The McWhirters

Well Sorani Week came and went. The week had that timeless quality where it flies past you, and yet it feels like you’ve lived a month. It was a fascinating week as we got to know people from different circumstances and stages of life. It was a particular treat to get to know C, our language teacher, who did live up to her prior reputation of being a ‘fireball’. And as the week unfolded it dawned on us that here was a woman with a love for God, the Kurds and language. To think that C had spent a whole year of her life preparing language learning materials for a language she didn’t speak herself… reveals a clarity of purpose and priorities. It was clear how teaching us and others to share Jesus with our Kurdish friends in their language gave C such pleasure. So what did we actually learn?

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‘Sorani Week’ is about to be upon us. In the next few days we will be starting a Kurdish language course and getting to grips with the finer details of Sorani grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. It was an idea that started after a chance meeting with ’C’ a language teacher from the US when we were in Kurdistan last summer. C offered to come and run a week of language learning for us and so taking up her offer we’ve made it available to others across the UK, and it’s being hosted here in Sheffield! There will be 10 students including ourselves; people from Derby, Portsmouth and Birmingham all of whom are loving and serving Kurdish friends. We’ve even got the rare treat of a couple coming from the US who are on their way to Iraq to work long-term. This will be their first introduction to the language and so they come to us as their first port of call on a journey to Sulimaniya.

If you’ve been following our blog you will have read about the impact that speaking a few words of Sorani has for our friendships. I hope it communicates how much we love our Kurdish friends when they hear us speaking to them in their own language… their heart language. I hope it will show them a little of how Jesus came and bridged the cultural, linguistic gap of his deity and spoke to us about truth, grace and love.

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Identifying with the people we want to share Jesus with is a principle that I hold dear. I’ve never really understood why people would choose to be commuter missionaries or indeed commuter christians. Belonging to a church family who are a long way from where you live and from where you spend the majority of your leisure and work time. The reason why many of us accept the commuter model of church is because we don’t really prioritise the communal witness of the church. If church is simply a meeting or gathering, then mission is simply inviting people to that meeting. But I’ve become convinced that the Bible describes the church’s witness as a much more embedded activity; done amongst those who the church wants to serve and done day in day out.

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One of the most delightful things in life is to see the subtle and sudden changes in a friend’s character and outlook on life. This is particularly true in Christian brothers and sisters and the changes are often more dramatic; a demonstration of the Spirit’s power. I remember a conversation with an unbelieving friend about 9 months ago in which he said “people never change”. It’s a view held by many people, a view which suggests that you might be able to tinker around with the externals but essentially you can’t ever fix the inside of a person. I think it’s probably an astute observation, except for when you look at the Christian community. Seeing Christian friends change and make choices they might not have been able to make in the near past just adds to my confidence that our God is very capable.

It’s with this in mind that I want to mention a recent email from Charlie, our friend who travelled with us in Kurdistan this summer. He’s clearly changing and I thought it worth sharing with others. He speaks first of our trip to Kurdistan and then describes on-going developments in his thinking about church. If you haven’t already got your copy can I encourage you to get hold of Steve Timmis and Tim Chester’s book ‘Total Church’? Do keep praying for Charlie that he would continue to grow in his love for God.

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During half-term (3 weeks ago now) I had some time to read a book called Ethnic Realities and the Church - Lessons from Kurdistan. It’s fantastic to think a book like this actually exists as you can tend to think that the church in Kurdistan is fairly young. However this book shows that the gospel has been going out to the Kurds for a long time, even if it hasn’t been received very readily. I was struck as I read it by two things; firstly how many mistakes we make as we seek to share Jesus with people and secondly the faith and clarity of vision that gospel workers have had in the past. In both aspects God’s grace surely abounds. I wanted to share a quote from the book which shows the faith and clarity of one man called Samuel Audley Rhea. The book explains that “Rhea worked in Kurdistan from 1851 until his death in 1866. His private diary reveals his sanctified life” and goes on to quote a vow he made during his first year in Kurdistan. It’s fairly long but it’s worth a read. I have put the thoughts that struck me most in bold. It is the kind of vow or prayer that each of us aspire to… I think even Rhea himself was aspiring as he wrote it.

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A few weeks back Andy and I went along to see our Kurdish friends protest against Turkey’s increasing pressure on the Kurds in northern Iraq. A Kurdish friend who has been particularly ‘cool’ towards us in the last few months was there. I caught his eye but he made no positive gestures towards me. I could tell he didn’t want to talk to me. However I thought it best to go over and give my greetings. I did this and his response was muted. He said hello but nothing else. Indeed he turned around so I was facing his back. There was clearly something wrong.

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Thank you for all who prayed for the Kurdish brother called D. I received news of his release yesterday and it just confirmed to me the Lord’s grace and goodness in all things.

“Thank you very much for your prayers this last month, especially for our brother D. We thank God so much that He rescued Dthrough the help of your prayers and the prayers of many. Please continue praying for him and the other believers living in and around Mosul, for courage to continue to testify assured that their Father hears their prayer. Pray on for Mosul, where there are now many believers living.

Please also pray for believers in Baghdad, especially for the relatives and friends of 2 ladies, gunned down by security guards as they returned from a church meeting. Genevieve was known and loved by many believers here in our city.”

It seems that we do have a role of standing alongside these people in prayer. Indeed God’s word demands it of us… “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13 v3). But actually it is also our privilege as it reminds us of what is most precious… not this earthly existence but Christ himself.

My list of questions and issues to explore ‘at some point’ seems to be getting longer by the day. As we continue getting to know our Kurdish friends both old and new issues are being raised. Keen to reflect on them in a more systematic way than time allows is proving a little frustrating but I’m learning to trust that the Lord will guide us into truth. I often tell people it is in the context of mission that we learn best about God and his word… theology on the run is both far more relevant and revealing than the form that is learnt in the lecture theatre. I believe that, but it surprises me when I’m confronted with the reality of it.  Take for example the phone call I get from my dear brother Andy on Saturday morning.

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An email came through from a friend in Kurdistan two weeks ago. It told the story of a Christian brother who had been kidnapped and asked for prayer for his release.

“A brother and work colleague has just rung me to ask me to ask as many as I know to pray. He had just learned that a close brother in Christ, Brother D has been kidnapped. Brother D is about 30 years old and lives in a small town near Mosul; he is active in serving Christ there. Last year he had been working alongside, a sister called Rahma, who was then killed back in May 2006 because of her active witness in the hair salon which she ran as a business. The kidnappers have demanded a large ransom.”

Thinking of his situation and what he might be experiencing shook me from my own problems and cares. What truth could sustain my brother in that kind of situation. I’ve been imagining him tied up in some room in Iraq… beat up, hungry, far from his family, trapped. There is a man out there in that situation; unable to escape. I imagine him taking in every detail of the room, the way the light falls on the floor, the texture of the dust between his fingers, the changing smells through the course of the day, the voice of each of his captives. What truth would keep the fear at bay? What truth would keep him rejoicing?

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There was a moment half way through the party when Fiona alerted me to the fact that the floor might fall through. Now my wife is not particularly alarmist so I decided to take her concerns seriously. Sure enough as I went downstairs I came across the rather alarming sight of the ceiling and light fittings moving in time with the music. It would have been a fun sight if it weren’t so worrying. With up to 50 Kurdish friends moving in sync with the band we wondered if we would have to stop the dancing. We decided that the worst that might happen is the plaster would come away so we carried on and prayed. It was great to be immersed in Kurdish culture again. The sounds and sights of Kurdistan brought briefly but vividly to Sheffield. In every way the party was a great success.

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