A couple of years ago when our congregation pledged to be an instrument of God’s love to the K people, most of us were totally ignorant of what to do or even where to begin. I stand amazed at all that has happened in these past two years – the friendships made, the information learned and the advances of efforts to share the gospel of Jesus Christ among the K’s.

Four men in NW Iraq lead the effort of  our small alliance of churches in the US and Latin America to share God’s love and truth. They are not K’s; they are Chaldeans, another group of people who inhabit this same geographical area. The Assyrians are another such group. You recognize those names from the Bible, but they are not really the direct descendants of those Old Testament peoples. Let me tell you a bit about them.

Randy Crewswell is an EPIC International field facililtator with whom we work. The following is from a report he presented that describes some of the history of this area.

Church Planting and gospel ministry in this area has its origins in the work of Thomas, the doubting apostle.  In the first century, Thomas travelled across Asia from Palestine to India, preaching and planting churches.  He moved through what was then a hostile Persian empire and found a receptive people, speaking a language akin to his own Aramaic and established reproducing churches. In later years these became known as the Nestorian church and they blazed a gospel trail all the way to China by the 6^th century. This group was arguably one of the greatest missionary movements in history. They had a critical weakness in that they did not tend to translate scriptures into the languages they ministered to nor did their church structures adapt to local cultures. We know these people today as the Assyrian/Chaldean historical churches of Ir_q. At no point in their history, did they successfully incorporate their K or Arabic neighbors into their own churches, or establish culturally relevant churches for K’s or Arabs. As Islam rose to power it squeezed the churches by offering inducements to convert to Islam and forbidding evangelism. Without eliminating them completely, they were diminished to a useful anachronism, serving some leaders, rebelling sometimes, and generally declining (edited for electronic publication).

These Chaldean and Assyrian peoples  are racially and linguistically the same people. Their churches are much like other Orthodox churches in the East. Among them, however, are small pockets of evangelical believers. The men we work with here to reach their K neighbors come from this background. Interestingly enough, the language they speak at home is Aramaic, the language Jesus and his disciples spoke. Contemporary Aramaic is not that far removed from the Aramaic spoken in Jesus’ Day.

One evening last week while with these men, I was asked to share a bit with them about principles of Bible study. I told them that I could probably learn more from them than they could from me. Their Middle Eastern history, culture, world view and language are far closer to biblical culture than ours in the West. Sometimes we allow our culture to affect the way we understand and interpret the scriptures.

For quite some time we sat and talked about various issues that they are wrestling with and we used that as a laboratory to share Bible study principles. One example was when they asked how to handle those who do not share our faith and tell them they should be ashamed to use the Bible because it contains a pornographic book like the Song of Solomon. Reading several commentaries had left them confused as to what they should believe.

My response was that Song of Solomon is certainly a book is not that easy to digest on the first reading. While there are several legitimate ideas about how to interpret this Old Testament book, I told them that the explanation that makes the most sense to me revolves around the culture of that day when weddings normally lasted for seven days. During that week of festivities, the bride and groom would often present a segment each day of the history of their relationship, perhaps beginning from how they met, their courtship, engagement and the rest of the pathway to the wedding.

Sometimes, the tale of romance would take the form of bride and groom singing or reciting in poetic form backed up by a chorus. This is very much like we see in the seven vignettes that make up the Song of Solomon.

Suddenly, their eyes lit up and the wheels inside their heads began to spin.

Up until only about 20 or 30 years ago, our weddings here were just like that! one exclaimed. We still tell the story of the relationship, only we usually do it with PowerPoint or video.

These men held in their possession the insight of their own culture that could open up this passage to their understanding, yet they were blinded looking through the lens of Western scholarship that often passes down opinions from generation to generation without doing much original source investigation or cultural inquiry.

We talked about how realistic the Bible is to include a book that reinforces the simple love of a man and a woman, giving us permission to enjoy that love to the fullest.We reflected on the parallels between the relationship of Christ and the church, since the New Testament freely uses the analogy of bride and bridegroom to describe that relationship.

The Bible is God’s truth revealed to us. I believe it is our ultimate authority in all matters of life and faith and that we can count on every word. I wonder, though, how often our understanding is limited by our lack of sensitivity to the cultural context.

As we continued our conversation, I was impressed with their knowledge, their curiosity and their desire to achieve a degree of mastery in the understanding of scripture. It was funny how in almost every question they asked, I was able to hold up the mirror of their own culture to help them understand what has been in the Bible all along.

These guys don’t need me or anyone else. They simply need to learn a few basic principles of Bible study and then trust God’s Spirit to explore the Book  in light of their own culture and language. I would absolutely love to spend more time with them discussing and exploring the truth of scripture. I can learn a lot from them!

It’s a bit before three in the morning as we have just checked out and wait for our transport to the airport. Tony and I were on the third floor of the hotel this time and the wireless doesn’t reach that high. I confess to being too lazy and tired to go back downstairs to connect and thought I would take advantage to do so now.

