Lifehope Lifeline Issue 2 - 2010

United Kingdom | Carol Ann Greiner

Muslim Peoples – Loving Neighbours

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From the Director’s Desk

Sharing our hope in Jesus among the UK’s Muslim communities has been a pivotal part of Lifehope’s ministry for 30 years. Today, there are over 20 members of our team who are serving in this area full time.
OM respects, befriends and serves Muslims with whom we openly share our lives and values.

This edition of Lifeline includes many stories of individuals whose lives have been impacted by God through our team members. In particular we wish to highlight our passion for all that God is doing through Lifehope to draw Muslims closer to Him.

Introduction

OM Lifehope's work amongst Muslim people takes many forms.  From one-off conversations at a book table, to regular events sharing God's love practically in a community setting; from tea in people's homes, to public television broadcasts; with people of different ethnicities or focussing on one people group.  These stories give a flavour of this disparate ministry!

Holiday Club

In June, Laura led a Holiday Club in a Muslim majority area of Birmingham.  The 53 children who came to the club were mainly from Muslim families.

The activities were based around a new theme each day, starting with how special we are because God created us; then, how good deeds will not save us and bad deeds will not keep us from God; and finally, how we need God to rescue us.  The finale to the Holiday Club was an International Evening that the parents could attend along with their children.

Two of the local schools that advertised the Holiday Club want Laura to come back and show photos.  They are very supportive of what the team is doing in the community.

The children were really excited to come to the club, and the parents have asked the team to run another club during the summer. The parents trust them and feel it is a safe place for their children to go even though it is held in a church building.

Some of the children who came to the Holiday Club have started attending the weekly Boys Club and Girls Club.  The parents really like the way that the clubs are run; some have observed sessions and know that a message of God's love is shared with the children.

Laura and the other team members are following the example of Christ by teaching, eating with and sharing their time with these children. They trust that the relationships they build will give an open door for God to work.
Praise God for the success of the Holiday Club and join the team members in praying for God to work in the lives of the children.

Girls Club

The weekly Saturday Girls Club includes fun sports or video games, a thought provoking game, a story and a craft, all backed up by the theme of the week. A typical theme affirms how special and valued they are as girls, which is a message they may not get from their home culture. Parents are often wary of letting their daughters join activities outside school for cultural reasons.  The Girls Club is important as it gives a safe place for the girls to go. However one of the parents whose children had just started was so impressed with the club that she said she would bring some of her neighbour's kids with her the following week!

Boys Club

Around 50 young men experience the Gospel each week through the array of games and activities that are presented by our Boys Club. The alternative for young people with nothing to do in the surrounding area is grim given the influence of drugs and extremism in their culture. The relief that the Boys Club brings to the parents of the boys and to the community is immeasurable.  Some of the boys enjoy the Christian music that is played during the club and respond by dancing!  It is a privilege to witness God move in this setting each week.

Ladies Fitness Club

Every week more and more women come to the Ladies Fitness Club, and they are asking for a second workout - it meets a real need in the community!  The women always have a big smile on their faces while they are doing the workout, and they look forward to Saturday afternoons all week.  One woman came to see us after missing a workout to explain that she had had visitors so unfortunately, she wasn't able to come.  She said that she missed us and the workout so much that she could hardly wait for next week. Praise God for OM Lifehope's work in this deprived majority-Muslim area, and pray that it will continue to be well received and a true demonstration of God's love.

Book Table Ministry

The Book Table set up by OM Lifehope in Birmingham City Centre is in keeping with OM's long and successful history of sharing the Gospel through literature distribution. In the last year, the Book Table put over 20,000 items of Gospel literature and the Jesus DVD in 32 different languages into a multitude of hands. Where appropriate, the team members have been able to build relationships with recipients and share more about what Jesus Christ means in their lives.

Coffee Club

The spectrum of nationalities represented in the ministries of OM Lifehope enables us to welcome and converse with just about anyone who enters the Coffee Club! When they gather each week conversations often seem to turn towards the spiritual.
Earlier this year someone that has been a regular at the Coffee Club for about two years confided in us that he had a Jinn (troubling spirit) controlling him. “…I felt in my spirit that I should pray for him. When I started praying for him there was a spiritual manifestation…” With each visit to the Coffee Club that demonic spirit is steadily losing its grip on our friend.

Kurdish Ministry

As a child in Kurdish N.Iraq our friend saw a film about Jesus which really intrigued her. Years later she sought asylum in Scotland and was befriended by Christians giving her the chance to explore this curiosity. Before she could learn more she moved to Birmingham. She is now in contact with OM Lifehope and is keen to know 'everything about Christianity'. Please pray for her and her family to come to faith. Her husband is currently antagonistic to anything religious, especially anything exclusive.  It is families like this to whom we have the blessing of ministering. Many are interested in Christianity, and we hope to teach them the truth about Jesus. Pray that Jesus would be glorified in the Kurdish community in Birmingham.

TV Ministry

‘Your husband knows everything!' said a Muslim lady who had never met him.  She had seen our colleague on TV presenting an Urdu show on the South Asian Christian channel 'Glory TV'.  About half-way through each live show, as the phone lines are opened, South Asians across Europe ring in.  The knowledgeable Lifehope presenters answer their questions on the spot. This medium takes Christian apologetics into the homes of thousands of South Asian Muslims in a language many readily understand. Feedback indicates that not only are many Muslims tuning in, but also many South Asian Christians are finding it strengthens their faith and equips them to answer their Muslim friends!  Pray for them to continue to touch lives and for the financial support to buy airtime.

Transit Challenge Team

As the Transit Challenge Team ministered to the children of Kosovo, who are so often rejected by society, the team realised that these kids need people who will invest in their lives and encourage them. Most of all, the children need to know with their hearts the never-changing, never-ending love and grace of their saviour.

Door to Door Visitation

Many Muslim women can't talk to their friends and neighbours about their real problems because they are afraid of losing face. For some, the women on the OM Lifehope team are the only people to whom they can really talk. In their isolation, they trust us and know that we won't do anything to harm them.  We see how God is touching people, moving in lives and doing things! It is not about what we can do, but what God is doing.

Pray that the trust and safety these women feel with the OM Lifehope team will lead to putting their trust in God and being safe in Him.

One of the mothers had been questioned by her neighbours about the Christian people visiting her in her home and about sending her children to a Church Club.  When the team member who visits her offered to stop coming so she would not be questioned, she said that she still wanted the visits and the girls to go to the club because it was a great place where she felt safe.

“Every week I go to visit a dear friend of mine. She is a lovely woman and if she has a problem she asks us for help. One day she told me that all her days are boring, apart from the days she spends with us. I invited her to the International Night of the Holiday Club and she thought it was wonderful and now wants to send her girls to the Girls Club too. I pray that my life can be a witness for her.”

Credit: Carol Ann Greiner
© 2010 OM Lifehope