12/13/23

Our mission of “Loving God . . . Loving Others'' comes together in a special way each Christmas with our “Christ Birthday Offering.” In the past, we’re received offerings for our Hispanic sister church, Fuente de Salvacion, for Matt McGraw and his work in Turkey, for Joel Aycok’s water filter ministry in Honduras and the Tatums in Costa Rica.

This year we’re returning to a mission that’s dear to my heart: Turkey.

At the previous church I served, I was asked to preach a sermon on serving God as a single person. In the sermon, I said that being single gave me the freedom and flexibility to go wherever God wanted me to go, and that, since I didn’t have a family who depended on me, I would welcome even an opportunity to serve even if there was some danger. 

The senior pastor took me up on that.

He told me he was having trouble finding people willing to go to Turkey. There were some men willing to go, but either their spouses were against it or their government jobs wouldn’t allow it. 

So I said, “Sure!” 

Eventually, we found another single guy, Matt McGraw, who was willing to go as well, so our team of two was set. 

Turkey is a beautiful country. Istanbul, the gateway between Asia and Europe is unlike any city I’ve ever visited, and it had been on my “bucket list” for decades. Everywhere you turn, thousands of years of history bump up against a very modern city. And everywhere you turn, the remnants of Byzantine Christianity stubbornly peek through accrued layers of Muslim rule. On top of that, the people are very friendly, and the food is incredible! 

Much of the New Testament took place in Turkey. Places from Paul’s missionary journeys like Tarsus, Antioch, Ephesus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Colossae, and the cities of of Smyrna, Pergamum and Laodicea, and the others in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation are all found in Turkey. 

Christianity was a major force in Turkey until the Ottoman empire conquered it in 1453. The great church (and for centuries the largest building in the world), Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) was turned into a mosque, then in the early 20th century, it became a museum. In recent years it was turned back into a mosque. 

For centuries, Turkey has been in the grips of Islam. In 1923, under Mustafa Ataturk, the country became secular, but the recent president has tried to return Turkey to Islamic rule. 

I can’t tell you the thrill it was to be among those who followed in the footsteps of Paul bringing Christianity BACK to Turkey. 

Our main mission took place at a festival on Buyukada (meaning “big island”) in the Marmara sea, outside of Istanbul. The morning of the festival, I got up at 4:00 AM, dressed  and boarded a boat for the island. 

At the center of Buyukada is a mountain topped with a Greek Orthodox church. A legend grew up around the church that if one were to tie a string at the base of the mountain and climb the half-mile to the top without breaking the string, your prayer/wish would be granted. The festival was huge; thousands of people from Greece, Bulgaria and beyond would come to the mountain to stretch a string from the bottom to the top. There were so many people that by the end of the day, the string would almost look like carpet:



We set up tables with Christian New Testaments and pamphlets in Turkish and offered to pray with anyone – after all, they were there because they had some sort of need. Since Bayram and I wore clergy  collars, the people called us “poppas” and because I was from the US, I was considered an extra holy papa! To be honest, that collar looked like a bullseye to me . . . 
 

We prayed with all sorts of people – it was fairly constant all day – and the fact that I didn’t know their language didn’t matter. I prayed over them in the name of Jesus and trusted the Holy Spirit to do the rest.

As a side note, the next year, we went back, and our senior pastor was able to join us. One of the joys of the second trip was seeing the people whose prayers were answered the previous year seeking us out to pray for them again. One Muslim woman was so excited, dragging up her daughters and daughters-in-law for the kutsal baba (holy papa) to pray for them. Her sons were angry about it, and for a bit I thought a fight might break out, but nothing did.

This mission is very dear to my heart. The work that Bayram does in Turkey is important in taking the gospel back to the area where the gospel once flourished, and Bayram has endured much personal sacrifice as a result of his ministry. However, the ministry has had many ministry opportunities open up  after the February earthquake in Turkey, and have seen many  become Christian. 

Please pray for the believers in Turkey and consider giving generously this year.