Reflections from our Youth

Recently our youth group shared with smc some reflections from their summer service trip. I was impressed with the sharing they all did and asked a couple for what they read. As I talked with other people about the sharing I found that some people couldn’t hear very well and missed parts or others who weren’t even there! What ever the reason-if you missed it here’s a chance to get it again.

If there are any other youth that want to share their stories I would be glad to pass them on to the public-via print and blog-just send them to me!

Hi, my name is Amanda, and I will be sharing about our MYF’s trip to the mosque on our missions trip to Clarkston, Georgia this summer.

Going to Clarkston, one of the things I was most looking forward to was our planned visit to the Al-Farooq Masjid (mahs-jĭd) Mosque, the largest mosque in the Atlanta area. I don't know what exactly about it intrigued me, but I was really interested in experiencing the worship practices of another religion in person.

In my opinion, the guys had it easy for this one. All of us girls did our best to look appropriate for our mosque visit, but it was not hard to tell that we were tourists. It was interesting trying to figure out how to wrap scarves around our heads and get them to stay while also trying to make sure the least amount of hair possible was showing. Some succeeded more easily than others.

Three GFM people went with us to the mosque: Aaron, Makayla and a woman named Julie that we briefly met before going into the mosque. Aaron was the only one that had actually been to a mosque before, though, so when we were told that us girls would be going upstairs while the guys stayed downstairs, we all got a little nervous since none of us had a clue what we were doing. Us girls were instructed to go in at the Sisters Entrance while the guys went in the main entrance. Before we entered, we took off our shoes and then carried them through the entrance. We watched as a mother and her small children placed their shoes in a shoe rack, and then we did the same. A woman sitting by the shoe rack realized we were visitors and kindly told us to head upstairs for the prayer time. Muslims pray 5 times a day: at sunrise, in the early afternoon, in the late afternoon, at sunset, and then again before bed. We happened to be there for their Jumu'ah prayer, or Friday congregational prayer, their most important prayer of the week. For all the other prayers, it is acceptable to pray at home on your own, but this one was very strongly encouraged that you come to the mosque for.

Going into the mosque, I had this idea in my head kind of how it would be. I expected it to be very quiet and, I don't know, reverent I guess? Up until we entered the women's room, it was just that. Besides the speaker's voice going through the sound system set up throughout the entire building, the place was very quiet. But as soon as we entered the women's room that changed. There were little kids running around, some crying, others just playing with their siblings and other kids. There were some women praying, some caring for the children, and others mingling. The women's room was a small room that overlooked the main prayer room where all the men were at. Only the top half of the wall overlooking the prayer room had windows, so if you wanted to see down you had to go over to the windows. There were two TV screens set up that were broadcasting what was happening in the prayer room below. On the floor, there was a striped pattern with small spaces lined up in each row that looked like places for sitting maybe. The stripes were angled so the women would know where to sit to face Mecca. I didn't know what to think of it all. I was kind of at a loss because I didn't know what to do, but I was also just amazed standing there taking in the whole scene. It hadn't really crossed my mind where the children would go since the men and women were split, but it kind of made sense. The women were responsible for the upbringing of the children, so the men were downstairs where it was probably quiet and the women were upstairs where the noise could be kept away from the reverence of the prayer room below.

We made our way over to an empty spot on the carpet and all sat down to watch the scene around us. Now that I think back on it, the room kind of felt heavy. It was like there was a presence in the room. I don't really know how to explain it, but in the midst of us sitting there watching the women go through their prayer rituals and listening to the recitation of the Torah in Arabic, I just remember praying and asking God to be with us because it was like we were in enemy territory. The place and people were very welcoming and friendly, but, in my mind, it felt kind of unsafe.

All us girls were very fixated watching the women around us, and at one point all the women got up and moved to the front of the room. Trying to be respectful and go along with it, almost all of us got up and started moving to the front with them. Katie and Monica quickly called us all back, though, and decided it was best if we didn't join in their final prayer time.

After the prayers were over, everyone got up and either left or mingled with the other women. We got a text from Aaron telling us to come out of the women's room, so we all got up and left. We found the guys outside the room and went with them as our tour guide, Muneeb, led us to a large room that looked kind of like a classroom. We all sat in a horseshoe kind of shape around Muneeb, and he let us just ask him any questions we had about Islam, or the worship time, or anything really that we could think of. He was very gracious in trying to answer all of our questions as well as he could, and it was intriguing listening to him because I had learned a bit about Islam from my Kingdom Living class at school this year, so it was interesting for me remembering things from class and also learning new things. While it was interesting, the whole time I couldn't help thinking that he was missing something. He was very careful and danced around some topics, like our relationship with God and how a few of the Old Testament stories Islams taught differently, and Katie started to mention something about when Muhammed wrote the Koran and Muneeb was very quick to correct her and say that Muhammed did not write the Koran—he just transcribed the words that the angel Gabriel told him. It was hard for me to not ask him a bunch of questions that might corner him in what he was saying because I didn't agree with everything he was telling us. What he was telling us just didn't feel right, and I guess that's a good thing.

