Bringing Light Into Spiritually Dark Places

Dawn works bringing light to lost souls, lifting new friends up with the love of Jesus.

Spreading love to spiritually dark places will get you out of your lazy chair.

Zariah ran up to Dawn, tugging at her shirt and saying, “Hello.” Dawn doesn’t encounter many people who speak English when she is busy bringing light into spiritually dark places, and it was obvious that 12-year old Zariah didn’t know much English beyond her broken greeting. Dawn, an American church worker traveling overseas, was in a neighborhood of Athens, Greece populated by refugees from the Middle East and Northern Africa.

Zariah excitedly took Dawn and her colleagues over to her parents to meet them. Dawn learned the family is from Iraq and they live in a refugee camp in Greece. Zariah’s mother, Noor, knows a little broken English. During their conversation, Dawn found out that Noor had heard of Jesus from a church worker in one of the refugee camps where they had previously stayed, but Noor didn’t know much about “Isa,” as Jesus is known among Muslims.

Jesus Heals to Reveal Himself

Dawn says, “Noor began complaining about a migraine that she suffers from daily, and I asked if I could pray for her. She allowed me to, and afterward said, ‘The pain is completely gone.’ This created the opportunity to share how Jesus wants to heal her wholly, and He can come into her heart to make her fully alive. We shared the gospel with both Noor and her husband, Ahmed, over the next couple of days. Due to their difficulties in making the journey back to Athens, we were unable to see them again.”

While in Athens, Dawn and her teammates walk in public places, praying for an opportunity to engage with refugees and share the story of Jesus and His love for them. They start up conversations with refugees and offer to pray for them, hoping to engage in meaningful spiritual conversations, making a difference in their lives.

Dawn says, “I was frustrated because I knew that Jesus had touched Noor and Ahmed’s hearts, and they were so eager to continue hearing more. Our team continued to pray for them daily, even after coming home, but we ultimately had to leave Ahmed and Noor in the hands of the Lord.”

Following God’s Calling

Dawn is part of a ministry organization intending to share the Gospel of Christ with unreached people groups. Dawn is not my friend’s real name, but I’ve changed her name here to protect her identity. Other names of real people in this story have also been changed for their protection.

Dawn’s desire is to let people know the God who created us is real and He loves us.

He came to earth as a man named Jesus. He died to pay the price for our sins and rose again 3 days later. Jesus is alive today and still connecting with the hearts of all people.

Dawn goes to areas of the world with restricted access and she is often in violation of local laws against proselytizing or causing the conversion of residents from their national faith. This is a very brave and bold act. It is necessary to move against local forces to expose non-believers to the true story of Jesus Christ. She takes this risk to reveal the truth to people who desperately need to know.

According to the Joshua Project, an organization researching and highlighting the ethnic people groups with the fewest followers of Christ, there are 17,094 people groups in he world. A people group is also known as ethne, a singular Greek word for nation, or a distinct group of people set apart from others by their ethnic culture and language.

Of more than 17,000 people groups in the modern world, the Joshua Project describes 7,134 as unreached groups lacking enough followers of Christ and resources to evangelize their people. This is where the followers of Christ step up to the plate.

Jesus tells his followers, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” (Luke 10:2-3) This plea applies to Christ-followers today and not only to his disciples in Jesus’ day. You and I have an obligation as followers of Jesus to respond to his entreaty.

Dawn is doing her part to answer God’s calling in her life. What are you doing to follow the call of Jesus to His people?

Pioneering for Jesus Christ

I admire Dawn for her bravery in forging the path to truth and leading people to faith in Jesus Christ. People like Dawn have acted bravely in leading non-believers to Christ since Jesus’ apostles first began their mission in Jerusalem after His resurrection. Peter ministered to Jews in Israel. Paul carried the Gospel to Gentiles in Rome, Greece, and beyond. Thomas spread the story of Jesus in India, later becoming a martyr when he was killed for preaching the Gospel of Christ in present-day regions of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Pioneers in missions, such as William Carey and Hudson Taylor, cleared a path in places around the world where people followed other spiritual practices. These people had no understanding of the love and freedom offered in Jesus Christ.

