Borrow a pastor

Diego Sulivan

Borrow a pastor

This is a blog from a friend of Mahabba Network. Names and details have been deliberately removed to protect the identity of those involved, but praise God - he is working in the lives of Muslims to reveal Jesus!

Can we borrow another pastor?

“What will we do now that the pastor has moved on?”

…they asked.

This was not a worried congregation but rather some church members who had boarded the roller coaster of befriending Iranian asylum seekers.

The pastor had pitched in by leading a private Bible study for them, but he was moving away.

“Can we borrow another pastor?”

…was one question that was asked.

We found another solution.

With a little coaching, the ladies started using Come Follow Me.

The participants work through the lesson on their own in English, Farsi or Arabic and then once a week they all come together to discuss, share and pray for each other.

The material does not take them off into theological puzzles or doctrinal disputes but focusses on living as followers of Christ.

If we go back to the Great Commission we find that Jesus himself put the emphasis on teaching people to obey all that he had commanded – most of which was the stuff of living.

So they started.

A retired office worker and a lady who irons clothes for a living were engaged in cross cultural discipleship.

We are all familiar with the cry that the labourers are few (Matthew 9:36-38).

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.””

— Matthew 9:36-38 New International Version (NIV)

Oh, how we would love to see an army of multi-lingual, highly trained, specialist workers of proven experience turning up on our doorsteps asking what we have for them to do.

The people Jesus called that day to pray for labourers became the labourers.

The truth is that for the most part we do not need more bodies, but we need the bodies we already have to be equipped and to discover that they can do the work.

Come Follow Me is a wonderful piece of kit which enables non-experts to engage with confidence in helping new believers grow in Christ.

The next training day is in Wakefield, Yorkshire, 27 October. Maybe request one near you?

Upcoming events

Come Follow Me training day

Saturday 27 October
Wakefield
For full details, contact Flora

Enquire now

Come Follow Me training Wakefield enquiry

Regional gathering

Monday 1 December

For full details, contact Gillie

Enquire now

Regional Gathering December enquiry

Charisma Magazine: Mahabba empowers Christians to Reach Muslims for Jesus

Image: Hellmy, Flickr

Charisma Magazine: Mahabba empowers Christians to Reach Muslims for Jesus

Charisma Magazine featured Mahabba in a second article, focusing on our work of presenting the opportunity to share Jesus with Muslims in turbulent times.

This is part 2 in a series of 3 from Charisma Magazine. Read part 1 and part 3.

Here's a short excerpt, and you can find a link to the full article at the bottom.

This network was started as a partnership of many churches and agencies in Oxford seeking opportunities to introduce local Muslims to the Good News about Jesus. Mahabba, as a movement, seeks to be a catalyst in networking together 'ordinary Christians', resourced by agency 'specialists' and championed by church leaders, to love their Muslim neighbours.

So Mahabba is not seen as an agency which are often seen negatively by pastors: their model is a prayer-based relational network which equips local churches with mentoring and training materials, which help church leaders to train ordinary members of churches to relate to Muslims in love and be able to explain the Gospel clearly (for example, 'Friendship First', 'Come Follow Me' and 'Joining the Family.' See kitab.org.uk).