During that time with Muneeb, God was definitely bringing to light many things, and one of the big things was how much help our world needs. Our world needs God's love, and we can make a difference by showing his love to whomever we meet. After we left the mosque, I was kind of overwhelmed because the whole time we had been talking to Muneeb I kept wanting to tell him that not everything he was saying was right—that to get to heaven he doesn't have to follow the five pillars of the Islamic faith. All he needs is faith in Jesus and acceptance that he is a sinner and needs saving. But then I thought about all the people that I had seen in the mosque and how there are so many people in the world just like Muneeb, and that it will be so hard to reach all of them. After my overwhelming thoughts, I remembered GFM's kind of theme verse, Matthew 24:14, that says, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." So even if I can't make a worldwide difference in my life, I just need to focus on making a difference where I am right now. One person at a time is the biggest difference I can make.

I’m Emma Lehman and on July 14th our Youth Group shared our experiences from our mission trip to Clarkston, Georgia this year (6/18-23). The first couple days was volunteer work, but the latter end week we stayed with the organization Global Mission Frontier where we took the time to learn about the Bible in a new perspective and indulge in different cultures within this diverse city.

Saturday morning’s lesson (6/22) took a deeper dive into the Creation and Fall and how it shaped parts of the world. Our lesson began by taking a look through the Bible with verses that mentioned proclaiming or teaching about the “Kingdom of God”. Then we turned our attention to the second part of the lesson —”3D Gospel”—with the question: “What is the Kingdom of God” to look into how sin is viewed in different parts of the world and the best way to engage these worldviews with the gospel.

There are similarities between cultures, but different emphasizes on each. Global Frontier Missions divided these cultures into three major areas: the Western World, the Global South, and the 10/40 Window. The other two are self-explanatory on where they’re located, but the 10/40 Window is basically 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator and is the least reached in terms of mission status—the Western World being the most and the Gobal South falling into the second most.

In the Western World, we are considered an Innocence/Guilt culture. Taking on preference on Good vs. Evil, Light vs. Dark, and Right vs. Wrong in our individualistic society, our view on Sin would be “I made a mistake.” So our remission is Justification.

The Global South is considered a Power/Fear culture where their focus is to avoid or appease spirits and are group oriented. “My mistake owns me,” is their view of sin. So their remission is Liberation.

And finally, the 10/40 Window is considered an Honor/Shame culture, their focus is to keep or break relationships based on, well, honor, and are also group oriented. Their view is, “I am a mistake,” thus, their remission is Redemption.

This is only a basic summary, but as I said before, there are similarities between each culture. We do experience instances in which we experience all three types of view on sin. But looking at it from the abstract, each culture leans more toward one than the others. This means that how we interact with someone from another culture who hasn’t heard the good news needs to be flexible and shaped in ways that make sense to them.

To me, this lesson was intriguing in both a religious and sociological stand-point. Personally, I enjoy learning Mythology and Theology as it gives me a window into another culture with lessons and storytelling. Because knowing more about how others think makes it easier to engage with them. There is a bridge that is created with the acknowledgement of other views, and with that we can use that understanding to better spread the Gospel to those who haven’t heard it, as well as overall compassion and love.

 Elliot Martin's story...

Now some of you may know that I enjoy physical challenges quite a bit so when i heard that we were going to climb a mountain I enthusiastically put in my approval of it. Now granted i knew virtually nothing about this “stone mountain” that we were going to climb, all I knew was that it was a mountain and josh was also pretty enthused. He along with his whole family had been there before so i decided “well if anyone knows how to have a good time on this mountain it's him.” Finally the day of the climb came and after a problematic drive to the mountain we started our ascension of the mountain.

 Now Being the good student leader i was i let everyone else get out of the van before me ...or i may have dropped my water bottle under a seat and couldn't seem to find it…. Either way i ended up on the tail end of the group. As soon as I got out of the van I started frantically looking around for where the lairds went. After a solid 10 seconds of scanning the landscape i saw to my dismay both of the laird sprinting up the mountain. Now at this point I could have just kept up a brisk pase with the rest of the group in there assent of the mountain…..orrrrr….. I could chase the lairds. After giving it probably not enough thought i said my goodbyes to the group i was currently with and started rushing up the mountain after them.

 The climb started easy enough with simple jumps over smooth rocks jutting out from the cliff but soon I started to feel something odd...Oh ya of course….it was my burring calves. Turns out the 12 percent grade of the mountain  was NO JOKE. After about 5 minutes of all out running I finally caught up with josh and amanda who at that point had slowed to a lively walk. Ironically as soon as i caught up with them they had the great idea to start running AGAIN. Now i'm not one to back down from a challenge like that so i quickly started running with them. 

However In the back of my head there was more then just the pride of not losing pushing me forward, while being prepared on the climb we were told of how beautiful looking from the mountain was...there was only one problem with that though, we were on a very tight time schedule to make it back to the light show later that night. So with this thought pounding in my head i pressed on further fighting the strain and discomfort coming from my legs and feet. Jumping over rocks and flying up the mountain the three of us past people of all sizes, races and fashion senses until finally we reached our destination, a little pavilion in a dense population of trees. 

We sat down exhausted but with the feeling of accomplishment at last. As i sat there looking around i noticed a hole in the trees looking down the way we had just came. As i looked more closely I could see the city of atlanta silhouetted by the stunning sunset. At that moment I realized how small we truly are but at the same time in all of this beautiful creation that one can easily get lost in, God still loves us. Even though i could hold the entire city of atlanta in my hand on top of that mounin God still knows every single one of the people in that city no matter how big or small, no matter what race gender or even fashion sense.