From Pastor B. W.

I had just arrived in the capital of a North African city and was anxious to see brother Samir once again.  I had heard from one of our national leaders, Nabil, that Samir had begun hosting a house church in his flat in the shantytown on the outskirts of the capital.  Samir was glad to see me and after drinking tea together and catching up on family and friends, he began to tell me about his experience over the past 4 months of ‘hosting’ the house church.

“I am so happy to be involved in this ministry,” he told me.  I asked him to expand, to tell me why.  “First, you must understand something.  I am a poor man and I need money to get married.  I have a young woman who is ready to marry me once I get enough money.  So, I have been working 7 days a week and I work until 10 PM almost every day.  I do this because I need the money.”  I told him that I understood the situation in his country and why he worked so hard and so often.  “But what does this have to do with the house church,” I inquired.  Samir continued, “I had to stop working Tuesday evenings so that I could host the house church.  So I lost money every Tuesday evening.  Also, I buy cokes for everyone from my own money.  After our house church meeting, the group likes to stay and talk and enjoy a coke.  But this means not only do I lose money from not working but also I spend money to host the group.”

I could see, however, from his body language that Samir was not disappointed in the choices he was making.  So I asked him to continue.  “The Lord has provided for me every week!”  I asked him to explain.  “Either I have more work on the other days that week and make more money, or my expenses are somehow reduced each week.  So I have found the Lord to be faithful to me and my step of faith.”  I rejoiced with Samir and commended his obedience, but he wanted to tell me more.  “We now have 20 – 30 coming to my house each Tuesday evening.  All of my brothers and their families are coming.  They don’t go to church anywhere.  They are busy with work and I do not often see them.  But now we all come together to study the Bible and to pray for each other.  It is a great blessing to me to be a part of God’s reaching my family.”  Before I left Samir, I asked him if I could pray for him and his house church.  He was grateful for the prayer but then insisted that I come to visit his house church on the coming Tuesday.

I entered the Shantytown where Samir lived looking for my ministry partner, Nabil.  I found him standing in the midst of a busy, dusty road.  We went down an alley and then another until we reached the apartment building where Samir lived.  We went upstairs and found only two or three present at the appointed meeting time.  We exchanged greetings and then we began to sing.  Within a few minutes, the small flat began to fill with people.  After our time of singing and prayer, we began to study God’s Word.  The heart of the teaching came down to the question, “Is your name written in the Book of Life?”  It was a good discussion.  To my surprise, however, Nabil was not content with a ‘good discussion’ and began, politely yet seriously, to go around the circle and ask each man and woman if they were truly confident that their names were in God’s ‘Book of Life.’  There was some awkward joking at first, but then people began to give candid answers.  I was surprised to hear many of them say that they were not confident in their eternal destiny.  I was even more surprised to hear some of these say that they were not yet ready to make a radical commitment to become a Christ follower. 

We then finished this discussion, prayed for each other, and sang one last song.  The meeting was over and Samir brought in the cokes for everyone to enjoy.  But one of Samir’s younger brothers, Ashraf, was not finished with the discussion.  Nabil, my ministry partner, asked me and Ashraf to join him in a corner of the small flat.  There Ashraf, Samir’s younger brother, repented of his sins and doing life his own way and asked Jesus to forgive him, and there he committed to become a Christ follower. 

On my way back to my flat that night from the outskirts of the capital, I couldn’t help but reflect on the obedience of Samir and the simple, yet real, sacrifices he had made to make the house church become a reality.  Ashraf the new believer was rejoicing that night; Nabil and I who had been there to help Ashraf come into the Kingdom were rejoicing that night; the angels in Heaven were rejoicing that night; and for sure, Samir, the older brother …the host of the house church, was rejoicing to have played a key part in seeing his brother’s life and eternal destiny changed.