Growth

So I just had my first Christmas entirely in Turkish. The Christmas Eve service was in Turkish at a large(ish) church here and then my Christmas dinner was together with a number of those who are a part of the very small church that I attend here in Ankara. I have to admit, to my shame, that I was disappointed to discover that the American family that had invited me to Christmas dinner had also invited the whole church as well...I selfishly was looking forward to a traditional, Western style, English speaking, small family Christmas dinner. Alas, it was not to be, but thank goodness!! It turned out to be ever so much more and so much better than that...

We were a unique mix of Canadian, American, Turk, Korean and Iranian, some solid long time believers, some new and shaky and at least one Muslim. Turkish was the common language and as the evening progressed the conversation turned from the trivial to the profound. It was such a joy to discuss the tenets of our faith with different folks sharing their thoughts and questions, struggles and frustrations, experiences and interpretations. As I sat and listened and watched I was thinking how incredible it all was...this is how we grow in our faith, in community like this. Sunday church has its place for sure, but the depth and growth that I was witnessing and personally experiencing that evening cannot be contrived and can really only happen when we open up our lives to one another.

The new and shaky believers were watching the experienced and solid ones in action (not talking about foreigners here, it was Turks and Iranians who did almost all of the sharing) and gaining encouragement and wisdom from that. They were also able to bring their difficulties and questions to the table where they would never be able to in a Sunday service.

I was delighted that this Muslim lady was also present to listen to our discussion, to see how we interact, to hear our struggles and concerns. She too felt free in that setting to voice her thoughts and questions and experiences. One of the guys mentioned that he had witnessed Jesus in a dream and her face lit up, "really?!" she asked, then she began to share how the other day when she was praying (at the church actually) she felt a presence come and stand beside her, white and gleaming, she said she had the sense that it was Jesus but was actually afraid and didn't want to look up. To my mind came Peter who told Jesus to get away from him, a sinful man, when he first recognized who He really was but before anyone really had a chance to offer anything, she got up to leave as she'd been called away by someone else. We'll definitely be praying and chatting more!

So this discussion would never have come about if it had not been for the simple gesture of inviting folks to be a part of our world. I am convicted. We're well aware that that is how Jesus did it with his disciples--He taught them, true, but mostly they were just with Him, in all the details of daily life--so when, how and why did discipleship get reduced to a once-a-week or twice-a-month meeting to work through a series of lessons in a booklet that summarize the essentials of Scripture and the basics of 'walking with God'?