(Dec. 14, 2015 - by Penelope Cook)  An international team of healthcare workers arrived this fall in a remote area of Central Asia that is home to only a handful of Christ-followers. They were working a new area with a new local partner, not knowing what to expect.

The visitors ministered in a creative-access country, meaning laws ban open conversations about religion except one. Despite the many unknowns, they felt encouraged, especially after joining with the budding local ministry that provides basic healthcare services in faraway villages.

“Resistance [to Christianity] in this culture is not so much religious as it is cultural,” explained *Dr. Steve, a Reach Beyond physician who traveled from Ecuador for the outreach. “The families fear that a Christian convert will stop participating in the country’s culture.”

“The cultural implications of [revealing your decision to embrace] Christianity seemed to be beyond anything I could imagine,” noted Steve. “Divorce and family shunning are common … and in the case of one of our [local] team members, it cost her father his life.”

He added that basic healthcare is “hard to come by in this country as a whole and even more difficult in the areas we worked in.” Local residents often voiced their appreciation for the chance to receive medical screenings and see a doctor. Others expressed the need for dentistry in future caravans.

“It says something powerful to the people and opens opportunities for discussions to occur,” commented *Martin, the team leader based in the U.K. who had previously served in Ecuador. “[We were] demonstrating to the people that we give freely as our Father does, and it’s not with any strings attached.”

Another of the visitors was impressed with the care being provided by the local partner organization, saying, “They do a good job, and things are not easy for them, but we are seeing the fruit of their labors.”

Steve noticed that one day a member of the local ministry “came to work looking pretty tired.” It was harvest time, and after returning home from a long day of clinic visits, “she stayed up all night to dig potatoes in the fields by moonlight. Yet she was back with us ready to go again that next morning,” he said.

One of the local workers shared that she had decided to put her faith in Christ after making contact with believers in the university she was attending. Four years later she told her husband, a high-ranking police officer, of her decision, creating a crisis in her own home and with her parents.

Not finding fulfillment in her traditional religion, she told her husband, “Jesus saved me.” Gradually, during the next 4½ years, his resistance began to fade, and about a year ago, he too committed his life to Christ. The first of their three children was recently baptized.

Even though open evangelism is prohibited in the Central Asian nation, the expatriate medical workers had the opportunity to make a spiritual impact in the remote villages where the local organization serves.

Within each community, team members would “help in the process of identifying a ‘person of peace’ (someone who might be open to hear more of the gospel) as a point of entry for future ministry,” explained Martin, who had led medical caravans to another area of the same country the previous two years.

This cooperative effort not only resulted in chances to display the love of Christ, but also, as one of the visitors shared, “It builds a platform and credibility for our partner to reach into those communities … building bridges, relationships and opportunities to share Christ.”

When asked to give one word that best described their experience during the debriefing time, team members responded with words such as “Jesus,” “relationships,” “partnership,” “encouragement” and “love.”

“Our local partners are such a small group, but after having turned to Christ for life, they are finding unique ways to break down barriers so that others too might hear of what the prophet Isa (Jesus) has to offer,” Martin concluded.

*Surnames omitted due to security concerns.

Source: Reach Beyond