Secret Believers

I just finished reading Secret Believers by Brother Andrew. The story of Christian believers from a Muslim background in a Middle Eastern country. Because of the sensitive nature of these believers' identities, the story is told in a novel format, with Brother Andrew referring to himself in the third person. Brother Andrew is an 80 year-old Dutch man who became well known after publishing God's Smuggler, the story of how he smuggled Bibles through the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. In this new book he turns his attention towards another curtain - the Islamic one.

The book was quite enjoyable and thrilling, especially since I knew that all the stories were true, albeit an amalgamation of different real stories sometimes. It reads like a spy novel at times. The narrative follows a believer, Butros, and his wife who have a desire to disciple new believers who come from a Muslim background. He meets with Brother Andrew at several points in the story for mentoring and help. Over several years, he finds, or rather is found, by new believers who don't know where to go. They are rejected from their families and threatened with their lives.

Butros works with existing churches to develop a discipleship and church planting program which doesn't look much like similar programs in the West. Conflict arises when the threats of the local community turn violent. The church struggles with how to respond, and concludes that forgiveness is the only way if following Jesus' commands is important.

The book breaks with the story at the end in order to directly challenge Western Christians with their response to the increasing presence of the Islamic world. The big challenge is to pray, and he gives suggestions on how to do that. But first, we have to decide if we will follow Jesus' example and forgive.

This book has definitely challenged me to rethink if I am willing to die for Jesus. Also, I want to be more aware of the Muslims with whom I come into contact. These people need Jesus and are not 'unreachable'. I want to live a more Christ-like life so that they can see that Jesus is the Lord.