Reaching Muslim Men in Context: Teamwork

“…the Holy Spirit said, “Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work I have for them...” Acts 13:2&3

Canada geese fly in a 'V formation' when migrating. The lead bird takes the brunt of the headwind. The trailing bird benefits from up to 65% less air resistance because of the wake(air turbulence) of the bird ahead of him. This preserves energy and greatly increases the range of the birds. Each bird takes his turn as leader. Honking encourages each other on. When one of their own is wounded and has to drop out of the flight formation, another will accompany him and stay by his side until the wounded bird recovers or dies. Then the healthy one will fly to rejoin his flock and on to the destination.

Isn’t this a great picture of teamwork? Can we apply this to ‘Missions’? Paul was sent out. Wherever he went, Paul surrounded himself with a team—his ‘V formation’. Tychicus is mentioned several times as the one who takes reports back to churches. At the end of Colossians, Paul lists many such individuals on his team. Of particular interest to me is the story of Acquilla and Priscilla, a husband and wife team. They fled Rome and settled in Corinth where they met Paul. They were an effective team and Paul’s esteemed co-workers. They were ordinary people who loved the Lord deeply and cared for Paul’s well-being.

In recent years, Joy and I have been a ‘husband and wife’ team in ministry. Its wonderful to share this part of our journey together. Our day starts out with an extended prayer time which includes praying for our Muslim contacts and for new believers. When I meet Muslim women at places where I volunteer, I link them up with Joy if they are interested. Our focus is increasingly on family units and the best way to reach them is for both of us to be involved. When we extend hospitality, we often sit together for the first while and then Joy takes the woman and children to our family room in the basement. I stay upstairs with the guy and can focus on his needs. In the meantime, this gives Joy an opportunity to talk to the woman about their particular interests and to seek for openings to share spiritually.

I’ve written about All Nations Sports Club earlier. My then co-leader and volunteers served as a team from the start to the finish. We started our evening off with prayer and then at half-time, one of us shares a ‘God-talk’. If another team member was sharing, I prayed for the Holy Spirit to move in the hearts of the boys while he presented.

My wife and I are privileged to have a great team of prayer and financial partners. Instead of a 'Tychicus', we use e-mail to connect us almost instantly with our prayer partners. We send out SOS prayers or mini-reports of what God is doing in our ministry. These special brothers and sisters are part of our ‘V formation’. We could say, they do the 'honking'--keep going, keep going!