Ryan Shaw is the international lead facilitator for SVM2.

What is our role in manifesting the love of Christ to the nations? In this edition of the Abandoned Times we will encounter a young man whom God used to blaze a trail into the Muslim world. Read carefully the details of his life and allow your own heart to be stirred with seeing his example multiplied by a hundred among today’s emerging generation. His life and thousands of others over the last 100 years compel us to realize the priority that the global Church must give in this hour to reaching the unreached for Jesus. This will affect our giving, our prayer lives, our commitment to Go, and to mobilizing others into this critical and central task. The second article highlights some principles for how to be a mobilizer for Christ’s purposes in the nations on your campus. There is no higher responsibility then to mobilize others into their pivotal role of being involved in the Great Commission among today’s unreached populations. Don’t just read about how to do it, but commit to putting into practice the ideas and principles of the article.

Barbara Yandell is a speaker for Perspectives nationally and a leader in the SVM2 USA network.

As we are seeking to ignite a generation with fresh vision and passion for reaching the world for Jesus in our lifetime, it is critical to observe the stories and lives of those who have gone before us in this capacity. Samuel Zwemer is called the “Apostle to Islam” for blazing a trail into the world of Islam and being one of the first to do so. The late J. Christy Wilson, a friend of Samuel’s, dubbed him the flaming prophet. His life story ignites true hearts, young and old alike.

In 1887, a year after the Mt Hermon 100 formed the Student Volunteer Movement during D.L. Moody’s summer conference, founder spokesman Robert Wilder came to Hope College in Holland, Michigan and spoke in chapel challenging students to join the Student Volunteer Movement by signing a commitment card stating their intentions to become a message bearer. Wilder had a map of India on display and a metronome set so that with each tick of the metronome it was known that one person was dying without knowing Jesus Christ in that great land. Samuel was a student at Hope at the time and could hardly wait for Wilder to finish his presentation and give the invitation to respond. When the challenge was made, Samuel rushed forward to sign the Student Volunteer pledge to commit his life to foreign missions. He was 19 at the time.

Samuel’s life, heart and preparation have much to commend to us today.  Following graduation at Hope College, Samuel enrolled at New Brunswick Seminary (New Jersey) to prepare for the mission field. He chose a school located on the east coast for his training to broaden his mind and experience. Before doing so, however, he enthusiastically sold Bibles door to door. He used this same tent-making strategy for years when he went to the Arab world.

In addition to formal mission and theological studies at New Brunswick Seminary, Samuel trained himself in medicine under the tutelage of the future great missionary doctor to India Sir William Wanless. In a pharmacy on Bleeker Street in New York City, he was taught medicine, but more importantly, how to use medicine as a tool for reaching the lost. One practice in that pharmacy was to paste a scripture on the medicine bottles that were given out to patients. Zwemer’s spare time in those days included singing in the choir, and teaching Sunday school. He also worked at the Thorpe Avenue mission doing evangelism and visiting the poor, assisting them with social welfare and health care. He started the noon prayer hour at New Brunswick Seminary. This started as Samuel merely used that time slot to pray and have his daily devotions. Eventually other students joined him and they spent the hour seeking God together. Samuel organized student mission conferences on his own for the campus, often incurring faculty consternation. He had become a flame for the purposes of God around the world, and he influenced multitudes to consider letting God use them in cross-cultural ministry.

At New Brunswick Seminary, Zwemer met James Cantine. The two became fast friends and partners in mission. They together realized the needs in the world and that they needed to purpose themselves to go to a specific place that was difficult and had little to no witness of Christ. They made a commitment together to do this and prayed that their lives might be used in this way for God’s glory. Cantine and Zwemer then met regularly with their Hebrew professor Dr. Lansing. Together with him, they decided to open a new mission field in the most difficult area of the world, the Arabian Peninsula and the Muslim world. They knew that this was the seat of Islam and was at the time the hardest place they could find to go. This inspired and energized them. They adopted as their motto the prayer of Abraham in Genesis 17:18, “Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee…”

Zwemer and Cantine applied to be sent as missionaries with several church boards including their own, the Reformed Church of America. They were refused by each one being told that it was foolish to go to such an unresponsive and fanatical people. This response, however, didn’t deter them. Together, with Dr. Lansing, they formed their own mission board called the Arabian Mission and sent themselves. The two adopted the practice of going to different churches and raising money for the other. Much money was given to them on the other’s behalf.

Zwemer sailed for Arabia in 1890 (at the age of 23). He first went to Beirut, Lebanon and spent several months in intensive language learning of Arabic – one of the most difficult languages globally to learn.  After a successful and ground breaking career in the Islamic world, Samuel edited  a publication called the Moslem World, spoke at conferences, translated and published tracts and books, established hospitals and schools in the Muslim world, gathered information for future missions agencies, and influenced many other missionaries to be sent to work among all the Muslim peoples of the world.

