AS I THINK of the millions of Moslems , among whom I work, the challenge of a greater evangelism possesses me. But I cannot do the task alone. And I am certain that my evangelistic colleagues throughout the Islamic countries have often pondered on this problem too. So I have a cause to plead and a call to make, and may some who read be inspired to answer the call.
Eight years ago I came to Pakistan to do evangelistic work. That these labors should be limited to approximately only 2 per cent of the population of this the largest Moslem country in the world was completely unthinkable. Yet in these eight years my baptisms have included only one Moslem convert; he was a young college student who soon became discouraged, left the country, and was lost to us.
I have had many Moslem men come to talk with me. They seemed to be in earnest. Yet none, save the one mentioned above, has taken his stand for Christ publicly. Perhaps it is too much to ask under the circumstances. Yet the Guidebook states that if a man wants his name confessed before the Father in heaven, he must confess Christ's name before men on earth. How many Nicodemuses in this land await a future date of decision, few workers now know.
Financial support only increases a problem altogether too prevalent in evangelistic circles in this country. We can never employ all the converts that we baptize. But without some encouragement from somewhere they are alone on seemingly shoreless seas.
We have tried to improve methods, in the hope of encouraging an increased attendance. There would then be a larger percentage of interests from which to draw the few God does help us win. But after a Moslem has attended four or five meetings he stops coming, because it begins to look to his friends that he is taking an interest in Christianity. And because of the Moslem custom of veiling the women from the public it is well-nigh impossible to enter the homes of these people—much less interest them as families. Interested persons must come to us. But whether a reading room is opened or an office provided, the problem is the same: a few studies and the interested one stops coming. What then can we do?
The Problem, Is Serious
Pakistan is not the only Moslem nation in the world, though its nearly 90 million citizens make it the largest. I am certain that other evangelists throughout the Moslem world have tried to find some way through the barriers of Islam. But in concerted action, as a church, we have apparently done little to reach these millions with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The records reveal that the activities of the church have been directed largely toward the various Christian sects in these lands.
Islam is the largest non-Christian religion in the world. It is undergoing an internal evangelistic revival of its own in many areas, and it is appealing to many national peoples both Christian and non-Christian in some lands, at least, so that more converts are being won to Islam than are being won to Christianity in those areas, if we can believe the reports. Multitudes of its adherents are seething with political unrest and with ardent national hopes that border on the revolutionary, totally unaware of the gospel of the Prince of Peace.
Literature is not the principle solution to this problem, for the majority of these millions cannot read. The Voice of Prophecy has, in certain areas, made a strong contribution. But without adequate follow-up it fails of the desired end.
Except for a few Christian women, our audiences in Pakistan are largely of male composition, because it is not thought proper for a Moslem woman to be present in a mixed audience. And men are our only evangelists! Are the mothers and wives and sisters in Islam never to hear the gospel? They never will until we penetrate the barriers behind which they are screened from the gaze of the world.
There are some educated women who have braved the breaking of old customs and are beginning to seek education alongside the men of the nation. But if you could attend a university convocation, as I did less than a year ago, and see the large number of those young women receiving degrees from the oldest and largest university in the land, veiled in long black veils, you would know that freedom for women to choose the new and the different is still a long way off in the future—not because of the law, but because of family pressures and customs.
An Hypothesis to Meet the Problem
Some feel, and feel strongly, that the answer lies in the training and use of women public evangelists, who, having won the confidence of a female audience, can enter the homes of these women and in a kind and confidential way open up the story of redeeming grace. Revolutionary? Impractical? Without precedent? Dangerous to the prestige of a male ministry? Yes, it possibly is all of these, but unless and until the women of Islam can be touched with the tender story of God's love, we can never hope to win them or their menfolk in any numbers.
The work of a mother in the home in building the character of her children lays a permanent foundation none can deny. A woman who is good elevates the best in a man, and one who is not drags him down. Curiously or otherwise, the gospel first makes its largest appeal to the hearts of mothers and wives. Perhaps it is because they understand more clearly the love of God in the gift of Jesus.
But when a woman cannot enter an evangelistic meeting to hear present truth, how can she know that Jesus died to save her and her family, and thus desire to have them saved? I am fully persuaded that there are thousands of mothers in Islam, soundly orthodox in Islamic theology, who feel that the only way of salvation for themselves and their homes is to be found in stricter adherence to the teachings of their prophet. And they are inculcating those principles in their children. I am also certain that were it not for that early home training, the education in mission schools would have led many fine Moslem men to break with the religious traditions of their forefathers. We must win the women of Islam to Christ if we would win their men and their children.
