Guest Post by Elly Lloyd
We departed from Cairo on Thursday morning to explore more of Egypt and connect with more persecuted believers. Our first stop was East Samalut in the Minya Governate – a popular stopover for Christians on the Holy Family Pilgrimage. While we can’t be sure about the specific locations that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus visited while in exile, it is interesting to imagine Jesus spending time in Egypt as an infant. Many Christians live in and around the Monastery of the Virgin Mary – they were very kind to us and had a tangible devotion to the Lord. They were so kind that one mother entrusted her newborn daughter to my care for a few minutes – a precious memory.
After a delicious lunch that included some of the most incredible dips we’ve had so far (Dave certainly enjoyed the dips, singlehandedly cleaning out all the dip plates), we met in a secret upper room with some local Christians involved in discipleship ministry throughout the governate.
One particularly inspiring leader was Pastor *Karim. He has been serving amid great difficulties in this region of Egypt for decades. Growing up in a village, he would often be awakened in the night by the footsteps of police on his roof chasing after extremists. This was understandably a terrifying environment to be a child.
He shared with us that he gave his life to Christ in a small discipleship group and that over the years, most of the other members ended up moving to Cairo or overseas to avoid persecution. He said he, too, was thinking about leaving, and then he had a dream, and in the dream, he heard the Lord say, “A true hero doesn’t leave the battle; they stand and fight to the end.” He woke believing God was calling him to stay amid the darkness around Him and continue to be a light in this community. And what light he has been!
We then asked Pastor Karim if he had a message for the Australian church, and this was his response,
“Don’t escape from the pain. Accept the challenges because, in the middle of the challenge, God is working. Open your ears, open your eyes and see how God is working.”
The challenges around them do not blind the church in Egypt, and they consistently see how God is at work despite the darkness threatening them. This felt like such a stark contrast to our experience of faith in the West; I think so often, as soon as any trials come knocking on our door, we tend to retreat from it and find our heart asking those classic ‘Why God?’ questions instead of leaning in to see how the Lord is still at work amid the sufferings that come.
The persecuted church teaches us to see some of God’s purposes in pain.
Another persecuted believer we met that day in Minya – Pastor *Ezra – had this to say about why God allows suffering,
“When we go through suffering, God is preparing us to help those who are suffering. You will be a high priest in the future – you’ve been through it and can help people. You can help this next generation.”
What a great concept! In Hebrews 4, Jesus is our sinless high priest able to sympathise with us in our time of need. And what a privilege we then have to be high priestly in helping other believers in their time of need.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” (2 Corinthians 1:3–5 ESV)
In the gospel of Christ, we have received comfort from God that we can be a comfort to those who are also afflicted.
*Bishoi – our favourite tour guide – continues to be a consistent and refreshing example time and time again. An ordinary believer following Jesus in a place like Egypt, he keeps coming out with passing comments that leave our hearts forever marked.
I remember standing outside the bus with the team, the tour guide, our driver, and our security guard while on a break somewhere in the desert between Cairo and Minya and Bishoi casually opened with this line,
“If persecution leaves the body of Christ… it weakens. Persecution is like going to the gym. We grow when our muscles are under pressure. The pressure and burden of persecution brings growth in the Christian life.”
I love that – it’s through the trials and the testings that we build our spiritual muscles, but when those testings leave, we weaken again. Persecution strengthens the saints.
It’s strange to think of persecution as a gift, yet God strengthens the saints through persecution. And that really is a gift. For those in the body of Christ who are not currently being persecuted, learning the stories of persecuted brothers and sisters is a gift for strengthening their faith and spiritual muscles.
I will forever remember the lessons from this day and embrace the challenges of this life, knowing that God is with me and at work in the middle.
*Name changed for security purposes.
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Read the rest of the series here.
ps from Dave – Mo Salah’s image was all over the front fence of a new block of units somewhere in the middle of the desert… maybe we’re getting closer?
