Somalia

I was pleased to find a comment on my recent post about Somalia. I had to go back to see what I had said. I went and browsed through Pray4Somalia's blog. This young Christian wants to go to Somalia and spread the gospel there. That takes a lot of commitment and more especially courage and faith right now. The persecution of Christians there is one of the highest in the world. The links provided on this blog have some wonderful information about the history of Somalia, the Somali people, and ways to pray for this situation.

The summer before we went to Africa, I went to a presentation to our mission committee about evangelizing Africa. Several things remain in my memory. Preparing and equipping Africans to do the evangelism is a good thing for many reasons. They can do it more efficiently and they have ways of reaching more people. Reaching out to Muslims is more difficult for many reasons. At this presentation, it seems to work when Christians move in to Muslim areas to live and work. The association and influence gradually makes a difference. More recently in articles I've read, many times Muslims are surprised when Christian workers include them in the agricultural education or well drilling projects. I've also heard about some miracle stories where God has opened the eyes of Muslims and made them receptive to the Word.

So . . . for my Christian readers today, I hope you will take time and look through Pray4Somalia's blog and its links. But above all, please pray for Somalia. It is a war torn land, with corrupt war lords making life very miserable for its people. The needs are great . . . the difficulties for Christians to provide aid may seem insurmountable, but our God can do great things. May He touch other people's hearts with desire to go and help the people of Somalia, may He provide financial support for Christian workers and humanitarian aid, may He open doors for mission work so that Christians be allowed to come in and help alleviate the suffering there, and may He touch the hearts of the Somali people and its leaders so that their land can return to peace and prosperity.