The Arabian Peninsula Partnership
The Gospel for every person and a church for every people in the Arabian Peninsula amongst indigenous peoples
Finding Christ at university: a young man's search for faith.
Farouq is an expatriate Arab studying at the government university in our country. His father is a Muslim, his mother is a post-modern westerner with no firm belief in any one God and sympathetic to many of the New Age philosophies that are pervasive in the western context.
About 3 years ago, Farouq began to question his Muslim faith. He tried to find out about other religions, particularly Christianity. He wrestled with his understanding of Islam for almost 2 years. He visited families in his own home town that he knew were Christian to see what a Christian family was like. However, it wasn't until he moved to the Arabian Peninsula that he clearly understood the Gospel. He quietly placed his trust in Jesus and his life began to change. He no longer spent time engaged in activities that were part of his life before coming to faith in Jesus. Many of these activities bothered his parents but they had little ability to stop him from doing these things.
However, he was away from home, studying at the university without a close Christian friend that he could fellowship and share. He was lonely and feeling separate. He decided that he would do a Google search for 'Christians' in the AP country he was studying. His search yielded a two hits: one was a campus ministry group in a city 1.5 hours away, the other was a church in the same city. He knew right then and there that he must visit this city.
After a few months, he found a way north to this city and went to the church that he found on the net. He attended the most fantastic (and only) church service he had ever been to in his life! He enjoyed the warm friendly people, even though they didn't know who he was. He enjoyed the time of prayer, the teaching, things about Jesus that he so wanted to know. He was unfamiliar with the music, but that too spoke of the God he clung to alone for so many months.
Afterwards, he found the courage to meet up with the pastor after all the people had left him alone. He found a man so excited about Farouq's questions and new found faith. He found a man who said he would introduce him to dozens of university aged followers of Jesus, some who even came from a Muslim background like himself! This was indeed was the answer to his many prayers for those lonely months. Pray for Farouq as he continues to grow in his faith. Pray that he would put down deep roots firmly established on the solid rock of God's word.