known missionary Brother Andrew has described the process as “removing stones.” The prophet Hosea’s call to “Break up your fallow ground” (Hos. 10:2) rings true to most of us working in this context. Though we long to plant seeds, much of our work is cleaning soil and preparing soil for planting. This requires us to take a long and patient perspective, remembering Paul’s words that “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6–7).
In light of this, there are very real pollutants and rocks that we have had to remove over the years. One might think that Islam itself is the biggest pollutant and rock, but in our context, we have found that not to be the case. Certainly, the context and perspective are influenced by Islam, but the bigger challenge is overcoming the hurdle of people’s understanding of what it means to be a Christian. The local view of Christianity has been shaped by the historic acts of the people of God in the name of Jesus. The Crusades are often listed as one of the biggest reproaches to the name of Jesus. While the Crusades are not significant in our area, “Christian” countries in the region have created a distasteful context for the gospel message. As a Presbyterian Protestant church planter, I find a lot of challenges in trying to distance myself from these narratives, while also trying to point people to Jesus. Though these surrounding Christian countries have added to the challenge, the perspective that my passport country is also identified as a “Christian” country creates equal challenges in the work of removing rocks and purifying soil.
Related to this is that historic Christianity has existed in these lands since the time of Christ and, in many places, historic Christian communities still exist. As we seek to establish a biblical, Christ-centered community, we must navigate the various perspectives of Christianity that unbelievers and believers have experienced. Some of the more difficult and harmful perspectives in our context have been the prosperity gospel and the Oneness movement. Other perspectives may seem less difficult or serious, like when new believers request to be baptized like Jesus was in the Jesus film: in a river by immersion. Clearing the soil, planting, and watering have certainly been one of the significant challenges in our context.
Once a community of believers was established, the process of identifying, selecting, equipping, and ordaining leaders was perhaps the most difficult challenge. We chose to pursue a path with the International Presbyterian Church (IPC) for establishing the congregation in our city. Fortunately, the IPC was very helpful and sympathetic to our context. This was important because we did not have a local Bible school or seminary, and the number of resources available in the language of our leaders was inadequate for equipping them for the work of the ministry. As we were the first presbyterian church to be established in the country, there was not a well-worn path for us to follow.
Although two of us were ordained in the IPC for the purpose of establishing this congregation, we were very different people, from different countries, with different philosophies of ministry. Working on a multi-cultural team with competing philosophies of ministry was certainly challenging, but we were able to finally work through it as the congregation took more ownership of its future. When the church received people into membership, it then chose to be established under the IPC and elected leaders for us to work with and prepare for ordination. The reality of working in a foreign language and on a multi-cultural team adds significantly to the challenge of church planting in a foreign context.
Finally, all that remained to establish a church under the authority of the IPC was to ordain local leaders. As mentioned, we did not have an established Bible school or seminary, and we had very few resources in the local language. In order to move forward, we needed the help of other local congregations and ministries in the country and abroad. Again, through relationships, we formed a network of congregations and ministries to work together under the umbrella system and structure of Miami International Theological Seminary (MINTS). MINTS has been a helpful partner for us over the years, allowing us to systematically equip local leaders who were eventually ordained through the IPC. Through the course of this journey, it was necessary to identify needed resources beyond the Scriptures for translation, printing, and distribution. It was also necessary to organize training events and mentoring for the leaders as they moved along in their studies.
Though our two teaching elder candidates could have used more preparation, the legal challenges of conducting religious services in our context required moving forward with ordination, while also requiring ongoing study. During the years that it took to establish this new Christian community, the requirements for church registration had shifted. The legal conditions for foreigners to live and remain in the country had also changed. As these changes merged upon one another, the IPC graciously allowed this local congregation to establish a partnership with another registered congregation. This partnership allowed us to meet legally and openly, and it was through this partnership that our pastors and congregation were able to worship publicly and legally.
It is hard to imagine how Luke in the book of Acts could summarize Paul’s ministry this way: “He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hinderance” (Acts 28:30–31). As we reflect on how the gospel has gone forth and been established in our context, my feelings about the process have been variable, but despite all the challenges, I am sure that Jesus’s words are true: “The gates of hell shall not prevail” (Matt.16:18) and therefore, I continue in this calling and in inviting others to join us in seeing the gospel of the Kingdom advance through the planting of churches in Muslim majority contexts.
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