It is our joy at the Jenkins Center to host wise, humble brothers and sisters in Christ who share their experience serving among Muslim-majority people groups. This March, we enjoyed hosting Jeff and Jenn, workers who have spent more than ten years serving in Central Asia. Jeff and Jenn both studied at Southern Seminary, where they met each other. After graduating and getting married, they served in Central Asia and raised their three children. Jeff ministered as an elder at a local church in their area and Jenn worked in the women’s ministry as well as at home as a mother and housewife. Over the last decade, the couple gained experience serving in a Muslim context as they learned the local language, worked alongside other believers, and interacted with the people around them. Their testimony encouraged the audience to pursue fruitfulness and measure success by faithfulness.
Jeff and Jenn blessed the Southern community by sharing thirteen suggestions from their time to effectively prepare for ministry to Muslims.
1. Grow in your love for your local church now
Jeff pointed out that most Muslims have no category for the type of diverse community displayed in a healthy local church. Christian unity can be a powerful witness to the watching Muslim world. Hence, loving the local church is an important part of preparing for ministry.
2. Get to know and listen to your elders and pastors
The leaders in your local church are an important resource to train you for ministry. You must avoid being wise in your own eyes, and willingly submit to their biblical guidance, establishing long-term partnerships with them.
3. Study the church
Think deeply about the church. What is it? What does it do? What are the essentials?
4. Develop leadership infrastructure
Learn how to train other pastors and church leaders who will replace you in the context you serve.
5. Develop a philosophy of ministry
Know your convictions. Know what issues are important enough to determine who you will partner with in ministry.
6. Study and practice biblical counseling
Many MBBs (Muslim Background Believers) have endured great suffering and need to know God’s word for their lives. Furthermore, knowing how to ask the right questions can aid your evangelism.
7. Evangelize broadly and deeply
Take advantage of many opportunities to share the gospel, but also go deep with people who are open to hearing.
8. Get to know people who are different from you
Spend time with people who may test your patience at first. Spend time around people who do not think the same way as you.
9. Take advantage of short-term mission trip opportunities
The Jenkins and Bevin Centers provide excellent opportunities to visit other countries and get a glimpse of life serving overseas.
10. Cultivate being easily edified by others
Learn to receive correction from others well!
11. Study other religions and cultures
Learning how other people see the world can help you both in your evangelism and your interactions with believers from a different context.
12. Know yourself
Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses so you can seek growth and use your abilities well. Be aware of your pitfalls so you can get help from other believers.
13. Pray and work for fruitfulness but define success by faithfulness
Fruit takes a long time to develop. Sometimes you may never see the impact of your labor. However, staying the course and holding on to your calling is a success, even if you do not see fruit.
One of the most helpful things that Jeff and Jenn said was that in serving Muslims we must aim for fruitfulness but measure success by faithfulness. This is an important goal for everyone who aspires to ministry. In many Muslim contexts, there are few healthy churches, if there are Christians at all. It can also be incredibly painful to watch people fall away from the faith or vanish as a result of persecution. This is discouraging for missionaries serving in Muslim-majority countries. Jeff and Jenn emphasized that in all ministry, God grants growth and the church has the privilege of participating by spreading the gospel and making disciples. Christians are not responsible for saving souls but are called to be faithful in serving alongside the Lord as he rescues the lost.
Jeff and Jenn shared their struggles while serving in Central Asia. At times, the fruit of their ministry was hard to see, but they persevered. They encouraged missionaries aspiring to reach Muslims to pursue fruitfulness but to measure success by their faithfulness despite difficulty. This faithfulness looks like loving and serving your local church as well as seeking to live out personal convictions based on the Word of God in all of life. Disciples of Jesus joyously participate in God’s work of bringing lost souls to redemption, but the results must be entrusted to God’s care. With faithfulness as the goal, the ministry will be meaningful and bring glory to God.
The conversation with Jeff and Jenn was encouraging and challenging. It was a blessing to hear what God is doing through Jeff and Jenn and the work that he has given them in Central Asia. With these points in mind, Christians may know how to pray for Muslims and missionaries. We are thankful for the faithful work that Jeff and Jenn are doing. We pray God will send more workers from the Southern community to share the good news of Jesus Christ with Muslims in Louisville, in Kentucky, and to the ends of the earth.