In addition to pioneering missionary work in the Arabian Peninsula, Samuel served as secretary for the Student Volunteer Movement. Zwemer with John R. Mott, Robert Wilder and Robert Speer led the fruitful years of the Student Volunteer Movement. It is said that between Speer and Zwemer more students were recruited as foreign missionaries than anyone else.  He was the first speaker at what was to become the Urbana student mission convention. The first one was held in Toronto, before it moved to Urbana, Illinois.  

Samuel Zwemer’s keynote address to students encapsulates all that captures my heart for Muslims, “The Glory of the Impossible.” He said, “The challenge of unoccupied fields of the world is one to great faith and therefore, to great sacrifice. Our willingness to sacrifice for an enterprise is always in proportion to our faith in that enterprise. Faith has the genius of transforming the barely possible into actuality. Once men are dominated by the conviction that a thing must be done, they will stop at nothing until it is accomplished.”

Will you bring your Lord Glory by believing and living for the impossible? Today, the Muslim world is desperately in need of those who will go and invest a large portion of their life to see the gospel planted and churches developed. There has probably never been a time period historically when more Muslims have come to faith in Christ then in the last 15 years. Let’s believe God for the impossible among the Muslim world which makes up more then one-fifth of all humanity. 

References:

Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Reader, 3^rd edition .ed Steven Hawthorne and Ralph Winter, William Carey Library, 1999.

Flaming Prophet, J. Christy Wilson, Friendship Press, 1970.

Scott Smith is director of mobilization for Pioneers Canada and is a leader in the SVM2 Canada network.

Everyone wants to be part of a movement.  Who doesn’t want to be part of something that is growing and gaining momentum?  There is excitement when lives are being changed, people are making commitments, and friends are being inspired to take action.  In SVM2 circles we pray for 100,000 new Message Bearers and 50,000 Global Prayer Teams to be established.  This is exciting stuff and it’s easy to be inspired when you’re with a group of people who share the same passion.  It’s easy to pray when there are large groups of people praying with you. 

But then reality hits.  The conference is over, the hype has died down, and you are alone in your dorm room or apartment.  The prayer group that you wanted to start never really got off the ground, and your friends are busy with tests and relationships.  What happened? 

The idea of a “movement” is still invigorating, but it seems so far away.  The idea of 100,000 may actually be discouraging, because you are having trouble pulling together even 2-3 friends to pray with you for the nations on a regular basis.  Is there anyone who even cares about this?  In your moment of discouragement, you might be wondering “so what’s next?”.  You’re not willing to give up yet, but you’re also at a loss for the next step. You ask, “What should I do today?”

Reality is that we all want to be part of a movement, but few of us are willing to do that hard work that it takes to get there.  In fact, few of us even know what it takes to get there (including myself).  But this is good, because a movement is initiated by the Spirit of God, moving in the hearts of His people.  There is no set strategy, or method that will see a God-sized vision become reality.   Let us not ever forget that it is God who calls and God who initiates mission passion in the hearts of His people.  Our role is simply to respond. 

What does that response look like?  For those of you who may be discouraged, let me offer three very simple suggestions to help you move forward.  As I have interacted with students across Canada, these are the three that have come to the forefront as the most critical:

• Pray Alone:  The Movement Starts with You.

If you have a burden on your heart for the nations of the world, this is the prompting of the Spirit in your heart and life.  It was God who initiated this passion, and He did it for a reason.  That same Spirit who first stirred in your heart is also calling you to pray.  He is calling you to pray with perseverance, regardless of who is standing beside you.  God is calling you to pray and God will hear your prayers.  

I was a student myself when I attended the very first SVM2 Abandoned devotion prayer gathering, which was held in Deerfield, IL.  This was a pivotal event in my life for a variety of reasons.  But the speaker I remember most was Richard Owen Roberts who is a revival preacher from Wheaton, IL.  He spoke on James 1:6-8 and encouraged us to understand this passage as not only applying to our need for wisdom, but a general passage teaching us how to pray.  He pleaded with us to pray with faith, and warned us to keep from being “double minded” (v.8).  Roberts said, “Decide what you want and ask God for it.  Don’t give up and don’t quit asking.  Costly prayers are ones that don’t stop when the going gets tough.”  Prayer is hard work.  One of the reasons it is so difficult, is because it is so effective, and the enemy knows this.  He will do everything in his power to keep us talking, and doing, and worrying – anything to keep us from praying.  The enemy knows that the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of the life changing power of God (1 Cor. 4:20).  Prayer is our means to access that power (James 5:16).

