Two representatives of the South Carolina Baptist Convention recently visited Egypt, where they saw that the recent people’s revolution has “popped open” doors for missions partnerships.
Wayne Terry, left, and Wil Bradham, right, visit with a pastor in Egypt.South Carolina Baptists have an ongoing partnership with North African and Middle Eastern peoples, but difficult conditions limited the partnership to two projects in 2010. That changed almost overnight. “Churches in Egypt have asked for our help,” said Wayne Terry of the SCBC’s multiplication team. And not just help, he said, but urgent and immediate action from believers during a rare but undeniable window of opportunity.
Wil Bradham, director of missions for Southeast Association, describes Egypt as the “doorway to the Middle East.”
“If Egypt is won for Christ,” he said, “the Middle East will be won.”
Terry and Bradham recently returned from a fact-finding mission to Egypt to discover firsthand the needs of the pastors and their congregations.
With the advent of new freedoms throughout the country, a hunger for the truth has been unleashed, Terry said. When the chaos of the revolution swept one community, the response from citizens of several religious backgrounds was to gather in the courtyard of the local Baptist church. The church recently planned something unheard of in Egypt, an outdoor Christian concert where about 1,500 people in the community responded.
As Terry and Bradham visited with an Egyptian pastor in a densely populated city of high-rise buildings, the pastor took the men to the rooftop courtyard to observe his community of several city blocks. The responsibility and desire to show God’s love to his 1.5 million neighbors was overwhelming, he told them. With the Muslim call to prayer ringing loudly across the city, the men shared a prayer for the lives of those around them.
Terry said 16 Baptist churches in Egypt are calling, “Come help us.” When Terry told the Egyptian pastor that some churches in America might have difficulty responding immediately because “they have not planned for this,” the pastor immediately responded, “We did not plan for the revolution and God opening the door.”
Terry said a relationship with Egyptian churches would require a long-term strategy of friendship and resources. So far, seven South Carolina churches have “opened their arms” to partner with Egyptian churches, he said.
The effort will begin in Egypt with the arrival of South Carolina Baptists in the fall for a series of special services in each host church and a two-day leadership conference for the pastors and leaders. Long before the teams arrive in Egypt, Christians from both countries will be praying for every aspect of God’s work there. A 40-day prayer guide has been designed to encourage Christians to seek God’s blessing on the new ministry. The theme for the ministry is: “Serve the Church – Bless the Country.”
When discussing the urgency of the need, Tim Rice, director of missions mobilization group for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said, “There is no multiple choice in the Great Commission. Now is the time to step out in faith.” – SCBC