After my junior year of college, I had the amazing experience of taking a summer mission trip to Africa. It was the first time I had ever been out of the U.S. Some of the most exotic and also the scariest times came when my senses vividly reminded me that I really was in Africa – like the other-worldly satisfaction of drinking chai straight from the open fire in the middle of a little dung hut with lambs and calves staring on, or like the realization of the vast distance between me and help as I heard wild drums thumping in the night closer and closer to our bush lodging, or like how close the “far-away heathen” felt as the fisherman and I discussed the tides of the Indian Ocean that lapped at our legs, or like the deep connection of heart that was immediately understood while singing hymns, slightly different in tune and cadence, but obviously to the same Lord and in the same Spirit as those dear national Christians.

And now, years removed from that trip, I’m still excited by the exotic, frozen by the scary, warmed by the hospitable, longing for the lost, and basking in African fellowship—only in a different part of Africa.

Recently I was in a shop in Ohio trying to get my computer fixed. The worker wanted me to provoke it to crash as it had before, so I pulled up several videos to edit from the country where we serve. Of course, the computer didn’t crash while he was looking at it, but he wanted to know where in the world those videos were taken. He commented, “that looks like a place right off a movie set. There are modern people walking through an ancient-looking place.” That’s where we live, but not why we live there. It’s only the façade of where we live. What’s on the inside is what drives us to commit our lives to engage in the Lord’s work of building His church in North Africa.

If you could peal back the exotic surroundings and penetrate the cozy, loveable culture, you would find a pervasive, evil force that is relentlessly attempting to shut out its inhabitants from the light of Christ. The enemy harnesses things like anti-proselytism laws, fear, and hopelessness to do his work. Let’s look at these three tools in his arsenal.

Laws

I know missionaries who have been kicked out of the country, a national who barely escaped prison, and another who is in prison—all because they were effective in their witness. But instead of extinguishing the light by these laws that are contrary to Christ, I know at least twelve people who have made professions of faith during the last three years as a result of one-on-one witnessing opportunities. One five-day Facebook campaign for a simple gospel video targeting a 50-mile radius registered 10,000 views. Requests for Bibles come weekly from online sources. That’s a lot of interest! The Lord is obviously stirring souls with an overwhelming thirst for truth. Christ is building His church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Fear

Fear is probably the greatest deterrent to the Gospel in our place of service. Fear of “the evil eye,” fear of family rejection, fear of government surveillance, and fear of imprisonment or mob violence is very real to the nationals. But to hear brothers in Christ recount their unashamed testimonies of Christ in the face of fear is encouraging. One of them announced to his extremist father that he was a Christian and is now in danger. Another who was taken to court by his dad for being a Christian, refused to swear on the Quran while there, and rejoiced when God miraculously overturned the case.

Hopelessness

The subject of hopelessness flashes up scenes that are not easily forgotten – the poor soul who flung himself from the bridge into the oncoming train, the screaming fights in any public venue, the sound of funeral chants mixed with the smell of stifling incense, and the empty stare of the dirty street kid suppressing the ache of his abandoned little life by sniffing glue.

This last scene will rip your heart out. How does a child that young come to be left by himself to beg on the streets and sleep under the train bridge by the mall without the hospitable culture reeling in shame? One reason that children can be turned out onto the street with no compunction is because Islam teaches that the souls of illegitimate children are already destined for hell, beyond hope. One young man who recently accepted Christ asked me if God really accepts him since he is an illegitimate child. How would you feel when explaining to that individual that Christ took on that stigma for him, that God claims him eternally as His own child, and that he has an imperishable inheritance? Unbelievable privilege!

Look on these fields! Your spiritual senses should be piqued at how ripe they are for harvesting. They are beautiful, yet labor-intensive; challenging, yet satisfyingly possible. Is the Lord of the harvest moving you to go? Sometimes people think they don’t have enough personal skill or pizazz. Do you have hands? Let the Lord use them. Do you have a mouth? Give it to the Lord to speak His words. An empty vessel is the only kind that is useful. You don’t have long, for “night is coming when no one can work.”