Love Mu with God’s eyes
On-site record of the Chinese Muslim Xuan Ai Mu Cultural Festival
Interview compilation/Xue Yueyue
Photo courtesy/Xue Yueyue, Dr. Ha
Since returning from a missionary and prayer trip to Muslim areas in Central Asia and East Asia in 2018, the smiles of local children and the images of women selling accessories on the roadside have been deeply imprinted in my heart.
On May 4-5, 2019, I participated in the "5th Aimu Cultural Festival - City of Muguang" in Taiwan. This is an annual gathering of global Chinese Muslims, held at Taipei Peace Presbyterian Church.
As soon as I stepped into the lobby and heard worship music, the melody was familiar, but the language was unfamiliar. I saw the subtitles: "Besar Allahku Nyanyikan besar Allahku, S'lamanyabesar Dan ajaib Tuhanku". After explanation, I found out that this is a hymn in Indonesian: "My God is so great. I sing the praises of your holy name so great. The whole earth can see it. I God is so great!” The cross-language worship was intoxicating, and the brothers and sisters present seemed to experience a little bit of the atmosphere of worshiping in heaven.
▲The author visited Muslim areas in Central Asia and East Asia in 2018. The smiles of local children and the images of women selling accessories on the roadside have always been deeply imprinted in the author's heart.
Dr. Ha, a co-worker of the organizer "Taiwan Aimu", recalled that the first cultural festival was held in 2014, hoping to use a novel and diverse experience to make brothers and sisters interested in and burdened with Muslims. The content of the program is no longer just traditional preaching and sharing by missionaries, but also includes elements such as music, Muslim food, and experiential activities. There are also workshops to contact Muslims with different professions and identities, cross-cultural poetry worship, and cultural and creative exhibitions. , photography exhibition and other contents.
The 2019 Cultural Festival is already its fifth and has begun to make major breakthroughs. It is not only held in Taipei, but also brought to Taichung and Kaohsiung. In the future, I hope to travel to North America and Europe to organize events in cooperation with local Chinese churches. The themes over the years are: 2015 "Mu Ran looks back", 2016 "Mu Ran is silent", 2017 "Living with Mu", 2018 "Help Mu see Jesus", 2019 "Mu Ran's City of Light". There were about 500 attendees over the two days. Although there were different age groups, it was very exciting to see that most of them were young people.
▲The Indonesian hymn "My God is Great" allowed the congregation to experience the atmosphere of worshiping in heaven.
Ends of the Earth and Muslims
When Dr. Ha shared the theme of the 2019 Cultural Festival "City of Light", he mentioned Matthew 28:19: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, giving them the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Baptize." And Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Dr. Ha asked everyone, what are the ends of the earth to you? Have you seen the ends of the earth? The ends of the earth may be those who have never heard the gospel and are the most "difficult" to evangelize; may it even be in the taxi you take? Today there are many people of different nationalities and ethnicities in Taiwan (and the United States as well). As long as we come into contact with them, the gospel will be spread to the ends of the earth!
He encouraged everyone that when preaching the gospel, it doesn’t matter where the target is, but whether you see them with your heart. Christians must get up, take the initiative to go out of the church, enter the community, truly practice, and pass on the love from Jesus to those who are waiting for the gospel. Some people think that it is okay to preach the gospel, but not to love Muslims (because it is a life-threatening thing and impossible to do). For such thoughts, the saddest thing is our Heavenly Father. Ask God to grant heavenly perspective so that Christians will be willing to know and care for the Muslims around them.
Dr. Ha added: "This cultural festival has clearly conveyed the concept that you do not have to go to an Islamic country to preach the gospel to Muslims. In fact, you can see many foreign workers, classmates, colleagues, etc. from the Muslim community in your family or church." Regrettably, many people in Taiwan are not friendly to people from Southeast Asia. Many Muslim workers who come to work in Taiwan are oppressed, exploited, and treated harshly. This is a great reminder for us as Christians, do we really care about these Muslims who are around us at this moment? Are the things you do and think still limited by cultural discrimination and fail to reflect the love of Christ?
