Unexpected meetings

Last week was busy, but stimulating.

The requested evening Bible study only attracted two men, one a German who works at their Consulate, and our regular Iranian. There was good sharing and discussion, as we looked at Philippians 2. We shall now look at some of the ‘I am’ sayings in John. We also continued the afternoon Bible study – working through John’s Gospel – on Wednesday. Numbers were down there, because of the public holiday, but again there was good sharing.

On Wednesday we had an early start, to cross the city by Metro to meet a church member who was driving us down to a Christian retreat centre near Ephesus for their weekly Prayer Meeting, which draws Turks and English-speakers together. We had been told that the group leader wanted to talk to us about spiritual direction/guidance; this did not prepare us for being told that they wanted us to speak to the whole group about this for two sessions, morning and afternoon. So Jo and I had a hasty prayer walk and talk during the coffee break, and then threw ourselves on the Holy Spirit! We discovered that one advantage of having to have one’s words translated is to give space to think of the next sentence! In the event it went well, and again there was a real interest in the whole subject of prayer. It was moving to hear from two Turkish women, who had been led from Islam to Christian faith as the result of dreams about Jesus -something we had only heard of at third hand.

Indeed, it was a week for unexpectedly meeting Christian converts. A walk around Izmir one afternoon led to a short conversation (in English) with a man who cleans shoes. He spoke of the effects of the Bayram (the post-Ramazan holiday, which lasts at least three days), which deprived him of custom; he asked our nationality, and expressed his affection for Britain, and told us he had been baptised some years ago in the sea near Ephesus by a British Christian friend. He produced a crocheted cross bookmark, which we bought from him. And on Saturday as we returned on the Izban (light railway) from a morning exploring a town to the north of Izmir, we were again addressed by a Turkish man who sat opposite us, who told us he was a Christian, having become a member of a Baptist church some three years ago. He knew of St John’s, and showed us photos of a former Anglican church in the city, which is now used by Baptists. (We communicated with the help of his smart-phone’s translation app.)

Add to that a young couple from Istanbul, who came into the church on Sunday before the service – out of curiosity or interest - and then stayed for the whole service, and went to the after-church refreshments. They had been particularly taken by the infant baptisms which took place. (Those baptisms were a joy, as they usually are, particularly as we knew how much they meant to the believing parents. Church members also entered into the spirit of the service – the responses were made clearly and with conviction.) Then after the service we were met by a couple of men who wanted prayer for deliverance for a friend (but our lack of Turkish limited our ability to respond fully.)

So the balance has been more towards work, but we still enjoyed some good time off. Our daily walks by the sea, mostly in early morning light, or towards sunset, are a source of pleasure and refreshment. We managed to find the city bus that goes up the top of Mt Pagos, overlooking the bay, on which are found the ruins of the ‘Velvet Castle’, Kadifekale. The views are wonderful, and the remains of the (mostly Ottoman) keep and walls interesting. The original foundation was by Alexander the Great, but little remains of that. But it was worth seeing (despite the dismissive ‘only ruins’ from the young lady at the Tourist Office.) And wandering round Menemen, at the end of the Izban, was fascinating; just shops, a park and many older, simple houses, but we also came across a partly restored caravanserai in the back-streets.

Prayer points:

·        Give thanks for the obvious openness to and interest in Christianity among at least some Turks.

·        Pray for Yaṣar, who suffers from what his friends called a curse.

·        Pray for a church member visiting the UNHCR office in Ankara, to gain asylum-seeker status.

·        For the Christians we have met by chance.

·        That we may be ready to respond to the unexpected – and to meet the spiritual needs of the congregation here.