Dawn is following in the footsteps of these pioneers to carry an important message to people who might have no other way to learn about the truth offered in Jesus. She is a messenger taking a calculated risk in potentially dangerous regions.

Today, many people in the world think of Christianity as a religion based in Western Civilization. This is not accurate. Remember, Jesus was born into Eastern culture and his followers established the Church first in Eastern countries. However, most people in Eastern culture do not follow Jesus Christ any longer. This does not stop Christ-followers from going to spiritually dark areas share the Gospel of Christ. None other than Jesus, Himself, taught us to do this work.

In His own words, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

God Provides

Dawn takes The Great Commission to heart. Following the words of Jesus is her mission. Fund-raising for mission support is not for the faint-hearted. After serving as a volunteer leader for several trips to share the Gospel, my friend was led by God in a bold move to enter ministry full-time. She left a successful career to go to work for an organization with a passion for sharing the Gospel of Christ in unreached areas of the world.

Changing careers to this non-profit ministry work also means raising support. Dawn tells an interesting story of God working in her life to direct her path.

She says, “Back in the Fall, the Lord led me in the most strange and unusual way out to a business in [the Texas Hill Country]. This large business also funds a ministry foundation that focuses on getting the gospel to unreached people groups. Coincidence? I think not. I was blessed to get to share my story and calling to work [in spiritually dark places] with the director of the foundation, still very much questioning why God led me out there. It was a wonderful meeting where I was prayed over and encouraged so much, but I doubted there was any way that this foundation would be able to support me financially. When leaving, still blown away at how I ended up out in [this tiny hill country town], I had a peace that God was in it, and I trusted fully that we were supposed to meet for whatever reason.”

She continues, “At the beginning of January, I got a call from the director who informed me that the foundation had prayed about it and they wanted to give me the exact amount needed to get me to 100% funded. So, the update that I can hardly wait to announce is that by God’s beautiful and strange ways, I’M 100% FUNDED. God is so good and will always reward our perseverance and trust in Him.”

Turmoil in the Middle East

Recent turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa is continuing. In the last several years, due to war and terrorism, people have been uprooted from their homes and dispersed throughout the world to unfamiliar places. Many people are forced to seek refuge in Western countries. While God isn’t causing this massive upheaval in people’s lives, He is using it for their good.

Dawn describes the process, saying, “For most people, their first stop in this difficult and long journey begins in Greece, but most people also strive for the opportunity to leave Greece. Due to the poor economic system, lack of jobs, housing, schooling for kids, living in Athens as a refugee can be extremely frustrating and difficult. Greece has become like an ’hourglass’ where many nations are all gathering in one location, but only for a short amount of time before dispersing and going different directions. God is doing amazing work right now by bringing all the nations together in one place for a short amount of time, which gives us the opportunity to share the hope they can find in Jesus.”

Greece is not the only place where engaging with non-believers is appropriate. I know believers who travel regularly to or live permanently in places where sharing the Gospel of Christ is dangerous.

Persecution Among Christian People

Persecution is prevalent throughout this spiritually dark region of the world. The 10/40 Window encompasses India, beginning in West Africa and laying like a vast blanket through South Asia and on to North Korea in the Far East. This area of the world is located between 10° and 40° north of the equator, encompassing Northern Africa and almost all of Asia. The Joshua Project reports “The 10/40 Window is home to some of the largest unreached people groups in the world such as the Shaikh, Yadava, Turks, Moroccan Arabs, Pashtun, Jat, and Burmese.”

"But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, 'How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!'" (Romans 10:14-15)

Pioneers in missions, such as William Carey and Hudson Taylor, cleared a path in places around the world where people followed other spiritual practices. These people had no understanding of the love and freedom offered in Jesus Christ.

Dawn is following in the footsteps of these pioneers to carry an important message to people who might have no other way to learn about the truth offered in Jesus. She is a messenger taking a calculated risk in potentially dangerous regions.

