Heated arguments over religion still occur in parts of North Africa, not far from ancient Roman ruins where early Christians were martyred centuries ago.
“You can’t really imagine what the people here endure,” said Joe, who has served as a pastor in a North African country for more than two decades. “If you are identified as a Christian, you are [treated like] someone who has leprosy.”
Joe and his church help many new Christians who are rejected by their families for leaving Islam. “I think of this young lady,” he said. “Joyfully, without anyone warning her, as soon as she arrived back home she started telling people, ‘I’ve discovered Jesus. I’ve become a believer’.”
The young woman’s Muslim family was angry about her conversion. The girl’s mother, Joe said, told her, “I would rather that my daughter became a prostitute than a Christian.”
Then, other relatives started attacking her. “The whole family came against her,” Joe said. “They started insulting her and beating her, and one night they just threw her outside [in her] pyjamas. She ran away, and I am glad we were there to receive her and help.”
Helping Christians like this young woman has been Joe’s life purpose. Originally from a sub-Saharan nation wracked by war, he emigrated as a student and fell in love with the beauty of the arid North African nation where he settled.
As Joe shared his Christian faith with other students, God gave him a passion to lead others to Christ and then make disciples of them. “Over those three first years I was busy sharing my testimony, sharing the gospel with my classmates, inviting them to the gatherings with other believers,” he said. “It became another passion of my life.”
Joe soon changed the focus of his studies to Christian theology and eventually became a pastor. Much of his ministry work now involves training Christian leaders and teaching new Christians how to follow Christ in this restricted nation.
“No single believer I know ever told me it is easy,” Joe said. “It is difficult for the mindset of the people here to accept someone who rejects Islam. Most of the people are not aware that [people in this part of North Africa] can become Christians.”
Though the region’s rich Christian history dates back to the early church, today there are few churches or Christians in the country. The gospel is still opposed by many Muslims, despite the government’s religious-freedom reforms, and Christian converts from Islam must often conceal their new faith from even their closest relatives.
“We heard a story where the husband was trying to hide [his Christian faith],” Joe said, “and his wife became a believer without knowing that the husband was a believer. She was also hiding [her Christian faith]. Later the two met in a Christian service. You can imagine it was a great day for them.”
Joe (left) is passionate about sharing the gospel.
While less than 1% of the population is Christian in the country where Joe lives, God is drawing people to Himself in a variety of ways. “He prepares people before we can meet them,” Joe said. “Some we meet personally, some we meet through social media and some come out to us saying, ‘I had a dream about this and this. Can you explain to me what it is about?’”
Joe is eager to answer questions and help new Christians become students of God’s Word. His ministry work brings great joy, but also great danger. In attempts to intimidate the Christians, someone has left threatening messages on the church door and smashed members’ car windows.
“We are afraid,” Joe admitted. “We are exposed, so I can tell you that many times we start a day, but we don’t know how the day will end.”
Still, Joe said encouragement from the global body of Christ has helped him and his congregation persevere and continue in the ministry to which the Lord has called them. “It is good … to help the brethren here going through hardships know that they are not alone,” he said. “The body of Christ is not a theory – it is true, it is a reality. [We are] the family of God, and we need to help each other.”
Joe said the local church is growing, and he requests prayer that the Lord will sustain him as he points others to living water in the North African desert.
Submit a Prayer