A couple of years ago I was challenged to pray every day to the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers (Luke 10:2).  I would encourage you to do the same.  There are only a few places in Scripture where Jesus gives us specific instructions on what we should pray.  We will do well to listen to these instructions, knowing that God loves to answer these prayers.  Let us pray with perseverance for the nations, and for God to raise up more workers from our campuses and churches!  It is this prayer that will serve as a catalyst to propel the movement that God has already started.      

• Invite your Friends: Passion is Contagious

You must be willing and committed to pray alone, but you should not be content to stay alone as you pray.  This means that you must be willing to share your burden and passion with others.  Do your friends know about your passion for God and your burden for unreached peoples?  Do you talk about your passion with those you meet?  Consider the demon possessed man who was healed by Jesus, and so overjoyed that he spread the news through 10 cities! (Mark 5:20).  You can’t expect your passion to spread unless you are willing to take even a small risk, to share your burden with a friend or acquaintance, and invite them to pray with your for the nations on a regular basis.  Posting flyers and making chapel announcements isn’t likely to make a significant impact!  But life on life interaction will, as you invite your peers to engage with what God has initiated. 

• Connect to Others: This Thing is Bigger Than You

Fortunately, God is not only working in your heart, but he is working in the hearts of students across the world.  The Body of Christ is broad and diverse, and can serve as a great source of encouragement.   He is also bringing together networks to help serve this movement, and bring connections between students globally.  SVM2 is one of these networks and is available to encourage you.  Here are some ideas and resources that will help you connect to those who share your passion:

• Register your group of praying friends as a Global Prayer Team and see when others are praying around the world: http://www.svm2.citymaker.com/globalprayerteamsdaysandtimes.html
• Use the Global Prayer Guide as a tool for your prayer group:   http://www.svm2.citymaker.com/page/page/1931236.htm
• Sign the Message Bearer Creed.  Join the movement with hundreds of other students around the world who have made this commitment:  http://www.svm2.citymaker.com/signthemessagebearercreed.html

I am encouraged by what God is doing around the world, including what is happening here in Canada.  I have observed and heard many encouraging testimonies of God’s work.  There are stories of greater intentionality toward global awareness.  Prayer is increasing and more students are committing to long-term mission.  The general “attitude” toward mission is improving, and the students who have a passion for mission and outreach are influencing the spiritual climate on their campuses.  Adam, a student at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, BC said, “People are realizing that being missions minded is a part of being a whole person in Christ….Missions is causing the emerging generation to take a second look at what it means to be a Christian.”  God is working among pockets of people in our nation.  These are small, yet very exciting steps forward, and the beginnings of the movement we are praying for.         

Be encouraged because the God who initiated this work in you, will also carry it on to completion. (Phil. 1:3)  He will use your prayers and initiative to have an eternal impact on your campus, your church, and the world.  Let us keep praying, alone and with our friends, for a movement of Message Bearers and God’s name to be declared among every nation.

ABANDONED DEVOTION BOOK

Why Revival Tarries?
By Leonard Ravenhill

Leonard Ravenhill’s call to revival is as timely now as it was when first published over forty years ago. The message is fearless and often radical as he expounds on the disparity between the New Testament church and the church today. Why Revival Tarries contains the heart of his message. A.W. Tozer called Ravenhill "a man sent from God" who "appeared at [a] critical moment in history," just as the Old Testament prophets did. Included are questions for group and individual study. Ravi Zacharias refers to this as "the book that shaped me...more dramatically than any other..."


GLOBAL PROCLAMATION BOOK

Islam and the Cross
By Samuel Zwemer

Samuel Marinus Zwemer (1867-1952), proclaimed the gospel in Muslim lands for almost 40 years before serving as professor of missions at Princeton Theological Seminary. Reformed and evangelical in his theology, Zwemer was also one of the greatest Islamic scholars of his day. He was an expert in Arabic and Arabic literature. He was thoroughly familiar with the Qur'an, the Traditions and the Commentaries. And having spent over twenty years in the Arabian Peninsula and almost twenty more based in Cairo, Egypt, was well acquainted with Muslims, their practices and their patterns of thought. Well-received amongst Muslims on account of his intellectual presentation of biblical Christianity and his always respectful treatment of Islam, Zwemer's writings are substantive, energetic and clear. They are also a tremendous asset to anyone wanting to understand Islam.

URBANA Student Mission Convention - December 27-31 in St. Louis, MO - www.urbana.org

The PASSION Conference - January 1-4 in Atlanta, GA - www.268generation.com/passion07/

21 Days of Prayer & Fasting - January 22-February 12 - www.svm2.net

Are you committed to serving Jesus cross-culturally in the nations when you graduate? If so, join with hundreds of others in today's united student mission movement by clicking here.