Reflections on the Arab Spring: November 15, 2011
While at language school in Cologne in the fall of 2006, I wrote an email to Brother Andrew’s organization “Open Doors” asking if it would be possible to interview him about his work. I already knew I wanted to be involved in evangelistic and theological work when I finished my training, and as a student in Europe even a remote possibility of meeting and learning from the Christian leaders there was irresistible.
About six months later, I received a positive reply from one of Brother Andrew’s many secretaries. I had relocated by then to the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in southern Germany, making it about a seven-hour train trip to Amsterdam where one of Brother Andrew’s assistants picked me up for the meeting. Brother Andrew is, of course, best remembered for his courageous evangelistic work behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War, but soon after the publication of his 1967 book God’s Smuggler—an international bestseller that sold over 10 million copies—he became too well-known to continue his work in Eastern Europe without compromising the safety of his friends there. Almost immediately, he turned his attention to the Middle East, where he’s continued to work for the better parts of the last three decades.
In light of the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and knowing Brother Andrew’s familiarity with heated political situations, I was looking forward to asking him a series of questions about Christianity and politics in the Middle East. Eager to get started, I began to ask about 9/11, the rise of terrorism, and Brother Andrew’s political strategy in general.
The phrase made him chuckle. His answer, however, was thoughtful—kind but completely reorienting. It was one of those moments I was glad to have a tape recorder.
“The problem is not political, and the solution is not political,” he said without hesitation. “And the problem is not lack of money, therefore money is not the solution. The only solution that God has given us is in Jesus Christ… And if He is the only solution why waste any effort, money, or time on anything that is not the solution?”
As for responding to the threat of terrorism or politically unstable countries: “I see no problem with reaching them,” he said, comfortably offering a list of possible thems: “Hezbollah, Hamas, all these guys in Tunisia, Algeria, Gaza, Lebanon, if we can only see them as people for whom Jesus died. That’s the turning point… Politics can never do that.” He reflected for a half second. “I’m glad not to be a politician.”
It’s been almost five years since our conversation, but Brother Andrew’s insistence on keeping his only strategy the strategy of the gospel has permanently influenced my own understanding of the Christian’s role in politically-charged world.
The conversation took on a new immediacy over the course of 2011 as the media reported a succession of new protests and demonstrations across the Middle East. It’s almost impossible not to notice a growing sense of uncertainty and occasionally distrust among Christians in the United States as they seek to make sense of the news. Some Christians see the Arab Spring as a positive step away from the despotic leadership of past decades, while others have taken the view of one blogger who prophesied that an Arab Spring can only lead to a “Christian Winter.”
The concern is a serious one—especially when considering the persecuted church—and one very much on my mind during the spring of last year. As it happened, I was also reading Billy Graham’s autobiography at the time, and when I came across Graham’s account of his 1960 trip to Africa, I began to see some surprising parallels.
The year of Graham’s visit happened to be the year more than a dozen African countries were decolonized, and he writes candidly about the uncertainty this situation produced:
At the beginning of 1960, most of the countries on the vast continent of Africa were still under foreign colonial domination; some, like Nigeria, were due to receive independence later in the year. The cry of freedom was on the lips of people everywhere. And yet we also detected a great deal of nervousness: with the colonial structures collapsing and the old ways of life disappearing, no one knew exactly what the future would hold… I knew that Africa would move in any of several directions—Communist, Islamic, animistic, or Christian—and I was there to promote the last.
Graham recognized the enormous uncertainty of the political climate, but he also knew he wasn’t there to promote a political agenda. He was there to preach the gospel.
One thing we seem to encounter regularly on planet earth is political upheaval, and we’ve had lots of chances over the centuries to see what effect these upheavals have on the church. Unlike the Arab Spring, which has yet to produce any sort of unified stance on Christianity, China’s Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the twentieth century was aggressively anti-Christian and did result at first in the murder of almost two hundred missionaries and several thousand Chinese Christians. But we know that wasn’t the end of the story. Today, China has one of the fastest growing Christian populations in the world with conservative estimates listing at least 65 million Christians while more optimistic sources claim numbers as high as 120 million.
If we’ve learned anything, we’ve learned that political upheaval isn’t a particularly good indicator of a country’s spiritual future.
The Middle East of today may not be known in the West for its tolerance toward Christianity, but it’s instructive to remember that Christianity was actually strongest in that part of the world during the first three centuries after Christ’s birth, long before it became the official religion of the Roman Empire. While we naturally feel more secure with foreign governments that are known to be friendly toward Christians, we need to be careful not to get so caught up in politics that we lose sight of how God’s sovereign story continues to unfold, even in the most unstable of situations.
Jesus reminds us in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” It’s natural to be concerned when we hear news of dramatic change, but the consistent example of Christian leaders from the Apostles down to Brother Andrew and Billy Graham is to stay committed to a strategy that is informed not by politics but by faith. Theological education is vital to mature Christian growth, but it can never be achieved by living reactively from one global crisis to the next. We believe that God is in control and that God has called us to gospel work, therefore we know God will make a way.
That’s an infectious orientation.