what does it look like to be a Turkish believer?

The church I have been attending in Turkey is the ONLY church in town and the people who attend are primarily Expats from England save four or five Turkish believers. There isn’t an exclusively Turkish church in town, but the local church has people with hearts specifically for Turks and there are bible studies and fellowship times that meet throughout the week. I have had the privilege of attending these Turkish services the last month.

Fellowshipping together before we began worshipping

I don’t want to reveal people’s actual names, and will be using substitutes for this journal. There is a Turkish couple: Susan and Bill who have been faithfully attending the church for over ten years. Only this last year has there been a translator! And in the last several months there have been a more Turks coming to church! In fact, there is a new believer, Eric who became a believer about a month or so ago! At the Sunday night Turkish fellowship Eric came ready with questions.

Worship is WONDERFUL! Aaron a middle aged Turk is very tall and skinny and a talented musician. He brings his saz to play during worship, this is a type of stringed instrument. These songs are translated Western songs (as much as I can tell) into Turkish. I stumble over the words as we sing together, but am able for the most part to participate. The Turkish Alphabet is both Latin and phonetic though sometimes I am not able to make the right sounds!

“Susan” and “Aron” and Lynda worshipping

After worship Eric posed the question: Why do we get baptized? And why do we meet on Sunday for church? These were AWESOME questions, and I thought truly revealed someone learning about God. One thing I noticed was the foreigners who were there (myself, a long term worker from Indiana, and two English) were able to help answer the question, but? Only the long termer, Andrea, was able to speak Turkish and communicate—she was the connector piece. And did an AWESOME job! Have I told you recently that Turkish is a VERY complicated language?

Since being in this school I wonder what it could look like for Andrea to pour into Bill and Susan—an older Turkish couple. Would they be receptive to her teaching them, so that they could be a part of Eric’s discipleship? Or even empowering and growing Eric—equipping him to in turn teach others. These are the questions that I am asking myself right now.

Seeing God move here in Turkey has been incredible—God has been moving in my own heart and in the hearts around me.

This is what a saz looks like!