Today was dedicated to touring the ruins of the biblical Ephesus, something I have done before and was anxious to do again. About an hour south of Izmir (Smyrna of the Bible, another of the seven churches), the ruins of Ephesus are truly fantastic. If you are ever in this part of the world, I can’t recommend this tour enough. Paul walked the very streets we walked today. The amphitheatre where the silversmiths rioted in Acts 19 is still there, still used for special concerts and the acoustics are astounding. You can whisper or drop a coin on the stage and be heard at the top row of the 25,000 seat facility.

In addition to Paul, here walked John the Apostle. Just across the valley is a basilica where he is supposedly buried. Legend has it that Mary the mother of Jesus lived here, too, since he committed his mother to John for his care as he died on the cross. This is also the domain of the famous martyr Polycarp and so many others. Turkey has so much history it boggles the mind!

The best part of the tour was our tour guide, a believing K. Tony and met him last time we were here and specifically asked for him. Our local contact here has been a mentor to him for several years. To be a tour guide here requires a license from the government and intensive study. They are very demanding that everyone say the same thing and that’s good. There is nothing more frustrating than to go to some historic site and hear guides telling contradictory history! Our guide is incredibly enthusiastic and combines his passion for Jesus and history in a compelling, but non-offensive way. If you come this way, I’ll be happy to give you the contact information.

As I said in my previous post, over the next few days I hope to share a few more thoughts and reflections on this trip as I have time to process it all. If you tried to tune in some hours ago and got a notice that this domain name had expired, that’s true, because our credit card information on the auto-renew was not up to date. Sorry! Everything now should be good to go.

Hide the children and small animals! Here we come!!! The Latino team has hit the ground running in Izmir … well, walking fast anyway.

Up at 0400 to leave the hotel in Istanbul to leave on a 0700 flight to Izmir. Ugh! It’s all of a 45 minute flight, so not even much time to catch a nap. We were met by Chepe, a team leader here. Chepe, Tony and I were young men together in El Salvador many, many years ago. We rode the shuttle bus together into the city and sat down for some coffee, knowing that our hotel rooms would not be ready yet. We were happy to catch up with Chepe and learn all that has been happening here and with him and his family.

On our way to the hotel later, I figured out what we call luggage, luggage, after lugging our for a mile or so to the hotel. Great little hotel, though, and we were all ready for a somewhat relaxed day in a decent place. Yay! Tomorrow evening we will meet with his team and take them to dinner.

There is a huge market not far from the hotel and we decided that would be a good place for the guys to get some stuff to take home. We have had the greatest time seeing just how similar this culture is to Latino culture.

After a brief nap we wanted to tackle the mountain above the city that has a huge Turkish flag waving on top. We heard there was a great view of the city. Izmir is a beautiful city, the biblical Smyrna. So off we went, up winding streets, dodging cars, cats and yucky stuff in the streets. If we were intelligent people we would have taken a taxi to the top. Nope! How far did we walk? Too far! Too fast! The ascending, seedy neighborhood is predominately inhabited by K people and that was fun. Little kids and teens were delighted to banter back and forth with strange men speaking Spanish. By the way, the view WAS spectacular.

Only one way to finish a day like this. That’s right! A great meal! So, we came down the mountain and headed for the beach area to a restaurant where we took the workers over two years ago. We remembered it as being very good. As we walked in the owner took one look at Tony and said, “I know you from somewhere.” We could’tn believe it, but he remembered us from when we were here over two years ago. We came because we remembered the food and it was just as good as we remembered.

OK, I am really going to try for more than 4 or 5 hours sleep tonight. Hasta luego!

What a storm last night! Wow! Rain, thunder and wind that was crazy even for this Midwestern guy. Pretty impressive! The wind played a key role today.

We left the hotel about 9:00am for the two-and-a-half hour trip to the airport. The wind had blown in a sandstorm! So, our Latino team loaded into the van with the scents of Eau de Diesel wafting through the passenger cabin, meaning that the windows would once again be open even in a sandstorm. By the time we got to the airport I think that living organisms could have grown in my nose and throat. In fact, I’m not sure I didn’t suck in some living organisms.

What a great time this has been! I am very pleased with how my group of friends blends with the Americans that traveled most places with us. And, I am more pleased with the way they are assessing the realities of the challenges before us. One of the greatest needs in this part of the world is for believers to simply be a living presence in the everyday world of reality. The business opportunities are wide open. There is NO manufacturing in northern Iraq. Impressive construction is happening everywhere you look, and the roads are filled with nice, late-model cars. The resilience of the K people is encouraging. They are determined to build a new society from the ruins left by a dictator dead set on exterminating them. The infrastructure, though, is hard pressed to keep up with the fast moving changes.

In our Latino group is an economist from Peru and a successful businessman from Mexico who is accustomed to large scale projects. It has been enjoyable to watch them investigate, ask questions and get their creative minds working on what can be done.

We arrived back in Istanbul late this afternoon (Monday). We will eat supper with the rest of the group and then (hopefully) turn in early. We need to leave the hotel in the morning at 0500 to catch a flight to Izmir. There, we will be visiting with other Latino workers. Tony and I were in Izmir together last time we were in Turkey and we look forward to seeing a good friend of ours who works there.

Getting a decent internet connection has been a struggle the entire trip. I am trusting that I will be able to keep updating you during our time in Izmir. Stay tuned!