UNITED KINGDOM’S CHURCH BUIDLING NEEDS A SAVIOUR: GOD’S CALLING IN THE MOSQUE

After the massive decline of Christianity, acknowledging and witnessing the emptiness of churches because of the scarcity of people wishing to buy them or worship in them, seeing the amount of churches that have been transformed and used as Mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples, and on top of all this, the act that enraged Jesus himself as he was witnessing on earth- the use of Church for economy or marketing, pierces the heart and reminds us, that as the Apostle Paul spread the Gospel in the land of Macedonia and asked for help from the spirit (Acts 16:9),   United Kingdom, the country that brought us the Gospel, needs a Saviour. There are currently numerous churches unoccupied, some on sale and some preserved as heritage sites by the Government. If the believers of the era who built these churches were to be brought back, one could imagine the pain they would feel!!! Some would perhaps look down from heaven in pity.

When I came to the UK to do my PhD degree, I was unaware of the decline of the churches, especially because I believed that places like England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are Christian countries with majority of the population church goers. I never imagined that I would be studying theology alongside Muslims. Majority of the theology students (especially undergraduates) were mostly Muslims. The current area that we have been living in area i.e. Selly Oak, used to be a major training centre for missionaries coming from the Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian churches from all over the World. Only recently, two colleges in Selly Oak, Birmingham Christian College and College of Ascension had to be closed down due to difficulties financially and the lack of students applying.   The United College of Ascension is on sale currently whilst Birmingham Christian College is still searching for a solution and haven’t been able to make significant further progress.

Wales seems to have undergone a further decline and deterioration of Christianity. During the event of the 40 days fasting and prayer, we visited around 16 churches close to the city of Llanelli where the revival broke in 1904. 10 of these 16 churches had been closed due to the deficiency of occupiers. We were able to enter some of these churches, and for those that we couldn’t, we held the foundation of the churches committing them to Christ with tears so that they would be someday used as churches again, praying that it would be not bought for worldly purposes, but rather that Christians would use it either for them or the benefit of God’s kingdom. If we note that even in a small town like this, there are this amount of churches empty, one could imagine how many churches would be empty in the bigger cities of Wales like Cardiff and Swansea. In the findings of the last census, when people were asked what religion they followed 53.4% claimed they were Christians while

39%  claimed  they  followed  no  religion  whatsoever.  When  those  who  claimed  to  be Christians were asked when they last attended a church, 63% said they haven’t been for several years, while 43% said they haven’t attended for the past year. Only a shocking 9% said they had been to the church during the past week.

Only  last  week,  I  went  to  visit  a  church  that  was  up  for  sale  in  one  of  the  areas  in Birmingham called Cragley heath. Before going, I spoke to the person selling the church on the phone, and what I heard really surprised me. “If you wish to visit, I will speak to Mr.Ahmed and he will give you a tour of the church.” When I heard the name, being convinced that it was a Muslim name I remarked ‘Ahmed sounds like a Muslim name’, in

reply he responded “The church you are interested in called ‘St Luke Church Hall’ has been bought by the Muslims who have been using it as their Mosque for the past 3 years, and now they wish to sell it.” Although I did not have the money to afford the church, the deep urge of wanting to revive it from the hands of Muslims and to reuse it as the purpose for which it was originally built i.e. to worship the Lord, drove me to visit the Church to discover what I could be capable of doing. Ahmed welcomed me in, and I, who would have felt at home at a church that God’s people had built for the purpose of worshipping the living God, walked in timidly into the Muslim place of meeting. The inside had been altered to suit their style of devotion and meeting, with pictures of their prophet hung around the walls.

While I was observing the place, Ahmed inquired which religion I followed. I told him that I was a Christian. Ahmed informed me that they also believed in Jesus Christ, but that their understanding was that Jesus died in India and was buried in Kashmir. His wife also added that Jesus was not the right Messiah as Jesus was meant to be born for the Jews and that the Jews did not accept Jesus as the right prophet, hence she claimed he could not have been the right prophet. As they shared their beliefs, I thought it was appropriate to share the truth about Jesus, and told them that the story of Jesus is not fiction, and that he was the right Messiah. To my surprise, they were very attentive to what I was sharing. Ahmed then asked ‘Would you be able to speak at one of our services?’ I replied, “Of course I would, when?” He then said “Whenever you are able to”, and gave me the number of their leader Toby Toban.

Ahmed invited me to speak on September 19th, 2011 at 6.30pm in one of their meetings. I prepared myself for the preaching as much as I could, praying and fasting. I went along with four of my daughters, Peter and Michelle, and when we reached the place, everyone had already arrived. Inside the mosque, there were separate rooms for the men and women, and in the men’s room, the seat for me and their leader Toby Toban had been very carefully arranged. There were microphones and speakers fitted so that the women would also be able to hear the sound clearly. Under the leadership of Toby Toban, the meeting commenced.

At the beginning, we were given a welcome speech as guests. Then one of the men was asked to give a reading from the Quran. After reading it in Arabic, he translated the meaning into  English.  Subsequently,  he  asked the  Mosque  elder  to  pray, who  spent  about  two minutes in silent prayer and ended with an audible ‘Amen’. Following this, I was then asked to speak about my faith for approximately 30 minutes. As an introduction, I expressed my appreciation to their kind invite and gave a few greetings. I then read from John 3:16 – notifying them that I did not come to argue or claim that their belief was wrong, but to simply express God’s deep love for them, that he sent his son Jesus Christ, who is the only way to Salvation and that ‘he who does not believe in him already stands condemned.’ I could  see  that  they  were  very  attentive to  the  sermon,  and  I  noticed  a  few  nods  in agreement or understanding. While I was preaching, my daughters along with Peter and Michelle were earnestly praying, one or two were even shaking in their determination. After I delivered the word, their leader Toby Toban also gave about a 30 minute talk on the basic principles of their faith, taking scriptures out of the Bible for reference. Subsequently, I took another chance and while not undermining their faith or arguing that they were wrong, I mentioned  my  admiration  of  his  knowledge  and  simply  added  that  the  many  human