Ali (name changed) was from northern Iran. He and his pregnant wife joined other refugees on a boat headed to Greece. As they were traveling across the sea, a huge storm seemed to come up out of nowhere. In an attempt to keep afloat, they threw everything overboard. But it wasn’t enough. Ali watched his pregnant wife’s belly become completely submerged by the water. They were sinking.
Someone in the boat had heard about Jesus. “Why don’t we pray to Jesus?” he asked Ali. “No,” Ali said. “Sit down. I will do this.” But within just a few minutes he realized there was absolutely nothing he could do. So the refugees all joined hands in the middle of the storm and cried out to Jesus—to a Jesus they did not know. And within minutes, the waves disappeared. The storm went away. And they were able to make it to the other side.
***
On the other side of the world, Jonas couldn’t sleep. It was pitch black in his bedroom, the middle of the night. But his family needed to decide whether to renew their visas to stay at their current ministry in Hawaii or return to their home country of Sweden, and he didn’t know what to do. It was troubling his spirit. So he cried out to God. “You have to speak clearly God, because I need to know.”
Then he heard a voice in the room. “Tommie Naumann.” Who? Jonas picked up his phone and googled the name Tommie Naumann. He discovered that this unknown person was actually Swedish, like Jonas was. And he was doing refugee ministry and church planting in Greece. Jonas had a strong sense of peace—peace that passes all understanding. They weren’t supposed to stay in Hawaii, and they weren’t supposed to go back to Sweden. No. God was calling them to Greece, to work alongside Tommie Naumann with refugees.
***
When Jonas and his family arrived in Thessalonica, Greece, there wasn’t a whole lot happening in the ministry. They had a home where refugee families with pregnant women could stay so that they could give birth outside of the refugee camps. In this way, they built relationships and connections, and were able to start Discovery Bible Studies with groups of refugees. One after another came to Christ.
However, Tommie sensed that more needed to happen. He felt they needed a spiritual breakthrough in the city. So Jonas and Tommie began to pray together each morning on a big hill overlooking the city, asking that God would give them new connections and new networks of people. Months passed and they continued to pray daily. They prayed that God would do something big in Thessalonica, in Greece. God spoke to them through a verse in Isaiah 54: “Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back … For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.” Little did they know that God wasn’t just giving them a promise for Thessalonica. He had something much bigger in mind.
During this season of prayer, Tommie was able to connect Jonas with a refugee from Iran who confessed he needed to change his life around. Jonas suggested they read the Bible together, and encouraged him to invite any friends who might be interested. When they met at a coffee shop a week later, the Iranian had eight friends with him. One of those friends was Ali.
Despite his dramatic experience during the sea crossing, Ali wasn’t interested in following Jesus. He was just coming for the coffee, he said. But a few weeks in, they looked at the story of Jesus calming the storm in the Bible. And things suddenly clicked in Ali’s heart. Wait. This is what Jesus did for me. He remembered all that had happened to them, how he and his pregnant wife nearly died and were rescued from the storm. Jesus is the same today, he thought. In that moment he knew that Jesus loved him, that Jesus cared. And he began to follow Jesus.
Three months after their first coffee shop Bible study, 30 Iranians were baptized. And it didn’t stop there. The good news of Jesus traveled along relational lines through the Iranian refugee community—family member to family member, friend to friend. And as the refugees eventually made their way from the refugee camps to other places in Europe, they carried the Jesus good news with them. Today, five years later, Jonas and Tommie have recorded more than 400 Iranians being baptized across Europe.
“We would always lay hands on them after being baptized, expecting the Holy Spirit to show up,” Jonas said. “And we’ve seen crazy cool things happen to really violent people. When the Holy Spirit comes, it changes people to being filled with the love of Christ. And to see that transformation take place has been good. It’s been growing my faith in what God can do in such a short time. Amazing stuff.”
God’s promise to Jonas and Tommie from Isaiah 54 has certainly come true. Now the “territory” that Jonas and Tommie have touched spreads from Greece to Germany, France, England, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Belgium. The refugees continue to talk to people, connect with people, and spread the Kingdom on a daily basis. They’re starting Discovery Bible Studies and house churches all across Europe. They’ve even connected with family and friends back in their home country (i.e. Iran) and have Bible studies going there as well.
Ali has given himself over to full-time ministry, leading DBSs and sharing the good news. He is one of Jonas’s closest coworkers. Jonas describes him as one of the most fruitful guys they have in the ministry. Ali’s life was totally transformed by Jesus. He went from being an angry person abandoned by his parents as a child, to someone who exudes the love of Jesus. Jonas jokes that Ali tells him he loves him more than his wife does. But that’s what Jesus does in people’s lives.
“There’s tension in Europe today because of the amount of refugees that have come through the years,” Jonas shared. “There’s frustration because there’s people with different cultural backgrounds, Muslim radicalization taking place in a lot of neighborhoods, and drug addiction and gang related violence going on. There’s a real need for transformation through the Holy Spirit. And I think the hope for Europe in the current situation is an advancement of the gospel among these peoples.”
“Muslims are people looking for a connection with God. There’s an open door and open atmosphere to talk about spiritual things. And when you present Jesus and the gospel of reconciliation—about forgiveness and love—of course people want to follow Jesus. Everybody wants Jesus when they get to know him. So I would say there’s hope for Europe in the midst of the crisis. I think that through the gospel there’s a way that instead of being a burden, refugees can be a blessing. That’s something we instill in everyone that comes into our network. ‘God loves you. God has a plan for you. And you’re here to become a blessing.’”
Just like Ali, whose life is now overflowing with the love and transformation of Jesus.
What About You?
Jonas would encourage all of us to not fall into the trap of thinking a muslim doesn’t want to talk to us when we encounter them. Instead, when you see a muslim person, make eye contact, smile, say hello. Muslim people love to be relational and share stories. Jonas shares that they have so many muslim friends who became Christian just because they invited them to their home and had a meal together. You don’t need to have all the answers or know everything about Islam. “Just live out your love that you have for Jesus, that you have for people,” Jonas says. “Make friends. And in the midst of that, discipleship will start to happen. Read the Bible together. It’s not that we are professional evangelists or anything like that. We just practice generosity; we try to be hospitable. And we read the Bible with people. And the simplicity of just doing this will lead people to Jesus.”
ABOUT THIS STORY
Jonas Nystrom lives in Savsjo, Sweden, with his wife and two children. He works with Novo’s partner organization in the Middle East and Europe, NEO Leaders. In addition to the gospel movement they’ve seen among Iranians in Europe, God has also opened a door to Kurdish people from Syria coming to faith through their network, and they’ve seen about 400 baptisms in that community as well. At this point, their ministry looks like daily activating prayer across Europe, with all those like Ali who are working to advance the gospel in their network, as well as traveling to different European countries to coach and encourage people of influence among the refugees who are leading many to Jesus. Jonas is aware of not wanting to throttle this work that God is doing in refugees across Europe by getting involved in everything directly, but sees himself as a coach of coaches, just doing what he can to keep fanning the flame of the good news as it travels along relational lines through Europe.