A few years ago—pre-Covid—I was asked to take on the application from a man in South Asia who was requesting training through ELI. I was relatively new to ELI, but knowing what we do at ELI, I agreed.
It turned out to be J., a man in Muslim-majority country. In the 1990’s, J. had gone to a one-year Bible college and become a church planter in his hometown.
At that time evangelism was mostly focused on the non-Muslim population; preaching the gospel among Muslims was mostly a way to get into trouble. After three years he had seen only a handful of converts, and was discouraged. So he decided to redirect his ministry toward the Muslim majority. The leadership in his church said, “Don’t do it. You’re crazy.” He and his wife were, however, of one mind, and he did it anyway.
Three months later he had a big handful of new believers to show for his labors. “This is more like it,” he thought. He persevered. One day, for example, a local Imam, leader of a mosque, knocked on his door. The Imam had received instructions in a dream: go to this address, and look for a man with this name. Then listen to him. Though J. was suspicious—maybe this Imam was setting a trap for him? —he shared the gospel with him, and he became one of J.’s early converts.
Fast forward over 20 years, and J. found ELI. As I worked through his application and references, I was amazed at what I found: a large network of house churches for whose leaders J. was seeking training. Almost all of the house church members are first-generation believers from Muslim backgrounds. In early 2020 I traveled to J.’s country to do the first conference. I returned just days before lockdowns struck, both here and in J.’s country.
God eventually overcame Covid by showing us Zoom; and in the intervening years we have begun to provide training to the thousands of house church leaders in J.’s network. Providentially, at the same time ELI doubled down on multiplying: not only training Christian leaders, but training Christian leaders (we call them Timothys) to train others.
I experienced this first-hand with J.: we trained 25 Timothys in 14 ELI courses, and they have in turn trained 450 other house church leaders in those courses. Our goal is to give house church leaders tools for biblical teaching and discipleship. We are now training our second round of Timothys, who are training over 500 more house church leaders. We train with a combination of Zoom courses and in-person courses.
In the meantime, J.’s network of house churches is also multiplying; there are now over 10,000 house church leaders who still need to be trained.
You might say, how does this multiplication happen?
Here is a what the typical life of a new house church believer looks like:
An evangelist comes to your village, and you hear the gospel, and God calls you to himself. Perhaps there are a handful of new believers through the evangelist’s preaching. That group forms a house church.
At first there is persecution from the neighbors; but in time more neighbors are won over, and the group grows. Within nine months, the house church becomes two house churches. One of the new believers becomes the leader of the new house church. In nine months, this happens again. And again.
Within nine months, the house church becomes two house churches. One of the new believers becomes the leader of the new house church. In nine months, this happens again. And again.
Thus, there is a good chance that, a short time after coming to Christ, you will be tasked to lead a new house church. Which, again, grows to become two, then three, then four house churches.
For example, one of our Timothys (a pastor who trains other pastors), who has been a believer for over ten years, came to lead a house church within a year of his conversion. As these have multiplied over time, from that first house church he led, 350 house churches have come into being. And that is only one of the Timothys!
For my part, I am continually amazed that God has allowed me to be a part of this. My brother in Christ, J., is a very remarkable brother. At our first conference, I noticed that he did not carry himself like the leader of a vast network of believers. When I asked him, he told me most of the participants did not know who he was.
When we pray together, invariably one of the first things he prays is, “Lord, we make ourselves humble before you.” I cannot imagine the burden he bears for the thousands of believers under his oversight.
I cannot imagine the burden he bears for the thousands of believers under his oversight.
On the day described in Revelation 7, when people from every tongue, tribe, and nation gather around the throne to sing praise to God, together in all languages, for his great salvation, I am sure he will be much, much closer to Christ that I; and it will be astonishing if I am even close enough to see the back of his head—and the heads of the other Muslim-background believers from J.’s country.
