“How can we pray for you?”
It was a simple question, but the responses showed the felt need for prayer throughout the European city.
Among those who responded to this question was Mustafa. Scrolling online, he stopped at an image with a Bible verse and a question asking, “How can we pray for you in the name of Jesus?”
Michael Love and his team launched their first digital engagement campaign last year. By clicking on their social media ad, people can connect with the team, allowing them to ask for prayer or begin spiritual conversations.
Mustafa connected to a member of Love’s team, and they began a conversation about faith. “He asked if he could have a Bible,” Love said. So they sent him a Bible. They continued to message back and forth online.
“Then he went silent for about a month.”
IMB missionaries use ads on social media, like this one in Spanish, to engage with seekers all over the world. IMB Photo
The goal with digital engagement is not merely to connect with people online, but to broaden International Mission Board missionaries’ gospel reach. “One of our goals with digital engagement is to turn every conversation into a gospel opportunity,” Love said. “Even the hostile ones. We try to change all those into a gospel conversation or at least a presentation, whether they respond or not.”
The Loves moved to Europe after serving in Central Asia for six years. When doors closed in their country, they joined a team in Europe, serving people from Central Asia, and worked with a struggling church plant that eventually dispersed.
While it looked like they were back to square one, a small group of believers wanted to meet for monthly prayer gatherings. This grew to a weekly Bible study, which soon began to operate as a healthy church.
Digital engagement gave the Loves the opportunity to broadly sow gospel seeds. So, when they stopped hearing from Mustafa, they were not expecting to hear back from him again. “We knew he had a Bible, and we had some conversations with him.” They trusted God with the seeds they planted, even though they might never meet him face to face.
Time went by, and Love and his team went about serving and encouraging the new church, posting online ads and engaging anyone who responded with questions or requests for prayer.
A year later, Love’s team attempted a new digital engagement strategy and posted a new ad. One of the first messages they received said, “I don’t know if you remember, but you guys sent me Bible a year ago.”
The message was from Mustafa, who had been reading the Bible they sent.
“I want to be a Christian,” he said. “I believe I’m a Christian, but I don’t know what that means.” He asked if someone could meet with him to talk about what it means to be saved. “I believe in the Bible, and I believe in Jesus. But I don’t know any Christians.”
The team emailed back and forth with Mustafa for about four months, trying to arrange a time to meet. One of the local believers in their church found out he lived 20 minutes away from Mustafa. Love said, “Hey, let’s go together to meet this guy.”
Love began meeting with Mustafa, who is a Muslim and was filled with many questions: Does God have a son? How can Christians have three gods? What do you believe about the Quran?
Love kept returning their conversations back to who Jesus is — the Word that dwells with us. They pointed him to the Bible, which he had been reading on his own. When they prayed, Love reminded Mustafa, “We don’t just pray. We pray in the name of Jesus.”
When Love and his family traveled to the U.S., a local believer continued to meet with Mustafa in his city, helping him through the questions many Muslims wrestle with when coming to Christ.
Two weeks after Love arrived in the U.S., the local believer sent an email and said that Mustafa prayed to receive Christ. They planned to connect Mustafa with a church in his area.
While Love and his team planted a seed, God did the rest.
Love is excited for the growing opportunities with digital engagement. They are continuing to have many conversations online with people who have spiritual questions. While it may have taken a year for Mustafa to agree to meet with them and to know Jesus personally Love said, “That’s well worth it.”
Names have been changed for security.
Read more about Michael Love’s ministry to Central Asians in Europe.