This story has a little of everything. It’s a love story, with a suspected demon possession among a people group of firework makers. The plot twist — a people group believed to be unengaged and unreached already had two churches meeting among them.
When International Mission Board missionary Jonathan Dozier sat down with Muhammad, he thought they’d talk for an hour or so. Dozier, who serves in South Asia, wasn’t sure how interested Muhammad was, but he knew he needed to run interference.
This is where the love story comes in. Muhammad attended church a few times out of curiosity, but his ulterior motive was converting Nadia to Islam so he could marry her. Nadia had the same hope of converting Muhammad to Christianity. Dozier went into their meeting planning to scare him away from Nadia for her sake.
Their conversation went on for eight hours. Muhammad heard the gospel in his language for the first time.
“You’re answering the questions before I even know what to ask,” Muhammad told Dozier.
Dozier shared what it would mean to make the leap to faith in Jesus and take the step toward baptism. Wanting to paint a realistic picture, he explained the persecution Muhammad would most likely face.
“If you decide to follow Jesus, I’ll walk with you every step of the way and help you figure out how to walk with Him,” Dozier said.
Soon after, Muhammed accepted Christ, was baptized, and was eager to be discipled.
It was an unexpected beginning, but the start to a dynamic partnership. Oh, and Muhammad and Nadia are living happily ever after.
House of healing
Where does demon possession play into this story?
It took two years for Muhammad to tell his parents he’d become a Christian. Dozier encouraged Muhammad, through reading passages like Romans 10, that he needed to confess Jesus is Lord in front of his family.
Dozier encouraged him to start slowly, sharing the gospel with a few people one-on-one. Instead, Muhammad called a family meeting and boldly shared his testimony. His dad shut him down, called him an infidel and cast him out of the family.
His father began having significant problems. Demon possession was the family’s best guess. They visited doctors and anyone they thought could help. Muhammad’s brother finally decided, “Let’s send him to the Christians, because we don’t know what to do with him. He can just be the Christians’ problem.”
The moment his father stepped through Muhammad’s door, a peace overcame him, and he was in his right mind. Muhammad shared the gospel, but his dad still responded in anger. When his father left the house, his condition immediately worsened. The family kept bringing him back, and he kept improving.
At the time, Dozier and Muhammad were co-leading a house church in Muhammad’s home, so his father and mother kept hearing the gospel and saw Muslims come in and commit their lives to Christ. Muhammad’s father and mother eventually decided to follow Jesus.
“His father was just filled with rage before he came to Christ, and [after] he became the most peaceful, loving person you’ve ever met in your life,” Dozier said.
Turns out timidity and shyness weren’t strategies in Muhammad’s father’s playbook either.
His father walks up to people and pulls out his government ID card, which has the individual’s religion listed, and uses it to share that, although his ID card says Muslim, he became a Christian and they can too.
Muhammad and his dad are now planting churches together. Muhammad’s dad is primarily working among their people group. Muhammad is involved in broad theological training across the region.
Unreached no longer
So, where do firework makers and unengaged, unreached people groups (UUPGs) come in? After ministering for some time together, Dozier learned Muhammad is from a UUPG. Known as the “firework makers,” they make fireworks for festivals like the South Asian festival called Diwali.
Dozier and Muhammad were looking through a list of UUPGs when Muhammad pointed to one.
“That’s my people group,” Muhammad said, pointing. It turns out they already had two churches among this people group. They struck a line through the people group name .They were unengaged no longer.
Crowds in South Asia’s megacities represent many who have never heard the name of Jesus. IMB Photo
As Muhammad grew in maturity, he traveled with Dozier and spoke to groups of “seekers,” people interested in Christianity. The leaders of the groups wanted the seekers to hear from someone who left Islam and became a Christian recently.
Because of Muhammad’s testimony, many small groups have seen their first believers and baptisms. Muhammad travels 10 days a month across the region to meet with the newly formed churches that have seen their first baptisms because of Muhammad’s witness. For Muslim background believers, baptism signifies a very public step of obedience and is a difficult step to make because of the public declaration of complete separation from Islam.
Five men who’ve come to faith from a Muslim background are growing in their leadership abilities and are receiving training to follow in Muhammad’s footsteps. Dozier, Muhammad and his father are working on a six-month training curriculum to develop emerging pastors from Muslim backgrounds.
This story has a little of everything and a lot of God’s handiwork.