▲Most of the attendees at the Aimu Cultural Festival are young people, which is extremely exciting.
Shocking experience activities
The cultural festival is rich in content, and the most shocking one is "the experience of persecution of Muslim believers." Each of the eight participants formed a Muslim family, and each person was assigned a role and dialogue. When a family member believes in the Lord and comes back to preach the gospel to other family members, the family members take turns criticizing, blaming, and humiliating the evangelist, asking him to give up his faith. In the end, the whole family took the evangelist to the village to be lynched or tried in court. Wealthy families escorted the evangelists to the airport and exiled them abroad to prevent their families from being implicated.
Later, a group of ferocious ISIS terrorists suddenly appeared, shouting threats with weapons, and searched every home for the evangelist. Those who were found were arrested and taken to the execution ground, and family members were forced to watch their believer family members receive the death penalty, simulating the sound of live ammunition.
Participants were all extremely frightened, their hearts beating rapidly, and they wished they could escape from the nightmare as soon as possible. Several young brothers and sisters responded: "I am deeply shocked. When we are in a very peaceful and happy environment, we have the responsibility to keep other brothers and sisters in suffering in our hearts."
▲Shocking experience activities.
True testimonies of missionaries
Missionaries shared their testimonies in the evening sessions on both days. Missionary J, who was serving in country A, mentioned that in the first year of the missionary field, more than 20 of his fellow travelers he knew were martyred. Even in the face of danger, she still firmly declared: "Lord, where you are, there I will be." She encouraged everyone to work for the Taliban (Taliban, meaning students of Islam, translated as "theological scholars", who are (Nissan Islamic fundamentalist armed terrorist organization) pray, because there is power when there is prayer; prayer is the root of missionary work, and missionary work is the fruit of prayer.
Another brother from East Asia said that when he came to Taiwan to participate in a cultural festival a few years ago, he was scared at first when he thought about Muslims, let alone cross-cultural missionary work! But then I thought: "Who do I represent in the family of God? Am I destroying or building?" After Pastor Li Xiuquan laid hands on him and prayed, he bravely entered the cross-cultural Muslim community.
▲The heartfelt words shared by Jordanian Moabite pastor Afeef are heartbreaking.
Heartfelt message from Jordanian pastor
The messages on both nights were heartfelt words shared by Afeef, a Moabite Jordanian pastor from the same hometown as the heroine in the Book of Ruth. It was heartbreaking! Why, he asks, should we love those who persecute us? Because those who persecute us are also created in the image of God. We love all people who bear the image of God. Love requires action. If a Christian says he loves the Lord but does not love his enemies, he is disobedient, because the Lord Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. He emphasized: "If a person loves the Lord, he will preach the gospel. The purpose of life is to preach the gospel. Paul, who was once a terrorist, became a missionary because of God's love. No sacrifice is greater than what Jesus did for us. "A person who truly accepts the great love of Jesus will preach the gospel for the sake of loving others like Paul did.
Ask the Lord to help everyone rely on the Holy Spirit, have full love from God, be unhindered, not afraid of being hurt, have a brave heart, and respond to the call to love Muslims. He mentioned: "God is a God of plans, there are no emergencies." If we surrender completely, we will be guided to walk in the kingdom of God. God chose Isaac but did not reject Ishmael. When we join Assyria, Egypt, and Israel in worshiping the Lord so that people on earth will be blessed and God’s will is done on earth, the end of the world will come! This is God’s blueprint. Let us act according to God’s plan, be filled with God’s love, and follow the Lord!
▲The author (second from left) takes a group photo with Pastor Cai Weilun (first from left), church theological student Xu Renquan (first from right), and Elder Xie Jiayin (second from right) of Heping Presbyterian Church.
The goal of the conference: zero to one understanding
In the missionary forum arranged by the conference, many brothers and sisters urgently asked the question: How should Christians prepare themselves to contact this ethnic group? How to avoid danger? How do you know if Muslims really believe in God?