Today, many people in the world think of Christianity as a religion based in Western Civilization. This is not accurate. Remember, Jesus was born into Eastern culture and his followers established the Church first in Eastern countries. However, most people in Eastern culture do not follow Jesus Christ any longer. This does not stop Christ-followers from going to spiritually dark areas share the Gospel of Christ. None other than Jesus, Himself, taught us to do this work.

In His own words, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

God Provides

Dawn takes The Great Commission to heart. Following the words of Jesus is her mission. Fund-raising for mission support is not for the faint-hearted. After serving as a volunteer leader for several trips to share the Gospel, my friend was led by God in a bold move to enter ministry full-time. She left a successful career to go to work for an organization with a passion for sharing the Gospel of Christ in unreached areas of the world.

Changing careers to this non-profit ministry work also means raising support. Dawn tells an interesting story of God working in her life to direct her path.

She says, “Back in the Fall, the Lord led me in the most strange and unusual way out to a business in [the Texas Hill Country]. This large business also funds a ministry foundation that focuses on getting the gospel to unreached people groups. Coincidence? I think not. I was blessed to get to share my story and calling to work [in spiritually dark places] with the director of the foundation, still very much questioning why God led me out there. It was a wonderful meeting where I was prayed over and encouraged so much, but I doubted there was any way that this foundation would be able to support me financially. When leaving, still blown away at how I ended up out in [this tiny hill country town], I had a peace that God was in it, and I trusted fully that we were supposed to meet for whatever reason.”

She continues, “At the beginning of January, I got a call from the director who informed me that the foundation had prayed about it and they wanted to give me the exact amount needed to get me to 100% funded. So, the update that I can hardly wait to announce is that by God’s beautiful and strange ways, I’M 100% FUNDED. God is so good and will always reward our perseverance and trust in Him.”

Turmoil in the Middle East

Recent turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa is continuing. In the last several years, due to war and terrorism, people have been uprooted from their homes and dispersed throughout the world to unfamiliar places. Many people are forced to seek refuge in Western countries. While God isn’t causing this massive upheaval in people’s lives, He is using it for their good.

Dawn describes the process, saying, “For most people, their first stop in this difficult and long journey begins in Greece, but most people also strive for the opportunity to leave Greece. Due to the poor economic system, lack of jobs, housing, schooling for kids, living in Athens as a refugee can be extremely frustrating and difficult. Greece has become like an ’hourglass’ where many nations are all gathering in one location, but only for a short amount of time before dispersing and going different directions. God is doing amazing work right now by bringing all the nations together in one place for a short amount of time, which gives us the opportunity to share the hope they can find in Jesus.”

Greece is not the only place where engaging with non-believers is appropriate. I know believers who travel regularly to or live permanently in places where sharing the Gospel of Christ is dangerous.

Prayer for persecuted followers of Christ is of paramount concern.

Persecution Among Christian People

Persecution is prevalent throughout this spiritually dark region of the world. The 10/40 Window encompasses India, beginning in West Africa and laying like a vast blanket through South Asia and on to North Korea in the Far East. This area of the world is located between 10° and 40° north of the equator, encompassing Northern Africa and almost all of Asia. The Joshua Project reports “The 10/40 Window is home to some of the largest unreached people groups in the world such as the Shaikh, Yadava, Turks, Moroccan Arabs, Pashtun, Jat, and Burmese.”

Approximately two-thirds of the world’s population live in the 10/40 window in predominantly non-Christian cultures. Many governments in this region are opposed to Christian work of any kind inside of their borders. The Indian government claims to be open to religions. However, that simply isn’t true. The World Watch List, published by Open Doors, states, “While the level of intolerance continues to increase, Christians are regularly attacked by Hindu extremists. The level of impunity has gone up markedly, with communities of converts to Christianity from Hinduism bearing the brunt of the persecution.”

For any person accepting Christ in one of these non-Christian cultures, persecution might be a reality they have to face. Noor and Ahmed, should they accept Christ, could easily face being labeled as “apostates.” An apostate is one who denounces his faith, and it’s particularly dangerous for Muslims denying their religion. In Muslim culture, these new Christians should expect to be excluded from their families and might even face death due to the dishonor they have brought on their relatives. To accept their newly found faith in Jesus, they might have to pay dearly.