Because, as already stated, they are not generally free to attend a public meeting when men are present; and further, because no strange man will ever be allowed in the house to do personal work among them as an evangelistic worker, our only hope is to reach them through the ministry of Christian women. Until we have more women doing the work of evangelists for their sisters in darkness, it seems to me ours is a lost cause amid the multitudes of the Moslem faith.
Other missionary societies have for years been working along the lines known as zenana work. We have done a little of it. In Adventist terminology we would call these workers Bible instructors or personal evangelists. But the need is for more than an occasional personal worker. It calls for trained women who as evangelists can hold public meetings for women. Call this labor by whatever name we will, we must face the fact that there is a need to be rilled that demands more attention from our leaders, administrators, and evangelists in these parts of the world and also from the educators of our young people. Our youth must be stimulated to see the challenge that is before them.
Some of our Christian women fear the menace of the purdah. They think some Moslem young men may pretend conversion in order to marry a Christian girl and make her part of his harem. However, some public-spirited Moslem women are breaking the trail to freedom. Shall we who carry the torch of truth be in the rear?
Reaching Moslem Women
The women of these countries must be reached with a message from God. And the heralds of the cross have always braved the dangers of this world. The girls that have sacrificed their lives in ages past for the truth are without number. Many of the martyrs through the ages were women. I do not suggest that we want unnecessarily to expose our women to danger. We ought to take every precaution to protect them. But I am sure that if they know and feel the challenge that is theirs, they will not shrink from the task because of personal safety. And is the arm of the Lord shortened that the guardian angels cannot accompany our young women as they seek to do this work? Faith must lay stronger plans for the conversion of Islam's women.
Now, in an age when national women are cautiously moving out into new patterns, is the time to strike. We need pairs of indigenous young women evangelists, capable of speaking fluently the language of their sisters and the language of the heart, to enter upon this work. Whether as single women or as the wives of our male evangelists, they need to be trained for this larger work. Then while their male counterparts are doing the heavier work of organizing the campaigns, caring for the advertising, handling the financing of the program and the securing of adequate meeting facilities, as well as conducting meetings for the men, the dedicated, trained, equipped young women can hold public meetings on alternate nights for the women of Islam.
Islam's Women Will Come
These women go in large numbers to the attractions of the devil in the theaters of the land. And many will come to the ladies' meetings, if they have the assurance that there will be no men present. Some will be prevented from attending by their men. But when the men find an interest in the message, they may overlook the fact that their womenfolk are attending and listening to the same message, and the task of winning families for Christ can be begun. This will also obviate the lurking suspicion to a great degree that they come for the loaves and fishes, or the men for ulterior designs of marriage.
After the Moslem ladies have come to the women's meetings, and begun to get acquainted with the women who lead out, it will not be so perilous for the latter to visit the interested ones in their homes, under a carefully organized program, for the lady evangelists will be able to sense the power of the Spirit's conviction on the hearts of their sisters who are in darkness, and with the protecting power of God to accompany them on their errands for Him, they need have no fear. Zenana work has always been hard, but coupled with public evangelism, doors will be opened, and I believe it is a work God wants to have done. Later, among: the more educated Moslem families, where Christian friendship and understanding has been well laid by the women, there may be invitations for the husband-and-wife team to visit the home, and the curtain of prejudice will then have been torn down.
Even though the Moslem women do not immediately step out publicly for Christ, the seed of truth will have been sown. "In heathen Af-frica, ... in China, in India, in the islands of the sea, and in all the dark corners of the earth, God has in reserve a firmament of chosen ones that will yet shine forth amidst the darkness, revealing clearly to an apostate world the transforming power of obedience to His law."— Prophets and Kings, p. 189.
Yes, the church must have trained women evangelists for these parts of the world, inspired with a vision of the service they can render God. Family responsibilities may, for a time, limit the work of workers' wives. But these faithful women can stand by the side of their husbands and do much to make their work more successful.
While I have stated the need for women personal workers in these Moslem lands, I am conscious that the task is still a Gibraltar facing the entire Christian world. However, the church has already come to grips with equally hard problems. Surely nothing is too hard for the Lord, and in His own time even the Moslem world must yield to Him. With confidence we look to God to touch the hearts of our consecrated young women, that they may dedicate their lives to this challenging task. May training for this unique yet difficult work be prayerfully studied by our leaders.