Dr. Ha pointed out that most Christians find it difficult to preach Islam because they have little knowledge of Muslims and have serious stereotypes, or they are afraid of Muslims. Therefore, the goal of the cultural festival is to hope that participants will have a zero-to-one understanding of Muslims. For example, in terms of numbers, there are currently 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, and there are 300,000 Indonesian Muslim workers in Taiwan.
Cai Weilun, senior pastor of the Peace Presbyterian Church where the cultural festival was held, said that the Peace Church is located near the Taipei Mosque and belongs to the same community, but there is no overlap with each other. After being contacted by co-workers, we were happy to have the Aimu Cultural Festival held at the Peace Church. It was also a very special experience for about 50 members to attend nearby. Pastor Cai hopes to use this to open the eyes of members to see the needs in this missionary field and pray for them. At the same time, it also allows brothers and sisters to learn how to specifically care for the Indonesian caregivers they come into contact with in community elder ministry. Some members have said that the cultural festival has provided very practical help.
Xu Renquan, a theological student of the church, recalled that he and his wife, Elder Xie Jiayin, participated in the "Missionary Perspective" (Perspective, or "Perspective") course two years ago. They had different understandings and ideas about missions, and also put missionary actions in In prayer, seek God’s guidance. After the course, several members who participated in the course were determined not to let the missionary fire go out, so they began to organize a monthly missionary prayer group and invited missionaries to share and pray for them. Dr. Ha, who loves Muslims in Taiwan, was also invited to share his experience, which gave him a preliminary understanding of Muslims and led to the opportunity to co-organize a cultural festival.
Brother Xu lamented: "There is really too little knowledge about Muslims! Through this activity, although there has been some progress, it is still not enough. One impression is that there are too few missionaries to work in Muslim areas, and it is also very dangerous, and may even I may not have the courage to go to these areas to work, but seeing that so many people have not heard of Jesus, I feel that more workers are needed. On the other hand, I learned through the cultural festival that Islamic Christians are very hospitable. Actively preaching, but what about local Christians? It would be a pity if we still think of "We can't preach in Taiwan, so why go there to preach the gospel?"
Brother Zhao Guoguang, the person in charge of the elders ministry of Heping Presbyterian Church, also said that he saw from this Aimu Cultural Festival that almost every elder in the church has a Muslim worker beside him; in fact, they are around him and there are many opportunities to come into contact with them. . I never thought that the missionary field to Muslims could be right in my own home!
▲Please remember, in that far away place, there is a Tajik girl, she is waiting for the gospel!
Cultural festival needs church participation and support
The age range of the participants of the cultural festival is very wide, mainly 20-60 years old, but it is rare for pastors to participate. Dr. Ha pointed out that the first three cultural festivals also held "Pastoral Symposiums", inviting church pastors to discuss how Taiwanese churches should respond to the opportunities for Muslim preaching in this era. However, the results were not good and the participation rate was low, so the fourth edition was cancelled. .
Dr. Ha sincerely appeals for more shepherds to take a serious look at the Muslim community, which accounts for 1/4 of the world's population, and understand that cultural festivals are not the "traditional missionary activities" of the past, but a way more suitable for this era. At the same time, the cultural festival also needs more volunteers, church participation and financial support.
So far, less than five churches have made regular contributions to Taiwan Aimu. They have to organize large-scale and elaborate activities every year, and manpower and funds are very tight. We hope that more churches and gospel organizations will see the importance and urgency of this ministry and enthusiastically participate with spiritual, human, material and financial resources.
Before the cultural festival ended, I happened to meet Sister Yajun, who was over 70 years old and had walked and prayed together in Central Asia and East Asia. After the meeting, she gave me a passage: "I remember that next to the Stone City in Tashkorgan, everyone went to explore the ancient cemetery, but you and I were the only ones waiting outside to pray, so we met a Tajik girl. I don't know where she came from or where she was going. ? But she really appeared in front of us and left us with beautiful memories. Please remember that there is a Tajik girl in that distant place, she is waiting for the gospel!"
Xue Yueyue, vocalist. He has served as conductor of choirs, sacred orchestras and choirs. Participated in couples camps, care and missions ministries for many years. At the same time, I learned to create words and write about my love for God, people, and family.