One Pastor Accepts the Mantle to Take the Gospel to Local Muslims

AIMS News: Posted 10/1/2004

"Eliza" was almost 80 years old when a stroke and a heart attack sent her to the hospital. The prognosis was dim. The doctors didnít expect her to live another 24 hours.

Raised as a Muslim, Eliza had never heard that she could have eternal hope. She believed Allah would weigh her good deeds against the bad and that he alone would decide whether or not to allow her to enter heaven. Strong in her faith, Eliza had tried to live a good life. She attended one of the original mosques in Dearborn, MI, and prayed to Allah regularly. Although she lived in the United States, Jesus Christ was foreign to her.

One day, her son brought a stranger to Eliza's bedside. He asked if he could pray with her. At first, Eliza was angry to learn that her son was attending a Christian church, but she agreed.

The man spoke to her, "I'm going to pray in the name of Jesus and God is going to raise you up out of this bed." When he took her hand, a presence she couldn't explain filled the room. Tears fell from her eyes. A few days later, her doctors released her and she returned home, miraculously healed.

When "Pastor Nicodemus" planted a church in Dearborn in the early 1990s, he simply wanted to re-establish contact with several former church members. He agreed to pastor the church for two years before following his plan to plant another church forty miles away.

"But God had other plans," said Nicodemus. One night, as he was praying, he felt God speak to him about the increasing Islamic population in Dearborn. "I began to weep and the burden of the Arabs fell on me. It was almost like a mantle."

Reaching Muslims in the Community

Pastor Nicodemus began talking to Muslims on the street. He tried to learn about their culture and understand their beliefs. He built relationships with people like Eliza's son, who is now an elder in the church. His relationship with Eliza didn't end at her bedside. Throughout the year, he visited Eliza at her home and gave her a large print Bible for Christmas. Four months later, Eliza accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior.

As former Muslims began to attend services, the small congregation began to become more involved in the community. By 2001, the church was ready to launch a community-wide outreach. For months, the congregation planned three major outreach events for the fall: a massive car seat give-away, an October Fest, and an open family night. Then, 9/11 happened. The plans had been finalized; Ford Motor Company had already donated more than 500 car seats to the ministry. Nicodemus decided to continue as planned.

"There was a lot of appreciation shown by the Arab community. The Muslims were very surprised that we would reach out to them, especially after 9/11."

The outreaches were successful, but Nicodemus' vision extended beyond the outreaches. He wanted to establish a regular benevolence program that would work with other ministries in the area to pool and distribute resources to people in need. Secondly, he hoped to rent or purchase a building to use as a coffee house that will help develop relationships between the church and the Muslim community. However, to accomplish this, the church would need assistance.

During the next three years, he spoke with churches and organizations about sending ministry teams to help. Some seemed excited about the opportunity in Dearborn, but in the end, every effort failed. Nicodemus became frustrated. Then, he received a call from "Philip," Team Strategy Coordinator at AIMS.

The Vision Confirmed

For the 39 teenagers, young adults, and youth pastors who participated in the first AIMS trip to Dearborn, the experience was life-changing. But for Pastor Nicodemus and his congregation, the short-term team gave them renewed hope.

"You labor by yourself and wonder if anyone cares? Then, all of the sudden, this group arrived. They came like locusts, invading our parking and our church," Nicodemus laughed. "Several of our people said that they couldn't believe that people from Virginia Beach would come all this way to help us."

Pastor Nicodemus has already invited AIMS to lead another short-term team to Michigan in 2005. The opportunity would include involvement of other partner churches as well as the churches that participated this year.

"What happened in August was a microcosm of what God is going to do over the period of the next 10 years or so in this area," said Nicodemus. "Groups like AIMS will continue to come together and help us network with other groups in the vicinity who have a burden and are doing work already. God is bringing together a team of people to reach the Dearborn area."

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