“I came here dying,” says Rashid, a patient at a clinic run by one of Frontiers’ ministry partners. For years, he had suffered from a chronic illness. He and his family, who are nomadic Muslims, traveled a couple hundred kilometers over an arid desert to get to the clinic. “When I came here, I could not even stand or walk.”
Nomadic peoples often lack access to services such as health care and education. Some governments find it beyond their capacity to deliver these critical services to nomads because of their mobile lifestyle across sparsely populated regions. Consequently, in many societies, nomads are a poor and marginalized people.
In Rashid’s country, nomadic Muslims represent a significant portion of the population, but they are among the poorest of the poor.
Several decades ago, a single woman came to Rashid’s land burdened to reach the nomads, who at that time were the largest unengaged Muslim people group in the country. As she sat in their tents and learned about their lives, she discovered that one of their greatest needs was access to health care.
She set out with a bold vision to open a clinic that would offer long-term care for those suffering from chronic illnesses. This was especially audacious considering that women – especially unmarried women – don’t normally have public roles in this Muslim nation. Many people told her it was an impossible vision.
What started out as a small clinic has since served thousands of Muslims over the decades. Several Frontiers workers have joined the staff as medical and administrative personnel. Their work provides daily opportunities to love Muslims and be witnesses for Jesus. Many patients stay at the clinic for months at a time, during which they develop close relationships with the workers. For most of the patients and their families, it is their first opportunity to meet a follower of Jesus.
“Relationships are the most important thing in this culture,” says a staff member at the clinic. “For the people who come here, it is more than just getting medical treatment. We learn their names, we learn about their families, we pray with them. They like that they come here and feel known.”
Many patients are like Rashid, traveling hundreds of kilometers to get to the clinic, where they can receive low-cost care—guaranteed. As their physical needs are tended to, the clinic’s staff have unprecedented opportunities to attend to their spiritual needs.
Rashid continues his story: “I came here dying… now I can run!” His physical body now restored, and in the process, his heart has been transformed. “I have joy and hope, now that I know Jesus.”
The clinic remains the only place in the region where this nomadic Muslim people group has an opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel. Workers at the clinic can openly share about Jesus thanks to the strong relationships they have established with key leaders in government.
“If you need something done, then you go through relationships,” says another worker. From the outset, the clinic’s founders have fostered relationships with those in government. Public officials rallied behind their vision and have continued to support the clinic’s ongoing commitment to high-quality care for some of the most vulnerable members of society.
This rapport with the government allows them to do the unconventional. Several times a week, patients gather for teaching from the Word, prayer, and corporate worship in their language. The clinic is a safe environment where Muslim patients feel free to engage with the Gospel. “I’ve learned about Jesus here,” says one patient. “I praise God for the people at this clinic.”
From this platform of respect and trust, Frontiers workers and ministry partners are laying foundations for a disciple-making movement.
One patient’s disease was so advanced that it required a stay of nearly two years. Staff at the clinic ministered to him as his body healed, telling him about Jesus and regularly praying with him.
By the time he recovered, he had committed his life to Jesus and had been discipled by a Frontiers worker. He returned to his family, and when he told them he was a follower of Jesus, his wife left him. In spite of persecution, he has wholeheartedly followed Jesus. Today he leads a fellowship, and he disciples new believers. “God’s heart is to see these people come to Jesus,” says one of the clinic’s workers. “That is why we are here: to be an expression of His love to the desert nomads.”
It is this desire to reflect God’s love for the nomadic people that compels Frontiers workers and partners to keep reaching out for the sake of the Gospel. Workers frequently go out in mobile medical teams to bring physical and spiritual healing to those who are unable to make the long trek to the clinic.
One such team travels into the desert on a multi-day trip to visit some of the nomadic encampments in the far reaches of the country’s interior. Their boxy, dinted four-wheel drive vehicle bounces across dirt tracks that lead into the flat, scrubby terrain. Every once in a while they pass a herd of sheep, its shepherd sitting nearby under the patchy shade of a thorn tree.
They see a tent ahead and slow down. The team intends to pass by and carry on, but a figure emerges, flags them down, and cheerfully beckons them in to drink tea. Hospitality is a tradition that sits at the center of desert nomadic life. They know that one should never turn aside from the opportunity to extend hospitality to strangers and sojourners.
This impromptu visit demonstrates the wide reach of the clinic. A few moments into conversation they discover that the father’s uncle was treated at the clinic back in the 1970s for a serious respiratory ailment. The uncle still remembers the songs of praise to Jesus that he learned during his months of treatment.
Since its beginning, several generations of nomads have been served by the clinic. Thousands have had the opportunity to hear about Jesus and meet his followers. Many have walked out with hearts transformed by his love and mercy.
“People come here, and their lives change forever,” says a Frontiers ministry partner. “That is what makes this so worthwhile—getting to see the God that’s truly God of all seen and unseen, working in people’s lives and transforming their hearts.”
**This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.**
Original article: www.godofall.org/an-impossible-vision
