For the last 3 months, I’ve been learning Arabic with an MBB (Muslim Background Believer) teacher. I’ve gotten to hear her testimony and share a simple version of mine in Arabic. She asks lots of questions about what Christians in America think about different topics. One conversation that comes up a lot is her desire to leave her country. She lives with her parents, and none of her family or non-believing friends knows she is a believer. She was reading the word with a foreigner friend and going to gatherings sometimes, but quit out of fear that someone would report her when her parents started asking questions.
Unfortunately, her fears aren’t baseless. Many people who convert to follow Jesus face troubles with their families, spouses, employers, and sometimes even Christian community. They may be kicked out, fired, reported to police, or harmed, which makes a lot of believers from the majority background here fearful to openly believe, like my teacher. Collectivist social structure, honor/shame culture, laws against proselytization, mistrust between MBBs and CBBs (Christian Background Believers), and deep religious values are some of the main reasons it’s so difficult for people to accept Jesus.
Jesus’ parable of sower comes to life when interacting with people who’s hearts are like rocky soil, filled with mistruth and lies that have been deeply ingrained from birth. Or those who hear the word then have it quickly eaten up and discredited by their family or religious leaders. Or the ones who excitedly accept Jesus, but are quickly scorched by the reality of believing here. Or people who are fighting to believe while being choked out by the thorny vines of the enemy. Work here is slow. Patient. Removing one rock at a time in the soil of a person’s heart. But the Lord is faithful, and I cling to that.