The Hope Only Jesus Can Offer

Despite the danger, people are still turning to Jesus. People are still accepting the hope and love that only He can offer. Why are non-Christian people in spiritually dark regions turning to Jesus when the odds are firmly against them?

It’s because of Jesus Himself, and the hope only He can offer. Jesus is meeting people regularly in their dreams or visions. Tom Doyle, in his book Dreams and Visions: Is Jesus Awakening the Muslim World, says, “The phenomenon is not limited to a few isolated locations. It’s not happening in just on or two African nations. There are not just one of several hundred people groups affected in India. He’s not simply visiting some lucky town in the Middle East. What we see is Jesus presenting himself to Muslims everywhere. Dozens of Islamic countries and countless Muslim cultures have been invaded by Jesus’ love.”

Doyle has worked for years in the Middle East among Muslim people. He says he discovered that God doesn’t need instruction about what He can and cannot do in today’s world.

Doyle explains, “We find that about one out of every three Muslim-background believers has had a dream or vision prior to their salvation experience. Some more precise surveys are a bit more conservative and suggest a little over 25 percent of Muslims had a dream or vision before becoming disciples of Jesus. Either way, the percentage is significant.”

However, Muslims who have had a dream or vision of Jesus are not always convinced. The dream or vision is merely a starting point along their journey to Christianity. There are substantial obstacles for the potential believer to overcome.

Navigating the Way for Non-Believers

Muslims who have experienced meeting Jesus need a navigator to guide them through the experience and help them overcome the obstacles. You and I, as followers of Jesus, need to be willing to engage with Muslims to guide them along this path. Seekers of Christ will have many questions about the person of Jesus. They must overcome misunderstandings and previous false teaching they have learned. They have to understand a clear picture of the Person of God.

Jesus still uses His followers to meet people where they are, coming alongside non-believers and teaching them truth about the Savior. Jesus has commissioned his followers to be His witnesses. He says, “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.” (Acts 1:8)

Dawn heard the call in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal. As she hiked there with a team from her church, she learned how to share the Gospel with Hindu people. Dawn experienced the thrill of leading people to Jesus when before following God’s calling she didn’t know how to engage people in spiritual conversations. It’s kind of like walking up to a cliff and stepping off the edge only to find a hidden bridge underneath your feet. God carries you into these moments when you are following his call. The Holy Spirit holds you up, gives you the words to say, and guides the conversation in ways you could never have planned on your own.

You don’t have to ask if God is calling you to share the Gospel. His call is already recorded in Scripture. It’s a theme that runs through out Scripture and weaves itself into the story of creation from Day One until the End-of-Days.

The question you must ask yourself is, “What part am I going to play in God’s mission for all people?”

Meanwhile, Back in Athens

Three weeks after returning home, Dawn received a message from her translator in Athens, Greece. Her friend reported that after a few more conversations, Ahmed has accepted Jesus as His Savior, and is beginning a bible study. Hallelujah!

Dawn declares, “Once again God proves His sovereignty and reminds me of how my job is simply to spread the seed [of the Gospel of Christ], and He will take care of the rest in His timing.”

Dawn describes the plight of the refugee, saying, “Currently there are over 65 million refugees in the world living in a foreign land, trying to survive, and desperate for the assurance of an eternal life with God the Father who loves them. Please pray with me for God to send more workers into the harvest and that more lost people can come into a loving relationship with our Father.”

Paul told Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power love, and discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

Decide for yourself what you are going to do about God’s mission in your life. The calling is there. How are you going to respond? Open your eyes and look around. Try to see the people of the world around you as God would see them. Ask yourself what the Holy Spirit wants you to do about it. Don’t sit still when action is required. Step out in faith and be bold.

Bob West, Vice President of Evangelism, East-West Ministries

Bob West, Vice President of Evangelism with East West International Ministries, says, “People die every day and go into an eternal separation from God. That’s compelling. That gives me a passion to reach as many people as we can, as fast as we can with whatever means that we’re given.”

What means have you been given? If you can go, Go! If you can send, Send! If you can pray, Pray! If you can mobilize, Mobilize! The time for action is now.